What does "The Graduate" say about the youth?

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Reply Sun 14 Mar, 2010 09:24 pm
I just finished the "Graduate," and it got me thinking about what it means to be someone of youth. Rebelling and such. And also the amount of passion and energy one may have to fulfill their ambitions is extraordinary.

What do you think the Graduate has to say about youth?
 
Jebediah
 
Reply Sun 14 Mar, 2010 09:46 pm
@LittleMathYou,
It speaks about the period where you leave the track that's been laid out for you by your parents and wonder what the heck you are supposed to do. I remember him floating in the swimming pool a lot.

Fight Club has a similar theme to it, but instead of just getting a girl he has to confront himself first.
 
kennethamy
 
Reply Mon 15 Mar, 2010 07:04 am
@LittleMathYou,
LittleMathYou;139779 wrote:
I just finished the "Graduate," and it got me thinking about what it means to be someone of youth. Rebelling and such. And also the amount of passion and energy one may have to fulfill their ambitions is extraordinary.

What do you think the Graduate has to say about youth?


Probably that when you are young and foolish, you are young and foolish.
 
jgweed
 
Reply Mon 15 Mar, 2010 08:09 am
@LittleMathYou,
"The problem with youth is that it is wasted on the young."

Coming-of-age novels are about the struggle to liberate oneself and to become "authentic." To youth, with their boundless energy and passion, this struggle is terribly important, and rightly so, too. Each protagonist demonstrates both common and individual stories of these attempts, some of which end in tragedy and some of which end in individual victory.
 
kennethamy
 
Reply Mon 15 Mar, 2010 08:40 am
@jgweed,
jgweed;139913 wrote:
"The problem with youth is that it is wasted on the young."

Coming-of-age novels are about the struggle to liberate oneself and to become "authentic." To youth, with their boundless energy and passion, this struggle is terribly important, and rightly so, too. Each protagonist demonstrates both common and individual stories of these attempts, some of which end in tragedy and some of which end in individual victory.


I really don't see that. What should Benjamin have done instead of what he did? Where is the waste? It doesn't seem to me that the older characters did any better. In fact, they did a lot worse than Benjamin.
 
LittleMathYou
 
Reply Mon 15 Mar, 2010 05:27 pm
@kennethamy,
I guess I'm just not exactly sure what he did do. He did well in college, and then took a break from education while he had sexual relations. Then he met someone he actually came to love. The girl's father did not like Ben marrying his daughter, and rightly so. Ben had sex with his wife, and now he wants to marry his daughter? Ben's father grows tired of Ben laying around the house lazily, and rightly so. He can't live off his parent's money, no matter how well he did in college.

I feel that Ben didn't do anything rebel like, he just got into a situation where a lot of people grow angry or tired of him.

Yes, if you sleep with someones wife, and then want to marry their daughter, you will get resentment.

Yes, if you spend weeks living on your parents money as a 20 something, your father will grow tired of you.

Driving around Berkly in a convertable trying to win a girl's heart isn't exactly trail blazing. Although its not mundane either.
 
 

 
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