The Beat Generation Analysis

The American culture of the 1950's portrays an unpredictable and absurd picture of dramatic advances in the economic prosperity ; uneasily coinciding with extreme , however , partially recognized social and cultural strains. After the second world war , the united states had a great deal of anxiety about any form of government that was different from their own . The actions and policies of Hitler , Stalin, and Trotsky terrified the Americans ; there was a very real fear that communist spies will weaken the country from the inside .This fear created McCarthyism , in which General Joseph McCarthy rose to national prominence by starting a test to uncover communists holding important positions in the most astounding areas of the government

A small but influential cadre of 1950s humorists, novelists, and poets who formed the vanguard of a counterculture that in the next decade would become much more influential. These counterculture movements took place to stand against the conventional products of human work and thought . It ‘s core values and lifestyle stands outside the mainstream seeking to change the status quo . The most notable movement in the literary stage was the one of The Beats or The Beat Generation . They were a group of bohemian intellectuals and writers who formed an artistic movement that challenged and criticized the dominant culture promoted sexual liberation (including feminism and acceptance of homosexuality), mysticism, drug use, environmental awareness and other themes deemed 'radical' by mainstream society (Enotes.Com). The Beat writers, notably Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, fashioned a literature that was more bold, straightforward, and expressive than anything that has been produced before ; displaying themes like identity, estrangement , adventure and the rejection of the mainstream

He recounts the days following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a private school. After a fight with his roommate, Stradlater, Holden leaves school two days early to explore New York before returning home, interacting with teachers, prostitutes, nuns, an old girlfriend, and his sister along the way. He feels distant in his relationships with others , and absolutely baffled about the uncertainty of his future. Holden Caulfield clings to the innocence of the childhood world and realizes that growing up, indicates that he should assume responsibility in a world where he thinks only superficial and insignificant issues occur. He, like many others, seems to have difficulty fitting into the world that seems disintegrated and filled with defacement and phoniness. Holden is caught in the disturbed transition of his life from the state of childhood into adulthood. He thus faces anxiety and alienation and wants to detach himself from all the false values surrounding