White Angel - Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll
Michael Cunningham's "White Angel" is a short story narrated by nine-year-old Bobby, and it follows the experiences Bobby shares with his older brother Carlton in the months before Carlton's traumatic death. The story is set in the Sixties, a time of innocence and awakening. The country had emerged from the war-torn Forties and the cookie-cutter Fifties with hope. There was a cultural optimism that the Dylan song was more than just a song - that the times really were changing. It was during this period that sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll burst onto the scene. In later years, more sinister and subversive motives would be ascribed to this trio, but in the Sixties, it was a liberal haven. It offered a refuge to both the burgeoning hippies and recovering beatniks - the essence of Carlton's "Woodstock Nation" in the story. Cunningham tells his story through the cultural lens of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, and uses the three aspects to illustrate the relationship between Bobby and Carlton. In the story's chronology, drugs are the first to be used in the definition of the brotherhood. The boys drop acid at the breakfast table and go outside to the cemetery. Here, the dependence and trust Bobby gives his brother is demonstrated
When Carlton's friends appear at the door, Bobby fights an impulse to send them away - a premonition, perhaps, of the consequences he knew they brought. It has been argued that the changes of the Sixties were the beginning of the loss of the country's innocence. Cunningham effectively uses the aspects of these changes - sex, drugs and rock 'n roll - to define and control Bobby and Carlton's relationship. Carlton's death was heralded by these changes, but more importantly for his brother, the course of his life was charted by them. The final tableau concerns perhaps the most motivating force for change during the Sixties - rock 'n roll. In the party scene, Cunningham lets the music instigate the change from staid conservatism to uninhibited joy. However, this change is what precipitates the final break between Bobby and Carlton. After Carlton's friends arrive, Bobby worries. "I would like to say something ironic and wised-up, something that will band Carlton and me against every other person in the room." He wants this party to be an adventure for the two of them, just as the drugs and sex episodes seemed to be. When he is unable to turn the tide his way in the face of the impending realization of the "Woodstock Nation," Bobby retreats to the kitchen. When he returns to the party, "the party has started to
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 895
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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