Counterculture In America

Nonconformists have always had a tendency to coalesce together, especially in times of great social strife, when strict hierarchical systems are ubiquitous. In America, this reflected in a wave of countercultural movements that only truly escalated at the turn of the century, ultimately resulting in a nation more tolerant of all people, including immigrants such as myself. Three major movements, paradigmatic in their representation of society’s fringe, served as the initial harbingers of social and political reform. The Bohemians, first to see through the Gilded Age. The Beat Generation, ever unnerved by the unending conformity which penetrated ‘50s America. Finally, institutionalized counterculture. The hippies, punks, goths, and hipsters

“Bohemians”, from their base in Greenwich Village, rejected both the archaic social standards of the pre-Industrial era and the gaudiness of gold so often exemplified by the rich and privileged, the Gilded Age, as Twain christened it. The Bohemians instead experimented with new philosophies, thoughts, and actions. Socialists, intellectuals, and artists throughout the world flocked to these havens, supporting organized labor and pioneering new forms of art. Perhaps most important to the further development of counterculture, the Bohemian movement’s liberal attitude on sex, promiscuity, and orientation helped to establish a haven from which various liberation movements launched, long after the Bohemians were but a memory. The Stonewall Bar is in Greenwich Village, as was Eleanor Roosevelt’s apartment. By virtue of Bohemianism being the first countercultural movement, I can only claim that the movement affects me in a largely indirect manner, as its existence predicates almost every counterculture and reform movement since. Nevertheless, the Bohemians have, at the very least, affected my list of college applications, for the Village they established now hosts various universities on my list. Legacies aside, I often call the 1910s “the first decade I could tolerate living in,”, and the development of places like Greenwich Village remains a major reason for that.

But, as conventional war waned and the threat of nuclear annihilation entered every American’s mind, a new countercultural generation rose, a smaller, more focused group composed largely of writers. The “Beat Generation”, they were called, a name given to the group by its de facto leader, novelist Jack Kerouac. His novel On The Road served as a makeshift manual for both the Beats and the hippies which would soon follow. “Where we going?” asks Sal, the novel’s protagonist. “I don’t know but we gotta go.” replies his friend, free-spirit Dean (p. 138). Based on an actual journey from Kerouac’s youth, the novel encapsulates the restlessness that nonconformists in postwar America found, and served as the catalyst for dozens of later roadtrips. Like the Bohemians, they directly addressed taboo concepts and natural sexuality, seen poignantly in Ginsberg 's Howl. I believe the Beat Generation deserves recognition for being the first group to protest against the new American mainstream, having spoken up before any major paradigm shifts in public opinion, such as those caused by the Civil Rights movement and Cuban Missile Crisis. The Beat Generation’s restlessness describes both my father’s longing for change after decades under dictatorship, and my own search for a college and life outside of my home state. Maybe it is true, as Kerouac