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"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" Summary and Analysis

Article · September 2020

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Udoy Rahman
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 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Summary and Analysis

The core idea of modernism is rational. If you are a rational then you are a modern man.
For example, you want to wear a short pant but it is against your society or social
boundary. So, you are thinking about it and finally you think that you can't ware this
dress. So, the thinking of this topic is modernism. So, in your thought, at first you must
be modern. So, modernism is basically a function of mind. If it works in the mind then it
works everywhere. If you are wrong or right, that's doesn't matter. If you try, you will be
a modern man.
In literary world, modernism began in twentieth century. But we think that modernism
started in renaissance. Because, before renaissance, people are extremely superstition.
And renaissance was the first time where people were thoughtful and rational.
Renaissance taught people to ask question to everything. Whenever you will ask
question, there will be answer, the creativity or the science etc. Like Newton, he was a
thinker and rational person. But every age, there were some people who were fully
modern in that age.
In modernism, without question there will not a subject. So, for the modernism, the first
thing is to raise the question to everything. So, modern man can't believe everything
because they are rational. They think about the topic and give their opinion.
Prufrock has a hundred percent complete failure throughout his journey in life. But after
all he is a modern man. Prufrock is a rational man because in his every work, he gives
the logic. Prufrock does never be able to make a full decision throughout his entire
journey. He is puzzled every moment. He always feels the uncertainty and confused, and
it is the key ideas of modernism.

'The love song of j. Alfred Prufrock', the title itself is an irony. It a very hopeless and
pathetic song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock has tried his best to do something but he
couldn't to do anything because he is really a modern man. In the modern society, man
like Prufrock has no position at all. The hypocrite people play the lead role in the
modern society.
In the beginning of this poem, we simply see that Prufrock wants to go out with his
beloved in the evening. But is also an irony, because evening here symbolize such a
negative image. It is totally opposite and ironic because he wants to be like an etherized
patient. It is quite impossible for a journey. Then he wants to go the half-deserted
streets with his beloved or his soul (We can say that Prufrock makes journey with
himself or his soul because modern man is divided man). It is also such a negative image
because in the half-deserted streets, no one can express their love or feeling with
others. But it has also a symbolic meaning because half-deserted streets mean the half-
populated streets. So, Prufrock is showing a casual express and he is feeling the
uncertainty. Then in that rood, he sees the cheap hotels where the prostitutes are
working in the restless night. Where the customers are bargaining with prostitutes. He
sees everything but he ignores them because there will be no solution. He can't do
anything because he is a learned man. So, he continues his journey. He sees that some
hypocrite women talking about Michelangelo, but they(women) exactly don't know who
Michelangelo. Prufrock observes the hypocrisy into the human.
(Why the women talking about Michelangelo?)
Then the yellow fog that rubs against the back of the window pans. In modern world,
yellow is a color of diseases, the symbol of a diseased society. The fog wants to go inside
the room and the yellow smoke join with it. In the evening, both wants to go inside but
they can't. But these things symbolize a cat who wants to get inside with intense desire.
In the modern society, this cat compares with the human, who has high expectation in
their life. Finally, the fog gets tired and fall asleep like a cat. Just like that, People wants
that longing dream of the modern age. And this great expectation makes them
suffering, loneliness and painful in their life.

Prufrock thinks there’s plenty of time for delays and dawdling. He says that these
familiar faces you know, you will have a lot of time to meet them because you meet
them every day. There will be time to create something new or destroy something. You
have enough time for works. You have lot of time for every overwhelming questions.
Basically, Prufrock is avoiding everything what he has seen. He is trying his best to avoid
everything because he knows the result, there is no output of involving. He wants to
convince himself. He says that you have enough time for solving indecisions, making
visions and taking revisions. And this will go on forever before your death, before the
taking of a toast and tea. Even, you will see thousands of such dreams while drinking
tea. The dreams will vanish that time also. You will take lot of decisions again you will be
indecisions.
(In the room the women come and go, Talking of Michelangelo. Why Prufrock repeats it
again?)
Prufrock repeats the same lines again that some hypocrite women talking about
Michelangelo. He repeats it again because he wants to say his mate that he (his mate)
thinks a lot from his idealist point views, he looks at the social foolish from different
angles, but there is no change. There is no change because the women talking about the
same thing. The whole world system is now running on these two lines, so, what is the
benefit of asking so many questions.
T. S. Eliot, in all of him poems, he has tried his best to introduce this idea that man
existence in modern world is really like an object. After all, no matter how much you
discuss, you are looking at the women who are talking about Michelangelo.
Prufrock thinks, if he wants to talk with these women, is it possible for him or is he bold
enough to talk with them? He thinks that they will ignore him because he is an old man.
If he wears a smart dress like a smart man, but they will criticize him for his body. So,
Prufrock talks with himself that he can't disturb their works. He imagines himself as a
smart man even then he is still confused. So, it is not possible for him to stand in front of
them and talk to them. So, he has to change his mind again in a minute. In every
situation, he is confused about himself because he knows other people very well. He is
really knowledgeable but others are not knowledgeable like him. So, it creates a gap
between them and it is not possible for Prufrock to mix with them or talk with them.
He is trying to convince us that he’s a wise man with lots of experience. He doesn’t need
to do anything, because he’s done everything already. He has measured out his life with
coffee spoons. Because, in every day's coffee time, you measured the sugar or milk so
you have become accustomed. And your unconscious mind is reading it. And that's how
everything is solved automatically. So, there is no need for a new solution. In the same
way, he has measured his whole life. He knows ''the voices dying with a dying fall'' but
he couldn't do anything for them except just sitting. Then how will he adjust everything
again. It's quite impossible for him. He says he knows those eyes, the ones that are stuck
him to the wall, the hypocrite man, who formulated him. They fix him to the wall and he
is sprawling on a pin, because they are the dominating people in this society. There is
nothing more he can do. Thus, he has reached the last stage of his life. Then how will he
adjust everything again.
He says that he knows the women's arms, which are braceleted and white and bare.
They are the prostitutes, and Prufrock doesn't like the smell of their bodies. He is
referring about prostitute again because the whole world become a prostitution, the
 naked place. Because, there is no place for humanity, values and respect. If this is a
picture of society then how can we tell him to start all over again. He has left the human
society because nothing is here and he has lost his hope. Now he went to a secluded
place on the sea and trying to find out something. There he compares himself to a crab
with ragged claws. Because he lost his hope in human society. And he is looking for his
salvation.
Prufrock is saying that the whole world is sleeping with peace but suddenly a Witcher
comes with a long finger. He is confused because, how to deal with this witch with her
little strength. But Prufrock is praying for the salvation of earth and the welfare of
human being. He has been praying this for a long time but he got nothing. He is afraid
his death because throughout his life, he couldn't do a single good job.
He thinks he'll blow it all away with a laugh while drinking tea or he will use all his
strength to transform the world into a ball by pressure. And wants to roll it towards
some overwhelming question. Or he will die like Lazarus and come back again, and he
will tell the whole world what is the pain after death. He is also hesitant about these
things that he can tell to the people.

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