Thematic Exploration of the Book “Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture” By Douglas Coupland.

“Generation X: tales for an accelerated culture”a novel written by Douglas Coupland and published in 1990 talks about the Generation X a representation of the people born between the year 1950s and 1960s. The writer has used stories of three friends to explain more about young people born in the mid-1950s to 60s (Joseph 59). Many scholars have tamed the book as revolutionary because it describes how the young generation tries hard to define themselves.  The author opened the scene of the book with narration expressing the confused lives of three young friends Dag, Claire, and Andy. The story in the first scene reveals how the three friends came to the Palm Spring and how them met and connected.  Friendship and storytelling has manifested a lot throughout the book. Every time Andy, Claire and Dag meet, they tell stories about their lives and the dreams they have for their futures (Costanza et al. 375). Coupland has described the Generation X as people who have dreams but do not step up and find ways of fulfilling those dreams. There are many themes affecting the youth Coupland has highlighted in the novel. However, the essay herein focuses on the how the author has used Friendship and Storytelling to reflect the real lives of young people. The paper focuses on storytelling and friendship because the themes are manifested a lot on the young generation today.

The Themes

Storytelling Analysis   

According to Wolburg and James, storytelling is the act of showing deep feelings, emotions, and motivation to another person in form of words. The authors note that, storytelling has been seen throughout the novel where the characters tell stories about their lives so that they can console themselves.  In the current world, every time young people meet, they will narrate to each other how superior they are or were at some point. Dag tells his friends his high class status before moving to Palm Spring (Wolburg and James 34). According to Ortner, the characters did not want to face the real truth in the world by narrative fiction stories to each other. The author explains the young people today can have dreams of what they would like to be but, taking the steps to fulfill their dreams might be hard for them. The three friends did not have guts to face reality and go back home to think of their future.

The stories the characters were telling each other represent young people who need social or religious salvation. The world was so wired for the main characters making it hard for them to understand it (Henseler 31).  “The world has gotten too big way beyond their capacity to tell stories about it” (6). According to Henseler, Claire, Andy, and Dag tell narratives to validate their presence in a world because in their inner self, the characters feel empty and useless (26).  

The author used storytelling theme to explain the challenges the generation X population pass through in life. Through storytelling, the characters have expressed poor working conditions the young generation faced during the 1990s (Joseph 59). This is evident in the book where Dag complains to Martin his boss at a marketing firm. Dag is furious with his boss who tells him stories about his good house yet Dag cannot even afford a meal. Joseph notes that, Dag’s opinion on his boss reflects the young generations in North American who were suffering due to poor working conditions in the 1990s. At the same time, the opinion shows that the generation X in the 1990s never saw meaning in their lives though they were working. Andy describes their work as of low pay and poor working conditions. However, Andy surprisingly lives in a bungalow though he receives low salaries.

According to Costanza et al., through storytelling, Coupland has expressed how the young generation are so unappreciative.  The authors have tamed young generation in Coupland’s novel hopeless and as people who have lost direction. This is evident in Dag’s narrative when he was narrating how he saw himself useless at work and even at home. ”My life had become a series of scary incidents that simply weren’t stringing together to make an interesting story” (36). In other words, the young generation are confused and that is why the three main characters usually meet to waste time and tell false stories to each other. Coupland saw storytelling as significant in portraying the plights of the young people in the world today.

Friendship Analysis

Coupland has highlighted friendship from the first chapter of the book to the last. Andy, Dag and Claire met at Palm Springs, a small town bordering Mexico. The trio then became friends in that they could tell stories about their lives experiences. Friendship is about telling each other the truth and being concern about the wellbeing of one another (Wolburg and James 45). The authors reveal that, these virtues are not seen in the friendship between the three main characters. According to Wolburg and James, the characters’ stories are full of lies and nobody is ready to tell the truth about him or herself. However, in first part of the story, Andy told his friends some truth about his life. When Dag left for Nevada, the other friends were not concern about his situation there.

Wolburg and James argue that the friendship shown by Coupland is a false and explain that in today’s world, it is hard for the young to find friends who have their interests at heart. The authors reveal that the friendship in the novel is full of betrayal. For example, Elvissa was a good friend to Claire, however, she betrayed Claire by taking her boyfriend Tobias. However, Ortner does not agree with Wolburg and James’s arguments, the author notes that the friendship highlighted Coupland in the novel at has less betrayal. The author argues that the three friends loved each other. The three friends had bad impression about their families and parents, however, after influencing each other, they decide to go back home and discovered the meaning of their lives. According to Ortner, the three main characters’ friendship was true because when Andy and Claire opened a business, they called Dag to come and join them. According to the author, this is a sign of concern on of the important virtue of friendship (414). Coupland has described generation X friendship in two ways, first, the friendship can make the young people lose focus in life and second, the same friendship can help them see the meaning of life.   

In conclusion, Coupland has described the challenges the generation X are going through in the modern life in this novel. Many young people lose focus in live because they do not see their value in the world. Coupland highlighted how generation X are busy searching of meaning in live through the storytelling and friendship between his characters. Many have criticised Coupland has a man who spoke for the youth in North American region between 1970s and 1980s. They say that the author highlighted all the challenges the young people are going through in life which has been seen in the analysis herein. However, the author failed to mention the solution to young generation’s problems. He only reported the problems through friendship, storytelling and other themes like romance and culture. Hence further research should be conducted to understand how young people can be helped to accept and see purpose in their selves. Studies should also be done to find out how friendship can influence good morals among the youths.  

Works Cited

Costanza, David P., et al. ”Generationa X analysis.“Journal of Literature Works 27.4 (2012): 375-394.

Coupland, Douglas. ”Generation X: tales for an accelerated culture.“

St. Martin’s, ISBN 031205436X, 1991.

Henseler, Christine. ”Introduction: Generation X Goes Global—Tales of Accelerated Cultures.“Generation X Goes Global. Routledge, 2012. 25-54.

Joseph, Specer. ”Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture.“Teacher: The National Education Magazine Oct 2017 (2017): 59.

Ortner, Sherry B. ”Themes in Generation X .“Cultural Anthropology 13.3 (2018): 414-440.

Wolburg, Joyce M., and James Pokrywczynski. ”A literal analysis of Generation X for college students.“Journal of Literary research 41.5 (2011): 33-52.

.