Here We Are Among the Living: Generational Conflict and Social Change in Post-War North America
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HERE WE ARE AMONG THE LIVING: GENERATIONAL CONFLICT AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN POST-WAR NORTH AMERICA SAMANTHA A. BERNSTEIN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER'S OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO OCTOBER 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-51506-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-51506-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract Here We Are Among the Living: Generational Conflict and Social Change in Post-War North America by Samantha Bernstein Youth cultures are born from the sense either that adult society is a monolith of corruption or that it is moribund, having failed to institute progressive principles it claims to advocate. This study contains two parts: first, I explore the transition in the 1960s from political activism to cultural protest and investigate how youth culture today arises from these earlier roots. Autobiographical and epistolary literatures are examined for their use of subjectivity and association with social criticism. I argue that a sense of shared experience is lacking among today's youth but is crucial to social engagement, and that subjective forms of literature connect individuals to each other and their society. The second part presents sections from my epistolary memoir that reflect the generational conflict between Baby Boomers and their children, as well as the need for today's youth to find meaningful ways to participate in creating positive societal change. iv Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my mother, Harriet Bernstein: the project began as conversations with her about her youth, my generation, and the state of the world; with her love and encouragement (and delight in playing devil's advocate), those conversations became this thesis. Acknowledgements 1 I gratefully extend my thanks to all those who have guided me through my studies. Richard Teleky first suggested that I pursue my interest in epistolary literature and social change in the Interdisciplinary Studies program, and has provided valuable insights throughout my university experience. From Penni Stewart and Marcel Martel I received kindness and direction, as well as the resources to properly research this study. Priscila Uppal encouraged me when I was a cagey undergraduate, unsure of my talents or the use of university; for her support and direction I will always be grateful. Susan Swan encouraged me to write my book when it was only a few furtive pages, and for her belief in my ability to write it and the importance of what I wanted to say I cannot thank her enough. Without the dear friends whose words and actions I have appropriated I wouldn't have had a story to write. Joe Clark gave me someone to write to, and his belief in the beauty of consciousness reminds me why I'm alive. Eshe Mercer-James has been an incomparable friend and editor: working on my book with her has given me moments of the purest joy, and her insights have helped make this project and my book what it is. My Mom gave me confidence when I was too shy to ask questions and too uncertain to pursue my dreams. Everything I know about dedication and courage I learned from her. Michael Bobbie has looked in my face with love even in moments when my face expressed only fear and self-deprecation. His ideas and insights resonate throughout this work. VI Table of Contents Introduction 1 Part One - Departing from Father's Hall 11 Part Two - You Could Strike Sparks Anywhere 19 Part Three - Whoso Would be a Man Would be a Nonconformist 33 Part Four - There Was No There There 45 Part Five - Werther on Big Brother , 63 Part Six -Nightingales in the Dark 81 Works Cited 105 Here We Are Among the Living (Introduction) : 114 Here We Are Among the Living (Excerpts) 119 Bibliography 234 vn My candle bums at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light. - Edna St. Vincent Millay Better to burn out Than to fade away - Neil Young If there is a common thread that links every Western youth movement of the past two centuries, it is this: the terror the young feel of becoming old, and the determination not to do so in the same fashion as their elders. Youth cultures are by definition born from young people's dissatisfaction, from the sense either that adult society is an impenetrable monolith of corruption or that it is moribund, having failed to act on progressive principles it claims to advocate. In the first student movement of early 19th Century Germany and the Romantics that followed them, in Russian nihilists, French Bohemians and Dadaists, in the 1920s' flaming youth, European youth mobilizations of the 1930s and in the last great youth movement of the 1960s, the animus against established society and its creators is striking. Unlike class-based activism centering on labour rights and living conditions for the working class, youth movements draw from youth of all classes and their anger is often directed at society in general rather than around specific complaints or demands. Today, there is no coherent youth movement in any Western nation. While there are activist groups dedicated to various causes such as the environment, student rights, and anti-globalization, these groups are not united by any common goal or feelings of shared struggle. What there is, in the absence of a youth movement, is a clearly defined and heavily advertised youth culture based on the 1 counterculture that youth movements have historically created to signal their rejection of mainstream, adult society. This rejection has become embedded in Western culture as a defining feature of youth and has changed the meaning and modes of dissent for young people. As the last youth movement, and a time of cultural and political ferment unparalleled in North American history, the 1960s remain central to the North American populace's self-conception. Recent books such as Tom Brokaw's Boom, Rolling Stone Magazine's 2007 trilogy celebrating the 40-year anniversary of 1967, Toronto's 2003 "SarsStock" concert, and comparisons between Presidential candidate Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy signal the lasting power of that turbulent decade. As Todd Gitlin, writer, professor and early member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) has noted, kids today "regret having "missed the fun""1 of the 1960s. Indeed, raised with images of Woodstock and Haight-Ashbury, with the groundbreaking sounds of the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and countless other era- and genre- defining bands, and with the fear of AIDS alongside tales of the 1960s' much-celebrated free love, today's youth have many reasons to feel they came too late to the party. Perhaps one of the most significant and overlooked absences in more recent generations is the Baby Boomer's sense of generational solidarity, their certainty that under the weight of their collective desires "the past simply had to give way to the future" . Obviously the Baby Boomers were not a unified movement several millions strong, but were divided by class, race, cohort, and ideology. Nonetheless, this sense of themselves "as a group distinct from previous generations" is the feature from which all later representations of the Boomers draw their 2 strength. It is not as a few intellectual outlaws in a jazz club, not as a little band of absinthe-sipping aesthetes that the Boomers became known; it is as a crowd. One million faces turned toward the Washington Monument, half a million bodies on Yasger's farm, hundreds at a time tuning in for the Kesey-Leary Acid Tests, rag-tag bands of young people on communes - these are the images of the decade that have captured the popular imagination. As Gitlin wrote,"[f]or every hundred schemes a handful materialized - but never mind, the spirit of One Big Movement was alive"4.