them" style. Benjamin is seen running at top speed, full of passion as he barely makes it to the wedding in time to save Elaine from making a horrible mistake. The murmured silence of the wedding is clearly meant to exemplify the dull world Elaine will enter unless Benjamin can run fast enough. The fast pace of the film as a whole, its use of Simon & Garfunkel's witty lyrics all indicate that the film "sides" with Benjamin and Elaine, despite the attractiveness of Mrs. Robinson as a character. In today's environment, where both young and older people are more sensitive about the need to get a job after graduation, the film might...

Robinson make the film an unfettered argument for freedom. At the end of the film Bernard and Elaine at are uncertain where to "get off" after taking such a major a detour in their lives, but the film suggests it does not matter when and where the two disembark from the bus onto which they have escaped, all that matters is that they are free.