Labido for the Ugly and Indiana Comparison

In Pearl S. Buck’s essay, “Indiana”, she gives her theory as to why the people in America love ugly houses and buildings, and hate beautiful things. Her theory answers H.L. Mencken’s question of why people are in love with such ugly buildings. In Buck’s essay, she shows that the lack of connection between generations results in poorly designed architecture. In contrast, Mencken solely focuses on the buildings, not the people’s family structure. Furthermore, “Indiana” and “The Libido for the Ugly” both make discuss the disconnection between the architecture and the people.
In order to make the idea of “disconnect in generations” valid, Buck goes on to explain how homes in China “grew slowly from the landscape” and are “geography combined through centuries”. She then points out how Americans “pays no heed to history or landscape”. Buck adds to this by depicting a house “united by courtyards to the other generations” with “security” and “independence” while still having “a complete family life”. The houses in America “are merely merchandise” and don’t have any type of pattern besides being “imposing and bizarre”.
Mencken, on the other hand, says the people are “sick”, and their “madness” of love for such ugly houses is unexplainable. He states that the people who “prefer that uremic yellow” and have the “most loathsome towns and villages ever seen by mortal eye”, “deserves a great deal more study than it has got”. “Indiana” answers this question, saying it is a “disconnect in the generations of family” that causes this “madness”.
Despite Buck having an answer for Mencken’s question, their thoughts on why the people live in the houses are different. Mencken believes that the people of Westmoreland County truly like their “uremic yellow” houses. However, Buck thinks that the people won’t live in these houses forever; they’re just “a temporary necessity”. Buck emphasizes that the “American pattern”, is “patternless”, and that individualism is ultimately leading to the “disconnect between generations”. She shows that individualism is the cause of this by telling a story about a little girl wanting to stay the night at her grandma’s house, and her mom allows it “just this once”. Buck feels that there should not be this gap between granddaughter and grandmother.
Buck, along with Mencken, uses nice adjectives to sugar coat the house’s ugliness. Buck describes the houses as “decently ugly” and Mencken describes them as “unlovely”. On the contrary, the reason for the houses being ugly is different for each author. Buck believes that a lack of connection between generations and family is the cause for these ugly houses. Mencken however, thinks the people have a “libido” for the ugly houses. Even though their reasoning differs, both Mencken and Buck believe there is disconnect between the architecture and the people.