J. Alfred Prufrock and His Insecurities
             Born in America, T.S. Eliot's relocation to Britain was the first sign of his identity crisis. Eliot was obsessed with anything British, and he also had an internal religious conflict. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is Eliot's way to express his self through a different character. Eliot uses stream of consciousness to put the reader in Prufrock's position. The fragmented thoughts are used to follow Prufrock in his own thought process so they can feel like they are inside his mind. Prufrock is in love with a woman but she is unfortunately of a different class. He uses the poem to analyze his thoughts to see how much he cares for her. In the end, Prufrock decides that it would be best not to tell her how he feels and just lets her go. Eliot uses J. Alfred Prufrock to express his own isolation, loneliness, and sexual repression.
             Eliot sometimes felt the need to be a part of the upper class. Prufrock realizes that he doesn't truly belong and that the whole affair is meaningless and superficial, but he still wants to be a part of it. He describes the women, "In the room women come and go talking of Michelangelo," (lines 13-14 and 35-36). He says this at least twice throughout the poem, which makes it seem boring and tedious. The reader gets the impression that Prufrock does not like being a member of high society and there is also a possibility that his lady is not a part of the elite. He speaks of having to see her at "cheap hotels," which suggest that they can't go anywhere where someone will recognize him. Since Prufrock and his lady are of different classes, he wonders if it would be worth it for them to come together. "And would it have been worth it, after all, would it have been worth while," (lines 99-100 and 106). He speaks in the future tense; "Would it have been worth it, after all" which s...