Isabel Jenkins Assignment 1

Although Ludvigson depicts Nighthawks through the lenses of rose-colored glasses, her subtle allusions scattered throughout reveal a meaning much deeper than the surface of the poem suggests. The writing itself serves as a representation of the American Dream, with pleasantries and flowering diction thinly masking the imminent threats of World War II. She casually describes the couple's conversation - their disagreements, and how the war "will change them," - and skirts over names of writers such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis. But the name least recognizable and most easily passed over is Kay Boyle. She embodied the American Dream as a woman who successfully pursued her dreams, becoming a writer, educator, and champion of civil rights. But she fell victim to early 1950s McCarthyism, losing her position at The New Yorker and having her prominent works blacklisted. This further demonstrates just how quickly someone's life at the time could be turned upside down, despite all their previous achievements. The effects of the hawk's shadow were inescapable even to affluent and flourishing individuals. America may have appeared to be promising, but through this allusion Ludvigson is able to subtly convey the flaws in its ideals.