FREE ESSAY ON THE GRADUATE

THE GRADUATE

Veronica Combs
This paper will be both a critique as well as an analysis of the relationships between
both my generation and the time period in which the movie took place. In the critique, I
which to look at the movie score and the dependency that I felt Ben and Katherine had for
each other. There were several issues that I felt my generation had in common with Ben's
generation. These issues were the need to rebel and the detachment we feel from our
parents.
There were several aspects of the movie, which I think should have been removed. The
first aspect is the movie score, which was sung by Paul Simon and composed by Simon and
Garfunckel. In my opinion, the music was very folksy. Folksy in the way that it should be
something that people meditate to not listen to on a movie screen. I also felt the movie
score did not fit in with the movie, because the music was too mundane for the fast pace
of the movie. The next aspect is the dependency that Ben and Katherine had for the other.
I do believe that they really loved each other, but that each person represented
something that the other did not see in themselves. I felt that Katherine saw in Ben his
rebellious behavior which she wish she had and Ben wished that he had Katherine's quiet
and peaceful spirit.
I really felt this movie related to my generation because it touched on a few important
issues that are still common now. These issues are the need to rebel from society, and
the detachment from the parents. The first issue was Ben Braddock's need to rebel. His
rebellion was his affair with Ms. Robinson. I think his rebellion stemmed from the fact
that he felt he had to conform to what society expected from him after graduation. I feel
that when he started his relationship with Ms. Robinson, he was thinking that he had
finally done something that wasn't his parents' idea and it felt good. We see this
attitude now in college students, who feel the need to break away from the expectations,
set by our parents. Many times I feel the need to be in a career exactly the opposite
from what my mother wants me to do even if that career is the same career I really want
to do. 
The next issue that I thought was revelant to my generation is detachment from our
parents that we create for ourselves. I saw the detachment that Ben created for himself
in the first few scenes where he sits in the room and tells his father that he doesn't
want to go to the party right away. I feel that the detachment he created for himself
because he felt that his parents really didn't understand him or what he wanted to do and
also that his parents wanted him to grow up yet they wanted to treat him like a child.
Ben's parents wanted him to get a job, but instead they let him spend the entire summer
not doing anything but relaxing by the pool. I see this detachment in myself sometimes,
because I want to be treated as an adult, yet my mother wants to keep up this image that
I am just a kid. I have to admit to myself that I like being babied because it makes me
feel protected.