Identity In Part One Of Howl By Ginsberg

Circumscribed, yet Not Alone

Reality is the distillation of perception. Many of us were thrusted into various lifestyles that forged our own vision of the world. Each individual has their own adversities in life, and it feels as if one goes through this internal conflict alone. During the 1950’s, Allen Ginsberg saw various degrees of insanity that diffused across the American landscape. This type of madness associates with the trials and tribulations a man might go through in life. Within the poem HOWL, Ginsberg expresses that despite the long road ahead in life, we are not fighting adversity solo, and that there are different ways to gain inner peace to cope with the head games life plays with us. One of these head games is change.

We all see the world through different lenses, and this is what leads to our perception of reality. There are problems that arise in our everyday lives, and the question often asked is “who” is affected. Who is the “who?” In part one of HOWL, Allen Ginsberg emphasizes that the “who” is the everyday man. From the looks of what Ginsberg experienced and written down as a poem, the 1950’s generation seems dismal. The “who” represents people that are struggling to make a living such as those “[that] wept at the romance of the streets with their pushcarts full of onions and bad music…” (line 48). These people abhor their current situation and to further show their disgruntled outlook on the lives they are living, they own pushcarts that have onions and bad music. We can also see that the “who” is desperate. Many people would do whatever it takes to make the dream of a high life come true, such as those “[that] plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg” (line 52). Ginsberg is metaphorically speaking in this line, as the egg could represent the limited opportunities that were given during this time period. Searching for such a rarity is much like finding a needle in a

As an example, they “went out whoring through Colorado in myriad stolen night-cars…” (line 43). Allen Ginsberg also gives us a picture of the carefree lifestyle the younger generation had during this time period such as going to “moviehouses’ rickety rows, on mountaintops in caves…” (line 43). There is a chasm that divides the youth from the old. The old is concerned for the future, while the young, in a way, is given carte blanche. Only the young can enjoy life even though they are somewhat oblivious to what is going on in the world. The 1950’s saw its share of the tale of two cities. One where a carefree life is lived and the other where there is turmoil. In part I, the “who” is also those that fear the worse to come, as “[they] created suicidal dramas on the apartment cliff-bank of the Hudson under the wartime blue floodlight of the moon…” (line 46). Peace appears to be the last thing on everyone’s mind since war could escalate between the two super nations during this time. Maybe by doing what seems like haphazard activities allow people to indirectly express themselves, thereby giving acceptance to the daily grind they must go