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The Libido For The Ugly Essay

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During early 20th century, American writers were influenced by the changing world of industrialization and globalization. The horrors and World War 1 and the invention of new technologies had people questioning the future of humanity. Writers and journalist used this time to voice their views and experiences during these troubling times. Henry Louis Mencken is well-known writer who had a powerful influence on America’s writing style during the 1920s. His writing style was known for it’s wit, and harsh criticism towards American social and cultural weaknesses. His essay “The Libido for the Ugly” sends the message to the reader that America needs to change its way of living because they are too content with their current ugly lifestyle. …show more content…

Here was wealth beyond computation, almost beyond imagination—and here were human habitations so abominable that they would have disgraced a race of alley cats. Mencken starts by stating what the rest of the world knows coming out of World War 1, America is the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world and Pittsburg is the “heart” that drives the industrial changes happening within this great land, but he compares the local populace to “a race of alley cats.” The stray alley cat is known as homeless, mangy, dirty animal that eats scraps out the trashcan. This introduction by him, paints the picture for what the reader can expect, that American’s are unconcerned with their way of living and are content with living like a stray animals. Mencken continues to describe the landscape of the 25-mile journey in very colorful language as a wound to his eyes, but not the steel mills themselves, the actually houses and towns. One expects steel towns to be dirty. What I allude to is the unbroken and agonizing ugliness, the sheer revolting monstrousness, of every house in sight. From East Liberty to Greensburg, a distance of twenty-five miles, there was not one in sight from the

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