The wide gap between reality and the ideal is a common subject in many kinds of art and literature, but “The Graduate”, as well as “The Hollow Men”, illustrates this gap with such strong negativity and despair. In the first place, dreams and ideals are themselves evanescent and fragile like bubbles ready to burst. In the only scene in which Ben has a description of his plan for future, he says so vaguely and timidly:
“I'm just -…”
Mr. Braddock: “ - worried?”
Ben: “Well…”
Mr. Braddock: “About what?”
Ben: “I guess - about my future…”
Mr. Braddock: “What about it?”
Ben: “I don't know… I want it to be—”
Mr. Braddock: “To be what?”
Ben: “…(quietly) Different…”
With a hollow and disoriented life, the hope of being nothing more than “different”, as Eliot phrased it, is “The hope only/ Of empty man.” (Line 66, 67) Secondly, even with a simple hope as discussed above , people are alienated from their dreams by reality. For example, pregnancy disillusioned Mrs. Robinson's passion for art, directly leading her into a marriage without love and a life filled with emptiness. Even more impressive is Ben's changing attitude towards water. Obviously, he struggled a lot when he was first forced into the water, indicating his effort to defend his ideals (in this case, “to be different”). As time goes by, audience can notice that he becomes willing to jump into it, implying the overwhelming reality gradually internalizes him.It should be noted that Eliot already describe this helpless and disappointing process in the poem: “Let me also wear/ Such deliberate disguises/ Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves” (31-33)—an ugly but inevitable assimilation to become another “ hollow man”. Most importantly, all of this compromise to reality leads to nothing good. After all the experiences of becoming mature, characters in the movie are as disoriented and empty as before. We can infer this from Elaine's emotionless face when she is walking away from the wedding, and from Ben's emotionless face after smiling awkwardly on the bus at the end of the movie. Everywhere falls a desperate shadow “Between the idea/ And the reality/ Between the motion/ And the act/… Between the desire/ And the spasm/ Between the essence/ And the descent” (73-90).It's like an eternal trap ensnaring everyone from reaching out to dream and to be different. It's a “death's dream kingdom” (20) that “no one dared to disturb.” (from “the Sound of Silence”)
This movie which exposes the disillusionment and emptiness of modern life made me extremely upset for a whole week, not because I felt sorry for the well-characterized people in the movie, but because I felt sorry and exposed myself. I used to feel that people talk, write, and blog continuously without thinking and evaluating. My role was sitting in the middle passively with no clue what to do, yet with a fear of others and society. There must be something missing not only in me but within the “busy humanity which is leading us to some terrible situation. And then I read the poem “the hollow man” and it came to me: “this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the The world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.” (Line 95-98) When dream no longer exists, when people no longer listen to their hearts,when communication no longer has meaning—when silence takes over, then will Doomsday come? Just like the final question “the Graduate” left us—when Ben and Elaine get on the bus, the driver asks: “Where do you want to go? "To the end." Then the bus drives away from our sight, leaving us wondering where and what will be "the end".
View more about The Graduate reviews
