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INTRODUCTION: FROM REVOLUTION TO RECONSTRUCTION

Norman Mailer is very concerned with the American “identity,” not just with the shape and soul of the country as a whole, but also with the individual identity of “the” American. He searches for the characteristics he thinks of as essential to the real American identity. One of the most central and long lasting myths in American society is that of the “American Dream,” the idea that anyone, anywhere, is capable of becoming successful.

In his 1965 novel, An American Dream, Mailer deconstructs the outlived interpretation of this all-American phenomenon and, at the same time, constructs his own, new and much more individual and existentially-rooted vision. He gives his own idiosyncratic view on the American “soul” and thus creates his own American myth.

This process from deconstruction to construction is narrated in the protagonist’s metaphorical quest for personal redemption. I argue that the different pieces of the puzzle are held together by the topos of myth. The characteristics of what is generally regarded as mythical will be used to underline and substantiate the argument in an attempt to make Mailer’s vision on the American identity more accessible. Not only the hero-genesis of Mailer’s protagonist in Dream can be explained on the basis of mythology, but Mailer’s claim for a new “American Dream” is underlined by the topos of mythology. For general background information about myth and how myth operates in American society, I shall refer to Richard Slotkin’s theory outlined in his book Regeneration through Violence.

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On a primary level the protagonist of the novel, Stephen Richards Rojack, is depicted as a mythical hero in the classical tradition, facing personal ordeals in the search for salvation. The series of confrontations the hero encounters on his odyssey serves as key elements for the interpretation of the protagonist in Mailer’s novel. On a secondary level, I shall scrutinize the writer’s deconstruction of the canonical version of the American Dream, where he is pointing at the most important elements of critique. At the same time, I shall analyze the new, existential American Dream as constructed in the novel.

These different levels will be discussed in turn and in relation to each other. At the same time, I will analyze how the vision apparent in Dream originates in Mailer’s earlier essay “The White Negro.” Mailer’s search for an apt view of the American identity was already present in this 1957 essay, as Mailer tries to distil the essence of what was needed to thrive in American society into a comprehensible existential philosophy. In Dream, Mailer applies his findings of “White Negro,” but, at the same time, adds more creative nuance.

ROJACK AS A HERO IN THE LEGACY OF THE HIPSTERS

In Regeneration, Slotkin delineated three basic elements necessary for myth. In order to be considered a myth, a narrative needs to comprise of a hero, a mythological world and a narrative that elaborates the relationship between the hero and the world he lives in. Moreover, Slotkin discusses several types of mythological forms present in mythology. These different forms are to be understood as different possible ways in which a writer can narrate the relationship between the hero of the myth and the world in which the myth is situated. Therefore these forms are to be considered different possible instantiations of the third basic element of myth, the narrative. In Slotkin’s opinion the heroic quest “is the most important archetype in American cultural mythology”:

The quest involves a departure of the hero from his common-day world to seek the power of the gods in the underworld, the eternal kingdom of death and dreams from which all men emerge; his motive is provided by the threat of some natural or human calamity which will overtake his people unless the power of the gods can be borrowed or the gods themselves be recon-

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ciled with the people. The quest is also an initiation into a higher level of existence. . . .

In his definition Slotkin provides four characteristics for the heroic quest: the escape from everyday life, the threat in life that is the source for the action, the subsequent confrontation with the gods of the underworld, and the resultant higher level of existence. In addition to the three basic elements for myth, these four characteristics for the heroic quest are apparent in Dream.

Mailer’s mythmaking is centered on one of these characteristics, namely Rojack as a mythological hero. The image of a hero embarking on a mythological quest enables Mailer to construct and deconstruct the “Dream” at the same time, parallel with the journey and evolution of the protagonist. However, Rojack is not the first instance of this kind of figure in Mailer. The characteristics attributed to the protagonist in Dream seem derived from the writer’s famous 1957 essay. In “White Negro,” Mailer provided the outline of the philosophy of the Hipsters, a generation of young ambitious men with a strong sense for individualism and rebellion who where inspired by American black culture. In the philosophy of Hip great emphasis is on the importance of courage, violence, and victory in order to break free from the impediments present in society. As Mailer maintains in Advertisements for Myself,

The unstated essence of Hip . . . quivers with the knowledge that new kinds of victories increase one’s power for new kinds of perception, and defeats . . . attack the body and imprison one’s energy until one is jailed in the prison air of other people’s habits, other people’s defeats, boredom, quiet desperation, and muted icy self-destroying rage.

In Dream the same pattern of regeneration and creation through violence in confrontation, which is key in the evolution of the Hipster. At the same time, other Hip-features emerge and accumulate in the protagonist’s process of hero-genesis in the unravelling of the plot.

In order to understand the reading of Dream as a heroic quest, we must understand the importance attributed to the series of confrontations in the novel. The momentum of violence and victory in the novel are crucial in the depiction and emergence of Mailer’s main character. At the same, the

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hero-genesis of Rojack is supported by Slotkin’s theoretical framework about American mythology. In order to substantiate the thesis of Dream as a heroic quest in the American mythological tradition, the four different characteristics of Slotkin’s definition will be discussed in turn and in relation with the essay “The White Negro.”

BREAKING THE BONDS

According to the philosophy of Hip that Mailer outlines in “White Negro,” the need for divergence is generated out of the dichotomy between conformity and rebellion. Rebellion is viewed as the solution to withstand and overcome the deadening pressure present in society that forces every single one to become part of the nameless mass of comfortably numb people who live according to the rules of the totalitarian state. As a result, the greatest danger besieging society in Mailer’s perspective is “slow death by conformity with every creative and rebellious instinct stifled”. The reason for this numbing of society lies in the aftermath of the Second World War. The legacy of the war implanted society with the constant fear of “instant death by atomic war” and “death by deus ex machina”. As a result, “[a] stench of fear has come out of every pore of American life,” draining the last drop of dynamism and forcing society to a frightened standstill. This dead stop in American society is reinforced by the rule of the upper class. The high society regime has absolute power over the nation and deprives the individual of his will to stand out as an individual. The Hipster is the only one in society who dares to turn away from the safe bosom of the totalitarian state, reluctant to die the “slow death by conformity.” Therefore the Hipster consciously chooses the path of rebellion.

The same dichotomy between conformity and rebellion is present in the novel. Initially, Rojack is part of the mass of comfortably numb people. Notwithstanding the fact that he is considered a successful man who lives the American Dream, he feels depressed. Rojack is tied down by his high-society marriage to Deborah, “the bitch goddess.” Everything in Rojack’s life is controlled by the influential Kelly family. Rojack has no free will left and is decided for. Or as Rojack himself puts it in the novel: “Deborah had gotten her hooks into me, eight years ago she had clinched the hooks and they had given birth to other hooks”. Rojack’s possibilities coincide with those of the Hipster—either he dies the death of conformity or he acts violently in order to break free. This juxtaposition between courage

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and cowardice is metaphorically elaborated by the image of cancer. A lack of bravery not only nullifies the possibility of rebellion and the resultant personal freedom, but it also generates the deadly disease.

In the first chapter, Rojack desperately wants to break free from his high society life and he considers committing suicide. It seems the final resolution is to come in contact with his uncorrupted, “raw being”. Only by killing himself will he be liberated from the restraints his life imposes on him. Rojack is attending a party when the urge for suicide overwhelms him. He goes outside to the balcony and is lured to the parapet. Standing on the edge of the balcony he debates whether to jump or not. In the end, he must admit that he lacks the bravery to leap into the void. After this failed attempt to step out of life and regain his freedom, he feels the cancerous growth of cowardice in his body:

This illness now, huddling in the deck chair, was an extinction. I could feel what was good in me going away, going away perhaps forever, rising after all to the moon, my courage, my wit, ambition and hope. Nothing but sickness and dung remained in the sack of my torso. . . . [I]f I died froma revolt of the cells, a growth against the design of my organs, that this was the moment it all began, this was the hour when the cells took their leap?

Rojack, however, is not yet completely condemned to die the death of conformity. He can “cure” his cancer by finding another way to unearth the necessary courage to stand out as an individual. Instead of stepping out of life, he has to take what is his own and reclaim his individuality by engaging in open battle with the powers that hold him down. The need for courage is the most basic characteristic of Hip and will resonate throughout the whole novel. Rojack has to unearth his courage to “seek the powers of the gods in the underworld,” which is the next phase of the heroic quest.

FIGHTING DEMONS

The third characteristic of Slotkin’s definition of the heroic quest exemplified in Dream is the motivation of the hero, after his departure from the common day world, to “seek the power of the gods in the underworld” and thus to complete his odyssey. This characteristic of the mythological form of the heroic quest must be understood in the light of confrontation and con-

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flict. The mythical hero engages in an open battle with the gods who wrong him and the society in which he lives. In the novel this confrontation with the gods is spread out over a series of conflicts with an array of adversaries and assumes a ladder-like structure. Rojack has to pass a series of ascending stages by which he may advance and, ultimately, reach his destination.

Mailer seemed to derive the underlining idea for structuring the novel along the lines of subsequent confrontations from the basic ideas expressed in “White Negro.” Here, the Hipster must seek confrontation and violence to improve on his life. Instead of having to face the “constant humility” the mass of comfortably numb people is subjected to, the Hipster chooses to live a life with “ever-threatening danger”. The Hipster actively seeks danger because, according to the philosophy of Hip, “life was war” and one can only “remain in life only by engaging death”. The ability of violence, however, goes beyond supplying the Hipster with the necessary thrills to feel alive. The importance of violence in the philosophy of the Hipster is summarized in the term “to swing” from the Hip-lexicon:

For to swing is to communicate, is to convey the rhythms of one’s own being to a lover, a friend, or an audience, and—equally necessary—be able to feel the rhythm of their response. To swing with the rhythms of another is to enrich oneself—the conception of the learning process as dug by Hip is that one cannot really learn until one contains within oneself the implicit rhythm of the subject or the person.

On a primary level “to swing” indicates that the defeat of an adversary not only enables the Hipster to move up a step in the ladder of confrontations, but also prepares him for the next conflict in his path. On a secondary level, the accomplishment of a stage in the series of conflicts invests the Hipster with the characteristics necessary to combat his next and more powerful enemy. In conflict the Hipster is able to unearth previously unknown talents because “[t]o swing with the rhythms of another is to enrich oneself ”— with the characteristics of his adversary. On a tertiary level, an act of violence functions as a purifying act. This cleansing ability of violence enables the Hipster to lessen tensions from the past, coming to terms with the traumas in his previous life. The context of the act of “swinging” determines the outcome of the con-

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flict. Because men are viewed as “a collection of possibilities,” the context is predominant in stimulating the different possibilities present in men. Moreover, “success or failure of an action in a given context reacts upon the character and therefore affects what the character will be in the next context”. Therefore, not only conflict, but also the success in a conflict, is extremely important for the positive evolution of the character of the Hipster.

The nature of violence, as it is outlined in the philosophy of the Hipsters, echoes one of the underlying characteristics of American mythology. Slotkin notices that “the myth of Regeneration became the structuring metaphor of the American experience”. In Dream, this thesis of “Regeneration” is further elaborated. Mailer put the theory of violence developed in “White Negro” into practice through the actions of the novel’s protagonist. Barry H. Leeds and Laura Adams have assigned a great deal of importance to the moments of violence in their studies of the novel, and indeed the plot of the novel centers on the momentum of inevitable violence. These conflicts push the action of the novel forward and at the same time function as pivotal moments in the emergence of Rojack as a hero in the legacy of “White Negro.” Parallel with the outbursts of violence described in the novel, Mailer assigns other characteristics of Hip to his protagonist, completely in line with the Hip-notion of “to swing.” Moreover, the contexts in which the conflicts take place are in all cases illustrative of the character of the respective adversaries and stimulate Rojack in unearthing his necessary talents. In this respect, the context emphasizes the importance of the conflict.

The first conflict in the novel is Deborah Kelly’s murder. Rojack strangles his wife in an act of brutal and barbaric ferocity. In the act of killing Deborah, Rojack discovers his ability to “swing.” In line with the Hip-philosophy, it is the body—“the paradise of limitless energy”—that guides Rojack safely to “victory.” It seems that Rojack’s body has taken over: “I had meant . . . to make it no more than a slap, but my body was speaking faster than my brain”. Rojack is at the height of his powers at the moment of violence. The powers needed to thrive in a conflict are derived from the fact that by murdering Deborah, Rojack is able to lessen the tensions generated by his depressing marriage to the wealthy and dominant Deborah Kelly.

Corresponding to the Hip meaning of “to swing,” Rojack is able to encapsulate Deborah’s energy and power: “For ten or twenty seconds she strained in balance, and then her strength began to pass, it passed over tome, and I felt my arm tightening about her neck”. These forces, derived from

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the character of his wife, will prove to be necessary for Rojack to combat the following enemies on his perilous journey. Murdering Deborah enables Rojack to cast his cowardice aside and unearth a courage he never expected to possess. For the first time, Rojack cracks the mold he has been fitted in and starts leaving his depressing life behind, determined to cast aside the high society life.

Murdering Deborah is only the onset for his journey into the dark abyss of American society. However, in the act of murder, Rojack caught a glimpse of how life could be. In the novel this image of Rojack’s new life is presented by the use of the metaphor of a jewelled city: “I had the mental image I was pushing with my shoulder against an enormous door which would give inch by inch to the effort. . . . But I had had a vision of what was on the other side of the door, and heaven was there, some quiver of jewelled cities shining in the glow of a tropical dusk”.

Enforced by the “inner certainty that his rebellion is just”, Rojack decides to continue his perilous odyssey, determined to reach this “jewelled city.”

In the next ascending stage of the journey, Rojack engages in combat with the former prizefighter, Romeo. In a dark and gloomy nightclub they dispute over the favor of the beautiful blond singer Cherry. When Rojack tries to come close to Cherry in order to start a conversation, Romeo and Tony, both small time crooks in the New York underworld, start bullying him around. In normal circumstances, Rojack wouldn’t try to take on a “tough guy,” but strengthened by the courage he discovered in murdering Deborah and motivated by the fierce desire he feels for Cherry, Rojack prepares to “swing.”

Rojack senses “the implicit rhythms” of his adversary Romeo and mirrors his opponent’s behavior in order to gain Cherry’s favour. Rojack outclasses his adversary in wit and masculinity and is therefore able to scoop Cherry away. The prime motivation for Rojack’s actions is found in his longing for Cherry: “It was the glitter of light in Cherry’s eyes, bright and prideful. That fed the anger to stare back into Romeo’s eyes”. Rojack’s sexual motivation to seek danger is an illustration of yet another important quality of Hip apparent in this confrontation. In the life view of the Hipster, competition for (sexual) pleasure plays an important role. This results from the major significance Mailer attributed to sex. In his opinion “good sex” has the power to refresh a human being, while bad sex cripples and destructs men’s personality. Rojack, however, is on the right track. When

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Works Cited

• Adams, Laura (1977). Existential Battles: The Growth of Norman Mailer. Athens: Ohio UP.
• Glicksberg, Charles I (1960). "Mailer: The Angry Novelist in America". Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature. 1 (1): 25–34.
• Leeds, Barry H (1969). The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer. New York: New York UP.
• Levine, Andrea (2003). "The (Jewish)White Negro: Mailer's Racial Bodies". MELUS. 28 (2): 59–81.
• Mailer, Norman (1965). An American Dream. New York: Dial Press.
• — (1959). "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster". Advertisements for Myself. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. pp. 337–358.
• "Mailer, Norman". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
• Milton, John (1884). Matthias Mull, ed. Paradise Lost. London: Kegan Paul.
• Schulz, Max F. (1986). "Mailer's Divine Comedy". Contemporary Literature. 9 (1): 36–57.
• Shoemaker, Steve (1991). "Mailer's 'White Negro':Historical Myth or Mythical History". Twentieth Century Literature. 37 (3): 343–360.
• Slotkin, Richard (1973). Regeneration: the Mythology of the American frontier, 1600–1860. Middletown: Wesleyan UP.