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This is Our All-American Youth: A Comparison/Contrast Essay

Both the play by Lonergan, “This Is Our Youth,” and the poem by Dickman clearly depict some of the major challenges that the youth encounter during their transit to adulthood. Consequently, this is the major theme that dominates both texts. Furthermore, these are the issues that focus on adolescence and maturity. More often that not, some of the major challenges that the youth face include drug abuse, violence, early sex as well as stealing to satisfy their expensive lifestyle. The theme of adolescence and maturity is explored in detail. In Lonergan’s play, the theme of transition into maturity is depicted by the main characters in the play, which include Warren and Dennis.

Warren is merely 19 and has been rejected by his father due to the fact that he stole $15,000. He is also a chain smoker as he agrees that another reason that made his father kick him away was because he used to smoke too much. Moreover, he used to do hard drugs and bring some Marijuana to his friend Dennis, who is similar to him in many ways. He already has cocaine in his possession as Warren knocks on his door (Lonergan, 31). This clearly shows that these two youths have missed the correct path and have been driven to drug abuse as a form of lifestyle. Subsequently, their drug abuse does not enable them to live closely to their parents.

Some of the poems by Mathew Dickman in his collection include “The Trouble,” “Grief” and “Slow Dance.” These poems clearly explore the theme of transition of the youth from the adolescent to maturity (Lonergan, 23). The poems also entail some of the major challenges as well as activities that the youth engage in during this crucial stage.

In the poem “The Trouble,” the theme (which is reflected in the title) is evident in the following lines: “Marilyn Monroe took all her sleeping pills,” “Sarah Kane hanged herself,” and “lit a cap of dynamite in his own mouth though it took six hours for him” (Dickman, 88). Meanwhile, in the poem “The Grief,” the theme is evident through the use of the following lines: “Some nights, when I know she’s coming,” “all the smoking and all the drinking,” and “Romantic? She says” (Dickman, 41). In the poem “Slow Dance,” the theme of transition into maturity is evident through the use of the following lines: “opportunity to dance with really exquisite strangers,” “Scrapping for joy,” and “A little music. An empty bottle of whiskey” (Dickman, 59).

Therefore, there are major similarities in the themes that are brought out in both Lonergan’s play and in the by Dickman. First, the two focuses on the youth at their transition stage from adolescent as they enter maturity. In line with this, the fact that youth is likely to engage into drug abuse as well as fornication is shown. Moreover, in this stage, they are likely to lose the love of their parents because of their changed behavior. For example, Warren loses the trust of his father and ends up being sent away from home. Youths tend to cling to what they cannot afford, and due to the fact that it is beyond their reach, they are likely to use any means to satisfy their expensive lifestyle. Most drugs are expensive that is why one needs a lot of money to buy them. Because of this, they are likely to steal from their parents and develop violent tendencies. To most youths, morals upbringing is lost and becomes elusive at this stage.

In the poem “Slow Dance,” readers can come across youths clubbing and dancing with exquisite strangers. They become reckless about their future. They develop I-do-not- care tendencies that may lead to negative results such as suicide and early pregnancy. For instance, smoking and drinking are brought out in the poem “The Grief” as the major area that the youths are really eager to satisfy and that takes most of their time. Meanwhile, in the play “This Is Our Youth,” Dennis and Warren are portrayed as drug addicts who will do anything to get money for drugs and sex (Lonergan, 41). For example, Warren plans to use the stolen money to ensure that he seduces Jessica Goldman to have sex with him. Warren comes up with a plan of how he will replace the stolen money through the sale of cocaine. Thus, it can be evidently seen that both the play and the poem explore the theme of sex as a major challenge for the youths as they transit from adolescent to adulthood.

However, Dickman’s peom and Lonergan’s play have some differences in the themes that are brought out. First, the play “This Is Our Youth” focuses on the essence of human relationships in detail (Lonergan, 58). According to Lonergan, loyalty and betrayal are vital concepts in maintaining and determining the type of human relationship that may exist between two parties. In this case, Warren and Dennis try their best to return the stolen money to his father in order to mend the broken relationship between them. Despite the fact that Warren had previously been beaten by his father, he still wanted to develop a good relationship with him.

The other major contrast between the play and the collection of the poems by Dickman is that the dominant theme in the poems is that of sexual desire. For instance, “I take her hand in mine. I spin her out and bring her in” is a line in the poem “Slow Dance” that explicitly brings the theme of romance (Dickman, 46). This is a different scenario by the play as the characters are involved in other major challenges in their life. They are entangled in a series of problems concerning their life. This is something that makes Warren decide to return the money he had stolen from his father to see whether he could again return to his home and be in good terms with his father. In addition, the title “Slow Dance” is a metaphor that describes the act of dancing slowly. This is in line with the desire to seek strong companionship for the protagonist in the poem. The youth are also depicted in the poems as being in search for love and companionship (Dickman, 81). Most of the poems are set in expensive and lovely places such as restaurants and coffee shops. Moreover, it is evident from the poems that the lack of love leads to longing and the feeling of being lonely. This has serious repercussions as one my resort to committing suicide.

Nevertheless, in the play, readers can come across Warren and Dennis constantly planning how they will take the two ladies, Jessica and Valerie, to bed once they sell cocaine and get money to rent a hotel room. However, the extent of sexual desire is low compared with that brought out in the poems. In the process of transition from adolescent to adulthood, youths have to embrace new conditions as the new form of life. However, the difference depends on the type of lifestyle that one is exposed to and the guidance he or she is likely to get. Some youths neglect the virtue of ethics and decide to follow their own understanding due to peer pressure. In relation to this, both the poem and the play depict cases of youths who deviate from the right path in this difficult stage in life.

Some rebel against the societal values and norms that have been set by their precedents and take the world in their own hands. Warren decides to move away from his father’s hand due to his weird behavior of smoking excessively. Nevertheless, the tendency for most youths to deviate from the right way is brought by the fact that most youths lack moral guidance. Warren’s father does not care about the impacts of sending his son away from his household (Lonergan, 76). Indeed, Lonergan, throughout the play, does not bring an instance where readers can see his father trying to give advice to him. In fact, it is the son who seeks reconciliation instead of the father.

In his poem, Dickman uses a lot of imagery and metaphors to bring out the major themes mentioned above like the transition from youth to adulthood. On the other hand, Lonergan employs reality when describing the folding events in the life of the two protagonists, Warren and Dennis. Consequently, this brings a major contrast between the two pieces of art.

Works Cited

Dickman, Matthew. American Poetry Review. 1st Ed. 2008.

Lonergan, HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Lonergan” o “Kenneth Lonergan” Kenneth. This is our Youth. New York: Overlook TP publishers, 2000.