The Soul Perseveres and Evolves in Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” (1955)

“rejected yet confessing out / the soul to conform to the rhythm of thought in his naked and endless head” (Ginsberg, I).

Society expects the narrator to conform to the expectations it creates. The narrator is judged for who he is; he is deemed other by a majority that wants to tell him how to think. The rejection he feels is a response to that prescription, but he instead “confesses” his thoughts. The soul is incapable of social conformity unless that conformity is expected of the “rhythm of [his] thought.”

Our thoughts belong to our identity—they are “naked” in the sense they can be the raw, uncensored ideas our minds try to make sense of, and we cannot necessarily deny. In Part I of the poem, it seems the soul is the only thing that can stay true to itself (but still evolve) despite those constructions.

“Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness” (Ginsberg, II).

The speaker and Moloch are connected. If Moloch is capitalism’s soul, the narrator’s soul is only a singular stream forcefully linked to Moloch’s consciousness. In other words, the narrator’s soul is restricted because of Moloch, but also becomes a part of it. His soul is expected to adhere to Moloch’s direction, but if we consider Part I of the poem, the soul will persevere because it is free of social conformity.

Moloch is also a representation of a loss of innocence and can potentially relate to the line “who entered my soul early.” Moloch is inescapable for the narrator, but he maintains his own spiritual identity.

“fifty more shocks will never return your soul to / its body again from its pilgrimage to a cross in the / void” (Ginsberg, III).

The soul is finally separated from its physical body in Part III—in this case, Solomon cannot be resuscitated. His soul wanders into a void symbolic of emptiness but also clarity. Solomon cannot escape judgement, but his soul can and did in his supposed death. The soul can constantly evolve and explore regardless of the social isolation it feels. That isolation is a void in itself, but it could be a space to reflect as Solomon may do in his void.

Ginsberg, Allen. “Howl by Allen Ginsberg.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 1955, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl.

Dehumanization in “The Jungle” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”

This podcast, produced by Natalia Flores and Hudson Hooton, aims to explore and analyze dehumanization in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Charlotte Gilman-Perkins’ The Yellow Wallpaper. In The Jungle, Sinclair is determined to reveal cracks in American capitalism, how the system abuses its workers, especially immigrants, that are often more susceptible to the abuses of poor working conditions and the naivety of the American dream. Likewise, Charlotte Gilman Perkins examines the value of the body through a mentally-ill woman, the narrator, placed on bed rest by her husband, a physician, and essentially rendered helpless, inept and sees her sanity vanish by the end of The Yellow Wallpaper. Both have instances of successfully critiquing the dehumanization of oppressed people at the hands of the hegemonically powerful. While Gilman Perkins is intentionally attempting to warn the reader of the perilous danger of gendered dehumanization, Sinclair’s portrayal of the worker dehumanization leaves the reader unclear with what he is attempting to persuade us of. At times, Sinclair is hypocritical and plays directly into the very same oppressive power structure he aims to critique. The podcast was inspired by the stimulating discussions of our classmates, and of course would not be possible without the help of Professor Erica Richardson.

Works Cited

Fredrickson, Barbara L., and Tomi-Ann Roberts. “Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women’s Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks.” Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 2, 1997. 

Min, Sungeun. “Commodification.” Commodification | Neoliberalism, University of Georgia, 2020, http://neolib.uga.edu/commodification.php. 

“Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry.” CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION: Bill of Rights in Action, vol. 24, no. 1, 2008, https://doi.org/https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-24-1-b-upton-sinclairs-the-jungle-muckraking-the-meat-packing-industry.html#:~:text=Sinclair’s%20The%20Jungle%3A-,Muckraking%20the%20Meat%2DPacking%20Industry,new%20federal%20food%20safety%20laws`. 

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Standard Ebooks, 2014.

Welcome to the week “No-No Boy” John Okada

 

 

Intro about WWII

  • Pearl harbor
  • Japanese Internment
  • Chinese Exclusion Act
  • Atomic Bombs

 

Questions:

  • Do you think Ichiro’s Mother genuinely believes that Japan won the war, or is she in heavy denial?  Is it a coping mechanism for the trauma of the internment camps and justification for her son going to prison?  Pride? Hubris?

 

  • What is Ichi’s point of view after everything is said and done?  He tells us alot about what he hates in the world, and who he hates, and how painful his life has been.  What does he have to live for?  What is the point of moving forward if everything you know is destroyed or a lie?

 

  • How does Freddie act as a perfect foil for Ichi?  A foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another to highlight the traits of the other.  Freddie is another No-No Boy, so how does his outlook and experiences highlight either the futility or reality of Ichi’s experience?

Passage 1

[“Sure ,” he said, but he told himself that he understood, that the reason why Taro was not a son and not a brother was because he was young and American and Alien to his parents, who had lived in America for thirty five years without becoming less Japanese and could speak only a few broken words of English and write it not at all, and because taro hated that thing in his elder brother which had prevented him from thinking for himself. ]

Passage 2

[ Mr. Kumasaka placed a hand on the rounded back of his wife, who was forever beyond consoling, and spoke gently to Ichiro: “you don’t have to say anything. You are truly sorry, and I am sorry for you.”

“I didn’t know” he said pleadingly”

“I want you to feel free to come and visit us whenever you wish. We can talk even if your mother’s convictions are different.”

“She’s crazy. Mean and crazy. Goddamned Jap!”

He felt the tears hot and stinging. 

“Try to understand her.” ] 

Blog Post on Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”

“Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream Angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!” – Part II

 

I think this is the line where he says Moloch the most times.  It stuck out to me because the entire poem is written with almost the same starting phrase or word that differs with each part.  This example is ginsberg taking it to the extreme in my opinion.

 

“who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturers on Dadaism and subsequently presented themselves on the granite steps of the madhouse with shaven heads and harlequin speech of suicide, demanding instantaneous lobotomy” – Part I

 

I love this line because of the descriptive imagery.  I think throwing potato salad is such a real and pedestrian phrase, but in this context it is more visceral and powerful.  I also love how the second half of the line is so vulgar, it exemplifies the public reaction to the vulgarness of the poem.  The speech of public suicide is this poem in itself because of how risky it is to publish.

 

“I’m with you in Rockland

   where you’ve murdered your twelve secretaries

I’m with you in Rockland

   where you laugh at this invisible humor

I’m with you in Rockland

   where we are great writers on the same dreadful typewriter” – Part III

The connection between secretaries and typewriter is strong.  Then the connection between the typewriter as a tool to write that Ginsberg also uses connects him to the murders.  It is the sense that all people are being assaulted by the same force, but that the solidarity that Ginsberg has with his people is an almost invisible connection.  It is stronger than murders because of the power of literature.  One can share the written word, and those written words can connect people beyond what is observed on the surface level.

Annotations from “Howl” (1955) by Allen Ginsberg

“who coughed on the sixth floor of Harlem crowned with flame under the tubercular sky surrounded by orange crates of theology…who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown…who journeyed to Denver, who died in Denver, who came back to Denver & waited in vain…who retired to Mexico to cultivate a habit, or Rocky Mount to tender Buddha”

  • The poem’s setting starts off locally in New York City and then expands beyond the state and then into other countries entirely, which goes to show the “nightmare world” Judge Horn’s was talking about in his analysis of the first section doesn’t pertain to city life in general. Allen Ginsberg took us on a journey and we traveled along the borders and saw closure for many things taking place whether it’s life, work, or relationship. Sickness in Harlem, suicidal attempt in Brookly, and death in Denver even in Mexico somebody’s daily routine was disrupted wether willingly or unwillingly. Things weren’t going to be the same anymore after that. I believe that can be some sort of foreshadowing into the future. Ginsberg is warning us of the rapid and ever-lasting change industrialization is going to create and how unsatisfying city life will become and the complexity life will usher. Many will have insatiable desires and may never be content all their lives.

 

“Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!”

 

  • Here, Ginsberg metaphorically personifies the town of Moloch as he describes what it’s like. He says, “Moloch whose blood is running money” which could mean that the working class are affording their livelihood literally through blood, sweat, and tears as they are working continuously hard just like in Packingtown. The hard work of these people is generating millions of dollars for business owners. Also, “Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb” and that could mean the chimney just overwhelms the atmosphere with the smoke from the machinery and that harms the environment. The polluted air with “Moloch whose fingers are ten armies” or overcrowdedness of the town is adding to the horrible living and working conditions of the people. Judge Horn said that this section, “an indictment of those elements in modern society destructive of the best qualities of human nature” and in this case these elements are intensive labor.

 

“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”

  • Once again, Ginsberg is attributing human qualities to something non-human and here it’s the United States. I interpreted this line as if despite the United States always stirring things abroad regarding “democracy” but never at home, we still give it the benefit of the doubt and trust it’s doing the right thing. The United States is disruptive and enjoys being the center of attention to the point that most of its major cities never sleep. They are constantly on the move and trying to contribute to the agenda.

Annotating “Howl” By Allen Ginsberg

“…who wandered around and around at midnight in the railroad yard wondering where to go, and went, leaving no broken hearts…”

The imagery of these lines is powerful. The part “leaving no broken hearts”  can be interpreted in two ways. One which suggests that they are leaving behind no one who loves them or who cares for them, and the other suggesting that their own hearts are not broken because they don’t care that they are leaving since they have no attachment for the place they are in.

“They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven!” 

I found the reference to Moloch in this sentence interesting. Moloch was a Canaanite deity who was “associated in biblical sources with the practice of child sacrifice.” I think the having these people who Ginsberg considers to have “the best minds” metaphorically lifting this evil creature to success, highlights Ginsberg’s point of how society encourages the waste of their potential ultimately driving them to madness or to the loss of their abilities.

“I’m with you in Rockland

where fifty more shocks will never return your soul to its body again from its pilgrimage to a cross in the void”

These lines allude to the shock therapy that American writer Carol Solomon received as treatment for his depression. The imagery here as well is striking with Ginsberg describing death as the “pilgrimage of the soul to a cross in the void”

Blog post Annotating Allen Ginsbergs’s “Howl”

“Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius!”

Here we see the word “Moloch” being used to emphasize the corruption of the world. Talking about how society is what has caused these people to go insane. Moloch is made up of all the corruption, politics, capitalism and society’s frowned upon stance on homosexuality. He also says “whose poverty is the specter of genius” implying that he believes this is all done with intention, a system of genius meant to put down people.

“Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies!”

Again he is talking about the system that is America, the fingers meaning how the country has its firm hold on the world through evil, death, and violence through war and other methods, which by extension implicants young innocent men who have orders and duty to complete this country’s machine like thinking not caring how affects those it commands.

“I saw the best Minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked”

You could say this really sums up one of the major themes of the poem at the very beginning, however the reason why it stuck out to me so much is because he talks about the people being affected being some of the smartest people he has ever known. Later on we see him talk about the pure genius system put in place to put people down, having its way with even the brightest there is, so imagine the toll it takes on those who aren’t.

Annotating Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” (1955)

“who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,” – Part 1

With the common theme of speaking on people who follow “the road not taken” by being different from what society deems as normal or acceptable. This quote is profound in the way it uses the labeling of ‘crazy’ to emphasize the divide from sane and insane and how easy it is for a society to physically alienate a person for having different views. Ginsberg alludes to the mind when they say windows in the skull.”

Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks! – Part 2 

This entire part in particular is very interesting as it uses the repetition of the name Moloch and according to the Britannica Encyclopedia, “ Moloch, also spelled Molech, a Canaanite deity associated in biblical sources with the practice of child sacrifice… In the Hebrew Bible, Moloch is presented as a foreign deity who was at times illegitimately given a place in Israel’s worship as a result of the syncretistic policies of certain apostate kings. The laws given to Moses by God expressly forbade the Jews to do what was done in Egypt or in Canaan.” The significance of this name after reading the different meanings of the name creates a sense of rage and pain as Ginsber continues on naming horrible things, “ Solitude! Filth! Ugliness!..” 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moloch-ancient-god#:~:text=Moloch%2C%20also%20spelled%20Molech%2C%20a,the%20practice%20of%20child%20sacrifice.

 “where we hug and kiss the United States under our bed sheets the United States that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep” – Part 3 

This quote does an interesting use of personifying the United States by talking about a country as if it were a corporeal being that you can actually lay down next to. This is significant because in a way it can be interpreted as an allusion to the American dream as many glorify coming to live in the United States but only to suffer the consequences of facing the struggles of actually living in the United States. The US especially in this time of civil rights movement more than ever was far from being the “land of the free” where just your complexion was enough to determine your value in society.

 

Blog post Annotating Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,”

In these lines, Ginsberg uses hyperbolic language to emphasize the dire situation of the people he is describing. “Destroyed by madness” and “starving hysterical naked” are extreme phrases that emphasize how the people he saw were in a state of desperation and hopelessness. The mention of “negro streets” is significant as well, as it reflects the social and racial tensions of the time period. The 1950s, when “Howl” was written, were marked by the civil rights movement and growing racial tensions in the United States.

“who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz”

The juxtaposition of poverty and “the supernatural darkness” creates a striking contrast, highlighting the bleak living conditions of the people Ginsberg is describing. The mention of jazz is significant as well, as it was an important art form in African American culture and had a significant influence on the Beat Generation of writers, of which Ginsberg was a part.

“who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,”

The use of the word “expelled” here suggests that the people Ginsberg is describing were punished or cast out of traditional academic institutions for their unconventional behavior and beliefs.

The phrase “obscene odes on the windows of the skull” is a metaphor that suggests that these people were expressing their thoughts and emotions in a raw and unfiltered way, without regard for social norms or expectations. This is a common theme throughout the poem, as Ginsberg celebrates the power of individual expression and the rejection of conformity