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The Counter-Culture
Contextualization: The term counterculture in sociology is used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural
group (subculture) that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day. The actual term came to prominence in the
1960s and 1970s with the social revolution that swept the United States and North America along with Western Europe, Australia,
and New Zealand.
The counterculture of the 1960s took place between the period of 1960 and 1973. It began in the United States as a reaction
against the conservative social norms of the 1950s, the political conservatism of the Cold War period, and the US government's
extensive military intervention in Vietnam. This social revolution had many movements involved with it. Among those movements
were the free speech movement, which was a catalyst for outer counterculture movements of the '60s and '70s, the civil rights
movement for African Americans to have the same rights as their white counterparts, New Left, which is a term used in different
countries to describe the left-wing movements of this time period (it is termed New Left because it adopted social activism,
which was a broader definition of political activism that focused on labor activism), the Antiwar Movement against the Vietnam
War, Second-wave Feminism, which led to the creation of Titles VIII and IX and NOW (National Organization of Women), and the
Hippies, which was a term that was originally used to describe beatniks who moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district.
These people embraced counter-cultural ideas, created communities; explored consciousnesses by using mind-altering drugs such
as cannabis and LSD, embraced the sexual revolution, and, ultimately, embody what people think of when they think of the work
counterculture.
Salient Points: The movements and counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s influenced many people, specifically musicians
and authors, to express more of what and how they as people felt about certain subjects. Literature had a big part in expanding
the support of some of these movements; in some cases, starting them. In 1963, Betty Friedan released The Feminine Mystique,
which, according to the New York Times obituary of Friedan in 2006, ignited the contemporary women's movement in 1963 and
as a result permanently transformed the social fabric of the United States and countries around the world. Martin Luther
King, Jr. provides an excellent view of the civil rights movement with his accounts of the Montgomery bus boycott and his
description of the civil rights movement up to 1965. Jerry Rubin, one of the most famous spokesmen of the 1960s counterculture
movement, describes to the youth of that time how to create a new world in Do It! Scenarios of the Revolution, published
in 1970. Also, Norman Mailer made himself famous for co-founding The Village Voice, which was one of the biggest anti-establishment
publications. Other great authors of the time are Jack Kerouac (On The Road), William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch) and Allen
Ginsberg (Howl), among others.
Our textbook also mentions many novels, short stories, and plays that were influential and note-worthy of this period.
One of these in particular is David Rabe's antiwar play The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, the first of three Vietnam War
plays that Rabe produces. The play tells the story of a soldier who encounters difficulties with sergeants and fellow recruits
alike. It seems as if no one trust him. As the play goes on, Hummel, with the help of the mysterious and ambiguous Ardell,
is so determined to become a solder that he passes the opportunity to go home, which proves to be a bad decision as he ultimately
dies while mindlessly grabbing at a live hand grenade.
Influence on the Short Story: As mentioned above, the various movements of the 1960s and early 70s influenced literature
and, in particular, short stories. This topic influenced American short story by giving authors many different forums to
discuss. Authors, now more than ever, were given free reign to say what they wanted without the fear of being reprimanded.
In other words, allegories and symbolism were not needed as much. With most of the public against the war, an author did
not have to hide his view on the war and be viewed as unpatriotic. The allegories and symbolism were a nice touch in short
stories but, thanks to the counterculture, in particular the free speech movement, becoming such a dominating presence, those
literary devices was not necessary.
One author in particular that embodies the outlook of the counterculture is Kurt Vonnegut. In 1968, Vonnegut released
the short story collection Welcome to the Monkey House, which includes the title story, a satirical story that takes a look
at society's sexual perception at the time and, through Vonnegut's humorous ways, promotes the counterculture’s
sexual revolution. Another story in this collection that showcases counterculture ideas is Report on the Barnhouse Effect,
which the protagonist, Prof. Barnhouse, uses dynamo-psychic powers to destroy instruments of war, which is symbolic to Vonnegut's
position of war.
Connections to our class: The most obvious connection between the counterculture and our class is Tillie Olsen and her
short story collection Tell Me A Riddle, which includes a story from our text, I Stand Here Ironing. Considered one of the
first feminist writers, Olsen was born to Jewish immigrants and, after beginning to write Yonnondio: From the Thirties, she
married and for twenty years, did not write again as she spent most of her time working as a secretary and waitress to support
her family.
Tell Me A Riddle describes a wife's refusal to accept her husband's insensitivity to her needs after thirty-seven years.
The story we covered in class, I Stand Here Ironing on the surface, tells the story of a mother's concerns for her first-born
daughter, the costs of poverty, and the effects of mistakes made. Beyond that, however, there is a story much deeper. Throughout
the story, Olson makes the reader work out whether or not the mother in the story is a good mother or bad mother as the mother
replays scenes from the past that leads the reader to the present moment. In the end, the mother resigns on making sure that
her daughter lives a better life than she, the mother, is living now.
Sources used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippies
The Person Custom Library of American Literature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feminine_Mystique
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjackson/webbibl.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Basic_Training_of_Pavlo_Hummel
http://www.who2.com/countercultureheavies.html
http://titan.iwu.edu/~jplath/sschron.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_Monkey_House
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