Maya Creamer Assignment 1

In her poem "Inventing My Parents", Susan Ludvigson alludes to Sinclair Lewis, a writer known for his criticism of materialism and capitalism in America in the time between the World Wars. Ludvigson depicts her parents, sitting in a cafe discussing "how [World War II] will change them." She says "Sinclair Lewis' name comes up" in their discussion. This allusion adds to a theme that is evident in the poem; that is, the way war changes a society's values. Lewis, along with the other writers alluded to in the poem, were all activists in the era of World War II who spoke their opinions in an effort to change things; Lewis in particular sought to change the ideals of capitalism that had become the norm in the United States. As Ludvigson's parents are doing in the poem, the United States as a whole reevaluated their values as World War II was sweeping over the country. In this way, the poem really symbolizes the questioning, evaluative mindset of the country during that time. The war had a devastating effect on the country, both physically through the loss of lives, and emotionally. It woke people up to the need for society's values to change; after the War, the country as a whole had a shifting of values. This shift was started by writers like Sinclair Lewis who criticized the way things were.