passage in Ham on Rye (1 Viewer)

[delcolt]

Hi, I recently started reading the book Ham on Rye, and I reached a certain passage I can't understand. I know he means something important by it, I just don't know what exactly.
I'm talking about the following passage:

And yet I knew that what I saw wasn't as simple and good as it appeared. There was a price to be paid for it all, a general falsity, that could be easily believed, and could be the first step down a dead-end street.

This part plays when he is watching the students at the senior prom from behind a window, who seem to know something he did not know, which made life easy for them.
What does he exactly mean by this general falsity? And when talking about the first step down a dead-end street, is he referring to the people who seem to possess this certain ease in life, or is he referring to the person who would easily believe this general falsity? And does anyone know what that something was that they knew, that Charles did not know?

I hope someone could provide me with some insight into this part,

And happy New Year everyone!

 

[Billville]

Ah, this is one of those things that can be elborated on (and probably has in other posts) forever. But to sum it up in just a few words (cuz it's time for me to got to bed) I'd say those lines reflect the beginnings of Buks philosophy that everything was a trap: the houses, the cars, the inlaws, the jobs, the holidays--you name it. It was just all a crock of shit.

Okay, that's it. Good night and happy new year.

 

[Pessimist]

The students are graduating into the false premise of middle class life. Get married like it's a victory. Have kids like it's a victory. Buy a house, do the 9-5 job, watch Johnny Carson, and pretend it all means something, that it has some kind of value, when it's really just handing over your freedom and individuality in exchange for some trinkets and a sense of belonging, of animal warmth.

Great passage. It made me think of a similar passage in Thomas Mann's novella Tonio Kräger, where he watches a wedding party from through a window, knowing that he'd always be on the outside, looking into typical life.

 

[scribbler]

For me, Chinaski was just defending his inability to fit-in. I dont think he was necessarily condemning them all to bbq's, cul de sacs, salaries and that variation of oblivion. He knew he was different; this passage only timidly addresses that.