Comparison Of Howl And Battle Royal

793 Words2 Pages

As Rita Dove states "The experience of displacement...living in two different worlds, seeing the double vision compels the imagination." This quote can be used to analyze the post-modernist works “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg and “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison. Both works include an example or a form of displacement and incorporate characters facing the reality of living in two different “worlds”. Throughout Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” the main character can be observed as being displaced by the white men that surround him, living in a world beneath their own. This can be analyzed with a segment of the quote stated by Rita Dove “The experience of displacement.” For example, the main character experiences displacement when he is invited to …show more content…

An example of the main character from “Battle Royal” living in “two different worlds” (Rita Dove) is that in his world he values “social responsibility” (Ellison 10) and “equality” (Ellison 11). The main character’s vision of that imaginary world of equality between the races clashes heavily with the reality of the world that he lives in. The idea of living in “two different worlds” (Rita Dove) is also expressed in Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.” The idea of “two different worlds” (Rita Dove) can be examined as it states, “burning for the ancient heavenly connection” (Ginsberg 3). But this statement is contradicted by the “connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night” (Ginsberg 4). The reader sees two different worlds, one of machinery and industrialization, but also one that includes a spiritual search and a longing for fulfillment. As the poem goes down a list of the “best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” (Ginsberg 1) the reader can see different worlds, some reality, some using the aid of the imagination. For example, each line in part one continues with the word “who” (Ginsberg 5-14). In part two “Moloch” (Ginsberg 3-23) is the line that continues. Then in part three “I’m” (Ginsberg 48) is the line that is repeated. Each of the three parts lists a “different world”

Open Document