Comparing Ginsberg, Whalen, And Revolution By Anne Waldman

Option 1: In many of the texts that were read in this semester, there were a great deal that referred to an idea of living or being on the outlying areas of conventional America. Three texts, specifically poems, made this idea obvious to the reader: Howl by Allen Ginsberg, 20:vii:58, On Which I renounce The Notion of Social Responsibility by Philip Whalen, and Revolution by Anne Waldman. These poems demonstrate the authors’ feelings towards the conformed America that they lived in. In Howl, Ginsberg constantly refers to the great how these great minds were pushed to the side of society and were forgotten and mistreated because they weren’t understood. Ginsberg writes “who were expelled form their academies form crazy & publishing obscene

Yet in the end he talks about how he walked into his daughter’s room “there was no one there… Only she on her knees…” (Ciuraru 95) This scene alludes to the fact that she is praying and that Baraka hasn’t done this in a long time. It gives the idea that Baraka needed a purpose in life and that his daughter has found it form him, God. Similar to Baraka’s poem, The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, the main character, Elisa, strives for a meaning in life. In The Chrysanthemums, a traveling man meet Elsa and he tells her about his life on the road. It is made obvious that Elsa is sick of her current life and strives for the one that the man has, as it says time and time again “That sounds like a nice kind of way to live…” (Kelly 442) However, unlike Baraka, it seems as if Elsa’s meaning in life would be found through experiencing the world first hand rather than experiencing life through

In A Good Man Is Hard to Find it comes to a point where a murderous killer that will, eventually kill all of them, stops the family while they are on a trip. These scenes, that involve this murderer, give the reader an insight to who the grandmother is as a person. The grandmother throughout these scenes tries to beg for her life in a multiple number of ways. ““I just know you’re a good man,” she said desperately.” However, through her begging it is made obvious that she is only concerned about what will happen to her. The reader is given a perfect image of how self centered the grandmother is and that all that she is saying is only for her sake and not for anyone