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Mythic Mailer in An American Dream: Difference between revisions
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<blockquote>... that moment we're feeling most saintly, we may in fact be evil. And that moment we think we're most evil and finally corrupt, we may, in fact, in the eyes of God, be saintly ....{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=214-215}}</blockquote> | <blockquote>... that moment we're feeling most saintly, we may in fact be evil. And that moment we think we're most evil and finally corrupt, we may, in fact, in the eyes of God, be saintly ....{{sfn|Adams|1975|p=214-215}}</blockquote> | ||
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" | 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" {{sfn|Lennon|1986|p=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?" ({{sfn|Lennon|1986|transctips=3}}). Lennon summarizes Mailer's private mythology on choice: | ||
<blockquote>Choice for Mailer is the forward edge of the quest, existential because it is a foray of unknown strategic value in the war between God and the Devil, yet absolutely necessary because the alternative is entropy. | <blockquote>Choice for Mailer is the forward edge of the quest, existential because it is a foray of unknown strategic value in the war between God and the Devil, yet absolutely necessary because the alternative is entropy.{{sfn|Lennon|1986|149}}</blockquote> | ||
In the scene where Kelly is telling Rojack his philosophy on life, he alludes to this concept: | In the scene where Kelly is telling Rojack his philosophy on life, he alludes to this concept: | ||
<blockquote>it's not easy to get to the very top. Because you have to be ready to deal with One or the Other, and that's too much for the average good man on his way. Sooner or later, he decides to be mediocre, and put up with the middle. | <blockquote>it's not easy to get to the very top. Because you have to be ready to deal with One or the Other, and that's too much for the average good man on his way. Sooner or later, he decides to be mediocre, and put up with the middle.{{sfn|Lennon|1986|p=246}}</blockquote> | ||
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, | ||
<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. . . . | <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. . . .{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=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" | 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"{{sfn|Friedman|1975|p=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"{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=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"{{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=30}}. 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" {{sfn|Mailer|1964-65|p=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" {{sfn|Tanner|1971|p=359}}. Begiebing describes Deborah in explicitly mythic images. He defends Mailer against the accusations of sexism in this book: | ||
<blockquote>Deborah, his wife, is the dragon-guardian at the threshold to that other land. She is the "Great Bitch," maimer and castrator, a figure mythical heroes have faced as long as their quests have been recorded. Once we see Deborah as a mythological figure in a visionary world, we will not be marooned on the literal issue of Mailer's sexist portrayal of women ... | <blockquote>Deborah, his wife, is the dragon-guardian at the threshold to that other land. She is the "Great Bitch," maimer and castrator, a figure mythical heroes have faced as long as their quests have been recorded. Once we see Deborah as a mythological figure in a visionary world, we will not be marooned on the literal issue of Mailer's sexist portrayal of women ... {{sfn|Begiebing|1980|p=62}}.</blockquote> | ||
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: | 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: | ||