The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Prufrock is the narrator of the poem, and the title is ironic because of his terror of speaking to a potential lover. I believe he wants love, but doesn’t have any confidence. Prufrock is an older man that is becoming more cynical as he ages ( I grow old …I grow old…). In lines 1-12, he is perhaps addressing himself (‘you and I’) and thinking about spending an evening with the object of his love, constantly digressing from it, and imagining how it will proceed. Towards the middle of the poem, he starts to come back to reality and in the end does not address his important question to the woman. He starts to let his insecurity show: “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-( They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’…They will say: ‘But how how his arms and legs are thin!)”. These are common insecurities among men today because men feel that they have to look a certain way to attract women. Prufrock’s anxieties echo those felt by women which feminism tries to combat. Women and men equally feel insecurities about themselves. Prufrock compares himself to an insect because he feels lonely and detached from his emotions and he goes on to compare himself to the ocean because he feels overwhelmed by his feelings. He imagines mermaids and their singing, but in lines 120-125, Prufrock explains how the mermaids won’t sing to him because of his age. Today, men have started to accept these characteristics about themselves, and a few fall into this depression like Prufrock. Prufrock would have an easier time dating during this time period. Since our society is less formal and everyone is more accepting, he could try technology to find himself a companion. A few timid men may have difficulty with women because women have more power than the last century. Women’s living arrangements were limited, and this made them have to find a husband to care for them. Today, women can live alone and make their own money and a few men may not be able to connect with independent women. I think we should treat men the same as women when it comes to these issues. We are all human and want to have a sense of security in our lives.