Allen Ginsberg’ “Howl” is a piece that sought to publicize an arising culture that was conflictory of the leading culture of the era. Social resistance is a major theme within the first section of howl. For instance, “who balled in the morning in the evenings in rose gardens and the grass of public parks and cemeteries scattering their semen freely to whomever came what may,”. Essentially, Ginsberg wasn’t necessarily being literal when he wrote “scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may”, rather he was supporting another culture that was oppressed, homosexuality. Ginsberg, himself was a homosexual that endured the hardships of being a beatnik, and a homosexual in a time period that ostracized members of both groups, whether it be to psychiatric wards or the outer rim of society. The entirety of Ginsberg’ poem is an accurate representation of his mischievous and rebellious persona which translates to his poem which could be considered an anomaly of itself because it is much more perplexing and different compared to a poem of the era.
Another recurring theme within “Howl” is capitalism. Capitalism is one of the most revolutionary socioeconomic systems to have ever graced civilized society. A system that glorifies entrepreneurship, yet disregards the interests of society as a whole. Ginsberg’s makes capitalism out to be the root of all misfortunes against the rest of society. Furthermore, throughout the second section of “Howl”, Ginsberg refers to “Moloch” repetitively, with most stanzas being a reference to the ill doings of capitalism. For instance “Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!”. In essence, Ginsberg blames capitalism for all the deplorable things that have happened during his era. Ginsberg’ era was coming off two consecutive world wars. Furthermore, an instance of mass destruction in the form of Nagasaki, and Hiroshima had stunned the world. In the modern day Ginsbegs’ claim couldn’t be any truer, as capitalism continues to be a factor within the waging of wars, among a number of other human catastrophes.
The most prevalent theme throughout the entirety of “Howl” is madness, rather, mental illness. Allen Ginsberg seldomly shys away from going into vivid detail regarding the deranged lives of the beatniks including himself. For example” with shaven heads and harlequin speech of suicide, demanding instantaneous lobotomy, and who were given instead the concrete void of insulin Metrazol electricity hydrotherapy psychotherapy occupational therapy pingpong & amnesia, who in humorless protest overturned only one symbolic pingpong table, resting briefly in catatonia, returning years later truly bald except for a wig of blood, and tears and fingers, to the visible madman doom of the wards of the madtowns of the East” essentially, in an effort to publicize the Beat counter culture the Beatniks were instead viewed as “mentally ill” due to the unusual and rebellious behavior of the Beatniks. In a time period that had a rigged cultural identity that emphasized familial values, and religion it was seen as profane and unnatural to be drug dependent as well as being a homosexual. Thus in an effort to counter the dominant culture, the Beatniks were instead driven mad because their efforts yielded varying degrees of success, but ultimately resulted in their classification as being mentally ill for not adhering to the dominant culture.
Self and other is an exploration through the disparity between oneself and the “other” being society as a whole. “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, is a poetic piece that sought to publicize an arising counterculture. A sense of individualism that collided with the mediocrity of American tradition and cultural values resulted in being excluded to the confines of a sub society of rejects and social abnormality. Ginsberg fight is a clear manifestation of “self and other” through his attempt to shatter this social status quo that had been normalized within society. For instance “who threw their watches off the roof to cast their ballot for Eternity outside of Time, & alarm clocks fell on their heads every day for the next decade, who cut their wrists three times successively unsuccessfully, gave up and were forced to open antique stores where they thought they were growing old and cried,” essentially, Ginsberg and his fellow Beatniks sought a life out of the uniformity of the dominant culture. Throughout those two stanzas Ginsberg illustrated the inevitable conformity of Americans, such as alarm clocks falling on their head signifying a typical 9 to 5 work shift, or working in an antique store that offers little to no excitement, rather it’s grounded with repetitiveness. The mid twentieth century was a period of economic prosperity that solidified the united states as a global power, and with it brought a rigged cultural identity such as, suburbanization, nuclear families, religious faith, essentially a life of ideality. Ginsberg’ life centered around secession to the norm of the era. This was evident through his untamed life which included drug abuse, homosexuality, and mental illness which collided with the dominant culture. In all “Howl” paved the way for future generations.
The profane yet inspirational nature of “Howl” brought about immense social and cultural change to a country that was unwilling to yield against the highly stigmatized Beatnik culture. The poem is emblematic of Ginsberg’ struggle for change as he goes into great detail in each and every single stanza regarding his own experience and that of fellow dissenters. Ginsberg’ poem is methodically unstructured as he freely goes through the immense hardships he’s suffered. Ginsberg clearly illustrates themes of social non conformity, capitalism, and mental illness throughout his poem in an effort to persuade the reader from normalcy and emphasize a sense of individuality from the leading contemporary. The strides made by the Beatnik generation aided the normalization of a multitude of cultures and identities which would have otherwise been categorized as abnormal and led to ostracization from mainstream society.
