Identifying with Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967)
This reflection paper explores the parallels between the author's own young adult experience and the struggles of Benjamin Braddock, the protagonist of Mike Nichols's 1967 film The Graduate. The paper examines three key points of identification: the shared uncertainty of post-college life, the frustration with adult hypocrisy and moral inconsistency, and the ultimate willingness to take risks in pursuit of authentic happiness. Drawing on specific scenes and character dynamics from the film, the author connects Benjamin's dilemmas to contemporary pressures such as student debt, career uncertainty, and the absence of trustworthy adult role models.
- Introduction: The Pressure to Choose a Path: Identifying with Benjamin's post-college uncertainty and pressure
- Career Anxiety and the Limits of Choice: Comparing career pressures and financial anxieties
- Adult Hypocrisy and Moral Disillusionment: Benjamin's affair exposes adult moral double standards
- Taking Risks to Find Authentic Happiness: Risk-taking and courage in pursuit of authentic life
- Conclusion: Forging Ahead Into an Uncertain Future: Shared uncertainty and resolve to move forward
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper consistently moves between specific scenes from the film and the author's own personal experience, creating a genuine comparative structure rather than a simple plot summary.
- Each body paragraph follows a clear pattern: identify a trait Benjamin shares with the author, ground it in the film, then articulate the personal parallel honestly and without exaggeration.
- The tone is appropriately reflective — candid about uncertainty and limitation (e.g., student loans, fear of risk) without becoming self-indulgent or melodramatic.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of text-to-self connection as an analytical device. Rather than simply describing the film's plot, the author uses Benjamin's experiences as a lens through which to examine broader social pressures — the suburban American Dream, generational moral inconsistency, and the tension between security and authenticity. This technique transforms a personal reflection into a culturally grounded argument.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief contextual framing of the film and its protagonist, then develops three body sections, each organized around a distinct point of identification (life-stage uncertainty, adult hypocrisy, willingness to take risks). A short conclusion ties the personal and cinematic threads together. The Works Cited entry follows MLA conventions. Total length is appropriate for a short undergraduate reflection assignment.
Introduction: The Pressure to Choose a Path
"Plastics." Although The Graduate was made in 1967, it is difficult not to identify with its protagonist, Benjamin Braddock. Benjamin is a recent college graduate, adrift in the world and uncertain of his life's purpose. He finds himself constantly pressured by the adults around him to select a stable career path and to settle down. Benjamin is disturbed by the emptiness and misery he observes in the adults around him, yet he is unsure how to find a different way to live. He wants to please his parents, but he does not want to become like them.
Above all, I identify with Benjamin because we are at similar life stages. We are no longer young adolescents who feel confident that our parents know what to do, yet we remain uncertain of our own values. We seek objective, wise counsel from an outside authority, but we also know that no one is entirely free of self-interest in the advice he or she gives. Older adults have made a substantial investment in the traditional, suburban American Dream. Even though we may not feel that path is right for us, we must still forge ahead toward financial and personal independence.
Career Anxiety and the Limits of Choice
Benjamin's choices feel very limited. Does he sublimate his creativity and go into the production of "plastics," as he is urged to do at a party by an older guest? If not, what is the viable alternative? I feel personal and family pressure to secure a good job by the time I graduate from college. My dilemma differs slightly from Benjamin's in that I am more worried about finding a decent-paying job to pay off my student loans. Spiritual fulfillment as well as financial solvency can seem like a far-off dream. Yet both of us are similarly dissatisfied with the choices before us and wish there were another way to grow up.
Conclusion: Forging Ahead Into an Uncertain Future
The end of The Graduate, like my own life's story, is far from certain. Although Benjamin's refusal to concede Elaine to another man shows that he has genuine backbone, it is not clear how the couple will make their way in the world together. The resolution of the conflicts of adulthood remains an unknown quantity. As the coming-of-age story suggests, there are no easy answers for a generation caught between the values it has inherited and the life it must build for itself. Yet we must still forge ahead as bravely as possible.
Works Cited
The Graduate. Starring Dustin Hoffman. 1967.
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