America As A Place Of Dystopia

In July 1963, Bob Dylan joined Pete Seeger for a joint performance in Greenwood, Mississippi, as support to the Civil Rights Movement. The performance took place in the back of a truck, on a farm owned by black people while surrounded by police and members of the Ku Klux Klan. This act of Bob Dylan can be looked upon as somewhat of an indicator of his principals and beliefs, even though it can be said that in most of his work, they are not very clear and distinguished. (Source: http://www.bobdylanroots.com/northern.html)

“Highway 61 Revisited” claims a story that comes from the homeland of Dylan, since it starts in Minnesota. America is a country that since its beginnings has still preserved the vast areas of endless land. The only thing that cuts through those landscapes is the highway, a depiction of the efforts of the pioneers. It is the means to an end, the easiest method for reaching any destination.

But why is it a choice for Dylan? Is it a comparison for the greatness of America, is it the womb in which everything gets conceived and grows?

Dylan connects everything and everyone to Highway 61. That is the place where even God comes down to talk to the people. The use of “Abraham” and the verse: “Kill me a son” can be interpreted as a connecting point to the Vietnam conflict. The image of America as the land of opportunity and new beginnings greatly deteriorated with the Vietnam War. Everything comes into favor of the decaying image of a nation: drafting young men into the army, growing discontent from young people infused by the spirit of revolution. Dylan becomes a self-proclaimed prophet, interrogating the system and government in a tÐ"Єte-Ð" -tÐ"Єte conversation.

He puts America up on the wall, nailing down one nail by another with his verses: “Well Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose/Welfare department wouldn’t give him no clothes/They asked poor Howard where can I go/Howard said there’s only one place I know/Sam said tell me quick man I got to run/Oh Howard just pointed with his gun

/And said that way down highway 61”. The land of opportunity, the land of wellbeing and prosperity would not care to help a man in desperation, so obviously in the need of help. The fantastic journey of Dylan and the reader/listener along Highway 61 is the one of irony. Is the state of no laws, no limitations, no ethical or legal framework the one that depicts ultimate freedom? How necessary is that?

The American citizen at the time being did not care at all, stepping over with recklessness over the once searched ideal of land for anyone. “Private property” and “trespassing” are the terms that anyone needs to know now.

Bridging the gap between “Highway 61” and “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is like the process of action and reaction. But here, the image of perfection gets slaughtered and a new idea comes into perspective. A new atmosphere sets in, as a result of the search