What does the word "howl" mean? It's a long, loud, prolonged scream. Allen Ginsberg's purpose in the poem “Howl” is to ask people to stand up against repression, freedom, and capitalism. The speaker sees American society as incapable of understanding and will, but people see society as standard. An important character in the poem is Carl Solomon, who Ginsberg met in a mental institution and who is much more mentally disturbed than Allen. The poem "Howl" was written for Solomon. The purpose of this poem is to show the fall, the rise and the madness that manifests itself in the different forms of American society through symbols, metaphors and characters. The author shows that madness is a heightened state with visions and delusions, and this is important for the reader to understand Ginsberg's past life and how he sees his generation and society as desperate, alone, and in need of help . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAllen Ginsberg uses symbols to demonstrate the folly of his generation and American society. In the first part of "Howl", a symbol presented are the best minds of his generation. Ginsberg goes on to say that his age group doesn't behave like normal people would. Allen Ginsberg simply defines his generation like this: “Those who have chained themselves to the subway for an infinite time / travel from the Battery to the sacred Bronx under the influence of Benzedrine / until the noise of the wheels and the children brought them down trembling, with the mouth destroyed and / battered, squalid with the brain drained. of splendor / in the sad light of the zoo” (Ginsberg 10). Implicit in this quote are people who are not in the right mind, who take drugs, who are desperate and who behave like animals. The speaker is indicating that people are unable to achieve inner insight, which tells the reader that society is not sane. Another symbol in the poem is Moloch, who is a false idol that people worshiped and sacrificed their children to. In the article "How I Hear 'Howl'", George Bowering explains what he thinks Moloch represents: "Throughout the poem, heaven and eternity are in sight, invoked or bitterly regretted, so that a cynical second best poses as an ironic refuge from the world of the present.” Bowering is saying that Moloch seems to be something that holds people back and does not allow them to move forward. Allen Ginsberg uses Moloch as a symbol that is destructive to society and that consumes the present, the That tells the reader that it is something sinister. Ginsberg says, “The severe judge of men.” This refers to what the author sees as the government ruining America. mental institution where Ginsberg went and where he met Carl Solomon. The author of “Howl” uses the phrase “I'm with you in Rockland” (Ginsberg 24), to say that he has sympathy and understanding for Solomon Rockland represents society's reluctance to accept all people. In the article “'Sanity a Trick of Agreement': Madness and Doubt in Ginsberg's Prophetic Poetry,” Tony Trigilio says, “Ginsberg uses the mental institution as a site of both inspiration and decay.” Trigilio deduces that the mental institution is both good and bad. Allen Ginsberg shows madness through these symbols to manifest what he is seeing. Metaphors are displayed throughout the poem "Howl" and give characterization to the theme of madness. One metaphor that is presented is, “Who broke their minds in prison” (Ginsberg 18). In this quote, Allen Ginsberg is saying that people have fallen out in ways.