The Graduate

The story is about a young man who has an affair with an older woman and the maturity which he attains from the experience, then he gets tired of her, becomes determined to marry her virginal daughter.

America was a country in chaos in a way by race riots and deaths of Martin Luther King and President Kennedy. This situation made them worried and disappointed about their future. Young people, in particular, grew feelings of alienation against the system and the society they were living in. Our character, Benjamin Braddock, is one of them; a recent college graduate who feels out of touch with the world and comes home with no idea about his future. He keeps delaying and hesitates to answer the questions in the party held for him and in stead he says “I’m a little bit worried about my future”. After that party Benjamin Braddock starts to have an affair with the wife of his father’s business partner, Mrs. Robinson. He was actually forced to have an affair by the seductions of her. He tried hard to end this wrong but she was always able to capture him. When he tires of this affair, he falls in love with Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine, the only person who makes him feel “real.” After ruining the Robinson’s fake marriage and Elaine, Benjamin runs off with Elaine. She makes him real although he barely knows her, but he pursues her because she is what he needs: respectable, safe, ready to forgive him.

However, there are contradictions in the movie and also in the major character. He appears as a riot character but ends up with the exact girl his parents have picked out for him. Another one is that Hoffman's achievements in school are not credible in his basic manner of shyness. Last but not least, the intended commentary on materialistic society is the most effective theme.

Hidrofil Pamuk