A Literary Analysis Of Howl By Allen Ginsberg

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A Cry to Society: A Literary Analysis of Howl by Allen Ginsberg
“If people believe it is real, it is real in its consequences.” -W.I. Thomas
Could there be people who are consciously aware about how they live and the way society shapes them? The quote that W.I. Thomas, in other words, means that when people think something is true, there will be consequences from that belief. For example, when I was young, these girls for some reason did not like who I was and began to spread rumors about me. Therefore, people believed them. Although I told people personally that the rumors were false, they still did not believe me and that was the consequence. With this example, it portrays how each day, people behave and interact with the environment around …show more content…

Throughout their fun and crazy adventure, they realize more what the world has to offer, opening their realistic minds. At this part of the poem, he begins to sound frustrated, confused, questioning the status quo. By line 65 and beyond, he begins talking about the time he spent in a psychiatric ward. Ginsberg wants people to know that someone like him, whose mind wandered over life’s truths, ends up at a madhouse. Why? Because he practiced Dadaism, a artistic art movement that opposed social, political, and cultural values, when he threw potato salad at a professor in CCNY. At this psychiatric ward, he was introduced to many therapies such as ping pong, shock therapy, and hydrotherapy. Also, his close friend, Carl Solomon, and Ginsberg’s mother was in a psychiatric ward, blamed for their insanity. For this, Ginsberg grew angry at …show more content…

That’s his belief. Of all the religions he mentions in Howl, he practices Buddhism, stated in line 64.
This good that he exclaims is in the footnote to Howl where he preaches “Holy! Holy! Holy!” (line 1). Everything is holy. This footnote is like Ginsberg’s own little prayer. Not those formal prayers that some would hear in a church. Ginsberg’s prayer is full of support, that all these happenings in the world is all bad but there is good to it. He wants readers and people to know that social injustice is inevitable and that it is alright. In part two he mentions that Moloch is evil, but in the footnote, he prays for the “Angel in Moloch.” Every little thing in the world, good or bad, it is holy.
Overall, what Ginsberg was trying to say is that we are ALL mad and crazy, but we are all also good. Ginsberg questions the human social actions throughout his journey with his friends, and wrote Howl to help others understand the social discrimination and chaos in the world. For me, I understand the reason behind the actions those bullies and their rumors have done to me, and that’s okay. It is a social truth, that society is unfair and cruel, also

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