The Brothers K A Close Look At

The 1960s Essay, Research Paper The Brothers K–a close look at the 1960s The 1960s was a decade that destroyed the traditional view of living in America. It brought new ways of thinking and fought the old ones. Before this decade, life was much simpler in America. The average American went to church regularly, obeyed the laws, and basically did whatever their forefathers did, without any change. The 1960s destroyed all of this. The hippies of today believe that ?it took a megalithic event like the 60s to shatter the old energies to let the new energies of peace, light and love shine through? (zb.html). Perhaps this is not as far from the truth as we may think. The movement of the 1960s sought to break free from tradition. It showed this in many ways. For instance, the traditional view that sex should be saved for marriage was utterly forsaken. In The Brother?s K, Everett, along with many others, promoted free love, in which everyone willingly gives their body to sex, with whomever they please. This was a major belief of the hippie movement. Even Irwin, who was the one who stayed closest to his Seventh Day Adventist views of Mama, ended up falling in love and having a baby before marriage. He found that it was too hard to stay pure, when everyone else around him was promoting the opposite. The reason so many of the people in the 1960s turned to new ways of life, is that they decided ?every freedom [should be] infinitely extended and voraciously enjoyed? (fonda.html). These freedoms included sex, drugs, speech, and anything else they could take advantage of. They did not care what the authorities, such as their parents and the police, had to say because they thought the authorities were trying to stifle their freedoms. The people had the ability to speak out and fight for their individual rights, so they did. They started to uncover themselves from the blankets of traditional society and dared to be themselves. They no longer conformed, but did what they believed to be right. This psychological shift to non-conformity frightened conventional people because they did not know how to handle the situation. They had never seen anything like it before. Some of the people in the 1960?s even decided to forsake the traditional view of religion, arguing that it ?use[s] fear, domination and oppression to terrify [it?s] followers into giving the church all their individual power? (zb.html). In The Brothers K, Kincaid, Everett, Peter and Freddy all chose to follow this movement to forsake their religion, though each to a different extent and in their own ways. After the ?Psalm Wars?, in which Everett and Mama hurled beliefs at each other in a outrageous manner, Everett forsook his traditional Seventh Day Adventist views completely. He thought he had no need for this oppressing religion. Instead, he took up speaking to large crowds, speaking to them against the current political state of America. Everett said that all that was needed was love, peace and brotherhood. Meanwhile he had totally destroyed his relationship with his mother. Everett despised violence and believed that in an ideal society, cruelty and violence would be legislated out of existence. Because of these beliefs, Everett hated what was happening in Vietnam. So when the time came for him to be drafted into the army, he set his draft papers on fire and fled to Canada. While in Canada he lived with his girlfriend, Natasha, for a while until she got pregnant and left him. After she left, Everett was devastated and began to question himself and the powers that be. Soon after this, Everett received word from Kincaid that Irwin had been institutionalized by the army. Irwin had seen a young boy murdered by his fellow army men. Irwin could not handle this and the others became afraid that he would leak the story. So to cover up, his colleagues marked him insane and dillusionary. Upon coming back to America to save his brother Irwin from the institution, Everett was thrown in prison for being a ?draft-dodger?. During his time in prison he received a letter from Natasha, saying that she missed him and wanted him back. Everett soon came to realize that there must be a higher power out there and, because he refused to follow the tradition of calling it God, he simply titled it ?You?. Although people such as Everett forsook religion, they could not quite fill the void that the absence of God left in their souls. Because of this, most of them eventually came back to religion to a certain extent. Peter, on the other hand chose a totally different path from his brother. All through his childhood, Peter had read books of the Hindu and Buddhist religions. He incorporated all three of the major religions, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism to form his own beliefs. During college, Peter received an opportunity to travel to India for a school study project. He figured this must be his path to enlightenment, so he went very willingly. Once he arrived in India, he tried very diligently to live as the Indians did. He traveled on the low class trains, ate the same food and deprived himself from all other luxuries. However, he soon began to realize that it was much harder to shake his ?American-ness? than he had first imagined. So, before long, he was traveling in first class trains, living in higher class places and eating much better food. However, after he got scammed and robbed, he was forced to go back to living like the poor. At this point, he finally realized that this was not the path to enlightenment, so he returned to America. When Peter got back he discovered that his way of life was not so bad, and although the other religion?s scriptures may be good to learn from, they were not really the true path to salvation. Many others in the 1960s also tried other religions but few found true satisfaction in any of them. Freddy again chose a different path from her siblings, although hers was not quite as extreme. She decided that instead of religion, the recent discoveries in science were far more interesting. Taking after her grandmother, she began to research science and tried many experiments. Science even became a sort of religion for Freddy, it could explain things in the world which she could never before quite understand. The advancements in science surrounding the 1960s lead to many atheistic views, but also led to more unanswered questions. People were still trying to fill the void where God was missing but couldn?t quite do it. Many others in the 1960s found different manners in which to avoid the traditional religious views. Papa found baseball. Since his youth, he had never been a religious man. His father had been a baseball player, so Papa decided to take up his fathers career. It was all he needed in his life, he played baseball and was happy. However this came to an end one day when his thumb was crushed in a mill accident. From that day on, Papa would never pitch normally again. After this, he lost all hope in life, it was as if his salvation had been lost. Papa soon took up smoking and drinking to drown his sorrows. He still watched the baseball games on TV while the rest of the family went to church but he was not the same man as before. Then Kincaid encouraged him not to give up, and Papa began to start pitching in his backyard again. After a thumb surgery, he returned to the ball diamond as a pitching coach and his ?religion? was once again restored. Papa had found something other than the traditional religion to keep his life meaningful. Others found satisfaction in love, music, writing or any other thing that could keep them content. The people of the 1960s also escaped conformity in other ways, such as their ways of living. Since most of them believed in ?free love?, there were a lot of unmarried couples living together, something which was not lightly done before this time. If one did not settle with a certain person, they would give themselves freely to as many people as they chose. They believed that the body was a beautiful thing and it should be utilized to its full potential. The shift from self-control to self indulgence was very evident in the 1960s. Pleasure became the ultimate goal and free love was one way of achieving it. Others achieved this goal through things such as drugs and music. Drugs were very prominent in this era because they were believed to be a way of lifting the mind to another level, a level never previously enjoyed by many of them. Music became a way for people to express their feelings and to make public their views of authority and conformity. Even the way some dressed in the 1960s was a way of escaping conformity. Up to this time the traditional appearance for men included having short hair, and for women it involved wearing a long dress. In the 1960s however, the men grew long hair and beards, and wore brightly coloured shirts and pants. The women, on the other hand, wore halter tops, short shirts, mini skirts, and shorts. In summary, practically anything that wasn?t previously worn was now exhibited. This was a very strong display of non-conformity. The non-conformists of the 1960s also didn?t see the point in working in a job which they didn?t like. For instance, in The Brothers K, Kincaid cannot understand why Papa works in the mill when he knows he does not like it there. Papa works long days doing the same thing time and again, instead of doing what he really wants to do; play baseball. One hippie belief that corresponds with this tiresome mill work, is that ?there are some companies that profit from human suffering, and they exploit human suffering to increase their gains?(zb.html). The Brother?s K carefully depicts all areas of the 1960s, the era of change and non-conformity. In the 1960s people began to realize that they could live differently from other people, and seek happiness in other ways. The sought new ways of filling the void where God was supposed to be. However, unfortunately for them, they usually ended up unsatisfied. The 1960s have had a very strong influence on todays? culture. For instance, there is a much higher tolerance level for different beliefs and new ways of life, than there were prior to the 1960s. The 1960s was an era of experimenting and escaping the norm. After many years of conservative traditionalism, people were ready for some changes, so they made them happen. On the other hand, although the 1960s was a tumultuous time and brought many new ideologies, certain previous traditions, which were still seen to be valuable, made their way through the decade and are still alive and well today.