Loss and Failure in Hoagland\'s

Loss and Failure in Hoagland's "America"

In the poem, "America" by Tony Hoagland, the poet expresses his perspective and analogy of American society today. America's forefathers conquered a lengthy battle for the American people throughout history. With the progression of technology and society as a whole, today's youth just does not value a work ethic or have dignity for the path paved for them throughout the generations. The youth of America today devalues the history and where it comes from. As far as America has come, she has fallen.

Symbolism emerges in pivotal moments of the poem. The poet begins his lament through the observation of a student that declares America is like a "maximum-security prison" (Hoagland 2). The prison is one of comfort and freedom and the student, through no fault of his own, cannot imagine anything different. It is the nature of man to complain and the poet expresses this through the student's casual complaint of a so-called smothering lifestyle. Near the end of the poem, the stream becomes a powerful symbol of the materialism that engulfs America. This realization comes after the poet realizes that the student's prison of America is constructed of "walls are made of RadioShacks and Burger Kings, and MTV episodes" (3) as he pulls into the mall's parking lot. He is free to pull into that parking lot on any given day and yet he complains about it and "feels / Buried alive, captured and suffocated in the folds / Of the thick satin quilt of America" (8-10). What the student perceives as a prison is the very thing the forefathers of this country fought for every American to enjoy. The freedom and liberty that was worth fighting and dying for seems to be nothing but a burden to those that have inherited it.

Metaphors are important in the poem. The student at the beginning of the poem represents the poet as he begins to realize he, too, does not appreciate the value of America. The connection between the two is that we are never actually too old to learn anything. The dream is also significant as it acts as a metaphor regarding money and happiness. In the dream, his father bleeds money rather than blood and as he dies, he says, "Thank god -- those Ben Franklins were? / Clogging up my heart --?

/ And so I perish happily, / ?Freed from that which kept me from my liberty" (17-20). Here the poet attempts to denounce the importance of money and the apparent ties to happiness. The dying father claims the money only clogged his veins, indicating that the drive and desire for money is only a distraction from what can truly make us happy. As it flows from his heart, the father is free. This image is one that runs counter to the typical image of money bringing all sort of happiness and solving all sorts of problems.

The poem moves full circle by the end with the poet recognizing that the country has become something of a prison for him as well. He admits he is "asleep in America too" (24) and unaware of how to wake himself. This admission at the poem's conclusion demonstrates the shaping of the poet's mind as well as the shaping of generations before and after him. While the poet feels there is a world of different between him and the student with the tongue stud, he realizes they are both within the same stream of time, doing the same things. This stream becomes the "river of bright merchandise" (31) that is nothing but a source of pleasure to all who float upon it. Here the poet is expressing sorrow for the loss of appreciation for how America came to be where it is. Even he, with wisdom and experience, falls prey to the clutches of an instant gratification society hell-bent on serving self first and foremost. The mention of Marx's cry insinuates that when societies begin to think only of themselves, and lose sight of future generations, they begin to lose their sense of value because selfish desire devalues everything. The poet realizes the prison that is so obvious in the beginning of the poem manifests itself differently to different generations. The loss of a work ethic and sense of dignity associated with being American