What kind of vision does Ginsberg see for modern society in “A Supermarket in California?
” “A Supermarket in California” is an example of Ginsberg’s economic vision of modern society. In this vision, Ginsberg compares the commodification of the natural world with Walt Whitman’s vision of the beauty of nature and the individuality of mankind. Ginsberg uses a picture of the mythological River Lethe to describe how modern society has detached the natural world from its history and original environment. A peach, when bought in a supermarket, no longer means the same thing that it did when it was picked from the tree by those that would eat it. Whitman, whose ferocity for all things natural, is a forgotten hero of a world that existed before the coming of industrialization. • According to “Howl,” who are the “best minds” of Allen Ginsberg’s generation? Ginsberg’s “best minds” were the fallen heroes of “Howl.” They were, in Ginsberg’s estimation, geniuses because they recognized modern society for what it really was: a manipulation of freedom that cast a false vision of conformi
