Violence and Social Masks

We have learned to live with violence as part of our routine; however, I am not talking about the one who appears in TV (murders, robbery or rape).

We have learned to cover and accept another kind of violence that society exerts on us and we exert on the rest. We have learn to justify it; “he/she´s not being serious”, “that´s normal” or “don´t take it personal”.

“Who´s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is a 1962 play by Edward Albee which is based on the volatile relationship of a middle aged married couple, Martha and George.

This couple, as a hyperbolic representation of social relationships, have embraced this violence and made it part of their communication by involving themselves in violent emotional games without taking into consideration the danger. Their relationship is a clear representation of the indirect offensive seen in the Cold War as they continuously get into “verbal battles” justified as jokes. In that sense, there is not a real war; it is a blurred view of real and fake feelings.

 Both have destructive personalities and know perfectly each other weaknesses and how to take advantages of them. On the one hand, George is firstly presented as an introverted man who is in a weaker position facing Martha; nonetheless, he takes place later as a merciless player considering he knows deeply the rules of the game.

On the other hand, Martha shows an aggressive and dominant personality, however, she is just a frustrated and vulnerable woman who does not reveal her inner self until the end. A clue of this is shown at the beginning of the story in in the following lines:

“George: You´re a monster - you are

Martha: I´m loud and I´m vulgar… but, I am not a monster, I´m not”

(Albee, 1962)

What is shown in character´s interaction is that the feelings they displayed are as real as fake since they express their frustrations but always under the cover of jokes. “Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf?” or, who is afraid of really showing his/her feelings; of having a real war without the shelter of the fakeness?

Martha is afraid, and after being defeated by George, there is nothing left but howls her feelings. 

Martha let go the invention of the son and from then on, they must affront life and each other without the shield of violence. 

In that sense “Virginia Woolf” or actually “the big bad wolf”, represents being able to show yourself truly with your fears and insecurities, to be yourself. 

But, which are the consequences?

of normalized humiliation, manipulation, sarcasm and insults?

of settled hurtful lovers and relationships?

of normalized violence and “constructive criticism”?

What does happen if it is too hard to play this game?  

Ginsberg expresses his perception related to this cruel game, desperation and frustration which cannot be contented.

“Howl” is a poem written in 1955 and published in 1956. Its syntax shows us a non-premeditated speech, more precisely seen as a raw, aggressive, painful and sad howl of emotions.

From my point of view, it can be seen as Ginsberg´s exhibition of the consequences that leaves the pressure putted by this violent model of social interaction on people and which destroyed many of his friends.

The poem is strongly influenced by Ginsberg´s life experiences, for example, the period when we worked in advertising. These lines it implies reference of war´s violence the same as in “Who´s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” ;

“who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Avenue
amid blasts of leaden verse & the tanked-up clatter of the iron regiments of fashion & the nitroglycerine shrieks of
the fairies of advertising & the mustard gas of sinister intelligent editors, or were run down by the drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality”

(Ginsberg, 1956)

After leaving Columbia, Ginsberg first went to work for a Madison Avenue advertising agency, and it is in these lines where he tells his personal experience trough allegory between advertising industry and a battlefield.

Thus, what does happen if some decide not to play this game anymore? Maybe I will “see the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked” (Ginsberg, 1956). The poem was dedicated to Carl Solomon, a close friend who had been treated with shock therapy due to his depression. Did Solomon, one of these “best minds”, succumb to madness or actually cannot handle to live among violence?

In a game where you find blood even under your nails or even in a| lovely house in a college neighborhood, only madness is left and madness seems to be the only way out.

According to Ginsberg (1956), those men who repudiated the cruel competition of survival and decided to make themselves vulnerable “were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull”; the ones who feel and love more were stigmatized as crazy. Thus, we can find the best the most sensitive minds of our generations in the street, into the woods, hermits and misfits, who decided to abandon the cruel game, the rate race of destruction, of capitalism.

In the end, what can we do?

Take our weapons and enlist in the sadistic game?

Or cling to Beats´ thought, overcome the fear of the big bad wolf, open your soul, and love by the sound of a jazz song?

It is up to you…..

References

Ginsberg. A. (1956). Howl. San Francisco: city Light Books 

Albee, E. (1962). Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?: A play. New York: Pocket Books.