Over the course of history, it has become clear that in a world replete with cruelty and mischievous triumph, people crave freedom even if it implies going as far as possible from the established behavioral norms and patterns. The undisputable eagerness to feel alive and find the new connotative meanings of life itself is especially vivid in the post-war timeframes when people were upset with everything that surrounded them. Hence, they were looking for an alternate way of life perception and definition of freedom. The prime example of such a runaway was the establishment of the Beat literary movement in the 1950s among the bohemian youth of San Francisco. Tired of constant suppression and an environment drown in depression and economic decay, beatniks were the ones who made an attempt to explicitly reject the reality of post-war American society. Some of the major ideas and moods of the epoch were outlined in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, William S. Burroughs’s Naked Lunch, and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
The sophisticated naïveté of their life perception at the time was more of a panacea for then society that was afraid of the Cold War, the return of communism, and economic crisis. The 1950s were, by all means, the times for the US market by the constant overprotectiveness and nationwide desire to become the leading state in the world, as the post-war environment was the best opportunity to revolutionize the patterns of the world power. As a result, the vast majority of Americans were captivated by the idea of economic growth and free-market opportunities for the working class. However, as is often the case with bohemian young people, some of the nonconformists were displeased with how superficial the world became after years of ongoing battles. Hence, creators like Allen Ginsberg decided to declare their vision of the world, referring to the ideas of Zen Buddhism and liberality.
The very idea of the poem written by Allen Ginsberg in the period of economic reforms could serve as a certain ode to the decay of the generation full of great minds and potential, as it was swallowed up by basic animal instincts. In the line:
“…who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism” (Ginsberg), one might notice the aforementioned howl because of the tragic loss of human dignity in the face of capitalism. At the time, most people did not realize that all they were given by the government was nothing but a nationwide opioid fever to take them away from the dark reality of world chaos. However, the ones who realized how this worked in society were not at an advantage either, as they were not supposed to be the ones to distort the national trust and drunkenness of the “post-war” opportunities. Ginsberg was the one who saw through the “narcotic tobacco haze” into the root of the despair, later obliged to pay his price for the truth.
Howl, at some point, is the author’s desperate call to open people’s eyes after years of intentional blindness. The ones who were considered outcasts and mentally ill were the ones able to bring a grain of sanity to a world full of cruelty. While post-war American society was supposed to secure world peace, their actions claimed to be the ones that provoke conflict and constant competitiveness. Having seen the ones “who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight in police cars for committing no crime but their wild cooking pederasty and intoxication,” Ginsberg reflects upon the times when American democracy was crushed in the face of discrimination and anti-war demonstrations dispersion. In fact, “shrieking with delight in police cars for committing no crime” was an integral part of Ginsberg’s life, which made him see the other side of the American dream, going through a living hell every time he wanted to be heard.
To emphasize the poem’s central idea, Ginsberg frequently refers to the Biblical and mythological references aiming to make people come to their senses and realize the scope of the catastrophe they bring to the world. Hence, the poem is universal, yet is focused on the issues of American society in the 1950s. One of the most vivid mythological references is the innumerable mentioning of the Moloch that became the major figure of the poem’s second part. Historically, Moloch is the symbol of sacrifice, specifically the sacrifice of the children.
However, while sometimes the sacrifice could be made for the sake of something bigger, the symbol of Moloch is dealing with the cruel human life loss. The cruel perishing and destruction of human life are inevitably correlated with the notion of war in practically everyone’s mind. Hence, in the line “Moloch whose fingers are ten armies!” one might reflect upon the myth’s interpretation in several ways. First of all, the historical concept of the United States in the mid-20th century was a full-scale synonym to the word “war.” After the end of the Second world war, the state became involved in a long-term process of the Cold War, which, while having no direct threat to human life, was a dangerous tool in the arms of the world leaders. Hence, the symbol of Moloch could be interpreted as the US authoritative power that, through the constant manipulations, was destroying the nation’s children, its residents, from within.
The second interpretation of the metaphor is focused on a rather deeper level, encompassing the global community. During the 1950s, the whole world was dragged into depression caused by the destruction of thousands of human lives in two world wars. Before that, human life was, by all means, the most important thing that could not be taken away. However, over the years, the asset became nothing but a regular number in the statistics. As a result, the world failed on people, making them a weapon in a continuous fight for superiority. In this context, Moloch is the collective notion for the world leaders that were supposed to protect their people but demanded a sacrifice instead. In terms of religion, all people on Earth, despite their affiliation, are God’s children whose lives were abolished for the sake of one’s selfishness and desperate desire for greediness. Hence, Moloch is a metaphorical depiction of the post-war world that chose in favor of capitalism and profit.
The very structure of the poem is divided into parts, with each of them being distinguished by extensive use of refrains. After the part of Moloch reference, the poem concerned dedication to Carl Solomon, with whom the author was in “Rockland.” To understand this metaphor in the poem, it is necessary to dwell upon the biography of Allen Ginsberg. The author was brought to the mental institutions several times as a result of his arrests for demonstration and explicit anti-war policy. At the time, it was more appropriate for the authorities to claim that someone has mental issues rather than acknowledge the fact that people have the right to say what they want and feel.
American writer Carl Solomon who was famous for his works related to the people who had various experiences in the mental institutions became an inspiration for Ginsberg to write Howl in the first place. The author realized that the real insanity of the world was happening outside the asylums, not from within. Hence, Rockland became a symbol of the mental institutions that locked up people who had something to share with the rest of the world. In the line
I’m with you in Rockland where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep it becomes clear that the United States plays a significant role in the overall poem and the author’s message. The personification of the state in one line with a Rockland reference seemingly intensifies the author’s sarcastic perception of insanity. The historical background of Howl is deeply integrated into despair and world decay. The insanity was not the vice but a completely understandable flaw of then society, making the notion of “mental” an integral part of the world replete with death and illusion. Sometimes, it even seemed that the major issue with the world was the fact that people refused to acknowledge that everything had turned upside down.
The ones with the last chance to bring a grain of truth and sanity to this world are the people who are locked to “hug and kiss the United States under the bedsheets.” Despite their explicit polemics on what was wrong with the world, people like Ginsberg did that because of deep love and care about the American future. However, that type of love was one-sided, as when people tried to hug America, it was “coughing” without letting people live their lives the way they deserved. One might suggest that the whole world is Rockland, where people’s “condition has become serious and is reported on the radio.” Radio reports became a part of the daily routine in the 1950s, where people were used to hearing all the terrible things that happened in the world. Hence, the “condition” of the world deserved to be proclaimed by the asylums because the whole world turned into a mental institution. Hence, Carl Solomon was not the only one who was in Rockland with Ginsberg, the whole world was there too.
Howl was frequently regarded by the authorities as a poem that tried to humiliate the US as a nation in front of the others. It was obvious that in the historical context, state leaders did everything they could to prove their superiority in the world after the war. The caustic commentary on the way people were treated in their homeland would never make state leaders realize their flaws and start acting in favor of the public. The only thing they were able to do was to make sure that the people who spoke from their hearts were considered irrelevant in the world. In the US, the irrelevant were the brilliant ones who tried to address their pain into action, humiliating the aspect of being against the system, and favoring the chaos. As a result, the Ginsbergs of the world had to “stand before you speechless and intelligent and shaking with shame” with their voices muted by the system.
The word “speechless” is such a well-aimed use of metaphor that emphasizes how much people have to say about the ways the world works. The rejection of intelligent people who know more than they should have has always been one of the major flaws of the world, making them outcasts. People like Allen Ginsberg, realizing their curse, are not the ones who feel grateful for it, they beg for ignorance. However, the only thing they are left with is the duty to speak their truth.
How is a poem that has no limits in terms of its interpretation and significance of the literary world? Just as the structure of the poem, the meaning behind the world has brought novelty to the world that was doomed in desperation. Allen Ginsberg was the one whose insanity after the world war was one of the few sane things in the world. The following essay was a minor attempt to take a glance at the world of the metaphors used in the poem, leaving a lot to reflect upon the future.
Work Cited
Ginsberg, Allen. Howl. Penguin, 1956.