The modern concepts in the literary world have crept into the works of various writers. The differences in the old and past ways of life have been the subject of the many modern day stories. Many of the conflicts that arise in today’s works focus on the idea of modernization and the effects of it. Two of the famous works that constitute stories of alienation in the modern day world are the “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “The Love Song by J. Prufrock” by T.S Eliot. The tectonic shift to modernization traps people in a stultifying past while present in the modern day environment resulting to alienation, aloofness, and loneliness. This situation is seen in the lives of the major characters of the “Everyday Use” and “The Love Song by J Prufrock”.
The new age has no doubt dominated the world of literature. The modern day dogmas with skewed principles and sophisticated lifestyles spiced further with the hyper-paced technological changes mark great impacts to the society. Some people were adaptive to these changes and have fully embraced the new urban thinking and environment while some are struggling with these life alterations. Some sought the wings to fly with freedom in the enlightenment of a new age while some chose to stay in the comfort zone of their cocoon living in their dark world. There are people that are alienated from the modern day world and decided to remain aloof and lonely.
Elliot’s “The Love Song by J Prufrock” is one great poem that speaks the alienation of being in the modern day urban environment. Eliot has crafted his masterpiece so eloquently making it difficult to understand by just merely reading it once. He is one of the modernist poets influenced by his wide readings from diverse literary giants. In this poem, he adapts Dante’s Inferno and embeds his central theme to one of the episodes of the book. However, he provides no direct reference to the relevance of Dante’s lines in his poem. The contexts are unclear, obscure, hazy, misleading, but rich with intellectual and diverse literary references.
The protagonist of the poem and also the narrator is J Prufrock. The title already declared that the whole poem is about him, his feelings, and his thoughts. The disconnected fragments of his lines present his shattered thoughts and reveal his deep emotions. There is no up-front indication that J Prufrock is struggling over something. But, through understanding of the whole context reveals that he is an utterly dissatisfied and lonely man trapped in a boring modern day urban environment. He is extremely bored with his life recounting all his tedious daily routines which include senseless activities such as walking along endless streets, drinking tea, eating pears, making social visits and others.
The main point of the poem is J Prufrock’s struggle over the one question that matters, but fails to accomplish in the end. The first lines of the poem that states, “Let us go then, you and Ito lead you to an overwhelming question” (Elliot), reveals the direction of the poem. J Prufrock wants to reveal his deep emotions, presumably love as based on the title. However, he is afraid of rejection and concerns for his reputation. In reference to the epigraph, J Prufrock is likened to Dante’s Inferno character of Guido. Guido is in the hell due to his sins but still worries exaggeratedly for his name and reputation. In the same way, J Prufrock fears for his reputation and pride making him reluctant to divulge his overwhelming question directly. He takes forever to decide the matter as if he has all the time in the world.
J Prufrock lives in extreme passivity. He is indecisive and decides automatically to linger to other petty concerns rather than focusing on what matters. He is a coward and awfully fears the idea of rejection. In fact, he has already presumed failure before acting upon his will as seen in the lines “For I have known them already, known them all I have measured out my life with coffee spoons”(line 49 and 51). However, he is not aware that time has run out of him. His indecisiveness and reluctance of doing what matters in his life has run out of his hands. In the lines, “ ‘Do I dare, do I dare?’ Time to turn back and descend the stairWith a bald spot in the middle of my hair- (They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’” (lines 38-41), His passivity has made him lose his chances in this life.
Prufrock alienates himself from the society. He is living by himself making him lonely. The world is turning to the new age and the environment that he is living right now is highly urbanized. The concept describe in the early parts of his poem where he states the presence of busy streets, cheap hotels, many faces he met coming in and out of work and others reveals modernization . However, Prufrock is not able to react positively with the changes in his life. He spent his daily routines doing nothing and not doing anything to make his future secured. He is single for most of his life. He doesn’t have a partner to live with as he is nearing the end days of his life. He is also getting sick. This situation is evident in the lines, “My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin- (They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)” (line 42-43). He is getting old and getting sick. A quote from the poem that states, “I have seen the moment of my greatness flickerAnd I have seen the eternal footman hold my coat and snicker”, means that he has lived his life worthlessly and now he is facing death. In the last stanza, Prufrock describes a world in the sea with mermaids and wants to get drown and die. It is a vivid statement that he is utterly lonely and wants to end his life. Prufrock literally missed the chance of getting the most of his life, like the experience of loving and to be loved in return. His pessimistic view of the current modern world made him aloof of the many changes and does not want to go with the changes happening around him. His attitude in the new world makes him static and dominantly wanting to stay hidden in the safe but lonely part. But now he lost the time to taste the positive side of life. He had no guts to try an adventure to love. He is a coward to feel the pain, and it has embittered him all the more. Now he must say goodbye to this sweet life. And he is going to the Inferno he described in his epigraph.
Another literary work that speaks about alienation, loneliness and aloofness in the modern day world is Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”. This is a story of a family composed of a mother with two daughters. The mother’s daughters are two contrasting creatures. Dee is described as well-off, arrogant, educated, beautiful, and easy going. The other one Maggie is aloof, composed, reserved, shy, humble and illiterate. Maggie, as the mother describes, has a low self-esteem and is jealous of her sister because of the scars and burns she has on her arms and body when they had an unfortunate fire accident many years ago. She has been living in the comfort of her mother ever since, not wanting to get exposed to the world. Dee was able to go to school while Maggie resolved to stay at home.
They are a black family with a rich heritage of living with strong family bonds with their extended families. This fact is evident in the quilts that they are fabricating where contributions of their generations are put together in quilts. The modern day blacks are leaving as free people now. They are free to get education and live their lives. The shift of the modern day influences has touched these three lives in one way, or another. The mother, being part of the past, has not been fully freed from the perspective of slavery and poverty in her mind. She lives in the country uneducated and does not have any idea about the modern day culture. She is alienated from the new world as she continues to thrive and survive life by working as a man. Maggie is in a cage in of a limited world where her mother is always around. She is not educated and cannot catch up with the modern world. Her outlook is also short sighted, and she is afraid to venture outside her comfort zone. The lack of education for these people has alienated them from the modern life and traps them in the traditional lifestyle based on their heritage, unscarred with modern influence of doing commerce and application of modern technologies.
Dee, the other daughter, immerses herself in the real modern world. Her mother was able to find ways for her to get to school. She is educated, well read, and wants to know more. However, her zest for knowledge has uprooted her from her heritage. She lost her identity when she decided to have her name changed. The education she has taken made her want to forget her roots. She doesn’t like her origin. When she got hold of the new world via education, she immediately embraced the modern way lifestyles and skewed principles. It is her way of retreating from her past and tries to wipe the oppression that she felt due to her being black. However, she is not an exemplary ambassador of the new world. The modern views that she captured in her mind alienated her from her true being, her real bloodline and her heritage. She condemns her culture and wants to replace it with a new one.
The exposure of Dee in the modern world and the education she had made a negative impact to her life. When she visits her family, she is already aloof from the traditional life she had. She wanted to get the quilts that mark the heritage of her family. This desire to get such valuable thing owned by the family is due to her perspective that her bloodline and heritage is already receding. Thus, she want to capture what is still existent, through the quilts and handiwork found in the house, and display it permanently. However, the mother saw that Dee’s purpose is not right. In the end, she gave them to Maggie knowing that Maggie would use them the way it is intended to use, that is for everyday use. Wear and tear are possible, but, Maggie knows how to quilt. Maggie would be able to make a new quilt and patch up memories from the older quilt. When the quilt is in the hands of Maggie, the heritage of the family would continue and would live to the next generations. But if the quilt stayed on the hands of Dee, the quilt stays forever displayed on walls, but the heritage halts there.
The two literary works starkly revealed how the modern day culture has crept into the lives of people. People react to changes differently. However, in these works, the invasion of modernization results to alienation. The characters are not susceptible to change. Thus, there are negative impacts to their lives. As a result, they are aloof to themselves and detached from the real world. The transition from a traditional lifestyle to modern ways made them react differently and cultivate wrong perspectives. In the end, they live a lonely life. Prufrock, getting old and sick fails to get hold of the essentials of life like love. Thus, he ends up alone, and wanting to die and drown in the sea. Dee or Wangero, is immersed in the modern world but made her forget her roots. She lost her identity, spent an aloof life with the traditional way of her family, and now she is lonely because she has lost herself entirely. The saddest part is that, she intentionally wants to bury her past, making her loose her family and herself.
References:
Elliot, T.S. “The Love Song by J. Prufrock”. (1915). PDF.
Walker, lice. “Everyday Use”. (1973). PDF
