Mythic Mailer in An American Dream: Difference between revisions

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).

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''.

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 (Adams 211). When asked about the basis of reality in this particular novel, Mailer replied:

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" (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's characters are believable, although their actions are not always compatible with realism. However, Mailer believes that the characters in ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' are credible and that his plot is plausible. It is Mailer's melding of realism and romance that fuels the critical controversy. Ultimately, it is not the realistic Mailer, who produced The Naked and the Dead or The Executioner's Song, who is writing ''<u>An American Dream</u>'', but the romantic Mailer, echoing the romantics of the American Renaissance. Using elements of this genre, Mailer feels free to indulge himself by developing his own cosmology while giving his mythic work a particularly 20th-century flavor. Aldridge insists:

Mailer's complicated interlacing of fantasy and reality is a product of the 19th-century American romance as defined by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his preface to The House of the Seven Gables:

Mailer presents his mythic truths by using elements of romance supported by mythic structure. The mythic truths of the work--getting in tune with the universe and listening to one's inner voice--support the mythic structure of Rojack's quest (although Mailer truncates this form when Rojack fails to return from South America). Romance, in its looseness and freedom, is more like classical myth than the novel, which pretends to be real, although Mailer puts elements of both into ''<u>An American Dream</u>''. One of the improbable elements of romance Mailer uses is Rojack's arsenal. In his battle, the hero Rojack does not use a real bow and arrow as weapons; he uses "psychic darts." When he is sitting in the bar listening to Cherry sing, he discusses his weapons:

When his psychical weapons hit their targets, he raises his mental shield to block retaliation.

The most important part of Mailer's cosmology is the awareness that there is a choice, that the choice has an effect, and that we must choose the best we can. Lennon further discusses Mailer's beliefs about the importance of choice. There is "an extraordinary emphasis on man's free will, his ability to rough-hew not only bis own destiny but to affect God's as well" (147). The existential nature of the choices tends towards the absurd and can lead to inaction. But, the resultant void would ensure the Devil's ultimate victory. In ''<u>An American Dream</u>'', Mailer uses the mythic quest to raise awareness and to develop this existential dialectic. "Why write," Mailer asks in an interview with Lennon, "if you are not going to change consciousness?" (transcripts, 3). Lennon summarizes Mailer's private mythology on choice:

In the scene where Kelly is telling Rojack his philosophy on life, he alludes to this concept:

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,

Was Deborah so evil that her murder was not a act of greater evil on the part of Rojack? Or was Deborah a victim of evil and Rojack's act less than heroic--indeed, pathological? Deborah's father, Barney Kelly, describes Deborah's conception. While having sex with Deborah's mother, he claims: '"I took a dive deep down into a vow, I said in my mind; "Satan, if it takes your pitchfork up my gut, let me blast a child into this bitch! ""(240). Deborah's birth was a result of that satanic vow. Cursed from the beginning, Deborah, at age fifteen, again falls victim to her satanic father. He enters an incestuous relationship with her. Kelly describes his initial lust for her: "I felt an awful desire to go to her room: my teeth were literally grinding, my belly was a pit of snakes. It was as if the Devil had come into the room at that instant and was all over me ..." (250). Because the story is narrated only through Rojack's perspective, we never really know how complicitious Deborah actually was. But we do know that her conception and upbringing contributed to whatever degree she was evil. Shortly after he kills Deborah, Rojack himself discusses his own confusion over the essence of Deborah's nature and his own:

Rojack might not be blind, but he could certainly be temporarily insane. He constantly hearkens to the voice and light of the moon. Although the moon symbolizes many things, as I note in this paper, one relevant interpretation regarding Rojack would be insanity. Is he, literally, a loonie? From almost any standpoint, the murder of one's wife is not an admirable feat. In the large majority of male/female disputes, the man holds a decided physical advantage. Through his superior strength and visionary lunacy, Rojack kills Deborah and hides the truth.

Freedom is an integral part of the American dream. Mailer's use of setting, plot, theme, and protagonist supports the mythic aspect of the American dream. What is the American dream and how does it pertain to myth? David Madden admits that a concise, conclusive definition of the American dream is "elusive", but he ventures to declare:

This utopian aspect of the American dream, the belief that "Weakness and flaws are construed to be outside in circumstances, not within; in the world around, in other people, not in the human nature that one shares" (9), has driven Rojack to his attainment of the materialistic American dream. At forty-four he discovers that this dream is, in reality, a nightmare, a spiritual wasteland. The corruption within the human spirit has led him up this false trail and left him without a center. At the time of his epiphany he says: "I was nothing but open raw depths at that instant alone on the balcony" (11). In order to succeed at the real American dream--to find spiritual fulfillment in a free atmosphere--he must plunge down within himself into those open depths, the realm of his subconscious which speaks most clearly in the dream. ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' concerns this juxtaposition: this sense of the corrupt American values system and the personal, humanistic dream synonymous with the freedom to pursue inner fulfillment. Inner fulfillment is accomplished through the unification of the subconscious and conscious selves. Only through this spiritual delving into the dreamworld of the subconscious will Rojack find the courage and knowledge necessary to aspire to the edenic American dream.

The specific American dream to which Mailer refers in the title of his book is ambiguous, although it certainly suggests mythic significance. The relationship between dreams and myth is important to note. Dreams and myth have long been interactive. Kenelm Burridge describes this relationship:

According to Andrew Gordon, dreams "are not detached from the rest of our mental life, but on the contrary are psychical acts of the deepest significance, because they put us in touch with the shadow land of the unconscious" (100). Carl Jung defines this common dream world as the collective unconscious, "a sphere of unconscious mythology whose primordial images are the common heritage of mankind" (664). When the dreams are filled with an imagery common to all human beings, they become archetypal. Thus, Jung's primordial images are called archetypes, each "a figure---be it a demon, a human being, or a process--that constantly recurs in the course of history and appears wherever creative fantasy is freely expressed" (665). Myth has pervaded literature since man could fantasize.

How does a modern myth develop? Joseph Campbell describes the evolution of myth:

''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is a dramatization of 20th-century New York City. This intensely urban conglomerate talks on mythic dimensions as the setting for Mailer's mythic dialectic: the existential strengths of good and evil. Chase addresses the need for mythic literature to encompass this dialectic: "the creative artist must recapture a certain magical quality, a richness of imagery, a deeper sense of primeval forces, a larger order of aesthetic experience" (110). In ''<u>An American Dream</u>'', Mailer develops a modern myth which incorporates all these elements. By placing Rojack in New York City, Mailer puts his hero in a well-known urban area. This setting creates an antithetical environment from which Rojack can flee towards the ultimate spatial end, the jungles of South America. Tony Tanner emphasizes Mailer's incorporation of metaphor in the settings:

The setting in which Rojack conducts his battle delineates the quality of his materialistic life, successful by contemporary New York City standards. New York City is often considered by New Yorkers, at least, ( and Mailer is one) to contain the essence of America. In ''<u>An American Dream</u>'', this essence is corrupt, so that Rojack is forced to flee the city and head West just as the pilgrims fled west from the stifling decadence of old Europe to the promise of the new land, America. In this country, New England has come to represent the old world. When Rojack heads West, he is seeking spiritual renewal in the innocence of our youngest region in terms of European settlement of the continent. In Missouri, a state from which 19th-century pilgrimages often started, he visits an old friend, a doctor, who invites him to observe an autopsy. The corpse is rotten and the gangrenous odor overwhelms Rojack. His description of the smell ominously echoes the rotten health of the country. The man had been suffering from cancer, to Rojack a disease synonymous with evil, but he had died from a secondary infection:

Rojack does judge the foulness of the country as he moves further West only to end up, ironically, in the city which is the image of Western corruption and materialistic dreams--Las Vegas. It is also ironic that it is at the gaming tables where Rojack makes the money necessary to abandon his old life and to continue his search for the spiritual American dream. Failing to find it in this country, he then delves into the jungles of South America to rediscover the aboriginal innocence that once marked North America.

Rojack describes Cherry's tenement as full of unfiltered smells and sounds, not isolated by the artificial protection wealth ensures. Similarly, their lovemaking is unprotected by birth control devices. Mailer's novels have always overflowed with his particular brand of sexuality, and ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' is no exception. Whether the sexual act is potentially impregnating or sodomistic, loving or violent, has great bearing on its meaning in relation to the theme of this novel. Tanner discusses Mailer's use of sexuality in ''<u>An American Dream</u>'':

Rojack's mental confusion during this act parallels his uncertainty about the meaning of Deborah's murder. In murdering Deborah was he choosing spiritual creativity or spiritual death for himself? His choice concerning his relationship with Cherry is clearer. While making love with Cherry, Rojack describes himself making a choice: a choice to love, to know what life is really about, to find the answer to his quest. "It was as if my voice had reached to its roots; and, 'Yes,' I said, of course I do, I want love,'" (128). They make love twice. After the second time, Rojack says: " ... now I understood that love was not a gift but a vow" (165). Rojack vows to continue his quest. Cherry's love gives him the strength to continue.

Leigh explains the sex in ''<u>An American Dream</u>'' in mythic terms: "In''<u>An American Dream</u>'' orgiastic sex plunges Rojack into epistemological and ontological depths and communion with the mysterious forces to which the individual is exposed" (105). Sexuality for Mailer has always featured heavily weighted mystic overtones. The possibility for procreativity influences the degree of goodness inherent in the sexual act. The more likely the act is to be procreative, the more moral it is. The women in the novel provide three different ways for Rojack to succeed in his quest. Leigh describes them best:

The perfect sexual harmony is directly related to the cosmic harmony Rojack is seeking. Loving Cherry, expressed sexually, is only part of Rojack's quest. Listening to and trusting in himself as he pursues knowledge is the other goal in his adventure. The culmination of Rojack's quest is his walk on the parapet.

When our hero Rojack begins to feel the disquieting effects of the consciousness of new awareness, he initiates his quest. In a quest-myth, the apparent goal might be to slay a dragon or kill the minotaur; the overarching goal is, as Campbell describes it, "[g]etting into harmony and tune with the universe and staying there" (1). Rojack's journey on the parapet echoes the myth of Parzival and the Holy Grail. Parzival's quest is to find the Grail and become its keeper. The Grail stands for a unity of self with the universe. Mailer is concerned with this lack of unity, man's separation from nature. Tanner correlates this concern with Rojack's walk upon the parapet:

In pursuit of a sense of wholeness, Rojack performs the ritualistic walk on the parapet which gives him the strength to journey onward despite failure. He gains the courage to descend again into the often nightmarish world of the subconscious where anything is possible, morality is intensely subjective, and the "conquering heroic self awakes" (Frye 684). This heroic self must acquire a new consciousness, which Begiebing calls "the heroic consciousness" (1). Begiebing elaborates on his definition:

How Rojack seeks to acquire this heroic consciousness controls the action in the book. The action culminates in Rojack's walk upon the parapet. His attempt to walk the parapet, buffeted by nature and lured, or taunted, by the moon, takes on the appearance of ritual in the mythic aspects of the novel. Rojack feels that his successful walk upon the parapet, high above the city, is somehow essential to his life. Cassirer's scholarship on ritual and myth contributes to our understanding of the importance of Rojack's walk on the parapet. The ritual in a society explains and precedes the evolution of the myth and is as important as the myth itself. Cassirer states: "in order to understand myth we must begin with the study of rites" (24). Seen along one dimension, the walk on the parapet is an open clue from Mailer that this novel has mythic aspects. More importantly, the walk on the parapet is the climax of the book. The courage to complete the ritual is the courage to confront one's own existence. Frye writes: "in human life a ritual seems to be something of a voluntary effort (hence the magical element in it) to recapture a lost rapport with the natural cycle" (682). Continually, when Rojack is on the parapet, he feels the force of nature, both positive and negative. The moon, a mythic symbol of nature's cyclical rhythm, appears to give him strength. Rojack's courage is faltering, when he hears an inner voice:

The power of the moon puts Rojack in touch with his inner self and enables him to see what he must do to further pursue wholeness. He must atone for the violence of Deborah's death and for the uselessness of his former life with a show of courage and confidence in himself. This self-trust or listening to one's depths is a cornerstone of many mythic quests. Rojack, a very human mythic American hero, has the perspicacity to glimpse the necessary deed for atonement, yet in the end lacks the wisdom and the strength to accomplish it. His descent from the parapet echoes the failure of Orpheus, whose beloved wife Eurydice died from a snakebite. According to Ovid, Orpheus, inconsolable, ventures to the underworld and begs Pluto and Persephone for the return of his beloved. The king and queen of Hades allow Eurydice to leave only if Orpheus leads the way out of the underworld without looking back to see Eurydice. Just as Luke Skywalker, in another modem myth--the movie Star Wars--must finally trust the intangible Force to acquire the strength to save himself and those he loves, so Orpheus must trust the powerful gods.