After World War II, the Baby Boom in America brought the country one impressively unique generation, often known as the Baby Boomers. Due to the afterwar Baby Boom, Baby Boomers came into the stage light of history with extravagant number; thus, they became the main force of changes in American society. In the late 1960s – early 1970s, with the first Baby Boomers growing out of their teens, ensured by the social wealth and stability and empowered by college education, emerged their first significant contributions to their society. Among which were the Antiwar Movement, the Civil Rights Movement and the Hippie Counterculture. While the Antiwar Movement aimed for a better, peaceful world as Baby Boomers were the first to live under the threat of the hydrogen bomb, the Civil Rights Movement strived to settle the matter of discrimination and race equality for the minorities; the Hippie Counterculture challenged social norms, questioned the authority and brought about a new way of life. During each series of events, Baby Boomers gradually shaped their visions and ideas about the world and their own country, which in turn helped shaping the United States the country as of today. Among novels and fictions reflecting this unique generation, The Drifters by James A. Michener is a powerful illustration of the Baby Boomers’ ideas, beliefs and ways of life. Studying the novel will offer a closer as well as distinctive look into some common traits of the people belonging to the Baby Boom Generation.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER THE IDENTIFICATIONS AND RESPONSES OF BABY BOOMERS TO SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S REFLECTED IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS Supervisor: Hoàng Thu Phương Student: Phạm Ngọc Liên Course: QH2010.F1.E16 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NHỮNG NHẬN DẠNG VÀ HỒI ĐÁP CỦA THẾ HỆ BABY BOOMER ĐỐI VỚI NHỮNG MÂU THUẪN XÃ HỘI TRONG NHỮNG NĂM CUỐI THẬP NIÊN 60 VÀ ĐẦU THẬP NIÊN 70 PHẢN ÁNH TRONG TÁC PHẨM THE DRIFTERS CỦA JAMES A MICHENER Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Hồng Thu Phương Sinh viên: Phạm Ngọc Liên Khóa: QH2010.F1.E16 HÀ NỘI – 2014 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I, Pham Ngoc Lien, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In term of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan, or production of paper Signature, Date May 5, 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to a number of people who supported me during my time completing this paper First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Ms Hoang Thu Phuong, who has been guiding me attentively from the start She gave me continuous support and offered constructive criticism, without which I could hardly finish this research I would also like to offer my sincerest thanks to my family for their care and encouragement during the time I conducted the research My special thanks would go to my mother, who is not only a conscientious researcher with sharp comments and dedication to social sciences, but also a great cook whose dishes are unrivalled I would also appreciate my friends at ULIS for their concerns, especially Ms Tran Thi Thuy, for she has been a great friend in my four years Another precious friend I would also like to say thanks to is Mr Vo Nhu Hai Without his West Valley College library account, I would not have been able to get access to such a vast and prestigious source of information Special thanks to my Hanoikids club, whose members, tours and guests from all over the world have been a one-of-a-kind source of inspiration for me to conduct this research Last but not least, I would honestly appreciate my readers for their interest and criticism on the study i ABSTRACT After World War II, the Baby Boom in America brought the country one impressively unique generation, often known as the Baby Boomers Due to the after-war Baby Boom, Baby Boomers came into the stage light of history with extravagant number; thus, they became the main force of changes in American society In the late 1960s – early 1970s, with the first Baby Boomers growing out of their teens, ensured by the social wealth and stability and empowered by college education, emerged their first significant contributions to their society Among which were the Antiwar Movement, the Civil Rights Movement and the Hippie Counterculture While the Antiwar Movement aimed for a better, peaceful world as Baby Boomers were the first to live under the threat of the hydrogen bomb, the Civil Rights Movement strived to settle the matter of discrimination and race equality for the minorities; the Hippie Counterculture challenged social norms, questioned the authority and brought about a new way of life During each series of events, Baby Boomers gradually shaped their visions and ideas about the world and their own country, which in turn helped shaping the United States the country as of today Among novels and fictions reflecting this unique generation, The Drifters by James A Michener is a powerful illustration of the Baby Boomers’ ideas, beliefs and ways of life Studying the novel will offer a closer as well as distinctive look into some common traits of the people belonging to the Baby Boom Generation ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Table of contents iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale 1.2 Aims and research questions 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Organization of the paper CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 America’s Baby Boomers 2.2.The Drifters 2.2.1 About James A Michener 2.2.2 About The Drifters 2.3.Definition of Social Conflicts CHAPTER 3: THE IDENTIFICATIONS AND RESPONSES OF 11 BABY BOOMERS TO SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S REFLECTED IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS 3.1 The Anti-war Movements 11 3.1.1 Remarkable events 11 3.1.1.1 About the Vietnam War 11 3.1.1.2 The Anti-war Movements 13 3.1.1.3 The Political Chaos 16 3.1.2 In The Drifters 3.2 Civil Rights Movement 3.2.1 Remarkable events 16 19 19 3.2.1.1 Jim Crow System 19 3.2.1.2 The Marian Anderson’s concert 20 iii 3.2.1.3 The Montgomery Bus Boycott Movement 20 3.2.1.4 Sit-ins 22 3.2.1.5 The Freedom Rides 22 3.2.1.6 Albany and Birmingham 23 3.2.1.7 The March on Washington 23 3.2.1.8 The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act 24 3.2.2 In The Drifters 3.3 New movements in arts, literature, fashion and other aspects of 25 27 culture 3.3.1 The Hippie Movement 27 3.3.1.1 What defines a hippie 28 3.3.1.2 Historical overview 29 3.3.1.2.1 Pre-hippie period: the Beat Generation 29 3.3.1.2.2 Emergence (1960 – 1965) 29 3.3.1.2.3 The end (1970s) 30 3.3.1.3 The Hippies’ Ideology 31 3.3.1.3.1 Sexuality 31 3.3.1.3.2 Drug use 31 3.3.1.3.3 Music 32 3.3.1.3.4 Politics 33 3.3.1.4 Impacts of the Hippie Culture 34 3.3.2 In The Drifters 35 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 40 4.1 Summary 40 4.2 Limitation of the study 41 4.3 Proposal for further study 41 REFERENCES 42 iv AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale Baby Boomers were born at a critical time: after World War II, grew up and were shaped during the major events of modern history such as The Cold War and the Vietnam War, and an age of accelerating changes in culture As a result, the Boomers have been significantly distinctive from their ascending and following generations They were the first generation to identify the Self, trying to be different, trying to seek the answers for the major issues of their time with distinctive methods During the Boomers’ time, the U.S experienced major changes in its society; as the Boomers called for an ideal society and worked for it, including the Civil Rights and Women’s Right movement, and the enactment of the Affirmative Action In The Drifters, James A Michener described three youngsters featuring three great issues that the Boomers had to tackle during their time: Joe – the antiwar student who escaped from the US when he was called to join the army for the Vietnam war – was a symbol of the Boomers’ anti unjust war spirit; Cato – the black boy who struggled to find a way for the black Americans – represented the American minor groups who suffered racism; and Gretchen – the young, talented girl who witnessed the injustice of the government – stood for the idealism that the Boomers had within them The book gave a closer insight and vivid examples into how Baby Boomers thought and acted The research focuses on giving an over-look of a significant generation of the United States, centering on their hectic years of late 1960s and early 1970s, also known as one of the most chaotic periods in American history AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS 1.2 Aims and research questions This research, based on published literature as well as the novel’s remarks and discussion, aimed to explore the most identificable features of the Baby Boomers, in addition to their behavior traits and ideas in response to the social conflicts in American society of the late 60s and the early 70s The ultimate goal of the study is to answer the following research questions: Who are the Baby Boomers and what were the conflicts and events in the American society in the late 1960s and the early 1970s? What responses did the Baby Boomers give towards these conflicts and events, and in what ways were the Baby Boomers portrayed in literature, namely the novel The Drifters by James A Michener? 1.3 Scope of the study This paper focuses chiefly on the significant events that took place in America in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the actions and the viewpoints of the Baby Boomers during that time 1.4 Significance of the study The Baby Boomers have contributed to changes in every aspect of the US society during their adolescence and still leave a significant impact on the nowadays society and the next generations By carefully analyzing the Baby Boomers, the research hopes to not only offer a quick glance into a past section of the US history for future references, but also expects to partly explain the current trends in the American identifications, the economy and the politics as well as some facets of the modern culture AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS Furthermore, by examining how an American author wrote about the Baby Boom Generation, the paper hopes to give an example of how Americans view and think about themselves Additionally, in one way or another, America’s Baby Boomers are similar to the post-war Baby Boomers in Vietnam (those who were born after 1975 until early 1990s) They are both presented to a decade of swirling changes, feeling significantly different from their parents’ generation as they are the first to realize the significance of the individual; and they pay close attention to the events around them, not willing to simply obey what is commonly accepted anymore; and trying hard to seek answers for the future Therefore, even though the research only focuses on identifying America’s Baby Boomers, further studies might also give another insight into the Vietnamese current youngsters By identifying these three characters (how they responded to the major events, their views on the world and of themselves, and even their taste of music and films, and their habits), we can have a picture of the US’ Boomers, who played a key role in the country’s history This paper also hopes to become a referential material for teaching and studying the subject of Country Studies, particularly American Studies, in the future 1.5 Methodology The research is a combination of primary and secondary research The first sub-chapter of each chapter, which summarizes remarkable events during the claimed period will be carried out by the method of secondary research, which means the data and information are primarily gathered from congregating documents, materials, journals and books, mostly publications on the topic of American history in general AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS surfaced as the major epicenters of the counterculture Issitt (2009) argued that, this emergence was a result of their unique location, history and population; and soon enough a diverse lot gathered there on “one common factor: affordable housing” (p.3) This attracted all walks of life and at last held possession of an ethnic and cultural diversity, fostered a “socially progressive environment” and later became the hippie neighborhoods (Issitt, 2009, p.3) By 1965, the hippies took over, with San Francisco at the center of the movement (Issitt, 2009, p.5) 3.3.1.2.3 The End (1970s) In December of 1969, in the concert of Altamont, the Hells Angels - who then were hired for security – knifed to death a young African American as he pulled out a gun This was the beginning of the end, as it was a “major blow to the hippie vibe” (Issitt, 2009, p.13) The next year, the hippies’ musical giants (Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix in 1970 and Jim Morrison in 1971) passed away due to overdose and drug abuse The drug culture began to change as hard drugs replaced dope in Haight-Ashbury and thus led to the increase of violence, many dedicated hippies fled the scene and pursued their ideals elsewhere, “hippie-ism, as it had been, was dead” (Issitt, 2009, p.13) 3.3.1.3 The Hippies’ Ideology Before examining the revolutionary ideas the hippies brought about, it should be bore in mind that there never was a “standard hippie”, but instead, they were “a group made up of thousands of individuals” whose “presence in and effect on society has been abbreviated in the necessity for historical simplification” (Issitt, 2009, p.15) 30 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS 3.3.1.3.1 Sexuality The phrase by Allyn (2001) might be the best to sum up the hippies’ idea about sexuality: "For hippies, sexual liberation meant not being preoccupied with sex" (p.2) Also according to him, making love might include, but is not limited to sexual intercourse, as making love is the most profound contact between individuals (Allyn, 2001, p.5) Another facet of the views hippies shared on sexuality was the encouragement of nudity, and they envisioned the “raw human body as an object of beauty” (Issitt, 2009, p.22) As hippies repelled the norm, with the display of the nude body which was considered obscene by the mainstream culture, perhaps it was their way to express liberation from the straight society Barcan (2004) wrote: "For the hippies, nudity served as both a symbol of and a pathway to social and sexual liberation" (p.776) The sexual liberation of the hippies also paved the way for feminism, with the invention of birth-control pill that allowed women to enjoy the pleasure of sex “without the fear of motherhood” (Issitt, 2009, p.24) and thus empowered them 3.3.1.3.2 Drug use Hippies distinguished between dope and drugs based on the effects it exerted on the user’s consciousness Miller (1991) wrote that “substances that were perceived as expanding consciousness were good, things that made the user dumb were bad” (p.25) While dope (substances considered natural like marijuana, LSD, psilocybin, peyote and mescaline) would be regarded as a positive, natural form of recreation; drugs (synthetic substances like heroin, cocaine, barbiturates, methamphetamines) were poisonous and negative (Issitt, 2009, p.27) 31 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS The purposes of the widespread use of dope in hippie communities (Haight-Ashbury and Greenwich Village) could be for recreation, or treated as a “form of resistance against the laws of the establishment” or a “symbol of the hippies' association with and evolving worldview” (Issitt, 2009, p.29) Dope use was allowed by the hippie principle “if it feels good, it – unless it will significantly hurt others”, and the common argument hippies brought up to cope with the legal disapproval was that dope would harm no one other than the willing users, and that “government had no right to tell people what to with their bodies” (Issitt, 2009, p.32) While dope was exercised by many hippie icons (including the Beatles and Bob Dylan) to enhance their creativity, the spiritual and cultural leaders advocated drug use as a tool for enlightenment (with the example of "acid guru" Timothy Leary) (Issitt, 2009, p.29-30) The logical consequences were that many hippies became dependent of drugs and even suffered fatal overdoses, including hippie iconic figures like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix Some others abused drugs as a form to escape from their problems until these grew into serious issues Issitt concluded that “dope was both fuel and folly in hippie culture” (p.34) 3.3.1.3.3 Music Flamm and Steigerwald (2008) wrote that “even more than sex and psychedelic drugs, rock and roll distinguished the new culture as a rebellion of the young” (p.65) Rock concerts had been ideal gathering spots for hippies to “get together and mingle, away from the judgment of the mainstream” (Issitt, 32 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS 2009, p.41), and rock was, a means of “cultural communication” (Miller, 1991, p.74) While the established psychedelic rock with loud and disorganized sounds expressed the “myriad influences and desires of the hippies” and was clearly marked as “rebellious” (Issitt, 2009, p.41), the musical trend that followed up in what was called a “singer/songwriter decade” with the participation of James Taylor, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, and Joan Baez showed a “softer, more emotional side of hippie culture” (Issitt, 2009, p.44) with the decline in the noisy, energetic rock sound; instead, focusing on “soft, introspective, acoustic music” (Friedlander, 1996, p.101) to deliver the message of “love, self expression and artistic realization” (Issitt, 2009, p.44) 3.3.1.3.4 Politics As mentioned about, hippie culture arose at a time of intense social conflict: the Civil Rights movement, the Cold war and the nuclear disarmament movement, and the Vietnam War However, hippies had not been enthusiastic political activists Steigerwald (2008) noted that “politics was too much like work; it was for the ‘uptight’, whether the establishment folks in their suits or the ideological kids on campus” (p.68) Their involvement in protests, marches and political movements might well be derived from their opposition to the mainstream culture, and their ideology of a non-violent society that led them into the antiwar campaigns and the Civil Rights movement (Issist, 2009, p.49-51) While the anti-government idea was widespread among hippies, some just resist authorities to interfere with their attempts to have a good time Yet some hippies had really questioned the social norms that 33 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS initiated novelty and changes in the society By asking “Why are things the way they are?”, perhaps the “primary political impact” hippies imposed had been the “willingness to question the social order and experiment with new ways of behaving” (Issitt, 2009, p.55) 3.3.1.4 Impacts of the Hippie Culture Under the consequences of the Cold War in the 1950s, the American society suffered from conflict with communism, as these “two ways of life” saw the other as “illegitimate” (Kort, 2001, p.4) leading to the avoidance of anything foreign from the U.S citizens As Beat Generation emerged in the 1960s, this cultural isolation had been brought to doom and the hippies took it even further They sawed the American system as “flawed” and “at the root of society’s problems”; therefore, “exploring other ways of living and thinking was an avenue to a different (and hopefully superior) way of life” (Issitt, 2009, p.60) That explained their thirst for international culture and opened a new era of “road tripping”, as hippies stirred a “national fascination with the pleasures and mind-expanding benefits of international exploration” Some hippies promoted the idea of global citizenship and contributed to the globalization later on (p.61-62) As hippies turned into parents and "returned" to the mainstream culture, they also helped to define a "new" mainstream, and their ideas of universal love, importance of the individual, and freedom of expression had been passed on to Generation X (p.62-63) To conclude his book, Issitt (2009) wrote: In the 21st century, questioning the government, challenging oppression and discrimination, and upholding personal liberty are no longer the goals of the counterculture; they are part of the American code and the duty of every citizen This is the hippies' legacy (p.67) 34 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS 3.3.2 In The Drifters It was evident in many ways that the three characters mentioned in this research were heavily affected by the Hippie movement, though they never evidently identified themselves as hippies, same as many people belonged to the Baby Boom Generation For the character Gretchen, the most significant feature she took up from the hippies should be idealism From the beginning, Gretchen had always been clear about her political orientation Despite her family trend to support Republicans, she worked hard for a Democrat – Senator McCarthy with the belief that “no one will ever again be able to start anything like the Vietnam War” (p.244) With that hope, she eagerly supported Eugene McCarthy and appreciated Senator Kennedy as an honorable alternative After Kennedy’s assassination, she felt as if “something vital had been drained from her, something to with idealism and the hope for a saner world” (p.255) In this chaos, the Baby Boomer Generation then so brimmed with idealism and hope felt as if “the irrational, against which they had fought, had once more triumph” (p.255) The group of youth also had various similarities with the hippies that actually represented their generation Firstly, they possessed the international spirit Their concern stretched outside of their nation, it reached Russia or Brazil rather than their own country (p.524), it could be global matters of “automation, of air pollution, of urban control” (p.635) They travelled to anywhere they wanted to: in the past, only the rich “could afford the grand tour of 35 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS Europe Now everybody can it.”; and it was not only for boys, “now girls go, too” (p.646) Secondly, they claimed, mostly by music, that their “generation had found reality” (p.704) The author explained that it had “little to with reality”, instead, evidently referred to “marijuana and hashish” (p.704) This was also a significant identification of the hippies Throughout the novel, the scenes of these young people smoking weeds, using marijuana and hashish were frequently portrayed, with their argument being these were not of themselves “addictive” (p.416) Yet the author reckoned that “the social milieu in which it was smoked did encourage further experimentation” (p.416) and thus, using any of those would escalate to even stronger drugs The author admited that he was “perplexed” that the very youth who opposed fiercely river pollution had been “so indifferent to the contamination of their own blood-streams” (p.414-415); and drew the conclusion that marijuana would by no ways lead to a good, healthy life and it would destroy will (p.417) In the last part of the book, an English girl named Monica died due to overdose and infected hypodermic leading to hepatitis, all resulted from the use of heroine – a grave warning to all the dope users The explanation of the book for these addicts, “the sick of this generation”, was that they resorted to drugs because “our world has become too much for them to handle” (p.641) Another sidenote on the author’s view on this generation was that they were “the disenchanted, the disengaged who threw down a challenge to forces they could not control” (p.523) The “forces” differed for each character and the issues they represented: for Joe, it was a war he could not accept but which he could not repel against, neither; for Cato, it was 36 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS the discrimination engraved deeply within many societies he had no ways to escape from; for Gretchen, the very equality and belief she sought for but got disheartened by reality in the end On Gretchen’s terms, she always felt that their generation lacked the belief and they were travelling in search of their own values, and amongst the characters, she arrived most firmly about what she wanted to – a book about “The Children’s Crusade” – with a “heavy thrust of meaning” for the youth, and for the reason that “the children of each generation enlist in their own crusade; it is only the banners that change” (p.745) The Baby Boom Generation’s Crusade was to find and defend their own values, with youngsters like Gretchen at the front In this quest, the Baby Boom Generation was, inevitably, forced to face with the confrontation of their previous generation The book portrayed several ways in which the values of these two generations conflicted, with Joe, Cato, Gretchen and other youngster on the Baby Boomers’ side, and Harvey Holt, a Tech Rep and ex-marine, on the other side The first noticeable conflict was their distinguished opinions about wars Holt, on behalf of the older generation, was a arduous patriot and insisted that going to war was “the only honourable thing a man can do” (p.558) and he took the World War II against Hitler to protect the Jews as an example (559) He attempted to persuade Joe to join the army, but the boy had got other reasonings In his opinion, their generation was living with the hydrogen bomb that made war a totally different concept (p.558) In fact, the Baby Bomb Generation was the first to face with the threat of the hydrogen bomb (as mentioned previously), and the author also did referred to this viewpoint of the Baby Boom that the threat of the 37 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS hydrogen bomb would “consequently” make their lives “different from what mine [the author] had been” (p.710) While Holt showed his respects to authority, Joe and his counterparts just “place” their “judgment about that of your [American] President, your Congress” (p.558) The second conflict was between music and movie tastes Holt regarded Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy’s films as the “greatest dramatic moments in movie history” (p.505), yet the youngsters would not take movies like Casablanca (one of Humphrey Bogart’s film) seriously, and regarded it as a “mishmash of cliches”; why Holt simply could not understand why they overrated King Kong and I Was a Teenager Werewolf (p.551-554) The new generation also could not fathom the older melodies, and they would give comments that the lyrics were “abominable, so fake, so puritan” and the rhymes “silly”; while Holt said the new music was “a fraud on the public” (p.531) Another remarkable differences of the two generations was their opinions toward society in general Inger, a young girl working in Stockholm and coming to Marrakech six months of the year, claimed about this difference that “You get up on war of sex or drugs, and we don’t” (p.734) They also said that they were “cutting out from society” and they would “rather die than submit to the old forms” (p.734) Just as the hippies’ slogan “if it feels good, it – unless it will significantly hurt others” was made the excuse to dope uses, these young people chose a way of life satisfying to themselves and gave no regards whatsoever to the society proposed, unless the things that the society “takes so seriously” they would “make concessions”, but not “on the big issues” 38 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS (p.734) They represented the new generation who strived to break the boundaries and establish new customs for themselves, with Baby Boomers at the heart of the movement 39 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Summary The Baby Boomers emerged at a unique time of American history: after World War II, coming right into a period of swift changes in every facet of American society and culture Through this series of historical events, Baby Boomers’ consciousness was shaped and their characteristics displayed The Antiwar movement against the Vietnam war united thousands of Baby Boomers and other generations together, all with the same belief that all war is wrong and young men should not be sacrified for nothing, signaled the coming of a new generation striving for peace and a better world without meaningless fighting The Civil Rights movement and the efforts of both the Negros and the white people, not to mention other colored races in America, for a more equal society, were succeeded by the Baby Boom Generation The problems, although has not yet been settled just as many other discriminations existing in the world nowadays, had been fought against profoundly and brought positive result Today we have Barrack Obama – the first colored president of the United States – also a Baby Boomer, and it proves that the efforts had not been in vain The Hippie counterculture, which involved a large number of Baby Boomers, also had not been there for long, left its legacy within the present United States, where the individual and freedom are respected, and questioning the government and oppression becomes a common code of society This legacy can be said to contribute to the U.S leading economy and the ever-famed “American dream” 40 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS The Baby Boomers, despite all of their confusion and shortcomings, can be said to have contributed abundantly in the progress of the United States as of today The Drifters by James A Michener has taken several approaches to the Baby Boomer Generation as a fiction and illustrated them with an objective and comprehensive look Furthermore, the novel even takes a step further to offer a deeper level of understanding on this unique generation 4.2 Limitation of the study Even though the research has been conducted to the best of the researcher’s effort, there remain limitations Firstly, the Baby Boom Generation as well as the American society of the late 1960s and early 1970s are vast topic with various aspects Thus, the reseach could only focus on some of the most significant perspectives, leaving others unstudied and consequently, is limited in giving a general overview of a whole Generation In addition, the Baby Boomers are a group of people with different personalities, preferences and ideas, therefore, any attempt to give a common description of them would prove to be inadequate 4.3 Proposal for further study Further study can be deployed in several approaches Some suggestions would be: the effects of the Baby Boomers on the economy, the interrelation between the Baby Boom Generation and Generation X that follows them, or the current influences Baby Boomers exert on American culture 41 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER’S THE DRIFTERS REFERENCES Allyn, D S (New York) Make Love, Not War 2001: Routledge Anderson, D L (2012) Columbia Guide to the 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GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KH? ?A LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NHỮNG NHẬN DẠNG VÀ HỒI ĐÁP C? ?A THẾ HỆ BABY BOOMER ĐỐI VỚI NHỮNG MÂU THUẪN XÃ HỘI TRONG NHỮNG NĂM CUỐI THẬP NIÊN 60. .. studies AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER? ??S THE DRIFTERS CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 America’s Baby Boomers As defined by Macunovich (2000), the American Baby Boomers are the ones... ordinances” The case of Rosa Parks was just another drop added to the cup, as for long the 20 AMERICA’S BABY BOOMERS IN JAMES A MICHENER? ??S THE DRIFTERS segregated city bus with African Americans