Ginsberg saw the economic commodification of society as one of the great ills of modern life. This is the fate of the "best minds" from Ginsberg's poem, "Howl:" the "best minds" are driven insane by their inability to accept the models of normality and conformity imposed on them by modern life, and their inability to escape these same strictures. Insanity, however, is not a state of being true genius is able to escape, Ginsberg argues. He would later admit that this absence left a stain on his development and was responsible for both his fascination and disgust with the mentally ill. His mother, Naomi Ginsberg, was institutionalized on several occasions, which left a young Allen without his mother or full family for much of his early life. Ginsberg dealt both literally and metaphorically with insanity throughout his entire life.
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