Vanity and Materialism in the Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock - Essay Example

This essay discusses that the poem uses perspective, images, and repetition to demonstrate the themes of vanity and materialism.

Prufrock is a vain and materialistic person. He is conscious of his physical looks, which can be inferred when he is concerned about his attire and the bald spot on his hair. He is not ready to accept his aging. Society, after all, celebrates youth and beauty and neglects the old and the ugly. Prufrock is also materialistic because he is concerned with materialistic concerns, such as sophisticated dress and language. Urban decay is also described through images of “yellow fog” and “yellow smoke.” Yellow signifies the gangrene of materialistic modern living that destroys the environment and simplicity in people. The poem, in addition, uses repetition to express materialism. When Prufrock says “And indeed there will be time” several times, he is complaining of his boredom. It becomes palpable that he has no real social life and no permanent human relationships too, which indeed makes life boring.

What I did not like about the poem is that it seems like it has been written by a schizophrenic person, because of the fragmented ideas that go circular. Prufrock does not focus on any idea and expands on it because he gets easily distracted by different things or people.

A materialistic culture, hence, creates vain and superficial people.