User:JBawlson/sandbox: Difference between revisions

{{BYLINE

|last=SANDERS

|first=Jaime L.

|url=https://prmlr.us/mr04sanders

|abstract

|mailer has been...uniform edition.

|This paper served me...to participate.

}}

 

Although critics often misunderstood Hemingway and Mailer’s obsession with death, their work was never about glorifying violence—it was about confronting reality. They rejected the comforts of illusion and asked readers to do the same.Mailer may have felt he couldn’t match Hemingway’s reach, but Sanders argues—and rightly so that An American Dream proves otherwise. In fact, by Hemingway’s own definition of a great artist one who takes what has been known and “goes beyond to make something of his own” (Death 100) Mailer earned his place as a guide and prophet for his generation.For existential thinkers, death is not the end—it's a mirror. Hemingway and Mailer use this mirror to inspire art. Death urges individuals to examine life as a whole, not just as fleeting moments. That "whole" gives life meaning, and it’s what both authors chase in their writing.Hemingway’s bullfight captures this unity of life, death, and immortality. Mailer, meanwhile, looks for it in personal and cultural violence. In both cases, death becomes the key to authenticity.True artistry, Hemingway believed, involves stating the “real thing” purely enough that it endures forever. This blend of the eternal and the immediate defines his mission. Mailer mirrors this, understanding that art must express something lasting—even if it emerges from a specific, time-bound experience.Their existentialism isn’t abstract. It’s felt in every line, every scene, every confrontation with death. The artist becomes the author not just of work, but of life.

Mailer called it the “existential state” of the novelist. To write truthfully, a writer must risk annihilation—of reputation, ability, or even sanity. Hemingway knew this well. His matador faced death in the ring; the artist faces it on the page.Each book is a test: Can I still write? Do I still matter? In that anxiety lives the chance for greatness.Hemingway and Mailer weren’t just concerned with aesthetics—they were cultural critics. Their works challenge the norms of capitalist America, where identity is shaped by profit and conformity. They expose a society that deadens creativity and encourages self-deception.Their answer? Create an art that wakes people up. Show life as it really is, even if it disturbs.Critics accused Hemingway and Mailer of glamorizing death. In truth, their use of violence was deeply philosophical. They believed the cultural obsession with superficial success killed individuality.Mailer’s Rojack, like Hemingway’s matador, must face death to break from the lie. Their works confront readers with uncomfortable truths: the death of authenticity, of imagination, of self.Mailer doesn’t just borrow ideas—he channels Hemingway’s spirit directly into his novel An American Dream. The character Rojack, haunted by death and shaped by war, walks a path strikingly similar to Hemingway’s own.Even Rojack’s wounds recall Hemingway’s wartime injury. But unlike Hemingway’s characters, Rojack’s injury is existential as much as physical. He’s split between performance and truth, public life and private emptiness. Rojack isn’t just a man—he’s a mask. He’s a war hero, a politician, a husband. But behind each role is a void. The war haunts him, not with glory, but with guilt. One look in the eyes of a man he killed convinces him: death isn’t emptiness. It’s truth.That truth drives him to reject his public identity and search for something real—something earned, not assigned.Where Hemingway turned to the bullring, Rojack chooses the execution chamber. Both settings allow them to explore death not as concept, but as experience. What does it mean to witness a life end? How does that change the one who watches? Rojack’s psychological and spiritual descent parallels Hemingway’s bullfighters—brushing close to mortality to find meaning. Rojack concludes that death, dread, and even magic are the real motivators of life. His study turns into something larger: an attempt to make sense of existence through mortality. Here, Sanders draws a clear line from Kierkegaard’s fear of living “in vanity” to Rojack’s fear that he has wasted his life pretending. If death makes us feel, then art helps us respond. Rojack’s confession is raw: his parts don’t add up to a whole. Without Deborah, his wife and his societal anchor, he’s just another face in the crowd. But with her, he’s compromised.This paradox drives him toward existential crisis. To live truthfully, he must break free from what sustains his public life. As Hemingway said of art: every part, if true, reflects the whole.

Deborah isn’t just a woman—she’s a symbol of status, power, and inauthenticity. She’s the American Dream incarnate: seductive, powerful, destructive. To be free, Rojack must escape her. But she’s not letting go.Their dynamic becomes a war—not just of people, but of philosophies. It’s not just man versus woman. It’s self versus system.In a surreal twist, Rojack compares Deborah’s rage to that of a charging bull. Their confrontation becomes a psychological bullfight. He becomes the matador. She, the threat to his very selfhood.The scene mimics Hemingway’s bullring: raw, brutal, spiritual. When Rojack “kills” Deborah, it’s not just murder—it’s a symbolic break from illusion. His liberation is disturbing, but intentional.After the act, Rojack sees “heaven.” He describes emotional waves—hatred, illness, nausea—leaving his body. What’s left is clarity. Just like Hemingway’s “moment of truth,” Mailer stages a moment of transcendence.This isn’t an endorsement of violence. It’s existential metaphor: the old self must die for the new self to emerge. That’s the price of freedom. Mailer once said he couldn’t reach people like Hemingway. But his novel An American Dream proves otherwise. He takes Hemingway’s existential vision and reshapes it for a new age—one of media, masks, and moral chaos. By Hemingway’s own standards, Mailer succeeds. He uses the tools of the past to create something personal, painful, and new. In doing so, he earns the title of “great artist” and becomes a guide for his own lost generation.