J Alfred Prufrock Trust

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Trust is a Trap
Trust is a biological tendency that humans along with other species of living things tend to develop after spending a certain amount of time with one another. For some people it is easy to trust others, but for others who have been deceived on one too many occasions, it takes an immense amount of time for them to put their faith in someone. Humans naturally grow to trust people, and the more faith they put in someone, the more vulnerable they will be if they are ever betrayed. In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T.S. Elliot seems to be exploiting this human flaw. Elliot seems to believe that people can be easily lured into traps, especially if it is not blatantly obvious that they are in a vulnerable position. …show more content…

Alfred Prufrock, a man who has seemingly witnessed many things throughout his lifetime. Prufrock begins his story by luring the reader in. He seems to be putting the reader in a hypnosis, for he says, “Let us go then, you and I… Like a patient etherised upon a table”. Patients are etherised before they go into surgery so that they will not be able to respond to any type of sound, smell, or touch while they are in surgery. This is done to keep them from feeling pain, for they are so unconscious that the only thing they are capable of is dreaming. Prufrock wants the reader to be in this state while reading his song; he wants the reader to be aware of nothing but what is going on in each line of the …show more content…

At first glance, the reader would not be able to tell that Prufrock is blatantly saying he is leading you into a trap. He compares the streets to a tedious argument that has insidious intentions, meaning that the streets are meticulous, but they purposefully were unnavigable to the reader. The road leads to an overwhelming question, but only Prufrock knows the way. The lines “Oh do not ask ‘What is it?’ let’s go and make our visit”, shows that he is not willing to give the reader directions immediately; he wants the reader to journey with him for a while before giving them a way out. The reader now cannot escape listening to Prufrock’s song. Because of Prufrock’s skill in persuading and the reader’s willingness to trust him, they have been lured into his

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