Allen Ginsberg, A Supermarket in California Literary...

Jasamyn Wimmer English 1B Professor Kleinman 5 March 2013 Brief Literary Analysis Lost America: An analysis of â€Å"A Supermarket in California† Allen Ginsberg; philosopher, activist, poet, a man highly revered as a groundbreaking figure between the 1950’s Beat Poetry Generation and the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960’s (poetryarchive.org). Ginsberg’s first book â€Å"Howl and Other Poems,† was published in 1955, his work was involved in an illustrious obscenity trial because of the use of homosexuality in his work and its explicit content (poetryarchive.org). This was a pivotal case for those defending free speech; the judgment was overturned due to the book’s â€Å"redeeming social importance,† thus setting the tone for his†¦show more content†¦The author calls Whitman â€Å"childless,† he is still referring to the family structure, and how they as gay men don’t get to participate in it. This Part has a sense of Ginsberg’s loneliness, underlining nostalgia, and unsaid bitterness. â€Å"Who killed the pork chops?...Are you my angel?† (13-14) This is when Ginsberg introduces death and the disconnection people have with where their food comes from and who butchers the meat (Moore 1). Again, the author is commenting on a complete disconnection and bastardization of nature. Ginsberg and Whitman continue to meander through the store, imaginarily trailed by the store detective, feeling suspicious, strange, and exposed in this atmosphere. They continue to stroll euphorically and take a pleasure cruise sightseeing in the produce when they are interrupted by an announcement, â€Å"The doors close in an hour,† abruptly ending their trancelike state and inspiring a sense of uncertainty as they leave the market. Reality has set in and they walk without destination, lost in thoughts of the world around them. â€Å"The lights will be out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely† (26-27). The supermarket adventure has come to an end, leaving only ques tions of the future. In the final stanza Ginsberg further expresses his feelings of isolation from the mainstream. â€Å"Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love†¦. Home to our silent cottage?†Show MoreRelatedEssay on Jack Kerouacs On the Road and Allen Ginsbergs Howl3843 Words   |  16 PagesJack Kerouacs On the Road and Allen Ginsbergs Howl Works Cited It was a 1951 TIME cover story, which dubbed the Beats a ‘Silent Generation, ’ that led to Allen Ginsberg’s retort in his poem ‘America,’ in which he vocalises a frustration at this loss of self- importance. The fifties Beat Generation, notably through Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl#61482; as will here be discussed, fought to revitalise individuality and revolutionise their censored society which seemed to