Alden Farrar English 390 Professor Wentworth May 1, 2012 Burroughs Flips the Script The long addiction

had emancipated Burroughs from the conditioning of his time (Tytell 49) Through Junky and the character of Bill Lee, William S. Burroughs demonstrates an obscure yet furtive approach to the quest for self-reliance in the face of a corrosive culture of postwar consumerism. By romanticizing drug use and crime, Burroughs is able to effectively critique the American dream and his uppermiddle class upbringing. Burroughs contempt for his past, authority, and bureaucracy causes him to flee in search of genuine freedom on the other side. In Junky, Bill Lee (William Burroughs) is able to obtain freedom, world experience and adventure despite society labeling him as a slave to substance. The quest for freedom and self-reliance is what spurs Bill Lees existence and his approach to this freedom, junk addiction, is what is driving his resistance. In order to combat the alienation, restlessness and dissatisfaction of the times, Lee adopts a personal dependency on junk over the social dependency and destructive nature of his society. Independence is Lees only lasting goal; even the thirst for junk can be subdued if only for a short time. The need for independence though is constant. For this reason, it is fitting that Lee chooses farming as his occupation when he goes to Texas. He believed it to be a practical route to self sufficiency (Tytell 41). However according to his letters, government stifled these ambitions

and proved to be a cancer on the political body of this country which no longer belongs to its citizens. Because of this, Burroughs (Lee) is forced to live outside the lines and boundaries of society as a ghost in the daylight (Burroughs 24). The hidden, separate nature of the junky appeals to Lee because it passively entails resistance. So long as Lee can remain an unknown, alien, denizen of the subculture he is happy to embrace the life of a junky. John Tytell notes that the death of his wife Joan, the loss of his children as well as his familys financial support freed Burroughs from his own past. Drug use and crime were steps to outcasting himself, becoming unacceptable in a society which he had already rejected (Tytell 46). Only once he became an outcast could Burroughs effectively critique the society that had rejected him. Junk provides Burroughs with the perfect position from which to commence his attack on institutional authority and the American dream. As an outsider that society has no understanding of, Burroughs can approach the issue objectively and factually and effectively expose the corruption and ignorance of doctors, lawyers, cops, psychiatrists, psychologists, and government; all of which come under scrutiny in Junky. In a letter to Allen Ginsberg Burroughs claims that psychiatrists want some beat clerk who feels with some reason that other people dont like him. In short some one so scared and whipped down he would never venture to do anything that might disturb the analyst. Here Burroughs view of authority becomes clear. They seek to beat down the individual, to make him submissive and ensure that no one steps out of line. They are heartless manipulators. The subculture of junk is granted power over prevailing cultural wisdom of such authority though due to a

lack of experience and authentic knowledge of the nature of the junky. Burroughs can then flex his muscles of intelligence and come across to the reader as confident and believable in his critique of the times. Bill Lee as well as the other characters in Junky are often said to be flat and one-dimensional. Burroughs is aware of this and writes the characters this way too further his point. The individuals that are labeled as criminals and addicts are not the ones that need to change; it is the rest of society that needs to change. For this reason, it is appropriate for Burroughs to write his characters as unchanging and flat. In addition to being one-dimensional, the characters in junky are portrayed in a dehumanizing and often grotesque light. For example Subway Mike is described as, some specialized kind of underground animal that preys on the animals of the surface (Burroughs 9). Also, Mary is characterized by saying there was something boneless about her, like a deep-sea creature. Her eyes were cold fish eyes that looked at you through a vicious medium she carried about with her (Burroughs 11). The reason for this style of descriptive almost poetic dehumanization of the characters is not only to portray the detrimental physical effects of junk but also to emphasize the negative toll the American culture takes on its citizens. Junkroams up and down the block, sometimes half-crossing Broadway to rest on one of the island benches (Burroughs 24). The personification of junk combined with the dehumanization of characters illustrates the point that Burroughs is trying to make: Junk is more of a person and has more character than the beat down inhabitants of society. This is why junk, even more so than Bill Lee, is the protagonist in Junky.

The ethical code of William Burroughs, which is advocated for in Junky, is fascinating and quite controversial when compared to the moral standards of American society. Herbert Huncke, Herman in Junky, had a profound influence on the ethical model of Burroughs. Huncke had no interest in career, in steady occupation, but instead used his wits to subvert the socially accepted at any opportunity (Tytell 40). This subversion included crime, lush working, drug use, and outright criticism and contempt for institutional authority. This view of life and society was fully embraced by Burroughs who already had a keen interest in crime and its subculture. The impunity and remorselessness that is so prevalent in the tone of Junky can be well understood by analyzing Burroughs view of crime: [Burroughs] stated that the word crime simply referred to behavior outlawed by a given culture. There was no relationship, for example between lying and legal violation. Burroughs maintained that there was more pretense, dissimulation, and misrepresentation in acceptable business practicesthan in the sale of heroinThat one act was condoned while the other was condemned was simply relative to power (Tytell 42). Through this quote, Burroughs individuality and utter disdain for bureaucracy and authority shine. The ethics employed in Junky come directly from this line of reasoning and lend credence to the criticisms of society that Burroughs so aptly presents to the reader. For Burroughs, there is a choice to be made. Submit to the prison-like, destructive nature of a society seeking to crush its inhabitants into submission or

find refuge in a subculture that operates independently of societal influence and the American Dream. For Burroughs, the choice was easy. The cyclical nature of junk and the beat inhabitants that come along with the lifestyle are much preferred and provide a unique opportunity to analyze and critique the situation from an outsider perspective. After all, a junky never stops growing while the society around him is continually dying of sickness and plagued with addiction to a nightmare ideal of conformity. This begs the question: who is really committing the crime?

Works Cited Burroughs, William S. Junky. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1977. Print. Tytell, John. "William Burroughs." Naked Angels: The Lives & Literature of the Beat Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. 36-51. Print.