Howl: WHEN SPEAKING UP ISN’T LOUD ENOUGH
The first few lines describes the main characters of Ginsberg’s story. These best minds that are troubled. There is a lot of flowery wording but it breaks down to people who go around trying to find religion, and need drugs. Next few lines make several more religious references. Mohammed is mentioned along with the Hebrew word for God. Nothing here has any focus, it’s all just preamble or context for the rest of Ginsberg’s story.
Ginsberg then begins to list out and detail all the things he dislikes. He and his fellows are considered the “best minds,” so the “worst minds” were just about everyone else in the educational system. Since there is a direct opposition to the realm of academia,…show more content… And that terrible affliction is named Molock. The original Molock is kind of an old school Demon that basically eats babies. In Howl, Ginsberg uses the name Molock to equate all the evil he sees to the same level. While things like may college may not be equal to a baby eating demon, this comparison is used mostly for shock value. The next few lines are all dedicated to overall or larger bad things. Institutions like schools, prisons, government, and the entire concept of monetary wealth. But after those, Ginsberg names several more broad and conceptual things. Like how the American dream is not being obtainable. How the failure to meet or achieve happiness, is ruining so many generations of people.
The final section is about rockland, the mental institution where Ginsberg spent a lot of quality time. Most of the lines are spent describing just how much mental issues Ginsberg has. From delusions to losing control of his senses. This loss of control is then contrasted with how the mistreatment Ginsberg received at the institution is doing nothing to…show more content… The answer to the universe and all its mysteries is 42, and everything I’ve written above, all have one thing in common. Context is important. Without all the details and knowledge of what everything means, nothing can be gained. To quote one of my favorite games “he who knows nothing, can understand nothing.”
After all this is where I begin to see into Ginsbergs head. Or rather I see what the problem was. Howl is written from his head and he doesn’t do much of anything to translate it into a more common medium for most people to plainly understand. Ginsberg relied far too much on hoping his readers would be “in the know” enough to understand what he was trying to say. Even a translation loses some of a works original meaning. When an individual has to find other sources of information to not translate, but explain the meaning of your message, then your message has