Week 10: BEAT Generation. CREATIVE: Create a short story that captures the values of the BEAT Generation.
I was walking past my local milk bar that was advertising a…
“! NEW CANDY !
It’ll put a hole in your tooth!
The new rock sour candy is too BIG to fit in your mouth!
It is SO SOUR it will make your mouth BURN and eyes WEEP!
New WEIRD flavour combinations will make your stomach ache!
Doesn’t it sound GREAT?!”
I was about to lean over to Myrtle to discuss how awful it sounds, when a group of small children and their parents barged out the store front. One child relentlessly chipping away at the thing like a woodpecker! Another, was sucking on it the way you’d kiss your husband the first time you saw him since returning from the war. And then two girls, pretty girls, cradling the thing like it was their baby, swaddled neatly against their bosom, the ball becoming sticky from the contact. Another group of children were about to run in when the candy man placed a sign on the window saying they were “SOLD OUT”.
We left before all hell broke loose and noticed a “Children’s Dentist” opening up across the street.
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This piece of writing is greatly influenced by the BEAT period’s critique of consumer culture and materialism at the time. This recount of an older persons perspective is an allegory on society and its commodified nature. Through utilising the language in the advertisement that highlight the negative repercussions that result from using the product, the irony is clear as despite this product was sold out. Moreover, the total fascination of the children about their new toy, a lolly, that was disintegrating before their eyes, is a critique of the commercial consumerism apparent in society and the lack of permanence within their investments towards themselves and their future. The reference to “Myrtle” refers to John Ashbury’s poem ‘Myrtle’ that questions the meaninglessness and temporality associated with names, technology and life. This “meaninglessness” is what is being portrayed in this allegory, as the story reflects delusion and lack of interior depth of the consumers in the story. Finally, the account of the new “Children’s Dentist” defines the commodified society, and underpins the greed and selfishness the culture had been built upon; some people’s pain is others gain.
Victoria Martin's Literature Blog 
The short story that was in this blog was great. The poem ‘Myrtle’ by John Ashbury and its reference here are well written. The poem itself as said, is about the meaninglessness of life and technology. The way that the meaninglessness is portrayed here is well written, as the persona and ‘Myrtle’ were about to discuss how terrible the candy sounds when the children came out of the store with said candy. Furthermore, the inclusion of mentioning that a Children’s Dentist opening across the street added to the meaninglessness. Overall, it was a great read.
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