The Generational Schism is REAL

Insights from a Literature Student

After one of the most difficult academic years I have ever had to deal with, I am absolutely thrilled that the first year of my A-Levels is done, and I’m back here for some therapeutic writing that I have missed lots! Studying Literature at A-Levels has truly enabled me to understand the world on a deeper level through the texts I have explored and the wider implications I have drawn from them, so I thought I’d share some of the most pertinent issues I’ve discovered from the hundreds of hours I have spent poring over these texts.

Analysing texts in such a high level of detail isn’t for everyone, and to be honest, I can understand why people might have the idea that literature can be quite pretentious, and if you have that opinion, that’s completely okay. However, I do think that the messages and implicit meanings are hugely important to our lives, and can really change our perception of the world and cause a paradigm shift. Why? Perhaps because we are able to view different types of characters from an objective lens which can then be applied to our own lives. At least, that’s the case for me!

The first thing I thought I’d write about since my long long break from writing (couldn’t deal with writing more on top of my History, English and Psychology essays) is the generational divide and the truth behind it. This is something I had never really sat and thought about, despite being 17 which is typically the age when diverging viewpoints of both parties, like parent and child, are brought to the forefront.

I studied the American play ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in incredible detail, and the centre of the family disputes and disagreements that arise out of the drama comes down to the fundamental idea of the schism between the two generations that have sowed the seeds of miscommunication and lack of understanding on both sides which only leads to distance, resentment and bitter exasperation.

Without going into too much detail about the conflict of the play in this article, the central characters, the father and the son, are continuously in moral contradiction of the other due to emphasis placed on different values of the times in which they had respectively lived through. While the father was a product of the uncertainty and turmoil of the Depression era, the son forged his character in the heated patriotic fires of the Second World War.

Therefore, it is understandable why the father would value stability and family ties and believe they outweigh one’s moral responsibility to the world. However, the son had the perception that one’s social responsibility to the community and the wider role one plays far succeeds the role of a father, mother, son or daughter. Such hugely contrasting perspectives can be owed to the Social Contract Theory of the time.

Social Contract Theory is a huge philosophical concept that I heard about for the first time in my English class. In simple terms, this refers to the ‘agreement’ (hence the term ‘contract’) that individuals of the time are dependent upon to ensure the survival of the society in which they live in.

So let me put this in context. While the social contract of the 1930s-40s in which the father would have lived the prime of his life is likely to have centred around the American Dream — working hard and earning money to ensure your family live a fortunate life with the typical ‘white picket fence’ — the Social Contract evolved in the 1950s to be revolved around patriotism and serving one’s country as history had proven.

However, in the modern-day, we increasingly see the Social Contract Theory to be changing into encouraging an individual to acknowledge their impact on others. Starting to see maybe why we simply cannot understand why those senior to us or why those younger to us do the bizarre things they do?

Practical differences between the ages are also a cause of huge frustrations. For example, the youth of today are significantly more proficient in dealing with things virtually, and that’s because of the technology that has boomed within our era desperate to make sure our lives are as easy as possible. However, while it would take me a minute to log into a Zoom, I think pretty much every parent or grandparent might have struggled with setting up a zoom or trying to figure out that the mute button exists for a reason, at least initially. Too many times I have found myself questioning them with “How do you not know this”.

I fail to understand how someone has absolutely no clue how to create a Whatsapp group when the icon is literally RIGHT THERE. But it’s not their fault, and this is something I increasingly have to remind myself off. Lack of understanding of different generations can truly lead to irritation, frustration and estrangement which really made me resonate with the struggles of the son in ‘All My Sons’ in trying to understand his father’s seemingly irrational point of view and trying to convince him of the flaws in his belief system.

I haven’t gone into the specifics of the differences and conflicts between these two characters because I think it is unnecessary to understanding the writer’s wider message which is one I believe to be ultimately encouraging us to be sympathetic to the views of those who have lived through different lives. Even if that means biting your tongue at times and saving your frustration to the confines of your own mind.

While it is incredibly important to voice personal opinions, as I often do, it is nevertheless important to question whether the issue at hand is worth risking the relationship at hand. Sometimes, the answer is yes — as proven in ‘All My Sons’ — and sometimes it’s no when you submit to the idea that your mother will always believe the Whatsapp messages her friends forward her (no matter how crazy), as a friend of mine experienced!

Doing is (unfortunately) significantly harder than writing for me. Despite being forced into situations where my points of view differ from someone older than me time and time again, I still feel very frustrated and at times, angry. In my experience, I am unable to have a mature conversation with adults to talk about the effect of the generational schism on the current problem, and it often ends with everyone upset or me being forced to stay silent. I find that my freedom of speech is restricted and my voice silenced to those who are unable to waver even the slightest from their fixed views.

While the conflicts vary, the outcome is always the same — each party probably cursing at the other one to just stop talking. I find lots of people I know in similar situations as me, so please share your thoughts if you have any as I would love to hear them! As a person who is still trying to grow and improve, I would appreciate any insight and hope that this piece might also be of value to you.

I hope everyone is staying safe, and if you are quarantined with parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents or guardians who just think SO differently from the way you do, or alternatively if you are quarantined with insolent teenagers or youth who just don’t seem to get your perspective, I hope you can manage to keep your patience and understand that this, although an imperfection of human life, offers us the opportunity to learn from each other and in some cases, just to accept different ideas and empathise.

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