An Ode To A Better America: Analysis Of Allen Ginsberg'S "A Supermarket In Califronia"

The freedom to express oneself regarding cultural criticism within an environment in desperate seek of reform is essential for human beings to seek out the change needed for people to prosper without harming human order. Such criticism is primarily directed to government organizations for unjustified actions, thereby articulating their beliefs to establish a symbiotic relationship through various creative works of literary expression. Although the creative works may not institute concrete change, it gives “the voiceless” a voice surrounding issues that impose on their lives, offering hope in a world they seem to be alone in.

Allen Ginsberg’s work “A Supermarket in California” is no exception, as it is a convoluted poetic piece that indicts socio-political aspects of American government and culture during the 1950s. Through the use of cardinal figurative language and vivid imagery, Ginsberg actively castigates symbols and themes of modern consumerist culture, societal conformity, and the alienation of human sexuality as a plea to rejuvenate a new American dream lost by society.

In theory, modern consumerist culture is a powerful force that affects human life all across the globe, referring to not only factors such as advertisements but a concealed idea; for people to have a better life, they must accumulate more items in their lifetime. In practice, consumerist ideology enslaves individuals to fuel capitalistic tendencies. Ginsberg’s approach to the culture is by comparing the atmosphere in his poem to the famous poet Walt Whitman’s time, a natural era depicting the beauty of traditional American values. Whitman is an important vehicle and apostrophe in the poem, as Ginsberg idolizes him for his poetic talents and literary works. In stanza one, he states “What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!” (1-2). Ginsberg, who is lonely walking down an American side-street with an “a headache self-conscious under the moon”, channels Whitman as a muse; a source for inspiration to make sense of what is going around him.

These lines reveal the poetic structure to be in free verse, or no set poetic rhyme scheme or meter, symbolizing Ginsberg’s thoughts as dispersed which sets a puzzled, yet curious and contemplative tone. Going alongside this notion, the imagery of neon fruit is a metaphor for the presence of capitalistic practices, turning America into an artificial and flashy place. His “hungry fatigue” being exposed to advertisements and propaganda forced him to “shop for images” than physical entities. Moreover, Ginsberg further describes the supermarket’s contents and exclaims, “What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons? ”.

Ginsberg finds an overlooked “dark” side of the supermarket, where “nuclear families” are shown enjoying their time engulfed in the modern-consumerist culture. It is also notable for Ginsberg to introduce another apostrophe with Garcia Lorca, a Spanish poet during WW2 whose work was censored by the fascist Spanish government and is likely another comparison to reinforce the contrast of the supermarket. As a whole, Ginsberg’s portrayal of a modern consumerist setting overshadowed by the will to be happy is a crucial ideology that hurts the American dream he wants back. Due to the effects of modern consumerist culture, maintaining happiness is important to maintain one’s self-image in Ginsberg’s America. Similarly, human sexuality is also key to maintaining an individual’s self-image. However, some government organizations and individuals conform to certain ideologies that are not subject to change, channeled by emotional resentment and religious ideology. By that standard, there becomes an underlying problem to accept individuals with sexual preferences outside of the scope of accepted ideology, especially homosexuality. Going alongside this notion, during Ginsberg’s time, who was, in fact, a homosexual, could not publicly express his sexual orientation, and therefore expressed it subtly in the poem. Moreover, Whitman, who Ginsberg also hints at being homosexual, is indirectly referenced several times. He states in the second stanza, "I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.

Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel? ” (4-5). This shows Ginsberg's sympathy for Whitman, and how he shares feelings of hiding his sexual orientation, leading to feelings of being “lonely”, “childless”, and then, “eyeing the grocery boys”. It seems Whitman is looking for sex when he mentions "Poking among the meats", but then asks a wholesome question, “Are you, my Angel? ”, which is a lot more heartful to the situation at hand, possibly pointing out that this whole conversation is just a Freudian slip. With this in mind, Ginsberg concludes the second stanza with, “I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective. . . solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier” (6-7). Ginsberg visualizes the “brilliant stacks of cans” in the supermarket as a building or tower, similar to strolling in a modern city with neon lights and advertisements as described earlier. He also imagines a store detective following Whitman and him, another instance of repressing homosexual emotions, as this idea depicts feelings of love for Whitman, where the supermarket is a venue for them to escape societal resentment, but in reality, it is the complete opposite. Therefore, Ginsberg and Whitman are distanced from American culture by hiding their sexual orientation, as well as the consumerist culture they cannot grasp, a destruction of the American dream.

Because of societies bandwagoning on certain ideologies and trends inspired by governmental organizations and radical ideological groups, societal conformity happens rapidly. An important aspect of this rationalization is that other people replicate the behavior, especially in a modern-consumerist and homophobic culture. The third and final stanza encompasses this idea altogether, where all three elements Ginsberg heavily castigates is brought to light. He asks Whitman in stanza three, “Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight? (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd)” (8-9). By Ginsberg stating in a parenthetical statement that this whole trip to the supermarket is "absurd” as well as calling supermarket trip an "odyssey,", a reference to Homer’s Greek poem, is the supermarket is ironic to be considered a grand journey of sorts, symbolizing the painfully simplistic and normality of American culture. By the same token, by using Whitman as a metaphorical compass, Ginsberg hopes to be properly guided in the proper direction of the American dream lost by the societal conformity, depicting its future as capitalistic and heteronormative. Continuing this dialogue with Ginsberg he also asks, “Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely. . . past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage? ” (10-11). It is possibly suggested as a motive to return to principle or a return of spiritual truth and self-reliance.

By the mere example of the modern grocery store individuals live beyond their own means–and should seek the truth of old American transcendentalist. Humans should not care about the mechanical concept of life, the automobiles, modern consumerism– but instead the organic, spiritual thought and truth of old America. Ginsberg cannot provide an answer himself, therefore by turning to Whitman, it is clear that the answer is to maintain the past when moving closer to a socially conformed culture, demolishing the American dream; an America they can’t seem to remember what went wrong. In the final analysis, Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California” uses cardinal figurative language and vivid imagery to convey his despondency with mass-produced modern consumerist culture, social conformity, and the alienation of human sexuality. Ginsberg concludes the last lines of the poem with “Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood to watch the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe? ” (12).

These lines are direct references to Greek mythology, where Charon, the guardian of Hades, ferried souls across the River Styx to the afterlife, implying that Whitman never made it to Hades. Conversely, he was stranded on a bank of the River Lethe, another river that ran into the Underworld, forgotten like America. Moving on, Ginsberg’s frustration is still relevant in today’s society, contemporary to Whitman’s 19th century naturalistic lifestyle. Ginsberg compares such a society that he does not enjoy to live into the organic and natural beauty of the world of Whitman: it forgets the past and what is natural; exactly where the American dream fails to exist.