An analysis of William Blake's "London"

Corruption and Capitalism as seen in William Blake’s London

            William Blake’s London is a portrayal of the poor living standards that existed in the industrial age of London due to the capitalistic greed of the aristocracy and the moral corruption of the clergy and of the elite. The industrial age of London was both beneficial and destructive to society. Industrialization brought forth many changes in the western world politically, socially, and economically. People began move into the cities as industrialization made agriculture more productive meaning more jobs were created in the cities. There was a rise in the demand for a workforce which was not restricted by any child labor laws leading to a dark time in the history of labor.  The clergy began to lose power over the people as religion took a backseat to a capitalistic system that had people craving to be part of the upper class as the schism between the elite and the poor began to increase in size.

            The very idea of an imperialist and capitalist system consists of the exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few which meant that the factory owners had ample opportunity to keep costs down as profits expanded. Blake writes, “I wander through each chartered street/ near where the chartered Thames does flow” (Ln 1-2), and one receives the imagery of the city along the river, and symbolically rivers have always represented freedom and adventure.  The image Blake is attempting to present is that of the city which has become a prison for those that seek freedom. The majority of the people live in derelict slums and are trapped in an endless cycle of debt as they work several hours a day for the opportunity to have enough to eat. The people of London live in a state of constant agony because the river stands as a reminder of the freedom that is so near yet is never truly attainable. Blake wanders through each “chartered” street, meaning that most parts of the city of London have been industrialized to maximize the export of goods thereby increasing the profit margin. London now faced a growing social problem due to overcrowding and poor living conditions.  Blake goes on to write “And mark in every face I meet/ Marks of weakness and marks of woe” (Ln. 3-4), conveying the suffering of the people as they watch the freedom of the river flowing while they work to death in the factories. Pain is literally seen in the faces of the workers in London because the industrial era machinery was highly hazardous to a workers health due to the extremely likely event that one such worker would be mangled by the equipment. Although this was an era without labor laws, hazard restrictions, or adequate healthcare, workers kept working because families had to be fed and survival was the primary objective. When the parents were no longer able to provide than children became the workforce because of their unique size and ability to reach into places that would be inaccessible to grown adults such as the inside of machinery. This was the beginning of child enslavement in the industrial age.

            Children learn in a variety of ways, but the most beneficial way seems like the least productive, through play. Children learn to interact socially and about morality through play with other children but when a child is forced to work in potentially life threatening situations the child loses innocence. Blake writes, “In every infants cry of fear” (Ln 6), referring to the child workers of London who live in constant fear of death because of the dangerous lives they lead as part of the workforce.  Blake later specifies the kind of work the children do, “How the chimney-sweepers cry” (Ln 9), because the children were often forced to have the most hazardous jobs possible since they had no one to lobby on their behalf. Children were often orphaned because at the time of the British Industrial Revolution, England had to have a strong navy to protect all of its territories and therefore the British Navy had a nasty habit of kidnapping able-bodied men to be enslaved as sailors in the Royal Navy. This left a lot of fatherless children who now needed to go into the world and make the living to support their families. The river once again stands as a symbol for freedom where one can find nature. Mankind’s connection with nature has been well documented since nature has the unique ability to refresh the view of a person’s life, but modern society is centralized in the “chartered” streets of the city, distancing a person from the positive effects of nature.

            London was the economic center of a capitalistic regime that preyed on all people especially citizens of the lower class. The elite’s efforts worked on entrapping the people in a permanent state of poverty thus suppressing the majority’s ability to create change through peaceful methods. The second stanza indicates the expansive nature of the suffering cause by imperialistic greed “Every cry of every man…infant…voice” (Ln 5-7). The second stanza ends with “The mind-forged manacles I hear” (Ln 8), which indicates the power of the few elite to brainwash the masses, because the people are prisoners of their own minds. The “manacles” are restriction placed upon the lower class people both by Parliament as well as their own mental obstructions because when the majority of people are suffering people begin to accept their existence and this creates a complacent feeling in their minds. Blake’s use of the word “chartered” in reference to the streets in the first line and to the River Thames in the second line prove his belief that he believes that even nature is privatized. The fact that Blake refers to the river, the ultimate symbol for freedom and perpetual change, as a piece of property that can be owned displays how London has become imprisoned by its own economic system and focus of wealth. There is no relief for the people of London because the Elite have ensured that freedom is unattainable because freedom is a luxury afforded only to the aristocracy and members of the clergy.

            The clergymen in the industrial age have lost their connection to god and therefore have taken an inactive stance towards the immoral actions by the aristocracy of London. Blake says, “How the chimney-sweeper’s cry/ every black’ning church appalls” (Ln 10), and there is double meaning in Blake’s diction. The word “black’ning” refers to the soot from the factories that would darken the floors of the church, but “black’ning” also refers to the loss of morality by the church. The church’s reputation becomes far more tarnished as the clergymen exploit child labor. It is very difficult to live life by the word of god when the men who are supposed to have the closest connection with god are just as corrupt as the capitalistic owners that keep the poor in a state of perpetual poverty. The city of London is a vicious cycle that starts with the capitalistic dictators that exploit cheap labor, and then the clergy chooses to look the other way as child labor is exploited to remove the soot caused by the factories. Commercial profiteering has corrupted the government of London. Even the soldiers that fight for England protests the imperialistic actions taken by the country,” And the hapless Soldier’s sigh/ Runs in blood down Palace walls.”(Ln 11-12). Typically a sigh is a form of exasperation, and the soldier has been exhausted both physically and emotionally due to the violent nature of their profession. A man with a heart of darkness still feels remorse towards killing another man, but England was attempting to conquer the world which meant invading foreign land and killing the innocent natives. At one point in history there was no corner of the world where the sun did not shine on England and the unlucky soldier’s sigh was a demonstration of protest towards these pointless wars. The blood of the innocent paints the walls of the palace red, and the soldier is too weary to fight. The soldier and the chimney sweep are both relatable figures that are just two of the victims in the crosshairs of capitalism.

            The overall idea of London, is that capitalism is a corrupt system and will infect every part of an organism until the organism eventually dies. The city of London is the organism, and the top officials have all been infected by imperialistic greed, the parliament, the clergy, and even nature seem to have all been “chartered” by the English government.  Blake’s last stanza encompasses the full scope of the suffering, “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear/ How the youthful Harlot’s curse/ Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear” (Ln 13-15). Blake recognizes the problem with prostitution in the city, but prostitution is a commercial practice, and a “youthful harlot” brings to mind the symbol of innocence of a little girl who has yet to be deflowered and combines this idea of innocence with capitalistic gain, and therefore the innocent girl is now a harlot, who becomes pregnant not out of love but out of commercial gain. The baby, another symbol for innocence, is corrupted since birth because the “harlots curse” is the various diseases contracted by her profession and this can be passed on to the child, and the baby will always be a reminder to the mother of her method of survival and so the baby will grow unloved. The final line says “And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse”, which reinforces the spreading of disease through immoral actions. The “marriage hearse” is an oxymoron because marriage is supposed to signify the beginning of a new life together, but coupled with the word “hearse” indicates Blake’s view on marriage. The sanctity of marriage has been forsaken by commerce, because now the woman in the marriage must spend the remainder of her life being subservient to her husband who spends money on prostitution all while the church keeps up a façade about the piousness of marriage.  Nothing is sacred and no one is spared. The wants of the few overshadow the needs of the many. That is Capitalism in its most basic form.

            Blake has a very bleak outlook on the future of London. The first line of the last stanza, “But most through midnight streets I hear” (Ln 13), shows Blake as the traveler wandering at midnight. “Midnight”, itself is a time of day where one ends and the other begins. Although London is in the middle of a social crisis, there is hope because no story with a tyrant has ever ended well. The newborn infant symbolizes hope, which is born from the corruption and tyranny of evil men. The end is near which is why the time is midnight, and a new dawn will soon be rising. London is written in Petrarchan sonnet form confining the poem to 16 lines of alternating rhyme. Blake captures so many different ideas in the confines of 16 lines that the reason the poem is so concise is that it symbolizes the city of London. London is confined to a limited space just like the poem and London is a prison for the many workers of the city just like the poem is a prison for ideas because the very use of a sonnet sets restrictions much like the restrictions that the people of London face. London, is a ballad in the sense that the overall tone of the poem is morose, and Blake’s participation in the poem through the use of first person pronouns indicates that he is suffering from the moral corruption as well. London is at the center of the world during Blake’s experience and it is very saddening to see the best the world has to offer. Even god had his price, and the rivers are chartered. Nothing is sacred and no one is spared.

            Modern society is run by a capitalistic system and people are always going to be exploited because the tyranny of evil men will always want a bigger slice of the pie. It is disheartening to learn that innocence will be stolen from you in the modern world. People will always be exposed to corruption and such exposure can taint the innocence of the youth which grow to be the future corruptors. Morality is a trait that mankind has never naturally possessed because capitalism is the economic version of survival of the fittest and children are raised with the belief that they are in competition with everyone else in the world. Humans have a tendency to be self-destructive and this creates a problem because the usual reason that people are self-destructive is greed. Money and economic trade plays such an important role in society that it becomes easy to overlook the social unrest that affects the majority. Capitalism teaches that in order to survive you have to eat or be eaten and 200 years ago it was no different. The people eventually revolted and a more socially based system was put into effect, but the suffering continues and as long as capitalism exists, so will corruption. The blackened church has been cleaned, the blood washed off the palace walls, but the corruption of men remains and one will always hear the cries of the chimney-sweep, the sighs of the hapless soldiers, and the screams of the newborn infant.

A marxist critique of Frankenstein

The Embodiment of Production as seen in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

            Human civilization has long suffered from the tyranny of evil men through greed and manipulation. Wealth creates a schism between groups of people that forms a social hierarchy, a system of exploitation that continues to this day. It is said that money is the root of all evil and the allure of wealth is tempting enough to entice most men to succumb to corruption. Social revolutions coincide with an era of suffering by the masses. Repression and oppression only work to unite the victims together through a hatred for a common enemy. The most effective way to suppress a revolution is to keep the people from uniting but this proves to be difficult because in order to keep the masses ignorant to the reality of their situations, they must be made to be complacent with their lives. The exploitation of a people exists through the evil in mankind’s heart. Human nature is corrupt because knowledge is the secret to power which creates an inequality in the balance of life because of knowledge’s coexistence with science. Nature is pure and beneficial for all, but technology corrupts and destroys the purity of nature and creates a rift between the people with wealth and without wealth because science is a form of power. The only ailment the two social classes have in common is death. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein shows the corruption of nature by science through the monster’s production rather than creation, signifying the scientific mastery of nature’s design creating a social and economic schism.
            The monster is a complex symbol of capitalism and the working class because the economic system of capitalism is wholly dependent on production through the exploitation of the proletariat and the monster is a production of man. Frankenstein produces the monster in an attempt to create the perfect human being but instead creates an abomination, “God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance” (Shelley 116). The seeds of capitalism were sewn from the economic system of imperialism which involved the raping of weaker countries to be stripped of all their wealth. By exploiting and preying upon developing nations two beneficial effects happen for the imperialist country: the nation grows richer, and a possible threat is suppressed. The monster is a creation of man just like capitalism but was born from corruption and is therefore uncontrollable. The uncontrollable monster in capitalism is the banks which are instilled in the system as regulators of commerce, controlling the flow of money and therefore controlling the lives of the people just like when Steinbeck writes, “The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it"(Steinbeck, Chapter 5). Capitalism is meant to be a system that any person can use to gain an economic foothold in society but that means that another person must lose their foothold. Capitalism brings to mind the barbaric system of an eye for an eye, because the evil in men’s heart creates this monstrosity that prevents peaceful coexistence, Steinbeck states,” There ain't room enough for you an' me, for your kind an' my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country, for thieves and honest men. For hunger and fat."(Chapter 12). The coexistence cannot exist between the natural and the scientific because the scientific exploits the natural resources of the world to further the advancement of oppression through knowledge. The monster is intended to be an improvement on nature’s design, a scientific marvel, where nature symbolizes god and science is the greed in mankind.

            Science and economic prosperity are sought out by every government in Western civilization. Regardless of a country’s economic or scientific standing, the majority of the people suffer because scientific pursuits are sought after by the educated that possess the intellectual capacity to accomplish such feats. This is proven in great part by William Blake’s poem London which gives a portrayal of the poor living conditions of the economic capital of the world, England. The overall idea of London, is that capitalism is a corrupt system and will infect every part of an organism until the organism eventually dies. The city of London is the organism, and the top officials have all been infected by imperialistic greed, the parliament, the clergy, and even nature seem to have all been “chartered” by the English government. The English industrial era brought forth technology “whose origins seemed inexplicable to contemporaries, appearing to herald a world utterly unlike what had gone before”, according to Montag (386). The monster much like the city of London is an industrial marvel that seems out of place in the natural world not just by the creation but through appearance. The monster is regarded as an abomination of the industrial era whose technological appearance drives away all forms of companionship, “the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union”. The refusal to accept the monster into society is a symbol for the less than peaceful integration of industry into the lives of the proletariat. Although the monster is a living organism in the world Montag writes, “He is the sole embodiment of the industrial in an otherwise rural world” (394), and this view of the monster’s world conflicts with the “chartered river” of Blake’s London. The industrial revolution is embodied through the monster only and serves as much more of a contrast with the rest of the world which seems to come from nature emphasizing the loneliness of the monster. Capitalism creates competition for wealth and for a standard of living that is acceptable, which for most is just survival. Steinbeck writes, “How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other" (Steinbeck, Chapter 19), and this emphasizes the point that the reason that the masses are angered by the actions of the elite is because the working class’ wages create a less than survivable income for a family.  A time of great technological prosperity does not mean a time of social prosperity because according to Montag, “Frankenstein thus rejects one of the most fundamental myths of the Enlightenment, the notion that scientific and economic progress will continually improve the condition of humankind”. Humanity suffers all across the world by capitalism which is a modern form of imperialism, except that now the oppression is done economically rather than through war. Capitalism comes from the Enlightenment ideals and this creates a sense that the economic prosperity will be shared but in the end it is the proletariat that suffers.

            The proletariat is the ultimate symbol of a victim of capitalism, merely a cog in the capitalistic machine. The monster represents the ideal that the proletariat although composed of many, is still left alone and just like the monster at birth without voice. Knowledge is power and in order to keep the masses satisfied with their meager existence they must be made to believe that this is the natural order of life, but oppression can unite the people. According to Steinbeck,” "And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed."(Steinbeck Chapter 19) portraying how the down trodden can only be taken advantage until the misery must come to an end. The monster’s misery, much like the proletariat, comes from knowledge.  Vidal states, “Not raw nature but his very humanity and his self-acquired education which bring about his destruction. He learns about society, about emotions, respect, and above all about love, by observation and by reading” (Vidal 40) illustrating that the blissful existence of ignorance is the only method of keeping the masses in place. The problem with controlling the masses is that when a revolution must be called upon to instill a new regime, the masses become an uncontrollable monster which will be the downfall of capitalism as seen when Montag writes,” The very logic of capitalism has produced the means of its own destruction: the industrial working class, that fabricated collectivity whose interests are irreconcilable with those of capital and which is thus rendered monstrous in the eyes of its creators” (Montag 388). The capitalistic system can only function as long as workers can continue to be exploited and the monster is a representation of the proletariat lashing back at the system. The monster destroys the life of Frankenstein because although Frankenstein created him, the monster was neglected from the point of creation and is thought of as a monster rather than a cherished creation such as the way a parent would celebrate their child and Shelley writes,” My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed”(Shelley, 45). The monster was denied any sort of human interaction which is hypocritical of Frankenstein whom understood the benefits of a loving parental relationship. The creation of the monster is the equivalent of the owners creating jobs where the workers’ well-being will be cast aside in the name of profit expansion. In the interest of profitable business the owner must decide between a lavish lifestyle and a fair living for the work force, more often than not the decision is to enrich the lives of the rich. The wants of the many outweigh the needs of the few, capitalism in its truest form.

Frankenstein is called “slave” by the monster because Frankenstein is a slave to science. The advancement of science is the reason he creates the monster and in that sense Frankenstein is doomed to a subservient existence, just like the wealthy in the capitalistic system. Capitalism cannot survive without competition therefore the wealthy use their vast resources to oppress the majority of the people as a necessity to maintain a wealthy lifestyle. A lavish existence is spent in uncertainty because one possesses what most desire and desire breeds temptation, and eventually the possession is taken. In a sense, in order for Frankenstein to create life, one must end, because energy can neither be created nor destroyed (Law of conservation of Energy), therefore the monster’s birth is Frankenstein’s death. Frankenstein’s greed for glory creates a monster which is tarnished from birth by the evil in the mind of the creator as seen when Shelley writes,” It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world” (45). Frankenstein succumbs to the allure of science and therefore is an “instrument of science” (Montag 390). Science needs to sacrifice the purity of nature in the name of technological advancement just like capitalism and its exploitation of the proletariat. Shelley foreshadows the fall of capitalism to the proletariat, rather science by nature, when she writes,” As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed” (48). The monster is uncontrollable because it is the embodiment of the proletariat’s unrest and a symbol of the power of nature which instantly destroys the tree which would be regarded as a symbol of strength and longevity. The tree represents the security of the wealthy which can be instantly destroyed by nature and the uprising of the proletariat. Frankenstein is a “slave” to science and therefore a slave to the capitalistic system that cherishes capital over the general well being of human kind. A prime example of the human suffering brought forth by capitalism is the great depression and the migration of the Midwest to California and Steinbeck writes, "Is a tractor bad? Is the power that turns the long furrows wrong? If this tractor were ours, it would be good - not mine, but ours. We could love that tractor then as we have loved this land when it was ours. But this tractor does two things - it turns the land and turns us off the land. There is little difference between this tractor and a tank. The people were driven, intimidated, hurt by both. We must think about this." (Steinbeck, Chapter 14). Technology has a direct correlation with the economic wealth of a country and in order to increase profits, corporations remove the human worker from the cycle because of the inefficiency of human labor. The monster represents science as the master of nature and the false sense of security that the wealthy possess in thinking that their lives will last forever, but happiness is a state of mind that no manner of wealth can buy. In death everyone is equal, Shakespeare writes, “Your/ worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all/ creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for/ maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but/ variable service, two dishes, but to one table: / that's the end” (Hamlet). Capitalism creates the eternal chain of suffering where the only solace of equality is death.

Competition encompasses the lives of all in modern society. Though the context has changed the idea remains the idea is to survive. Social Darwinism teaches that mankind is in a perpetual competition for the best lifestyle but the elite corrupt the good nature of the many. A monster just like Frankenstein’s is unleashed upon the elite because of the neglect, just like how Frankenstein neglected the monster. The monster is the embodiment of what greed can create and the suffering it causes. The lonely existence fits perfectly with the social warfare that capitalism promotes. The monster is a voice for the voiceless, because the passages where the monster talks with Frankenstein illuminate the complexity and eloquence with which the monster speaks. The proletariat is not just an ignorant fool content with their existence, they are complex individuals that like Frankenstein are shaped by the different experiences that they are exposed to, in other words they are human. The wealthy see the majority as a monster that must be contained, but in reality, had the majority chosen it to be so the elite would not exist, this is why Frankenstein’s monster is the ideal symbol for the working class because the monster could have easily ended Frankenstein’s life but chose not to because peaceful coexistence still remains a plausible solution, but society rejects this socialist ideal and chooses capitalism. Survival of the fittest is the essence of capitalism. 

Works Cited

Blake, William. "London." Literature: a Portable Anthology. By Janet E. . Gardner. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. Print.

Montag, Warren. "The "Workshop of Filthy Creation": A Marxist Reading of Frankenstein." Frankenstein. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 384-95. Print.

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark." Literature a Portable Anthology And Macbeth. Bedford/st Martins, 2004. Print.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Johanna M. Smith. Frankenstein. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2000. Print.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

            Vidal, Ricardo. "Man's Creation of Man: From the Cruel Nature of De Sade and Mary Shelley to F. T. Marinetti's Mechanical Son." Prism(s) Essays in Romanticism 13 (2005): 26-46. MLA International Bibliography. Web.

My attempt at Op Art

Midterms and you

So I mention in a previous article about the affects of studying for prolonged periods of time and why it can have a negative effect on your social and physical health, but today I took my midterm and I saw the rewards.My chemistry midterm was fairly easy and in fact I felt over prepared for my test. To be fair this is the first time the instructor is teaching the general chemistry course and he is used to teaching Organic chemistry but I felt a little disappointed at the easier aspects of the exam. I studied the questions that required the heavier thought processes but it just boiled down to knowing how to derive names from the formula and vice-versa. The point is I felt ripped off basically, but now I understand, because I usually don't feel like that during a midterm. I only did one thing different and that was study. I felt overprepared because I was over prepared but its a good feeling because I can easily say that I did well on the exam and that's important because it is 20 percent of my grade after all. Now I feel refreshed for the week and ready to dive headfirst into studying because I can't wait to feel overprepared for another test . -Alex the Adamant

Binge Studying

I have experienced something completely new in the past 48 hours. I have been studying for my Chemistry midterm on Monday and it is mind boggling how people can choose not to study for such an important exam, but then I realized something. People have an extreme amount of trouble focusing on any given topic because as I mentioned in a previous entry our attention spans our shortening because of the amount of information we have available to us too vast for us to break it down enough so that we can retain all the information. So for the past two days every spare moment was spent reviewing chemistry from polarization to dilution and stoichiometry. I had never really had the need to study in high school but college is a different beast altogether and I wanted to make sure I was prepared and I started to enjoy studying and not only that but it angered me when people would interrupt me from studying so I haven't been the most social person to be around for a couple days but the pay off is worth it in the end. I have a new understanding for chemistry as well as a refreshed sense of what it means to actually study. So if you have finals, spread your studying to the course of weeks rather than a one night cram session, it really helps in the end and it gives you less to worry about when in this world there is already plenty to make you worry. Well that's all for now I have to get to Chem Lab - Sincerely alex the adamant

Its been a while

Hey everyone, I just have to say that college is better than I had imagined in high school. You have absolute freedom over everything you do and that is a sensation that can be overwhelming to some people. Already while I have been here I have been offered various forms of recreational drugs and alcohol and that was just the first couple of days! The parties here in Santa Barbara go on everyday of the week, especially on Del Playa road (The beachfront property). Some people find it extremely difficult to stay focused when you live in this giant adult playground , but you have to remember why you are in college in the first place. UCSB is a highly selective school which means that everyone who is here had to work hard at some point in there life to get here and is at least semi-intelligent, but that is hard to realize in the student body when you see some people getting dangerously drunk and ignoring their studies for other less academic pursuits. College is an experience, and it is what you make of it. If you think you're going to have a bad time you probably will but if you take advantage of its resources and not get too crazy, you can have a good time. 'til next time - Alex the Adamant

Alex The Adamant: Santa Barbara: School Resort of my Despair

Alex The Adamant: Santa Barbara: School Resort of my Despair: I am in Santa Barbara California, attending the University here and I cannot believe what I see. I grew up in the ghetto so water was a pret...