Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock” epitomizes ennui through the rite of passage of youth; a party. Parties embody the recklessness, novelty and hormonally driven aspects of growing up and are a trope throughout most teenage/young adults’ books, movies, etc. Prufock’s overt denial of this rite of passage ties into his fear of social and romantic rejection. While reading this piece, Prufock reminded me of a current TV show: Riverdale. The quintessential teenage show, Riverdale, tails the stories of jocks and cheerleaders, but also the angsty outcast Jughead as well. Jughead has a party scene that expresses his disinterest or anxiety around the social aspects of partying. Jughead’s character mirrors that of Prufock while splitting in ideologies about love, expressing two conflicting views on where love or wanted social interactions lay in a narrative full of ennui.

            Prufock, although anxious about most interactions in the party, has a special focus on the fear of women. The poem portrays women in various lights, but heavily emphasizes the line, “in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo”, through repetition. This repetition makes the poem more oriented around Prufock’s social interactions with women and points his fretting over appearance as a fear of romantic rejection, rather than social. The line itself also expresses how Prufock sees the women at the party, which extends his extreme angst. Prufock sees a falsehood around these women who find themselves impressive because they talk of high class, educated things of beauty, which they themselves also seem to identify with. This show of impressiveness, does not impress Prufock, as he continues to demean women and the idea of love later on in the poem. But Jughead’s angst, although set in a similar situation, is directed to a different group.

(Before I start on Jughead, please watch this clip (if you’d like))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnMEp02P-_k

            Although this scene is an AWFUL piece of acting, Jughead’s overall angst is given through the idea that he doesn’t belong in a normal social setting, much like Prufock. But Jughead’s angst doesn’t quite fall into line with his counterpart. In this episode, the jocks and cheerleaders of Riverdale take over Jughead’s party, which upsets him infinitely. But there are specific aspects of his anger that don’t make him completely anti-social or inept in the world. Jughead did want to spend his birthday with others, but only a specified few, including his girlfriend Betty. In this way, Jughead’s angst is not extended to Betty or his affection for her/his other close friends. It seems, in fact, that Betty is a driving force in his character development through her own genuine affection towards him. Because of this, the two angsty characters don’t correlate.

            Prufock’s last couple stanzas (the utterly confusing ones) explain his disbelief in love or genuine affection, which is the opposite of Jughead in this comparison of ennui. In the stanza

“We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown”

Prufock sets up romantic intimacy as a trap, damning femininity and love as nothing more than an alluring display to destroy men. His angst pushes against the expectation that all will love and love as an innately good thing. I think this is Eliot’s sarcastic critique on the heteronormative trope throughout youngest adult literature about love and falling in love at first sight with girls that aren’t even being genuine. Eliot argues that a life without love is okay, because it further means that it is a life without expectation, without judgement, and a way in which one can escape the necessity to be held down by empty promises.

            Jughead’s character also critiques the genuine aspects of others, but doesn’t see love as his main target, rather the social hierarchy that engulfs youth. Jughead embraces the difficulty that comes with being in love (as he fights with Betty this whole scene), but is incapable of interacting with people who only can look down on him with judgement. Jughead’s perspective is that love is a genuine thing and should be trusted and wanted, for the world itself is scary and trap like.

            The two antisocial characters cannot be denied the title of angsty youngsters, but both have very different messages through their angst. Prufock is utterly against the beauty of love, believing it is nothing more than a trickster mirage. Jughead, on the other hand, relies heavily on love, or loved ones, to protect him from outsiders that he casts his angst upon. Both boys use angst as a protective measure, as not to get hurt, pushing away those that they feel self-conscious around. It’s hard to be young!