As members of society, when we observe a piece of art we try to understand the author’s message and the possibility of it connecting to us, others, and society as a whole. How well we are able to understand it and what we take away from it depends on the observer’s perspective, along with the reasoning behind the author’s message, his way of conveying it. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot attempts to convey his message by creating a piece of art that many readers, including me, were not be able to understand on their first read. I personally was unable to understand it on my first read because Eliot is not direct in his message; he may have done this on purpose in order to force the reader into looking deeper, but only if they strived to. Eliot’s indirect style of conveying his message can be seen in phrases such as “til human voices wake us, and we drown” (Eliot 131). Through these kinds of phrases, Eliot was able to create a sense of confusion which I was only able to clear after realizing the reasoning behind Eliot's method of being indirect with the reader. I perceive his obscure writing style as a spectacular effort to paint a bigger picture regarding the truth about the negative effects on individuals belonging to a judgmental society. 

          After deeply analyzing his remarkable work, I surprised myself when I came to appreciate Eliot's style of not being direct with readers. While I may have observed it in this manner, Bob, standing next to me as a member of our society, may feel, as I previously did, that it is a useless and unnecessary piece of literature if the reader is not able to understand it. Now Bob may believe this because he did not make an effort to analyze the literature or it could be possible that it did not have anything to do with how high he strived to understand it. The sophistication of Eliot’s style of writing led me to develop a “theory” that Bob may have not been able to understand the message because he had not lived through a particular kind of experience that could have helped him to develop a perspective of life that was similar to Eliot’s way of seeing life and therefore not allowing him to better understand and decode Eliot’s obscure message. The reasoning behind Eliot's style of writing may be that it was difficult for him to convey his message, similar to how it was difficult for Prufrock to ask the question, or it could be because he wanted readers with a perspective similar to his to strive and have the motivation to decode his work. 

          An example of Eliot’s method of conveying his message can be seen in the phrase “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons”(Eliot 51). Prufrock says this line because he knows that his life has been full of socializing over “toast and tea” (Eliot 34), while spending his time wondering if he should dare to ask his company a threatening question, which he does not clearly state. My analysis and view of life has led me to think this rebellious question is if he should ask his company if they also see the flaws in society. Since he is the only one whom he knows of who recognizes society’s flaws, time passes by him slowly and he feels alone even though he is surrounded by people. 

           Using my experience and perspective, I was not only able to connect this phrase to my personal life, but also to my generation as a whole. Throughout college and high school (school altogether), we students are put under constant pressure to score well on tests. While few of our teachers thankfully do go out of their way to remind us that learning and growing as individuals is also a part of it and that numbers do not make up our whole college application, unfortunately many of our parents are not able to grasp this concept. As loving parents they aim to make sure their children’s future is secure, but they fail to remember that in the moment we are still children whose childhoods will soon be behind us. They forget that it is important that as children we understand that numbers on a standardized test do not determine who we are as people and that we should cherish our young and lively years. I believe along with education it is important for moral lessons to be conveyed to us; for example, it is important for us to be reminded that society judging being a good student and a good individual as the same thing should not be such a widely accepted assumption. 

          Prufrock became emotionally alone trying to live up to society’s expectation and as young students who are pressurized by these numbers, trying to live up to society's expectations can also have a similar effect on us. If Prufrock questioned society’s flaw he would end up physically alone. In our society if a student had this view of test scores they would be judged as not wanting to work hard enough. I personally feel as a student we can sometimes be pressured into living as kids who have measured out our lives in test scores, hence, that is why I think it is important for society to appreciate, along with education, the moral and blissful souls we have as children before we end up having to lose a part of it. 

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock connects to my personal life in several ways. Prufrock had to choose between appearing appealing to society or being able to take care of his emotional and mental health. I was faced with a similar dilemma as a junior, not while making a decision, but after making it. In the first trimester of this year my first period class environment was so uncomfortable, from my perspective, that I made the decision to switch out. When a teacher is not able to teach because they are too busy declaring their political views and degrading women and people of color I become compelled to switch out because that is what I view as inappropriate. I may have ended up going from an academic class to an elective, but at least I knew I would not have my peace of mind taken that early in the morning. A couple of months later when one of my parents asked why I went from law to theater I told them the circumstances and their opinion was it was the wrong decision. 

             My parent believed it was better for colleges to see a law class than theater on a transcript, which I said I also ‘considered to be true’. Yet I was not going to conform to being in a class because it appeared to be more academic from the outside when in fact I knew the truth about the class’s environment. In my family’s background, as members originating from a traditional society, theatrical people such as singers and actors are not respected as much as doctors and lawyers, but once they have escaped society’s discouragement and have achieved fame and money they are admired for their wealth. In conclusion, even an appearance of being involved in something theatrically related is looked down upon in a household with my kind of traditional background. My circumstances were on a smaller scale compared to Prufrock’s, but I was still able to connect to it strongly. 

           Even though I do admire this piece of art there is one area in particular where I disagree with the author, but I do understand why the author felt this way. My personal belief is that when it comes down to choosing between doing the wrong or right thing you should always choose the moral and humane option. I believe that I have been able to figure out who I am up to the point where I know I would choose the moral option even if it meant personally sacrificing something, but I also remind myself that sometimes it is easier said than done. I would choose the humane option even if I would have to stand alone for a while because I know there are other good people who would stand by me. The catch to this is that in order to have those people eventually stand by me I would have to be willing to open up about my beliefs to other members of society so that other Prufrocks in society would know it is possible for them to not be physically and emotionally alone at the same time. 

            If I was not willing to open up, someone like Prufrock may not be willing to ask his question for fear of retaliation and we both would never know that we had similar moral thoughts. Prufrock had to make a decision between doing what he knew was right, which was openly contradicting his society, or living forever lifeless and suffering behind closed doors. There is evidence that Prufrock gave up when he says “til human voices wake us, and we drown”(Eliot 131). From the beginning to the end of the poem Prufrock felt alone which meant that he had not found someone with similar views, yet, and therefore these talking human voices in society were making him realize maybe there is no one who thinks as I do; he believed these voices were waking him up to the truth. I disagree with Eliot because it seems as if Prufrock gave up after coming so far. I believe that if he had been the one to put himself out there someone else may have come forward with his similar views because they did not have to fear his judgement. If Prufrock had done this he at least had a chance at not ending up alone and that is why I disagree with Eliot’s ending. 

            Eliot’s way of communicating his message indirectly helps me as the reader to understand his message better than I would have if it was written directly. Understanding something compared to thinking and then understanding something, I believe, are two different things. By communicating indirectly I was forced to think of what the obscure phrases meant; I then developed my understanding of the phrases from my own theories and ideas of what Eliot’s message may be. For example, Prufrock feels that no matter if he did the wrong or right thing one way or another he would end up being either physically or emotionally alone. If this message was direct I would not have looked deeper and moved on, but because I was forced to think deeper I developed my own thoughts of what if you do the wrong thing, knowing it is wrong, but you are okay with it and do not feel guilty; then how good of a person are you truly? If Prufrock had lived dedicatedly to society’s standard and judged other people the way he was judged negatively, what kind of person would that have left him as?  Would he still be the unique one who did not conform to society after seeing the truth, unlike the other members? By questioning the indirect message I was able to develop this thought, which led me to develop the idea of Prufrock being poisoned by the judgmental society. Through Eliot's method of conveying his views through a sophisticated writing style I was able to find deeper meaning in a piece of art and appreciate the confusion that I was pulled into. 

Works Cited 

Eliot, T. S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Poetry Foundation. Web. 4 Jan. 2017.