Mythic Mailer in An American Dream: Difference between revisions

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<blockquote>To begin with, the book is absolutely a myth--I'm trying to create a modern myth, (Conversations with Norman Mailer, 102)</blockquote>
<blockquote>To begin with, the book is absolutely a myth--I'm trying to create a modern myth, (Conversations with Norman Mailer, 102)</blockquote>


Norman Mailer's book ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' has been acclaimed by many critics, including the author himself, as possibly his finest novel. On the other hand, many scholars have attacked it for its unrealistic plotline and unbelievable characters. Reviews of the book were decidedly mixed. Life magazine call it "by conventional standards...a grotesquely implausible book, full of horrific occurrences and characters who appear to uniformly insane" (12). On the positive side, Joan Didion claimed "''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is one more instance in which Mailer is going to laugh last, for it is a remarkable book"(39). Mailer scholar J. Michael Lennon writes that " The book's defenders, with few exceptions, [have] tended to see the novel as myth, fantasy, or allegory"(9).
Norman Mailer's book ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' has been acclaimed by many critics, including the author himself, as possibly his finest novel. On the other hand, many scholars have attacked it for its unrealistic plotline and unbelievable characters. Reviews of the book were decidedly mixed. Life magazine call it "by conventional standards...a grotesquely implausible book, full of horrific occurrences and characters who appear to uniformly insane" (12). On the positive side, Joan Didion claimed "''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is one more instance in which Mailer is going to laugh last, for it is a remarkable book"(39). Mailer scholar J. Michael Lennon writes that " The book's defenders, with few exceptions, [have] tended to see the novel as myth, fantasy, or allegory" (9).


<blockquote>In support of interpreting ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' as a myth, I begin by citing Joseph L. Blotner's description of mythic exegesis of literature: When meaningful, coherent, and illuminating parallels are discerned, the work may be interpreted in terms of the myth. Often what appears fragmentary or only partly disclosed in the work may be revealed as complete and explicit through the myth .... It is not an interior approach asserting that myth was present at the conception and execution of the work; it rather asserts that myth may be brought to the work at its reading.(548)</blockquote>
<blockquote>In support of interpreting ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' as a myth, I begin by citing Joseph L. Blotner's description of mythic exegesis of literature: When meaningful, coherent, and illuminating parallels are discerned, the work may be interpreted in terms of the myth. Often what appears fragmentary or only partly disclosed in the work may be revealed as complete and explicit through the myth .... It is not an interior approach asserting that myth was present at the conception and execution of the work; it rather asserts that myth may be brought to the work at its reading.(548)</blockquote>


I believe that bringing a mythic perspective to ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is the best way to understand it because myth forms the structural and thematical core of the book. Myths often appear to have unrealistic plots and incredible characters because they deal with the universal and the extreme. In this paper I will attempt to demonstrate this mythic relationship in three ways. I will begin by establishing that myth and Mailer's particular cosmology underlie and inform the romantic nature of this novel. Next, I intend to discuss how the mythic elements Mailer uses in this work contribute to the evolving myth of America. In conclusion, I will show how the novel's particularly American hero, Stephen Rojack, and his ultimate feat--his walk upon the parapet, relate to specific ancient and modern myths. In addition, I will note that although Mailer does not use only one myth to tell his story (he borrows from many myths), his protagonist Stephen Rojack follows the basic quest-myth or monomyth as described by Joseph Campbell in The Hero With a Thousand Faces.
I believe that bringing a mythic perspective to ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is the best way to understand it because myth forms the structural and thematical core of the book. Myths often appear to have unrealistic plots and incredible characters because they deal with the universal and the extreme. In this paper I will attempt to demonstrate this mythic relationship in three ways. I will begin by establishing that myth and Mailer's particular cosmology underlie and inform the romantic nature of this novel. Next, I intend to discuss how the mythic elements Mailer uses in this work contribute to the evolving myth of America. In conclusion, I will show how the novel's particularly American hero, Stephen Rojack, and his ultimate feat--his walk upon the parapet, relate to specific ancient and modern myths. In addition, I will note that although Mailer does not use only one myth to tell his story (he borrows from many myths), his protagonist Stephen Rojack follows the basic quest-myth or monomyth as described by Joseph Campbell in ''The Hero With a Thousand Faces''.


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.
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.
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In Mailer's eyes, America is riddled with people who settle for mediocrity. A hero is someone like Rojack who chooses to make the journey to the top, and then begins. Understanding the mixed genres that comprise the book also helps us to transcend the contemporary morality of 20th-century New York City. Deborah is not Rojack's first victim. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross because he singlehandedly killed four Nazis. In war, the enemy is easy to spot and their annihilation is socially acceptable. In contemporary society the scent of evil is often disguised, forcing the individual to ignore its presence or to take an action perhaps contrary to social mores. But what is the moral consequence or difference if the destruction of evil is the result? Before Rojack kills Deborah he describes himself as someone without a center. Earlier in the evening he had attended a party, and like many mythic heroes, he hears the voice of nature, in this story the moon, calling to him. Because Rojack is at a point of vulnerability in his life, he feels a "void," he can understand the voice, and it changes him forever. He says,
In Mailer's eyes, America is riddled with people who settle for mediocrity. A hero is someone like Rojack who chooses to make the journey to the top, and then begins. Understanding the mixed genres that comprise the book also helps us to transcend the contemporary morality of 20th-century New York City. Deborah is not Rojack's first victim. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross because he singlehandedly killed four Nazis. In war, the enemy is easy to spot and their annihilation is socially acceptable. In contemporary society the scent of evil is often disguised, forcing the individual to ignore its presence or to take an action perhaps contrary to social mores. But what is the moral consequence or difference if the destruction of evil is the result? Before Rojack kills Deborah he describes himself as someone without a center. Earlier in the evening he had attended a party, and like many mythic heroes, he hears the voice of nature, in this story the moon, calling to him. Because Rojack is at a point of vulnerability in his life, he feels a "void," he can understand the voice, and it changes him forever. He says,


    For the moon spoke back to me. By which I do not mean that I heard voices, or Luna and I indulged in the whimsy of a dialogue, no truly, it was worse than that. Something in the deep of that full moon, some tender and not so innocent radiance traveled fast as the thought of lightening across our night sky, out from the depths of the dead in those caverns of the moon, out and a leap through space and into me. And suddenly I understood the moon. Believe it if you will. The only true journey of knowledge is from the depth of one being to the heart of another and I was nothing but open raw depths at that instant alone on the balcony. . . . (11)
<blockquote>For the moon spoke back to me. By which I do not mean that I heard voices, or Luna and I indulged in the whimsy of a dialogue, no truly, it was worse than that. Something in the deep of that full moon, some tender and not so innocent radiance traveled fast as the thought of lightening across our night sky, out from the depths of the dead in those caverns of the moon, out and a leap through space and into me. And suddenly I understood the moon. Believe it if you will. The only true journey of knowledge is from the depth of one being to the heart of another and I was nothing but open raw depths at that instant alone on the balcony. . . . (11)</blockquote>


With this emptiness, Rojack begins his quest for renewal--the pursuit of knowledge and the giving of love--by going to see Deborah. In the mythic character archetypes of "male-female polarity"--"hero-devil-god and woman-destroyer-preserver" (Freidman 309)--Deborah is a destroyer. She attempts to occupy his newly voided center and, Rojack, in his mystically heightened state, senses her malevolence. In the struggle that occurs during their meeting, Rojack describes her action: she tried to find my root and mangle me" (30). Her desire is to destroy his creativity and selfhood. When he realizes this he kills her. His rational mind tries to stop him, but the inner voice, the voice that responded to the moon, pushes him on. "I could feel a series of orders whip like tracers of light from my head to my arm, I was ready to obey, I was trying to stop" (31). But he does not stop. He describes himself as "floating. I was as far into myself as I had ever been and universes wheeled in a dream" (31). Murder is often necessary in myth because the destruction of evil and the growth of good are the most important things to be depicted. However, Rojack's murder of his wife, Deborah, understandably troubles readers. In defense of Rojack's action, Tanner insists that "When he [Rojack] murders Deborah, he is breaking free not just from a destructive woman, but from the picture of reality imposed by her world" (359). Begiebing describes Deborah in explicitly mythic images. He defends Mailer against the accusations of sexism in this book:
With this emptiness, Rojack begins his quest for renewal--the pursuit of knowledge and the giving of love--by going to see Deborah. In the mythic character archetypes of "male-female polarity"--"hero-devil-god and woman-destroyer-preserver" (Freidman 309)--Deborah is a destroyer. She attempts to occupy his newly voided center and, Rojack, in his mystically heightened state, senses her malevolence. In the struggle that occurs during their meeting, Rojack describes her action: she tried to find my root and mangle me" (30). Her desire is to destroy his creativity and selfhood. When he realizes this he kills her. His rational mind tries to stop him, but the inner voice, the voice that responded to the moon, pushes him on. "I could feel a series of orders whip like tracers of light from my head to my arm, I was ready to obey, I was trying to stop" (31). But he does not stop. He describes himself as "floating. I was as far into myself as I had ever been and universes wheeled in a dream" (31). Murder is often necessary in myth because the destruction of evil and the growth of good are the most important things to be depicted. However, Rojack's murder of his wife, Deborah, understandably troubles readers. In defense of Rojack's action, Tanner insists that "When he [Rojack] murders Deborah, he is breaking free not just from a destructive woman, but from the picture of reality imposed by her world" (359). Begiebing describes Deborah in explicitly mythic images. He defends Mailer against the accusations of sexism in this book:
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