Mythic Mailer in An American Dream: Difference between revisions

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 Before I begin, the mythic aspects of the plot should be noted. ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' follows Rojack through a violence ridden thirty-two hours as he searches for a way back to internal and external harmony. The novel's action takes place during the roughly one day-and-a-half following Rojack's murder of his wife. Mailer makes Rojack a rather ironic hero at the start. He is a former WWII war hero who has become a man of some stature in his community. Through his accomplishments while attaining the status of congressman, professor, and television celebrity, Rojack has attained the materialistic success associated with the American dream. He has plenty of money, friends, and possessions. However, at a party, Rojack, age forty-four, suddenly comes face to face with his lack of authentic heroic status and the futility of his existence. Through the voice of the moon, he hears the call of the true voice of nature which leads to a higher existence, but an existence that demands his sacrifice of the trappings of the American dream as he has accepted it. To add to Rojack's difficulties and confusion, the voice of the moon is dualistic. At one point, its message appears to encourage his suicide (his own inner voice tells him that his life is a fraud); at another point, its words seem to promise him unlimited spiritual fulfillment. Rojack hearkens to this second call which beckons him towards a quest--the pursuit of an alternative American dream--the unlimited opportunity to live an Edenic existence which transcends the innate corruption of human nature.
-Rojack's wife Deborah is the first obstacle in his path. He realizes that his marriage to her has a Faustian taint. She is the Mephistopheles to his Faust. Sensing that her destruction is necessary for him to start down his new path, he strangles her for the same reasons the ancient heroes slew their dragons, then throws her body over the balcony in order to make it look like a suicide. Rojack describes her murder as opening the door to a new world for himself: "I had a view of what was on the other side of the door, and heaven was there"{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=31}}. Challenges of mythic proportions begin immediately after the murder. Down on the street, Deborah's body has become partially wedged beneath the front tire of a gangster's car. The gangster, Eddie Ganucci, is wanted by the police. He has the opportunity to walk away in the confusion, but, superstitiously in fear of a curse, refuses to leave a dead woman's body. Both Ganucci and Rojack voluntarily go down to the police headquarters where they are individually questioned about their alleged crimes.
+Rojack's wife Deborah is the first obstacle in his path. He realizes that his marriage to her has a Faustian taint. She is the Mephistopheles to his Faust. Sensing that her destruction is necessary for him to start down his new path, he strangles her for the same reasons the ancient heroes slew their dragons, then throws her body over the balcony in order to make it look like a suicide. Rojack describes her murder as opening the door to a new world for himself: "I had a view of what was on the other side of the door, and heaven was there".{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=31}} Challenges of mythic proportions begin immediately after the murder. Down on the street, Deborah's body has become partially wedged beneath the front tire of a gangster's car. The gangster, Eddie Ganucci, is wanted by the police. He has the opportunity to walk away in the confusion, but, superstitiously in fear of a curse, refuses to leave a dead woman's body. Both Ganucci and Rojack voluntarily go down to the police headquarters where they are individually questioned about their alleged crimes.
-The precinct offices are an institutional place where, the detective Leznicki tells Rojack, "'Nobody ever tells truth ... It's impossible. Even the molecules in the air are full of lies"'{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=83}}. Ironically, Rojack, who has just begun his quest for authenticity, must face his first big crisis--the incriminating moral judgement of the prevailing social order of his time--by lying about his actions. He is tempted to give in to the voices of the police who accuse him of murder, thus ignoring his own inner voice which encourages him in his battle. He explains his temptation to put himself at the mercy of the police, "Because there was a vast cowardice in me which was ready to make any peace at all" {{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=87}}. Rojack's courage rallies when he glimpses the beautiful blond girl across the room with Ganucci. He sees Cherry as a sign from God to persevere in his quest.
+The precinct offices are an institutional place where, the detective Leznicki tells Rojack, "'Nobody ever tells truth ... It's impossible. Even the molecules in the air are full of lies"'.{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=83}} Ironically, Rojack, who has just begun his quest for authenticity, must face his first big crisis--the incriminating moral judgement of the prevailing social order of his time--by lying about his actions. He is tempted to give in to the voices of the police who accuse him of murder, thus ignoring his own inner voice which encourages him in his battle. He explains his temptation to put himself at the mercy of the police, "Because there was a vast cowardice in me which was ready to make any peace at all".{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=87}} Rojack's courage rallies when he glimpses the beautiful blond girl across the room with Ganucci. He sees Cherry as a sign from God to persevere in his quest.
 Rojack's relationship with Cherry is both sexual and spiritual. Sexuality figures prominently in the plot and in the myth. The sexual battle which Rojack describes as a struggle between the Devil and God, or non-creative versus creative power begins shortly after Rojack murders Deborah. Rojack sodomizes Deborah's maid, Ruta, an act of non-creative sex. After leaving the police station, Rojack goes to hear Cherry sing and falls in love with her. Their lovemaking results in a pregnancy, a result with obvious creative implications.
-After Rojack impregnates Cherry, he engages in the ritualistic aspect of this mythic plot by journeying uptown to visit Deborah's father, Barney Kelly. His trip echoes that of the few mythic heroes who descended into the shadowland of Hades. While he is with Kelly, who describes himself as a "solicitor for the Devil" {{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=236}}, Rojack realizes that, in atonement for Deborah's murder, he must walk the parapet on Kelly's balcony thirty floors above the city. This ritualistic act expresses Rojack's dilemma over the existential nature of good and evil. He completes one circuit of the parapet and jumps down to safety as Kelly reaches to knock him off. Intuitively, he knows that he needs to walk the parapet again for Cherry's sake, yet he does not. Consequently, he returns to Harlem to discover her dead and with her their future child. His failure to completely fulfill the demands of the ritual echoes the failure of the Grail heroes, especially that of Parzival. Alone, Rojack heads for the proverbial West. The book ends as he leaves first for Las Vegas, and then down into the primitive depths of South America where the aboriginal American dream may still exist.
+After Rojack impregnates Cherry, he engages in the ritualistic aspect of this mythic plot by journeying uptown to visit Deborah's father, Barney Kelly. His trip echoes that of the few mythic heroes who descended into the shadowland of Hades. While he is with Kelly, who describes himself as a "solicitor for the Devil", {{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=236}} Rojack realizes that, in atonement for Deborah's murder, he must walk the parapet on Kelly's balcony thirty floors above the city. This ritualistic act expresses Rojack's dilemma over the existential nature of good and evil. He completes one circuit of the parapet and jumps down to safety as Kelly reaches to knock him off. Intuitively, he knows that he needs to walk the parapet again for Cherry's sake, yet he does not. Consequently, he returns to Harlem to discover her dead and with her their future child. His failure to completely fulfill the demands of the ritual echoes the failure of the Grail heroes, especially that of Parzival. Alone, Rojack heads for the proverbial West. The book ends as he leaves first for Las Vegas, and then down into the primitive depths of South America where the aboriginal American dream may still exist.
 Mailer describes Rojack's journey in both fantastic and realistic terms. Critics have argued strenuously which is which. It is important while studying ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' to remember that Mailer is primarily writing a myth. Myth is the unifying principle underlying the romantic aspects of this novel. In this section of my paper I will show how both romance and realism contribute to the myth.
-Ironically, most critics who are unhappy with the book mention its lack of realism. In some ways, Mailer uses the mythic aspects of ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' to explore his own concept of reality. Mailer basically thinks in mythic terms; he is a mythic realist {{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211}}. When asked about the basis of reality in this particular novel, Mailer replied:
+Ironically, most critics who are unhappy with the book mention its lack of realism. In some ways, Mailer uses the mythic aspects of ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' to explore his own concept of reality. Mailer basically thinks in mythic terms; he is a mythic realist.{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211}} When asked about the basis of reality in this particular novel, Mailer replied:
 <blockquote>There wasn't a single phenomenon in that book that I consider dream-like or fanciful or fantastical. To me, it was a realistic book, but a realistic book at that place where extraordinary things are happening. I believe the experience of extraordinary people in extraordinary situations is not like our ordinary realistic experience at all.{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=211-212}} </blockquote>
-To Mailer, intensifying the realistic action deepens the mythic dimension of his work. However, myth does not function easily in realistic genres. Ernst Cassirer writes that myth itself is "incoherent, capricious, irrational" {{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=18}}. Laura Adams states that "one of the mistakes many critics made in first reviewing it [''<u>An American Dream</u>''] was to take it too literally" {{sfn|Adams|1975|p=210}}. Merrill agrees with Adams: "to read ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' as a realistic novel is to misread it altogether"{{sfn|Merrill|1978|p=69}}. Such critics misunderstand how myth structures the book and deepens its universality.
+To Mailer, intensifying the realistic action deepens the mythic dimension of his work. However, myth does not function easily in realistic genres. Ernst Cassirer writes that myth itself is "incoherent, capricious, irrational" {{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=18}}. Laura Adams states that "one of the mistakes many critics made in first reviewing it [''<u>An American Dream</u>''] was to take it too literally".{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=210}} Merrill agrees with Adams: "to read ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' as a realistic novel is to misread it altogether".{{sfn|Merrill|1978|p=69}} Such critics misunderstand how myth structures the book and deepens its universality.
-Mailer puts mythic form into his novel in order to add universal significance to Rojack's quest. In both primitive and advanced societies, myth has addressed the human need to acquire a sense of meaning from a seemingly formless and chaotic existence. Joseph Campbell describes the inherent purpose of myth: "Getting into harmony and tune with the universe and staying there is the principal function of mythology"{{sfn|Campbell|1990|p=1-2}}. Campbell's conception of getting in tune with the universe is not a scientific and rational process; thus myth necessarily appeals to our non-rational side. Mailer has long been concerned with the overly rational, scientific aspect of American culture. In some ways, ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is a mythic weapon Mailer uses in his personal battle with our overly technological society. This use of his novel echoes Rojack's use of myth as a weapon against the evils of his society.
+Mailer puts mythic form into his novel in order to add universal significance to Rojack's quest. In both primitive and advanced societies, myth has addressed the human need to acquire a sense of meaning from a seemingly formless and chaotic existence. Joseph Campbell describes the inherent purpose of myth: "Getting into harmony and tune with the universe and staying there is the principal function of mythology".{{sfn|Campbell|1990|p=1-2}} Campbell's conception of getting in tune with the universe is not a scientific and rational process; thus myth necessarily appeals to our non-rational side. Mailer has long been concerned with the overly rational, scientific aspect of American culture. In some ways, ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is a mythic weapon Mailer uses in his personal battle with our overly technological society. This use of his novel echoes Rojack's use of myth as a weapon against the evils of his society.
 The most astute critics realize that Mailer is writing his myth in the tradition of the 19th-century American romantics, who were also concerned with the mixed blessings of scientific advancement. John Aldridge discusses ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' as working in