Disturb Your Universe: Rejecting Literary Labels

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1 Disturb Your Universe: Rejecting Literary Labels

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3 Disturb Your Universe: Rejecting Literary Labels Senior Seminar in English, Spring 2002 State University of West Georgia Introduction Disturb Your Universe: Teaching the Conflicts Dr. Lisa Plummer Crafton 5 I. The Bard s Alive: Modern Film Versions of Romeo and Juliet The Cross, the Gun, and the Sword: How Baz Luhrman s Romeo + Juliet Enriches William Shakespeare s Play for a Modern Audience Jeremy Bell 9 He jests at scars that never felt a wound : The Comedy of Tragedy in Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love Rebekah Rogers 17 II. There is a place for everything, and everything has its place Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic: A Truth Universally Acknowledged? Melanie Leggatt 29 No Label Needed! Steven Loicano 41 III. Thwarted Texts? A New Skepticism A Place for Beloved: Considering the Issues of Literary Labeling 53 April Spann

4 4 Hester Prynne: The Thwarted Prophetess in Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 69 Susan R. Rooks IV. Divorcing the Ivory Tower: Introducing Controversy Into the Classroom Catch the Literary Bug : Why Deny Children the Privileges of Reading? 81 Megan Ridley Disturb the Universe: Using Conflict to Teach Literature in Secondary Education 93 Christina Tidaback V. I will carry you kicking and screaming, and in the end you will thank me. Linking the Past with the Present: A Connection Between Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary 113 Laura Wagner It s hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world : Enjoying the Timeless Wasteland 125 Eric Hudson The Things You Own, End Up Owning You : Fight Club as a Romantic Text 137 Matt Tuck Notes on Contributors 151

5 Disturb Your Universe: Teaching the Conflicts Lisa Plummer Crafton In a scene from The Chocolate War, by, the young protagonist asks, with explicit reference to T. S. Eliot, Do I dare disturb the universe? He asks the question with regard to serious, complex decisions facing young adults in complicated social dynamics, but we practicing literary critics do well to ask ourselves the same question about all kinds of boundaries established by literary history: Do we accept traditional literary period designations or challenge them? J. Hillis Miller notes in an important essay in this debate, Associating a given work with the period in which it was written is both an essential and an essentially problematic part of reading it ( Reading and Periodization 197). Do we use traditional classification/genre labeling even if those labels are not comprehensively adequate for the sake of convenience, or show the challenges to such labels? Do we maintain strict boundaries between literature and film, treating of two separate disciplines, or teach film as literature? Do we actively engage and teach contemporary adaptations of renowned classical texts, or de-emphasize pop culture examples in an attempt to preserve literary tradition? As teachers, do we avoid confrontational, controversial cultural subjects in favor of programmatic curricula? These kinds of questions are the ones formulated and committedly interrogated by these eleven young critics from the Senior Seminar of State University of West Georgia during Spring At the heart of these kinds of student-driven questions lie two very basic and essential queries which provided the two-pronged theoretical angle of this seminar. First, in Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revi- 5

6 6 Disturb Your Universe: Teaching the Conflicts talize American Education, Gerald Graff argues for the necessity of teaching challenges to traditional literary history, using that fact that culture itself is a debate, not a monologue, and asserts the following: A dangerous inability to talk to one another is the price we pay for a culture that makes it easy for us to avoid having to respect and deal with the people who strongly disagree with us (vii). Similar to Graff s perspective, a cultural debate does undergird the majority of these papers. Second, a disciplinary debate frames many of the papers, a consideration of challenges to the paradigms which practicing literary critics use. In the course of this seminar, we read numerous contributions to this debate, from J. Hillis Miller to David Perkins (Is Literary History Possible?), many of which are collected in an anthology of essays The Challenge of Periodization: Old Paradigms and New Perspective. The five sub-sections of this anthology present, from very diverse angles, explorations of the five pertinent questions above. The writers in the seminar chose the groupings themselves, although there are a number of other ways these conflicts can and perhaps should be engaged. It is our hope that readers will feel free to, themselves, disturb the universe and freely consider all these texts in different combinations and that such dialogic reading will allow for conflict to be part of the answer, not just the question, that literary criticism offers.

7 I. The Bard s Alive: Modern Film Versions of Romeo and Juliet

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9 The Cross, the Gun, and the Sword: How Baz Luhrman s Romeo + Juliet Enriches William Shakespeare s Play for a Modern Audience Jeremy Bell Setting Shakespeare s tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to music by the Butthole Surfers probably has The Bard rolling in his grave, but what the hell, it s open season on the classics these days. Christopher Null Romeo finds Juliet, they fall in love, and despite their families war, they marry. The story ends with their deaths. Here we have the basic story behind William Shakespeare s masterpiece Romeo and Juliet. Is it possible to take this love story and apply it to another setting than the one intended by the Bard? This feat is successfully accomplished in 1996 in Baz Luhrman s Romeo + Juliet. In this adaptation, the Montagues and Capulets carry out their feud in the luxurious setting of Verona Beach. The producers of this film adapted certain parts of Shakespeare s work and altered them for a contemporary setting. While other directors have produced other movie adaptations of the play, Luhrman s version adheres the closest to Shakespeare s blueprints, while offering a creative interpretation of the narrative. These versions would include one titled simply Romeo and Juliet, in which the producers put Shakespeare s play in film with little modifications, and the modern adaptation titled Romeo Must Die. In this version, there is one main character named Romeo and two feuding families, but nothing else that comes from Shakespeare. Why is it beneficial to analyze the relationship between Shakespeare s play and the 1996 film by Baz Luhrman? Using critical reviews of the movie and careful analysis of elements that exist in both works, it is possible to justify this movie s existence as complementary to the play. Through such an examination, one can come to understand that this play (a masterpiece in the literary canon) is adaptable to any setting at any time. The movie version is a carefully written adaptation of Shakespeare s work. In this analysis, it becomes clear that the movie 9

10 10 Jeremy Bell enriches the play by relating it to a modern audience. It is appropriate that we understand what parts have been changed and what aspects of the play have remained the same. The setting has been changed in both place and time. The characters names remain unchanged while their personalities have taken on attributes that are more modern. While both use the same script, the words sometimes take on a completely different meaning. As a close interpretation of Shakespeare s work, this adaptation represents what the play could have been had it been created in the twentieth century. Some critics feel that the movie is a complete bastardization of Shakespeare s masterpiece. Graff discusses the importance of critical debates and openness to new texts and critical perspectives in his book, Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education. Graff states Studying literature is never a matter of just reading great texts but always involves a choice of critical vocabularies and theories (78). Educators, at times, suppress conflict in favor of presenting united unified facts of literary history. The fact that conflict does exist around the relevance of this movie to the play helps to prove the film s interest and legitimacy as an object of study for literary critics. Even though some critics believe this movie is nothing more than a misuse of Shakespeare s masterpiece in order to sell movie tickets, I will argue that studying the two together provides a richer understanding of this central plot s adaptability to different cultures at different times. Graff addresses the topic of a text s relevance to the world around it in chapter six of his book: Contrast is fundamental to understanding; for no subject, idea, or text is an island. In order to become intelligible in itself ; it needs to be seen in its relation to other subjects, ideas, and texts. When this relation of interdependence is obscured because different courses do not communicate, subjects, ideas, and texts become harder to comprehend, if not unintelligible. We think we are making things simpler for students by abstracting periods, texts, and authors from their relationships with other periods, texts, and authors so that we can study them closely in a purified space. But the very act of isolating an object from its contrasting background and relations makes it hard to grasp. (108-09)

11 Baz Luhrman s Romeo + Juliet 11 So many elements of the movie beg for analysis and discussion. These changes were executed to relate the film to a modern audience much in the same way that Shakespeare related the play to his own audience. In his essay Falling in Love: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, John F. Andrews discusses the existence of a catharsis in Shakespeare s play that exists purely to trigger emotion, intellectual and ethical clarification by an attentive theatergoer (370). An attentive reading of the film will suggest how certain changes are made to attract the attentive theatergoer while maintaining the goal of catharsis. Striking changes are apparent from the movie s opening, although the play opens with a prologue that is unchanged in the movie. Fair Verona (2) is established as the setting for these two hours traffic (16). While the prologue is the same in the movie, Verona is changed to Verona Beach. This setting change is the first example of the updating of the play s content. The use of a contemporary setting, Verona Beach, is part of an argument established by movie critic Sean Manse. He links the setting change to traits given to Lords Montague and Capulet in the movie. Manse compares the movie s Montague and Capulet to the actual, Miami-based industrial rival families, the Carringtons and the Colbys. These real-world references help a modern audience relate to the two characters and, in turn, better understand the families. These two characters are established industrial leaders who hold the keys to power in the city. The beautiful opening scene of the movie is of two towers, taller than all other buildings in the city and divided by a statue of Christ. This image is a visual representation of a major theme in the movie and play. The two households are both bound by a single rule, religion. This theme is apparent in both works from the first fight scene in the gas station/marketplace to the tragic death scene in the Capulet crypt. 1 The filmmaker s use of two wealthy families who rule over the city highlights the significance of Shakespeare s characterization of the Montagues and Capulets in the play. The use of feuding families by Shakespeare in his play is a deliberate tool used to establish the power and the extent to which the families hate each other. Shakespeare critic Gail Kern Paster discusses the representation of the two feuding fami-

12 12 Jeremy Bell lies in her essay Romeo and Juliet: A Modern Perspective : The conflict between traditional authority and individual desire provides the framework for Shakespeare s presentation of the Capulet- Montague feud.... We are never told what the families are fighting about or fighting for; in this sense the feud is both causeless and goal-less. The Chorus s first words insist not on the differences between the two families but on their similarity: they are two households both alike in dignity. (3) The producers and director utilize this aspect of the play to relate the feud to the modern audience. From past movie-viewing experience, as well as contemporary American culture itself, most audiences would understand the characterization of two rival industrial leaders in the same city. Additionally, these are not the only alterations done to the play. There are distinct alterations in dress, props, and scene settings. Christopher Null, editor-in-chief of filmcritic.com, is one critic who feels that the changes done to Shakespeare s play not only take away from the greatness of the story, but also reduce it to a pop-culture fad that is produced only to sell tickets and soundtracks: Setting Shakespeare s tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to music by the Butthole Surfers probably has The Bard rolling in his grave, but what the hell, it s open season on the classics these days. I won t even pretend that I understand all of the nuance and symbolism of Luhrmann s instantly popular retelling of the tale, but I will say that this is one of the most entertaining renditions of any Shakespeare work I ve ever seen. (Null) This critic feels that while it is entertaining, the movie takes some vital quality away from Shakespeare s play that has made it part of our literary canon. However, the literary canon that we are all familiar with is not as static as it appears to be. When one thinks of the literary canon, one may think of authors such as Homer, Shakespeare, and Twain. During each of these author s lives, there existed a canon very different from the canon that exists today. As Graff points out, the

13 Baz Luhrman s Romeo + Juliet 13 canon changes as widely entertaining modern material that borrows from more established works finds its place in scholarly debates and discussions. In short, the college literary canon has been changing as it had for a century, by accretion at the margins, not by dumping the classics. 2 Here Graff acknowledges the fact that the canon is constantly changing because the art of literature is always in a state of change. These newer texts cause small changes and do not stand against other more established texts. The newer works use tools and ideas from earlier authors to create entertaining material. A critic from the Apollo Guide, Dan Jardine feels that it is not the issue of modern adaptation that makes this movie a mockery of Shakespeare s play; it is the specific casting and portrayal of characters. Is there substance to the charge that those who try to make Shakespeare contemporary rip the soul out of his work? Portrayal of Leonardo Di Caprio and his surfer-dude buddies destroy their lines with their mannered mouthful-of marbles coastal American accents (Jardine). In order to understand why the director chose to portray the characters as he did, it is important to look at specific scenes where changes and modernization are the most apparent. Director Baz Luhrmann states that in the gas station scene, which is the movie s adaptation of the marketplace scene in the opening of the play, the audience is given a cushion to help them better understand the language of Shakespeare. In this first fight scene, the Montague Boys pull up to the Phoenix gas station discussing how The quarrel is between our masters. And us their men (Luhrman). As they tease people in the gas station, a blue sedan bearing a license plate reading CAP 005 drives up. Personalized license plates are found on all cars belonging to the Montagues and Capulets. The quarrel breaks out as Abra, a Capulet, and Tybalt take revenge on Benvolio and the other Montagues for a thumb-biting incident. In the modern world, not too many people express their dislike for another person by biting their thumb, which is a disgrace to them if they bear it (Luhrman). The producers make it clear to the audience what is happening by using images and action with which we are all familiar. This scene uses the style of the western movie genre, which is one that many people are familiar with, to tell the story of the

14 14 Jeremy Bell first fight scene between the young Montagues and Capulets. Luhrmann states, The audience feels concerned that this could happen to them.... We wanted to show what is going on in a world where people carry weapons all of the time (Luhrman). By using the gas station setting, and specific actions and movements of the characters, the audience would have understood what was going on, even if the characters were speaking Eskimo (Luhrman). By slowly letting the audience get used to the style of speech used by the characters in such an actionpacked scene, the movie entertains. These aspects run throughout the movie and keep this tragedy as entertaining to the audience of today as it was to the audiences that went to the Globe Theatre to see the original play. Not only do the tools of cinema help the movie stay close in form to the original, they also help to expand on one particular thematic emphasis of the play the Christian dimension. During the Elizabethan era, the government and church were one unified body. The director and producers of the movie helped further express this idea with one simple symbol, the Christ statue. This statue stands in between the Montague and Capulet towers. The audience understands the symbolism of the statue and the towers, and thus, can better understand many of the story s Christian themes. Roy Battenhouse explains, in his book Shakespeare s Christian Dimension, how the play expresses Christian elements through the love between Romeo and Juliet: Juliet s beauty is Romeo s substitute sun in an otherwise dark world. His religion of the eye worships face, and regards her lips as a holy shrine (364). The movie addresses this theme using the tools of foreshadowing combined with religious symbolism strategically placed throughout the movie. In the gas station scene, Tybalt s vest bears a drawing of Christ and the reoccurring symbol of a cross and a heart together. As the scene progresses, the fight ends, and Tybalt drops his cigar into a puddle of gasoline that has collected around a cross-shaped crack in the concrete. The puddle ignites in slow motion as the music takes on a more solemn tone. These modifications to the themes in Shakespeare s play not only help emphasize their importance to the plot, but also help the modern audience understand more of the plot and symbolism embedded in Shakespeare s words.

15 Baz Luhrman s Romeo + Juliet 15 Shakespeare s families in the play can also be read through a Christian critique of their false idols. As Battenhouse explains, The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is the tragedy of a social group which has nothing to do but feud with their neighbors, give parties, cultivate elegance of manner and speech, and indulge their emotions. The fatal weakness which affects them all, even the lovers, is a wish to show off. Instead of asking, What ought I to do? or even What would I really like to do? they ask If I do this, what sort of figure shall I cut in the eyes of others? (366). This idolizing of the self clearly and acts as a catalyst for the eventual tragedy that befalls both households. M. M. Mahood also helps us to better understand this substitution of erotic for spiritual love factor of Romeo and Juliet s love and religion: Romeo and Juliet stellify each other, the love which appears to be quenched as easily as a spark is, in fact, made as permanent as the sun and stars when it is set out over the range of time (68). Another predominant Christian element in the play (that is discussed in the movie analysis) is the positioning of religion between the two families. Religion acts as a tie between these families that is first established in the marriage of the two lovers and is severed at their deaths in the Capulet family crypt. By marrying Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence hopes to end the feud. As he states, For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households rancor to pure love (2.3.95). The role of religion is also apparent in the final scene of the play. Once Montague and Capulet witness the death scene of their children, Prince explains how all are punished because of their sins: See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love, And I, winking at your discords too, Have lost a kinsmen. All are punished ( ). In the movie, this scene is full of neon crosses and statues of Mary and Christ. The Christian symbols present at the beginning of the movie exist here as ironic symbols and help to establish how the families fatal flaw lead to the death of their children. After comparing scenes from both the play and the movie and examining parallel symbolism, it is easy to see why Baz Luhrman and his production staff chose to present Shakespeare s masterpiece in the way that they did. Those critics who feel that this movie is a misrepre-

16 16 Jeremy Bell sentation of Shakespeare s play fail to see how the movie enhances the play by sparking new interest in the canonized work. The movie also presents the material in a way that is entertaining to a modern audience and understandable to a wider range of people. It is safe to say that Romeo + Juliet is a complementary piece to the play. In many ways, the movie adds fresh perspectives on many of Shakespeare s themes and creates a fantastic world where Shakespeare s characters exist as real people and not just in our minds. Notes 1 Manse makes other relevant references between popular culture and the movie s characters. He addresses, for example, the similarities between Dave Paris and Ted Kennedy and also Mercutio and RuPaul. 2 In chapter 2, Graff uses the changing literary canon to prove his point about the debate over The Color Purple pushing works by Shakespeare out of the classroom. In 1988, Christopher Clausen published an article that made this claim. While it is taken out of context in this paper s example, it still applies since the same factors that tested the canon in Graff s Great Color Purple Hoax apply to the treatment of this adaptation of Shakespeare s play. Works Cited Batenhouse, Roy. Shakespeare s Christian Dimension. Bloomington: Indiana UP, Jardine, Dan. Apollo Guide Accessed 2/12/02. Graff, Gerald. Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Luhrmann, Baz. William Shakespeare s Romeo + Juliet Special Edition. Twentieth Century Fox Productions, Mahood, M. M. Shakespeare s Wordplay. London: Methuen, Null, Christopher Accessed 2/12/02. Paster, Gail Kern. Romeo and Juliet: A Modern Perspective. The New Folger Library Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. New York: Washington Square P, Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. New York: Random House,

17 He jests at scars that never felt a wound : The Comedy of Tragedy in Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love Rebekah Rogers William Shakespeare s play Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most wellknown play of all time. Almost anyone, whether a member of academia or not, can retell the tragic story of the two star-crossed lovers and their inevitable deaths in the fifth act. Shakespeare wrote during the Renaissance, which as the name literally means, was a rebirth. A Handbook to Literature defines the English Renaissance as a period of new humanistic learning, which resulted from the rediscovery of classical literature (Holman 444). Writers during this time, like Shakespeare, were imitating this classical literature to produce a better text instead of a completely new one. Arthur Brooke s The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet was one of Shakespeare s sources for Romeo and Juliet; Brooke s poem focuses on the tragic elements of the story in that the lovers determine their fate by their misdeeds. Brooke s statements in his preface set the fundamental blame in a promiscuous, irrational love and its Catholic counselor (Champion 70). Shakespeare used this original story to write his own tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, but he goes beyond the limited focus of the Tragicall Historye to create a tragedy with comic relief. As Northrop Frye writes, The original writer is not the writer who thinks up a new story there aren t any new stories really but the writer who tells one of the world s greatest stories in a new way (61). Shakespeare s telling of one of the world s greatest stories makes Romeo and Juliet into a tragedy; the play proves itself to be a tragedy very early in the play and keeps with the genre until the ending when both protagonists are dead, but the play about family feuds, ill-fated lover, and suicide also utilizes comedy at crucial moments to relieve tension for the audience. Susan Snyder suggests that Shakespeare s use of comedy in his tragic love story is no coincidence: The features that distinguish this subgenre [Italianate tragedy of love and intrigue] from 17

18 18 Rebekah Rogers the more dominant fall-of-the-mighty strain move it closer to comedy: its sources are typically novelle... its heroes are of lesser rank, its situations private... its main motive force is love (56). Since comedy is the antithesis of tragedy, the comedic moments shift the reader s attention away from the tragic storyline to temporarily relieve the reader from the tragic moment, but inevitably, these moments really serve to foreshadow the ultimate, tragic ending. These comedic moments are strategically placed in the text after a somber moment to make the reader laugh instead of cry. A modern version of Romeo and Juliet is utilized in the film Shakespeare in Love where screenplay writers Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard utilize comedy to mask their telling of the classic tragedy which their film is based on. Instead of presenting the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet from the very beginning, comedy permeates Norman and Stoppard s entire film, in effect, manipulating a sixteenth century tragedy into a twenty-first century comedy. The original story of Romeo and Juliet is altered in this film to include a fictionalized story of Shakespeare himself and his love affair with a woman of the upper class. Unlike the comedic moments in Romeo and Juliet, the comedy in Shakespeare in Love is almost constant, and it distracts the viewer into forgetting that this film will inevitably end tragically. How can the same story be a tragic play in the Renaissance and a comedy in modern film? The contrast between the tragedy of one version and the comedy of another cannot be separated and studied independently; The conflict of tragedy versus comedy makes these two texts essential to one another. As Gerald Graff argues in his book Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, contrast is fundamental to understanding, for no subject, idea, or text is an island. In order to become intelligible in itself, it needs to be seen in its relation to other subjects, ideas, and texts (108). In order to interact, the play and the film must provide one another with something; the film provides the play reader with a fictionalized version of Shakespeare s life to liven the mood and make the situation of Shakespeare falling in love funny and ironic while the play provides the film with tragic irony that Will and Viola (or Romeo and Juliet) cannot be together. Romeo and Juliet must be proved a tragedy and

19 Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love 19 Shakespeare in Love a comedy in order to fully understand the interactions between these two texts. The original play by William Shakespeare is entitled The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and besides this distinction on the title page, the prologue to the play summarizes the tragic plot. The Chorus tells the audience, A pair of star-cross d lover take their life, / Whose misadventur d piteous overthrows/ Doth with their death bury their parents strife/ The fearful passage of their death-mark d love/ And the continuance of their parents rage, / Which, but their children s end, nought could remove,/ Is now the two hours traffic of our stage. (Shakespeare ) From the beginning of the play, the audience knows the entire story; they know that no matter how in love Romeo and Juliet are and no matter what plan they devise to escape the wrath of their parents, the play will end with their deaths. This fact is the ironic side of tragedy according to Northrop Frye because the audience usually knows more about what s happening or going to happen than the characters do (62). Shakespeare in Love utilizes Shakespeare s tragic plot of Romeo and Juliet, but is itself in the genre of comedy. In the film, the life of Shakespeare while writing Romeo and Juliet is fictionalized, and the film follows him as he falls in love with Viola de Lessups, a woman who is completely above him socially. Viola loves the theater and particularly the Shakespeare she has seen, and she dresses as a man to try out for the part of Romeo in Shakespeare s new play Romeo and Juliet (or as it is called at the time, Romeo and Ethel the Pirate s Daughter). The idea of Shakespeare falling for his Romeo provides the movie with humor as Viola s alter ego, Thomas Kent, is kept secret. When analyzing these two texts as complements to one another, it is important to look at scenes that parallel one another. Romeo and Will share heartache and jest from their compadres while Juliet and Viola share a distress over their proposed arranged marriages. When the two couples meet for the first time, they both experience love at first sight that will eventually lead to a tragic ending for both couples.

20 20 Rebekah Rogers Through all of these parallels, Shakespeare s play and its comic relief continues to remind the reader that all will eventually end tragically while Norman and Stoppard s film includes so much comedy that the reader forgets that the story is supposed to end tragically. The interaction of the two texts makes both works into a mixture of comedy and tragedy; Will and Romeo provide comedy through their depression over lost love and the sexual comedy that goes along with that while Juliet and Viola prove that a tragedy will inevitably occur. When these two couples are brought together, both literally in the individual texts and figuratively between the two texts, the audience can see how, although Shakespeare in Love is billed as a comedy, it only distracts the reader along the way to forget that the ending will be just as tragic as Romeo and Juliet. At the beginning of Shakespeare s play, Romeo is sick with heartache over a lost love. Romeo laments, Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;/ Being purg d a fire sparkling in lover s eyes;/ Being vex d, a sea nourish d with lovers tears;/ what is it else? A madness most discreet,/ A choking gall, and a preseving sweet (Shakespeare ). Thse lines set Romeo up as a hopeless romantic, and the reader is prepared for him to suddenly fall in love with Juliet when he first sees her. His love affair with Juliet is already destined to fail, and the reader knows that at this point. The reader s knowledge is proved shortly after when Romeo first sees Juliet, and he remarks, Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight./ For I ne er saw true beauty till this night (Shakespeare ). Romeo s love is immediate; Maurice Charney writes, Love enters through the eyes and it is spontaneous, irresistible, and absolute (9). Romeo exemplifies this spontaneous love when he falls in love with Juliet. The reader knows that this relationship is destined to end tragically, and Romeo is quite unable to cope with love without being overwhelmed with the feeling. Charney states, Romeo is not unlike Shakespeare s male lovers in the comedies, who are overwhelmed by love at first sight and seem much less resourceful in coping with love (82). This inability to cope with love allows Shakespeare to temporarily relieve the reader from this tragic moment by having Romeo s friends make fun of him. At this point, the comic relief is necessary to relieve the tension of

21 Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love 21 this moment that reminds the reader of the tragedy. Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo cohorts, provide the comedy in Act II Scene I to jest at Romeo s romantic notions. Mercutio s sexual humor is seen when he says, Twould anger him/ to raise a spirit in his mistress circle/ Of some strange nature, letting it there stand/ Till she had laid it and conjur d it down:/ That were some spite. My invocation/ Is fair and honest; in his mistress name/ I conjure only but to raise up him. (Shakespeare ) Mercutio insinuates that he only wishes to conjure Romeo s sexual desire for any mistress, and the audience can laugh at Mercutio s version of sexual love that so contrasts Romeo s romantic notions. His friends wish for Romeo to cure his lovesickness with any woman. Charney reminds her readers that all love in Shakespeare is sexual (7), and Mercutio and Benvolio s desire for Romeo to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh instead of being depressed over one woman is part of [their] comic badinage with [their] histrionically love-sick friend whose mistress refuses to reciprocate (Chamption 71), but this moment of sexual comedy only lasts until the next scene where Romeo will remind the reader that the story is a tragedy. The comedy that Mercutio gives the audience only lasts for a moment because Romeo reminds the reader that all will end tragically when he says, He jests at scars that never felt a wound (Shakespeare 2.2.1). Romeo is insinuating here that Mercutio and Benvolio do not know what it is like to have a wound or a scar from a lost love. Romeo feels that his heart hurts worse because he has felt love and lost it, and his friends cannot possibly understand because they have never even loved. Besides that, Romeo is reminding the reader that he will receive a wound at the end of the play because of his love for Juliet. A moment that appeared to be humorous only reminds the reader that Romeo and Juliet will not be happy and alive at the end of the play. Unlike Romeo s heartache that becomes comic to others but soon returns to the tragic story, Will s heartache in Shakespeare in Love is pre-

22 22 Rebekah Rogers sented in a comical light. The setting of Will s admittance of his heartache makes the moment comical. Will is not telling a trusted friend about his troubles; he is paying a doctor, somewhat like a psychologist, to listen to and diagnose his problems. Ordinarily this would not be funny, but Dr. Moth s sign professes that he is an apothecary, alchemist, astrologer, seer, interpreter of dreams, and priest of psyche (Norman and Stoppard 9). The interior of the room continues the humorous scenes with its stuffed alligator and assortments of pills, potions and mystic paraphernalia (9). The best way to see these intricate details is to watch the film very closely or read the notes before each scene in the screenplay. Will is depressed about the loss of his gift for writing, and he confesses this to Dr. Moth, but while confessing, he provides his own sexual jokes to describe the situation he is in. Will tells Dr. Moth, It s as if my quill is broken. As if the organ of my imagination has dried up. As if the proud tower of my genius has collapsed (Norman and Stoppard 10). Sexual imagery pervades these statements, and the viewer cannot help but laugh at Will s situation. When the mood seems to shift to a more morose one during the discussion of Will s marriage to Anne Hathaway, the change does not last long because comedy comes immediately back in: Dr. Moth: And your relations? Will: On my mother s side the Ardens... Dr. Moth: No, your marriage bed. (Norman and Stoppard 11-12) Will is not even thinking seriously enough to understand what Dr. Moth is talking about; he can only provide humorous answers which prevent the viewer from feeling the heartache that he is feeling. Film critic James Berardinelli states, Although Shakespeare in Love offers its shard of belly laughs, most of the humor and there is quite a bit of it falls more into the wit category. For example, while the scene of Will undergoing a primitive form of psychoanalysis is amusing, it s not likely to cause anyone to roll in the aisles ( Shakespeare in Love ). While I agree with Mr. Berardinelli that the movie is quite humorous and it is wittier than hilariously funny, I believe that he is

23 Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love 23 missing the entire point. The film is loosely based on Shakespeare s tragedy, and to make it uproariously funny would be a mockery of the original. The wit allows the viewer to forget about the tragic ending for the time being, but when the film ends just as tragically as the original play, the viewer is not completely surprised. What do these scenes from Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love have to do with one another? It is essential to view and read these scenes together in order to see how the two texts interact and rely upon one another. The scenes are quite different, but as Graff points out, the disagreements themselves can be the point of connection (119). Romeo s heartache seems realistic in its melancholic nature, and when the audience sees Will in a similar state, he knows that, despite the sexual comedy, Will really is hurting just like Romeo. As the reader recognizes parallels between Romeo and Will s situations, he sees that the irony of Will s situation is, in spite of the jokes, Will is going to end up in a tragedy just like Romeo. The film provides the play with a feeling of comedy to pervade over the tragedy. The audience sees how funny Will s situation is, and he can now see Romeo s similar predicament in a more humorous light. The use of sexual imagery by Will is obviously pointing a finger at Mercutio s jokes about Romeo s lack of sexual experience. Will, on the other hand, has shared plenty of sexual exploits with Dr. Moth in the past. The doctor recites, Black Sue, Fat Pheobe, Rosaline, Burbage s seamstress; Aprodite, who does it behind the Dog and... (10). As the play adds to the film s seriousness, the film adds to the play s comedy to meld the two texts together. The storylines continue to parallel one another throughout the two texts, and the contributions that the texts give to one another continue to strengthen both. Opposite Romeo and Will are the two women involved in the texts: Juliet and Viola. While the men are concerned with lost love and sexual situations, the women are concerned about their impending arranged marriages that cannot be avoided. The idea of an arranged marriage lends to the tragedy of both texts because, inevitably, a woman must marry the man whom her parents have paid, and if she refuses, the only other theatrical option is death. Juliet and Viola both face impending marriages to men they do not love or desire to love, and through

24 24 Rebekah Rogers this female protagonist connection, the viewer can see the ultimate tragic ending that even the comedy of Shakespeare in Love will have. Juliet s mother breaks the news of Paris desire to wed the young Juliet, but from the first mention of marriage by Lady Capulet, Juliet is not very interested. Lady Capulet asks, Tell me, daughter Juliet,/ How stands your dispositions to be married (Shakespeare ), and Juliet responds, It is an honour that I dream not of (Shakespeare ). Juliet s frankness concerning her lack of interest in marriage foreshadows the tragedy to come. Juliet will not be able to choose between Paris and the man she will soon meet and fall in love with. The reader knows when Lady Capulet instructs Juliet to Read o er the volume of young Paris s face/ And find delight writ there with beauty s pen./ Examine every married lineament/ And see how one another lends content;/ And what obscur d in this fair volume lies, / find written in the margin of his eyes (Shakespeare ) that Juliet is being told that her future has been bargained for and bought by Paris. This scene is a stark reminder of Juliet s two choices: marriage without love or death with love, and as Charney writes, love in itself does not produce the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet (87). Juliet s love for Romeo does not necessarily force the play to end tragically; Juliet s unwillingness to marry Paris, and the ongoing feud between the Montagues and the Capulet forces the tragedy. Viola s marriage is planned in much the same way as Juliet s when Lord Wessex, described in the screenplay as our villain... in his forties, dark, cruel, self-important (Norman and Stoppard 19), bargains with Sir Robert de Lessups, Viola s father. Sir Robert: She is a beauty, my lord, as would take a king to church for a dowry of a nutmeg. Wessex: My plantations in Virginia are not mortgaged for a nutmeg. I have an ancient name that will bring you preferment when your grandson is a Wesses. Is she fertile? Sir Robert: She will breed. If she do not, send her back. Wessex: Is she obedient? Sir Robert: As any mule in Christendom. But if you are the man to ride her, there are rubies in the saddlebag. Wessex: I like her. (Norman and Stoppard 42)

25 Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love 25 Obviously, no interest in a love relationship between Wessex and Viola exists. The only concerns are fertility, wealth, and obedience. The reader realizes that Viola is faced with marrying a man who obviously does not love her or facing the tragedy that will occur is she tries to be with Will, whom she will meet shortly after this transaction between her father and Wessex. Juliet and Viola s similar situations are important to one another, and the two texts. While Romeo and Will provide both texts with a sense of comic relief, Juliet and Viola jointly provide the texts with a sense of foreshadowing toward the tragic ending. Since their situations are so similar, the film becomes more of a tragedy at this point when there is no comic relief involved as Lord Wessex bargains for Viola. The comedy of Will s situation defers the reader from thinking about the tragic ending of the comedic film, but since the film will end tragically, these must be foreshadowing so that the viewer does not think the comedic film will end comically. Juliet s situation foreshadows the tragic ending that the reader is already aware of, but is also serves to relate the two texts. Since the reader knows the outcome of Juliet s situation, he sees that, since Viola s is so similar, she will be separated from her love too. The endings from both texts really bring them together and show the reader/viewer that, although he may have been confused by the warring ideas of comedy and tragedy in the two texts, both texts will end with tragedy. The ending of Romeo and Juliet is apparent from the Prologue when Shakespeare states the entire plot of the play, but the viewer is left guessing the entire two hours of the movie because he does not know if comedy or tragedy will win out. The answer is both. The interaction of the texts provide a comic look at heartache through Romeo and Will and a tragic look at arranged marriages through Juliet and Viola, and the ending to Shakespeare in Love must be a mystery to the viewer until it is happening. Film critic James Berardinelli states, An added bonus is that, unlike most romantic comedies, the ending isn t a foregone conclusion ( Shakespeare in Love ). After looking at the texts together, the reader/viewer sees that the film must end tragically, but the film is too comical to have both protagonists kill themselves as Romeo and Juliet did. The separation of Will and Viola be-

26 26 Rebekah Rogers cause of Viola s marriage to Lord Wessex mixes the comedy of Will s situation with the tragedy of Viola s to form the perfect ending for reading the two texts together. The lovers are separated, but the moment is bittersweet when Will is shown at his desk working on his next project. He writes about his next heroine for a love story, and he writes,... and her name will be... Viola (Norman and Stoppard 155). Works Cited Berardinelli, James. Shakespeare in Love. Colossus Film Reviews. 20 Feb < html>. Champion, Larry S. Shakespeare s Tragic Perspective. Athens: U of Georgia P, Charney, Maurice. Shakespeare on Love and Lust. New York: Columbia UP, Cowell, Stephanie. Shakespeare in Love a new movie reviewed by Stephanie Cowell. Shakespeare Magazine. 20 Feb < com/reviews/shakespeareinlove.asp>. Frye, Northrop. Romeo and Juliet: More Than Conventions of Love. Reading on the Tragedies of William Shakespeare. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven P, Graff, Gerald. Beyong the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, Norman, Marc and Tom Stoppard. Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay. New York: Hyperion, Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Brian Gibbons. London, Arden, Snyder, Susan. The Comic Matrix of Shakespeare s Tragedies. Princeton: Princeton UP, Romeo and Juliet: Comedy into Tragedy. Essays in Criticism 20 (1970):

27 II. There is a place for everything, and everything has its place

28

29 Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic: A Truth Universally Acknowledged? Melanie Leggat With an increasing interest over the past few decades in the critical debates of Romanticism and gender, Jane Austen has amazingly become more celebrated than she was when she was accepted as what Marilyn Butler calls the gentry s greatest artist (Butler 99). If Butler s characterization is true of Austen as the conservative voice of the gentry, how can critics reconcile that label with Mellor s assertions that Austen offers a critique of abused patriarchal power, of capitalist greed and aristocratic snobbery (Mellor 94)? What accounts for either of these critics fervent beliefs, and their answers to the question: Is Austen a Romantic? It is all but impossible to determine one absolute answer to these questions. Given these examples, it is clear why Austen has stimulated so many differing critical opinions. The case is more complicated when we consider that not only are the critical assumptions about Jane Austen s work quite varied, but the novels themselves present no truth universally acknowledged (Austen 1) when it comes to her categorizations as a writer. Mary Waldron goes so far as to suggest that the great positive strands that have been made in the past three decades about her political and moral positions begin to seem less mutually exclusive: they seem true even when they contradict each other (Women s Writing). In Pride and Prejudice, written in 1813, the young Elizabeth Bennet has energy, wit, self-confidence, and the ability to think for herself (Tomalin 160), yet she ultimately lets go of her pride and marries the wealthy Darcy, leaving her middle class roots to assume the position of Lady Pemberley. Persuasion, written only five years later, suggests quite a different approach to marriage, gender roles, and social classes, the primary topics of both novels. The latter book introduces the reader to the somewhat older Anne Elliot who is forced into prudence in her youth, (Austen 14), but who, by the conclusion of the novel, overcomes the persuasion of her family and friends to marry her long time 29

30 30 Melanie Leggatt love, Captain Wentworth. In choosing to marry him, she leaves her upper middle class home in order to spend her life at sea with him, a life very much the opposite of the privileged one Elizabeth chooses to lead. Given the difference between these early and late novels, critical questions of debate have become important. For instance, is Jane Austen suggesting the role of the woman should be out-spoken and independent like Elizabeth or more mild and patient as Anne represents? Also, as Elizabeth herself asks, What is the difference in matrimonial affairs between mercenary and prudent love as she and Anne illustrate (Austen 115)? And, finally, is the elite class one to aspire to and join or one to despise and leave behind? How do both of these narratives parallel or contradict common Romantic characteristics? Answering these questions may allow us to more clearly position Austen within the Romantic movement. Additionally, this conflict suggests that these two texts should be taught simultaneously. Introducing these two texts together would increase the conflicts in interpreting Austen s beliefs about these issues, yet it would also increase awareness. Gerald Graff makes the point in his book Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, that oftentimes the disagreements themselves can be the point of connection (Graff 119). It is a disservice to the reader not to reveal these conflicts because [c]ontrast is fundamental to understanding, for no subject, idea, or text is an island. In order [for a text] to become intelligible in itself, it needs to be seen in its relation to other subjects, ideas, and texts (Graff 108). Thus, unless these two contrasting texts are not addressed and somehow viewed concurrently, then the result is not only a more ignorant, but also a misguided audience. Graff states correctly that what creates difficulty is not just the object of study but the kind of question being asked about it (Graff 100). We can apply Graff s idea to the conflicting issues in Austen studies, namely the representation of female characters, marriage and the social class structure, in order to illustrate the need to teach both of these books in dialogue to get a better representation of Jane Austen s work as a Romantic writer. During the nineteenth century Pride and Prejudice was widely recognized as the Austen novel, states Norma Page (96). In this novel Jane Austen introduces Elizabeth Bennet, the young and vibrant heroine

31 Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic 31 of the story. Even in the first few pages Mr. Bennet, her father, states that she is his favorite saying, Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters (Austen 2). Thus the reader is instantly led to believe that this quickness is a trait to favor in the novel. In fact, Tomalin suggests in her book Jane Austen, A Life, the fact that most of Elizabeth s more powerful moments are when she is speaking up for herself and asserting her will. For instance, Lady Catherine tells her how she is sure that it is only a rumor that Elizabeth and Darcy have feelings for each other, stating that it must be a scandalous falsehood (Austen 264). Elizabeth cleverly replies that while her relation to Darcy may entitle her to his business, you are not entitled to know mine; nor will such behavior as this ever induce me to be explicit (Austen 264). Episodes such as this, with Elizabeth defending her honor and pride, are not uncommon in Elizabeth s day-to-day activities. Even though Elizabeth is the heroine of the novel, some of the very characteristics she is often praised for in the end stand between her and her true love. Tomalin adds, She is the clear moral centre of the book, and her judgments of character are good in almost every case; this makes her two failures of judgment about Darcy and Wickham surprising enough to provide the pivot on which the plot can turn. (Tomalin 160) In fact, when Elizabeth hears Darcy state how she is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me, she immediately associates pompousness and cockiness with him (Austen 7). When Charlotte Lucas admits that Darcy has a right to be proud, Elizabeth responds by saying how she could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine (Austen 12). Thus Elizabeth herself aligns her and Darcy via their pride. Yet, Austen does not represent pride as being an entirely positive trait. Mary makes a comment that would lead one to believe that it is no positive trait at all, but instead a downfall that should be controlled. Mary states, Pride... is a very common failing I believe... I am convinced that it is very common indeed that human nature is particularly prone to it

32 32 Melanie Leggatt and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of selfcomplacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are very different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us. (Austen 14-15) Mary s abhorrence to pride illustrates some of the faults of having too much, a problem that many critics often charge Elizabeth of having. In fact, Elizabeth gains so much guidance from pride that Darrell Mansell states, in his book The Novels of Jane Austen, that she is governed by pride, and found to be very critical of the world (Mansell 79). Her criticisms do not go unnoticed. Mrs. Bennet makes numerous attempts get her daughter to be less critical and strong-willed. She tells Mr. Collins, She is a very headstrong and foolish girl, and does not know her own interest; but I will make her know it (Austen 84). Try as she may however, Elizabeth s manner varied; however, her determination never did (Austen 85). Strangely enough, her pride and outspoken nature, which Mr. Collins concludes would not contribute to my felicity (Austen 84), is one of the reasons that Darcy falls in love with her. Elizabeth is by no means a girl that yields to persuasion easily. She urges the other women in the novel to do the same. When Jane asks her if she should marry Bingley if his sisters wish him to marry another, she responds by telling her dear sister You must decide for yourself (Austen 91). It appears in this statement that Jane Austen is praising this young woman that is full of exuberance and will. She does not let others decide who will have her; instead she decides whom she will have as a partner. Before she is fully capable of doing this, however, she has to come to see that there is good in the world where she doubted it which is what Jane has been too easily believing all along (Mansell 105). For some time Elizabeth has difficulty believing that there is much good to find in love, considering the boundaries society places on the relationships of those around her as well as the reality of her family s placement in society. Elizabeth gruffly admits to Jane, The case is this. We are not rich enough (Austen 84). She appears to be fully aware of the fact that her family is in a position that is economically

33 Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic 33 and socially below that of the Darcys, Bingleys, and Lady de Bourgh. Yet, in the end, these diverging classes merge, suggesting the absurdity of decorum and the social class structure to begin with. Barbara Hardy, in her book A Reading of Jane Austen, asserts that the social groups in her books interact to offend, match, compromise and change each other (32). For instance, one could compare the Gardiners, who lived by trade yet were very well bred and agreeable (Austen 105) with Lady de Bourgh who is pompous and rude. She goes so far as to think of the Gardiners as pollution when they frequently visit Elizabeth and Darcy at Pemberley once they marry. Yet, in the end, it is the Gardiners that become closer to Darcy and Elizabeth regardless of their social status. Almost every character in the book appears to have a strong sense of the social codes that are so prevalent among Jane Austen s societies. Hardy also suggests, caricatures of human spirit are outlined in terms of hardened and narrowed feeling, which impel and imprison the human being (Hardy 40). The marriage of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins is by all means a marriage created by this very idea of hardened perception and economic convenience. In fact, Charlotte confesses to Elizabeth, I am not a romantic, you know. I never was, I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state. (Austen 95) Perhaps without realizing it, Charlotte has shed light on the only respectable future that is open to women of the middle class. Their only hope at achieving status is to marry a man above them, if they have the luck, or beauty to attract them. It is not shocking to find this type of union forms most of the relationships in the book. Charlotte, Jane, and even Elizabeth herself marry men that are economically better off than themselves, surrendering to popular beliefs of social placement in order to break free from the current status in which they find themselves.

34 34 Melanie Leggatt Having Elizabeth and Darcy marry in the end of Pride and Prejudice, for some critics, confuses the forceful way that Jane Austen makes a parody of the aristocracy in earlier parts of the novel. That is, some believe that the marriage which gives Elizabeth her place of privilege ( To be mistress of Pemberley would be something ) compromises Austen s critique of social rank. It could be argued, however, that by having Elizabeth and Darcy build a marriage that is not based on economic means, but instead, on love, and respect for one another, they overcome the social codes of the time. However, if this is true, it cannot be overlooked that Elizabeth does indeed marry a wealthy man that is in a class above her own just as she is expected. 1 When Persuasion is added into the argument, with its many differences from Pride and Prejudice, it furthers the debate about the question of Austen s novels as social critique. Anne Elliot is quite the opposite of Elizabeth Bennet. She is not a young and vibrant young woman ready to discover life. Instead, Austen first introduces Anne in saying that she had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early; and even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her (Austen 7). Not only had her physical appearance began to fade, but her word had no weight either. Claudia Johnson argues that this is a positive stance for Austen to take because By centering her novel on a maturer heroine, of course, Austen is free to explore the concomitant impertinence which always seems to accompany the self-assurance of younger heroines. (Johnson 146) Not only is her age crucial to the understanding of her character, but Anne s history also cannot be overlooked as it says a great deal about the person that she is and the person that she is to become. Mansell states, Anne does indeed change, and she will be a better mate for Wentworth in the last chapter than she was in the first (Mansell 188). Since she was persuaded not to marry Wentworth the first time that he proposed to her, she has had to live with it ever since and will not make that same mistake again. In the past, she was easily persuaded and, in a sense, controlled by Lady Russell as well as by her family. She explains how she,

35 Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic 35 At seven and twenty, thought very differently from what she had been made to think at nineteen. She did not blame Lady Russell, she did not blame herself for having been guided by her; but she felt that were any young person, in similar circumstances, to apply to her for counsel, they would never receive any such certain immediate wretchedness, such uncertain for good. She was persuaded that under every disadvantage of disapprobation at home, and every anxiety attending his profession, all their probable fears, delays and disappointments, she should yet have been a happier woman in maintaining the engagement, than she had been in the sacrifice of it; and this, she fully believed. (Austen 27) Thus, the novel begins with this once innocent girl that has become a somewhat prudent woman. She does not often display her feelings or thoughts unless she believes that they are worthwhile. While she is very shy and reserved, she does not lack the wit that Elizabeth holds. She is by no means a woman that yields easily to the commonly held social characteristics of women during that time. She even tells Mr. Elliot, My idea of good company, Mr. Elliot is the company of clever, well informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company (Austen 134). Anne herself always has something clever and informed to say. She constantly speaks with Captain Benwick about literature. Anne never has much trouble in her relationships with those of the naval class; however she has a difficult time relating to those of her own class. She does not say much around the upper class because, it appears, they do not have anything clever or informed to say. Throughout the book Jane Austen creates a woman that is obviously tired of living a life that is full of decorum and vanity and wishes, as she ultimately does, to escape from the absurdity of the lifestyle. It is evident that Anne does not agree with the mannerisms or thoughts of the upper class. She is, albeit, the direct opposite of her father. 1 He is overly concerned with vanity and trivial facts about himself. His favorite book is even the Baronetage, surprisingly enough a book all about him. Micheal Williams writes, in his book Jane Austen: Six Novels and Their Methods, that Sir Walter and Elizabeth Elliot

36 36 Melanie Leggatt Make all questions of rank, as rank, absurd. What they stand for as individuals is equally significant in its significance: quite consumed by vanity, they are totally preoccupied with the trivial surface detail of dress and cosmetic and social distinction, and beyond this they have almost no existence. (170) Even though Lady Russell means well for Anne, she too must be placed in this category that is obsessed with rank and social distinction. Williams states that when she persuades Anne to break off the engagement with Wentworth the first time, she is genuinely fulfilling the maternal role, yet also motivated by her notions of what Anne might become (Williams 175). It appears that all of the members of this social standing are indeed obsessed, all except for Anne. Perhaps that is why Jane Austen represents a naval class that is intelligent, compassionate, and altogether much more likable for the reader, a class with which Anne much more relates. It is not surprising that Anne has better relationships with the naval class as they are Far from presiding over a neighborhood, they live most contentedly at sea, unconcerned with the production of heirs or the reproduction of idealogically correct values through the cultivation of local attachments. (Johnson 147) Anne feels more comfortable with the naval class just as they feel more comfortable with her. Mrs. Croft frequently states that any friend of Anne s is welcome with them. Austen also offers a much more natural representation of the naval society. Mrs. Croft whose manners were open, easy, and decided, like one who had no distrust of herself and no doubts of what to do (Austen 43) tells how any reasonable woman may be perfectly happy... on board a ship (Austen 63). She gets annoyed with Wentworth, ironically enough, when he tells that no woman should be on board a ship and, she replies I hate to here you talking so, like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days (Austen 63). The blatant difference in characteristics of the aristocratic class and the naval class offers a much more accurate representation of what

37 Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic 37 many feel are Jane Austen s beliefs about social status. Austen even has her heroine offer a positive interpretation of the naval class when she states The navy, I think, who have done so much for us, have at least an equal claim with any other set of men, for all the comforts and all the privileges which any home can give. Sailors work hard enough for their comforts, we must all allow. (Austen 19) This statement allies her natural representation of the naval class with the only suitable ending for the book, Anne and Wentworth s marriage and life at sea. It is important to note the reasons for Anne s interest in Wentworth to begin with. She states how she admires his elasticity of mind and his power to turn readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself which was from Nature alone (Austen 138). The attraction that these two lovers witness is not entirely foreign to that of Elizabeth and Darcy, but in this marriage, there is no economically superior position that Anne will attain if she marries him. Instead, she will become a sailor s wife, a position socially viewed as being below her own. However, as Barbara Hardy correctly asserts, Anne finds her best company at last, the conclusion of the novel invokes a real community, and places love and marriage, uncomplacently in the real world (Hardy 135). Anne herself reveals her satisfaction as she is glorified in being a sailor s wife (Austen 221). Thus, in her final novel, Jane Austen clearly can be argued to be a Romantic author. While she argues for an independent woman in Pride and Prejudice, it is not until Persuasion that the mild Anne Elliot finally has the courage to leave the social restraints to be with her love. By demonstrating this bold display of courage and independence, Austen argues not only for the rationality of women, and the need for a marriage based on rational love as originally argued by Wollstonecraft s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but also she speaks about the individuality and equality of all people regardless of their social status. It cannot be overlooked that Austen always writes about the gentry as Butler states; however, she more makes a parody of them rather than

38 38 Melanie Leggatt insisting of their greatness. Perkins argues that different portraits of the same past may all be accurate... if they are drawn from different points of view (Perkins 106). A statement like this can also be applied to critical views on Austen s writing. In fact, it is the importance of individual choice and fulfillment that Austen often glorifies in her writing, much like the writing of many of the other writers labeled Romantic. Just because she represents these themes through the lens of an upper class society should not keep her from achieving the status of a Romantic author. In fact, Abrams argues that much of the Romantic writing focuses on the political, intellectual, and emotional circumstances of a period of revolutionary upheaval (qtd. in Perkins 103). Austen also discusses these issues. She discusses the political, intellectual, and emotional circumstances of revolutionary changes, especially in terms of gender. Johnson asserts that by linking women s confinement within their changeless neighborhoods to the strength and longevity of their feelings, she develops this tradition with particular emphasis on women s problems (Johnson 159). None of the problems that Jane Austen represents are displayed as dead ends however: Each novel ends with a movement out of old company into new, in the best company of congenial married lovers, and this conclusion is not facile inflation. It depends on the foretaste of good company within the novels. We end with a sense of renewed community which supports and strengthens the hope for the good marriage and the next generation. (Hardy 131) Hardy concludes by saying that all of Austen s books suggest a new beginning, itself a characteristic that can be linked to Irving Babbit s assessment of Romantic texts as those which desire to reconstruct society according to an ideal, and belief in unlimited progress (qtd. in Perkins 99). If one were only exposed to Pride and Prejudice and not Persuasion, there is no question that all of these Romantic characteristics would not appear clearly. It appears that in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen was just beginning to illustrate her Romantic traits. By Persuasion, however,

39 Jane Austen s Role as a Romantic 39 it is quite clear that she is obviously planning to make a critique of the patriarchal, social, and marriage structures of her time. Once these texts are read concurrently the reader would begin to see the similar threads that link these two texts together as well as those issues that set them apart. The ways in which Austen approaches these three issues in both of these books are very different, but the critiques she makes of these issues are quite the same. Thus, reading these two texts in dialogue with one another allows for a much more judicial representation not only of Austen s work as a Romantic author, but also a more accurate display of her critiques of women, marriage, social classes. Notes 1 Marilyn Butler argues that decision such as this rebuke individualistic female initiatives, and imply that the consummation of a woman s life lies in marriage to a commanding man. (98) 2 If we think of Anne in relation to what her family represents, then we shall find the opening of Persuasion has sufficiently rich complexity, because, if Anne does not seem to count then we get a full measure of the potentially tragic irony if we properly see that this is her context, and the reason for her not counting: Anne, whose intelligence and sensibility are vitally evident in the first words she utters, words that are surprisingly forthright, but ar also totally without effect; Anne who, however we interpret the events of the eight years before, has helped determine her own situation. (Williams 170) Works Cited Austen, Jane. Persuasion. London: Penguin, Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Bantam, Butler, Marilyn. Romantics, Rebels, and Reactionaries: English Literature and its Background New York: Oxford, Graff, Gerald. Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Hardy, Barbara. A Reading of Jane Austen. New York: New York UP, Johnson, Claudia. Jane Austen. Chicago: Chicago UP, Mansell, Darrel. The Novels of Jane Austen: An Interpretation. London: MacMillan, 1973.

40 40 Melanie Leggatt Mellor, Anne. Romanticism and Gender. New York: Routledge, Perkins, David. Is Literary History Possible?. New York. John Hopkins UP, Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen: A Life. New York: Knopf, Women s Writing. Ed. Mary Waldron. March Mar <www. triangle.co.uk/wow>. Williams, Micheal. Jane Austen: Six Novels and Their Methods. New York: St. Martin s, 1986.

41 No Label Needed! Steven Loicano Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn, / A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding. Walt Whitman: from A Farm Picture This quote is from a set of poems by Whitman titled Drum Taps, and Whitman s goal was to achieve realism through the idea of snapshots of reality. Another author who uses these small bits of realism in his work is Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne introduces his novel The Scarlet Letter, with a section labeled The Custom House, a section which is filled with bits of snap-shot realism as is the text of The Scarlet Letter. The custom house is described by Hawthorne in these terms, Over the entrance hovers as enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast... (Hawthorne 6). Any consideration of Hawthorne s realism goes against the traditional categorization of Hawthorne within the American Romantic period. This question of Hawthorne s label brings to light a much larger theoretical debate about the idea of labeling any author with arbitrary labels such as romantic or realist. The labeling of an author, sometimes, prevents an author from being seen outside of that label. When we allow arbitrary labels to dominate our understanding of an author, we are falling into a trap that Perkins refers to as reasoning in a hermeneutic circle from a concept to a set of texts and from the set of texts to the concept (85). This quote outlines the fundamental problem in labeling any author according to time period or according to specific parameters of his/her writing. Now we are left with the question of whether any author should be defined in terms of his/her designated label? The arbitrary label placed upon any work or writer is what forces the reader to see the text or writer only in terms of that unnatural label. We can investigate this idea of the nature of literary categorization by looking at a powerhouse force in American Literature, Nathaniel 41

42 42 Steven Loicano Hawthorne. Hawthorne s texts fall into a time period that, according to a chronological view of American Literature, is the Romantic Period. The question is to what extent is Hawthorne s label as a Romantic an effective or limiting categorization? In what ways do his texts support or challenge traditional assumptions of Hawthorne s Romanticism? Nowhere is this issue more central than in interpretation of The Scarlet Letter, a novel whose label has been up for debate since it came out. Hawthorne is listed in The Glossary of Literary Terms as a romantic, but there is easily as much confusion about that labeling as there is coherence. In the Norton Critical Edition, the novel is introduced by a page that simply says, The Text of The Scarlet Letter A ROMANCE. 1 Richard H. Millington is one critic that makes assumptions based upon the labeling of Hawthorne. Millington refers to The Scarlet Letter when he writes, Most strikingly, the plot of the romance ends... (59). He also refers to The Scarlet Letter as the first sustained romance (65). Luther S. Luedtke argues that Hawthorne uses Aladdin and the Magic Lamp as one of his primary sources in his writings (142). These critics build on the idea that Hawthorne is using conventions of romance, and thus the categorical labeling of Hawthorne as Romantic seems to be in place. However, my project aims to investigate the ways Hawthorne used romantic characters and narrative events to ultimately critique the romantic individualist. In order to see Hawthorne s place in American literary history and begin the question of Hawthorne s position toward the romantic individualist, we must begin by looking at how literary history and reference books have defined Romanticism. This is also a source for the idea of the romantic individualist. Romanticism is defined in the 6th edition of A Handbook to Literature in these terms: Later in the 19th Century came the great Romantic Period in American Literature, (Bryant, Emerson, Lowell, Thoreau, Whittier, Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Whitman, Dickinson, Holmes)... a term that designates a literary and philosophical theory that tends to see the individual at the center of all life, and it places the individual, therefore, at the center of art, making literature valuable as an expression of unique feelings and particular attitudes... (417-18).

43 No Label Needed! 43 Although A Handbook to Literature and other such reference books often use generally ambiguous prose, and broad concepts, they consistently place together such different writers as Emerson, Thoreau, Bryant, Whittier, Whitman, Holmes and Hawthorne. For readers, this wholesale comparison of diverse writers may seem bizarre, yet this Handbook s definition does offer the central premise of Romanticism as the emphasis on the individual, a question under debate about Hawthorne. Another definition of romanticism is offered by A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms, which mentions something very important to our understanding of romanticism. A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms mentions A. O. Lovejoy s idea that in trying to define romanticism the word romanticism will lose all meaning unless we insist on defining our references (163). The Dictionary then refers to Rene Wellek s and Northrop Frye s rebuttals to Lovejoy with the idea that Romanticism is not essentially an idea but a historic centre of gravity, which falls somewhere around the period (163). Frye s definition, emphasizing simply a chronological basis, raises interesting ideas in that Frye commits a hermeneutic fallacy when he struggles to define romanticism according to a specific time period. Is everything written between 1790 and 1830 to be labeled Romantic, or more problematically, texts that can be easily labeled romantic from that time period as part of the established canon? Jerome McGann tells us about his own work which attempts to clarify these debates: I worked to clarify the distinction between the romantic period (i.e., a particular historical epoch) and romanticism (i.e., a set of cultural/ ideological formations that came to prominence during the romantic period). The distinction is important not merely because so much of the work of that period is not romantic, but even more, perhaps because the period is notable for its many ideological struggles. (48) Although McGann is talking here about British Romanticism, I believe the questions he raises should be applied to the question of Hawthorne. Have we placed the manacles of terminology upon writers like Hawthorne? Beginning with The Scarlet Letter and the section labeled The Custom House, the reader is presented with a version of Hawthorne that

44 44 Steven Loicano is truly not Romantic. The description that Hawthorne gives of the customhouse where he is employed uses similar language to what Whitman uses in Drum Taps. Hawthorne uses descriptive language in sentences like, Its front is ornamented with a portico of half a dozen wood pillars, supporting a balcony beneath which a flight of steps descends toward the street (Hawthorne 6). This use of such careful and deliberate detail is Hawthorne s way of presenting his setting as a realistic part of his novel. Careful study of The Scarlet Letter allows for many readings of Hawthorne, as either a romantic or a realist. The debate centers on how much the novel celebrates Hester as either an individual or critiques her as one. The conflict between Hester and Dimmesdale s roles is a prime example of the critical struggle with Hawthorne s works. The argument of Hester as a romantic heroine is put forth by Nina Baym in her book titled The Scarlet Letter: A Reading. Baym says that, In Hester Prynne, Hawthorne created the first true heroine of American fiction (62). This statement is not entirely accurate. The true function of the characterization of Hester as a pseudo-romantic heroine is Hawthorne s critique of the idea of the romantic individualist. Hester as Baym describes her is the quintessential romantic heroine, but in the end she is left with nothing. She has no child and no love. Sacvan Bercovitch says the ending of the novel, with Hester returning to town without Pearl and replacing the A upon her chest of her own free will, was inevitable (345). Hester returns to the same life she had with Pearl, and makes no effort to change. Fredrick Carpenter writes that Hester s romantic dream of natural freedom was made impossible by her circumstances (293). This idea of romantic freedom being made impossible by her sin takes away from Baym s argument of Hester as a heroine, unless we remove the idea of a romantic heroine from the title of Hester Prynne. If we consider Baym s assumption of Hester as a Romantic heroine, then we can juxtapose Hester with Dimmesdale. Baym s argument evolves through the idea that Hester might be a heroine, and that she has the potential to be a romantic heroine, but Hester eventually ends up not being capable of fulfilling this role as a romantic, because of factors such as Pearl. The characters in The Scarlet Letter, specifically

45 No Label Needed! 45 Hester and Dimmesdale, can be argued as representations of realism and romanticism, with Dimmesdale as the romantic representation and Hester as the realist representation, not with Hester as a romantic heroine. In the end of the novel the romantic Hero ends up dead and only the realist Heroine lives on. This must be seen as Hawthorne s killing off of the idea of himself as a romantic, and as a critique of the romantic ideas that prevailed during this time period. In what is commonly referred to as the first scaffold scene, where Hester is standing in public view with Pearl, we get our first description of Hester from the narrator that includes insight into the thoughts of Hester. The narrator tells us that Hester s thoughts include the words: Yes! these were her realities, all else had vanished! (Hawthorne 43). This is a way for Hawthorne, through his narrator, to clue the reader into the idea that Hester is going to be forced into being a realist with the birth of Pearl. Baym corroborates this idea when she writes about Hester: Had she spoken her thoughts, she probably would have suffered death from stern tribunals of the period, for attempting to undermine the foundations of the Puritan establishment. If it were not for the existence of Pearl, for whose sake she live quietly in Boston, she would have become, like Anne Hutchinson, a religious reformer. (65) Baym s idea is the crux of the existence of Hester Prynne. Hester admits that Pearl is the reason that her life is based in reality. She says to Mistress Hibbins, I must tarry home and keep watch over my little Pearl. Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man s book too, and that with mine own blood (Hawthorne 81). The reference to Hester s own blood is a reference to the idea that she might have taken her own life. This reference to her own blood must be seen as Hester implying that she would confirm her place in the black man s book by taking her own life and committing the only sin that a person cannot ask forgiveness for, for the obvious reason that one cannot ask for anything if one is dead. This is important when comparing Hester to Dimmesdale, in that he, very Romantically allows his life to

46 46 Steven Loicano end in public, but because Hester has Pearl to take care of, she cannot allow her life to end. 2 She might have led a reformation of the Puritan religion and lived up to that type of romantic ideal, if she had not had Pearl. Baym makes it clear that because of Pearl, Hester could not be a reformer; instead she had to live a truly realistic lifestyle in order to feed and clothe her child. John C. Gerber observes this phenomenon of Hester as well when he writes, two elements, however, have strengthened her [Hester] while Dimmesdale weakened: her intellectual speculation and her daughter Pearl (287). Gerber is reiterating the points that Baym pointed out, that Hester would be a vastly different character than she is, without the existence of Pearl. This quote is also important because it acknowledges that Dimmesdale is a weaker character than Hester. Dimmesdale s character can best be understood by analysis of key scenes: the forest scene, the sermon, and the last scaffold scene. In the famous forest scene, both Hester and Dimmesdale, while playing in the forest try to convince themselves that they can run off and live happily ever after. Gerber here makes an important point in understanding the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale. He writes: Then [Hester] waylays Dimmesdale in the forest in order to confess and implore his forgiveness.... When Dimmesdale observes sadly that Chillingworth s sin had been blacker than theirs, Hester is quick to whisper, What we did has a consecration of its own! We felt it so! We said so to each other! Confident in this belief, she proposes that they dispel their sense of moral isolation by translating it into physical terms. She and Dimmesdale and Pearl must flee to Europe. And her insistence that Dimmesdale agree represents the highest point in her activities as a directing force in the story. (289) In this scene Hester tells Dimmesdale to give up this name of Arthur Dimmesdale, and make thyself another (Hawthorne 135). Here Hester is trying to convince Dimmesdale and herself that they can simply become different people and move away together. She is not thinking romantically here; rather she is thinking about herself and her responsibility, Pearl. Baym, in an article entitled: Plot in The Scarlet Letter, writes, nothing in the plot shows Hester attempting to evade respon-

47 No Label Needed! 47 sibility for her actions (403). Baym is reiterating the point that Hester knows that she is responsible for Pearl, but Dimmesdale, even here in the forest is reluctant to accept responsibility for Pearl. About this idea Baym writes, in comparison to her, [Hester] Dimmesdale s refusal to recognize any obligation to Pearl is strikingly irresponsible (404). Hester is trying to get a father for her child. By presenting Dimmesdale with the idea of running away together here, Hester gives him the opportunity to claim Pearl, which he does for a short period of time. Hester is trying to escape the burden that was placed upon her by one Nathaniel Hawthorne, but the reality appears when Dimmesdale gives his grand sermon, and begins his march to the scaffold. In this final scaffold scene, Dimmesdale becomes the representation of Romanticism in the novel. He completely shirks his duty to Hester and Pearl and leaves them in the market place, and goes on to give his election sermon. Roy Male writes, His [Dimmesdale s] Election Sermon sounds like a tongue of flame [which Male takes as the romance s guiding metaphor] expressive of the deep ache at the heart of human life itself (qtd. in Kennedy-Anderson 42). This is a very romantic set of parameters for a speech or sermon. Dimmesdale then enters a transcendent state on his way to the scaffold. Hawthorne writes that Dimmesdale s thoughts that were soon to issue thence; and so he saw nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing, of what was around him; but the spiritual element took up the feeble frame, and carried it along (161). This is a very romantic description of a man on his way to die for the woman he loves. He goes to the scaffold and dies there with the secret that he is the father of Pearl, and in fact he is described as being conscious, also that the reverence of the multitude placed him already among saints and angels (Hawthorne 174). A group of critics, led by Elmer Kennedy-Andrews, in a work titled Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter, Essays, Articles, Reviews, states that To these witnesses [the ones that perceive him as a saint] Dimmesdale stood on the scaffold with the adulteress and her child to express in parabolic form the lesson that in the view of Infinite Purity we are all sinner alike (Kennedy-Andrews 160). This is a ringing, romantic endorsement for the good Reverend Dimmesdale. He is being adored by the towns-people who place him

48 48 Steven Loicano with the saints for helping to save a sinner named Hester Prynne with his dying breath. He places himself at the center of the world, as the Puritans knew it, and then he places himself at the center of art in the idea that his sermon is a type of art in the same sense as literature or poetry. In this sense, the lack of any kind of art in the Puritan society adds to the idea that the sermon given by Dimmesdale on the election day is as close to art as the Puritans came. The juxtaposition of Hester and Dimmesdale in this novel serves to highlight the difference between the romantic characterization of Dimmesdale and the creation of a realist heroine out of Hester Prynne. When we label Hawthorne arbitrarily as a Romantic, key elements of his work are left out and characters are skewed by critics to fit into certain predetermined categories, but if the reader of The Scarlet Letter is allowed to read the novel without the preconception that the novel is a Romantic text, then that reader would be allowed to see the novel differently. To define Hawthorne as only a romantic writer does not allow the reader or the critic a full view of the genius of his work. Hawthorne did not write only in the realm of romanticism, and his works can be seen in the light of realism just as validly as they can be seen in romanticism. Perkin s argument about the hermeneutic circle and the reasoning from a text to a concept and back again to the text is fundamental in studying Hawthorne, and helps to remove the stifling label of romanticism from the name Nathaniel Hawthorne. If Hawthorne is not prematurely called a romantic, which he is clearly not, then he can be viewed as an American novelist, with neither the stigma nor the association of the term romanticism. Notes 1 Note here the difference between a romance and romanticism. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory defines romance as: courtly romance in verse or a popular book. Thus romances in verse were works of fiction, or non-historical (758). It defines romanticism in very different terms. It define romanticism as having a variety of meanings that reflect the complexity and multiplicity of European romanticism (767). It is only important to note here that romance and romanticism are NOT interchangeable terms.

49 No Label Needed! 49 2 Note here that Hester can arguably be compared with Zenobia, one of the heroine s of Hawthorne s The Blithedale Romance. Zenobia, because she was shunned by a lover, kills herself. This is arguably related to the idea of Hester taking her own life, when she thinks she might love the love of her life, Pearl. Works Cited Baym, Nina. The Scarlet Letter: A Reading. Boston: Twayne, Plot in The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Seymour Gross and others. New York: Norton, Bercovitch, Sacvan. Hawthorne s A-Morality of Compromise. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Ross Murphin. Boston: Bedford, Carpenter, Frederick I. Scarlet A Minus. In The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Seymour Gross et al. New York: Norton, Fowler, Roger, Ed. A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London, Gerber, John C. Form and Content in The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed Seymour Gross et al. New York: Norton, Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Norton, Holman, C. Hugh and William Harmon, Editors. A Handbook to Literature. 6th edition. New York: MacMillian, Kennedy-Andrews, Elmer, Ed. Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter Essays Articles Reviews. New York: Columbia UP, Luedtke, Luthor S. Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Romance of the Orient. Bloomington: Indiana UP, McGann, Jerome. Rethinking Romanticism. The Challenge of Periodization: Old Paradigms and New Perspectives. Ed. Lawrence Besserman. New York: Garland, Millington, Richard H. Practicing Romance. Princeton: Princeton UP, Perkins, David. Is Literary History Possible? Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992.

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51 III. Thwarted Texts? A New Skepticism

52

53 A Place for Beloved: Considering the Issues of Literary Labeling April Spann 124 was spiteful. Full of baby s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, was dead, and the sons, Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old-as soon as merely looking in a mirror shattered it (that was the signal for Buglar); as soon as two tiny handprints appeared in the cake (that was it for Howard). Neither boy waited to see more; another kettleful of chickpeas smoking in a heap on the floor, soda crackers crumbled and strewn in a line next to the doorsill. Nor did they wait for the relief periods: weeks, months even, when nothing was disturbed. No. Each fled at once... leaving their grandmother, Baby Suggs; Sethe, their mother, and their little sister, Denver, all by themselves in the gray and with house on Bluestone Road... first one brother and then the next stuffed quilt packing into his hat, snatched up his shoes, and crept away from the lively spite.... (Morrison 3) Unforgettable scenes such as this, paired with a narrative style of free association and fragmented sentences, ensure that the novels of Toni Morrison are considered anything but traditional. Because of its ambiguity and variety of patterns, voices, and images, any one label, however, cannot contain Beloved. In the sense that the novel uses historical evidence from slavery, specifically the story of Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who murders her child at the time of capture to prevent her from enduring slavery, Morrison s novel could be labeled a neo-slave narrative or a slave narrative for the twentieth century. Drawing upon African superstition and myth, Morrison uses supernatural elements, such as the tantrums of Beloved the ghost and her materialization into the flesh, to show the relationship between the supernatural and African-American culture, a parallel that also provides insight on the psychological effects of slavery on the characters. Because of 53

54 54 April Spann its diverse manifestation of the American slave narrative, Beloved may also be labeled a romantic text in its focus on the imaginative reconstruction of the psyche of the individuals under the effects of brutal, oppressive systems. The difficulty in labeling Beloved makes it and Morrison an appropriate example for considering the process of categorization of literature and recent debates about the quite arbitrary nature of literary periodization. First, we should make a preliminary analysis of Beloved as a Postmodern text (since that is one label that has been applied) in order to understand the conflicts surrounding the labeling of the novel. It is quite difficult to simply define Postmodernism as art of the odd or eccentric since it is a relatively new area of academic study of the 1980s. Postmodern literature borrows from Modernist literature in that it may be characterized by its attempts to save artistic vision or imagination by transgressing from the more rigidly conventional styles of the pre-modern era. Terry Eagleton explains: Postmodernity is a style of thought which is suspicious of classical notions of truth, reason, identity, and objectivity, of the idea of universal progress or emancipation, or single frameworks, grand narratives or ultimate grounds of explanation. Against these Enlightenment norms, it sees the world as contingent, ungrounded, diverse, unstable, indeterminate, a set of disunited cultures which breed a degree of skepticism. (vii) In conjunction with this new found skepticism, Postmodernism attempts to inquire about depictions of history by exposing what really happened versus history as a narrative of what happened. 1 This new way to present a narrative permitted Modernist writers such as Pound and Joyce to write in reaction to cultural experience by choosing subjects shaped by personal experience and removed from normal or real experiences such as imagination and true thought. The aim of Modernist literature was to not tell a story, explain a lesson or even to describe a social situation, but to discover a deeper meaning of the self or serve as a vehicle for the exploration of sensibility on the part of the author, which helps the reader to discover himself (Cantor 43). Modernist writing tends to view truth or what is reality as difficult

55 A Place for Beloved 55 to understand and is inclined to show this through complex depictions of time, character views, and complicated language. In essence, Postmodernism stems from this movement. Postmodernism seeks to present the Modernist movement through unconventional forms and assemblages of different forms. Given these contexts of Modernism and Postmodernism, it is clear Postmodernism rejects unchanging characteristics, or in a sense, rejects any labels. Thus, Toni Morrison s novels can clearly be seen in alliance with Postmodernism because of their unique, uncategorizable quality. As Malmgren argues in the essay Mixed Genres and the Logic of Slavery In Toni Morrison s Beloved, at first reading Toni Morrison s Beloved strikes one as an usually hybridized text... (96). This conclusion may be due to the fact that Beloved appears to be a love story, a ghost story, and slave narrative. Like Postmodern texts, Beloved also uses varied narrative forms such as flashbacks, foreshadowing, and pauses to help create a more broken, discontinuous narrative. Whereas both Modernism and Postmodernism present fragmented views of history and the human condition, Postmodernism seems to embrace this view even more. In fact, it is here where a difference between Postmodernism and Modernism can be distinguished. Morrison s Beloved should be read in this narrative context, perhaps best exemplified through Beloved s conversation within herself. This conversation is described as a discontinuous history, stemming from the fact that she (the murdered baby girl) is reincarnated into a young adult woman; thus, her mind has remained in the same frame as that of an infant and someone who has been away from the world for a long time. I am Beloved and she is mine. Sethe is the one that picked flowers, yellow flowers in the place before the crouching. Took them away from their green leaves. They are on the quilt now where we sleep. She was about to smile at me when the men with no face came and took us up into the sunlight with the dead and shoved them into the sea.... When I went in, I saw her face coming to me and it was my face too.... Now I have found her in this house. She smiles at me and it is my own face smiling. I will not lose her again. She is mine. (Morrison 214)

56 56 April Spann This use of fragmentation has the effect of foregrounding the presence and materiality of the book, and disrupting the reality of the projected world (McHale 181). When Beloved says, I am Beloved and she is mine. Sethe is the one that picked flowers, yellow flowers in the place before the crouching.... Now I have found her in this house. She smile at me and it is my own face smiling. (214), it is apparent that her speech is full of holes much like memory for it is impossible for anyone to remember every event and conversation in their entirety so, those missing pieces are replaced with gaps. It is equally or even more so difficult for a woman who has spotted memories of childhood and the afterlife. This discontinuity extends from Beloved s irregular speech pattern to memory struggles of the other characters. Drawing from a Postmodern move toward the nontraditional style and modeled after the life of Margaret Garner, Toni Morrison s Beloved may be viewed as a slave narrative written during the 1980s from a modern vantage point about the s. The novel centers on the story of a fugitive slave, who ran away with her four children and when found by her former master, attempted to kill herself and her children, but only succeeded in killing her young daughter. Through the character of Sethe Suggs, Beloved reinvents Garner s story by focusing on the themes of the danger of a woman s love for her family and the lasting effects of slavery. Beloved s similarity to the nineteenth century slave narrative and its use of memory makes the slave experience more available to readers. Although Beloved is particularly seen as Sethe s story, it may also be seen as a composite story of all hailing from the ironically named Sweet Home Plantation. There are numerous historical facts present in Beloved such as the story of Margaret Garner, the inhumanity of the Middle Passage, 2 slave plantations, and the triumphs and hardships of the Underground Railroad (Denard 40). Morrison does not seem fixated on addressing history. Morrison s decision seems to mirror Frederick Crews statement in The Strange Fate of William Faulkner : [L]iterature is site of a struggle whose primary conflicts, both intrapsychic and social, deserve to be brought to light rather than homogenized into notions of fixed authorial values (qtd in Graff 31). Those fixed authorial values in connection to Beloved may be the fact that most slave accounts or narratives about slavery focus on his-

57 A Place for Beloved 57 torical facts supposedly known by most. Morrison seeks to go further into the interior of that history to show how this history really affected the slaves as individuals and a statistical whole (Denard 41). She uses Postmodernism s trait of complicated structure in Beloved as a better way to relate to twentieth century readers. Perez-Torres states: The text thus spins a story of myth that creates a pattern of sophisticated linguistic play. There is a crossing of genres and styles and narrative perspectives in Beloved that suggest it filters the absent or marginalized oral discourse of a precapitalist black community through the self-conscious discourse of the contemporary novel. The narrative emerges, then at the point at which premodern and [P]ostmodern forms literary experience cross. (92) As Perez-Torres points out, Morrison focuses on styles and narrative perspectives in Beloved that will help enhance the reader s experience and understanding. Working from the standard slave narrative model, Morrison aims to remove the veil left by the traditional slave narrative and recreate the personal life that was deliberately erased from previously published slave accounts. The extent to which she does this is the extent to which she writes beyond the record of slavery (Furman 77). Mobley argues, Unlike the slave narratives which sought to be all-inclusive eye-witness accounts of the material conditions of slavery, Morrison s novel exposes the unsaid of the narratives, the psychic subtexts that lie within and beneath the historical facts (359). Additionally, Beloved reveals psychic subtexts through the narrative shifting in points of view from an interior monologue to third person narration and repetition. Through the striking representations of memory, the constant flashbacks, and repetitive or echoed scenes and phrases of Paul D and Sethe, Morrison reveals the forgotten interior life of a slave, allowing the reader to witness the damage of slavery to the psyche of a slave and former slave. Morrison uses the natural memory of Sethe and Paul D as a way to exemplify slavery s psychological effects. This same technique enables Paul D to show the lasting effects of Sweet Home Plantation. Through Mister, Sweet Home s head rooster, Morrison offers a most affecting symbol for Paul D s sense of powerlessness. After a failed

58 58 April Spann attempt at escaping, he is captured and experiences ultimate dehumanization when his feet are shackled and a bit 3 is placed in his mouth before he is taken away from Sweet Home. On his departure, he encounters Mister, whom Paul D saved at birth. Strutting around the yard, Mister becomes a source of humiliation. Paul D recalls, Mister, he looked so... free. Better than me. Stronger, tougher (72). He discloses his jealousy of the rooster, who could handle anything and go anywhere in the yard, for Paul D knows that type of power would never be his. He declares, Mister was allowed to be and stay what he was. But I wasn t... I was something else and that something was less than a chicken sittin in the sun on a tub (72). His journey to Delaware and eventual reunion with Sethe in Ohio is partly for physical and psychological wholeness. As one of the Sweet Home men, he had been denied his thoughts, causing him to become unfeeling and harden his heart. In its place was a tobacco tin buried in his chest.... Its lid rusted shut (72-73) as a way to hold back the past. Unlike the explanations of Frederick Douglass and other males about their slave experiences, Paul D symbolically illustrates how shackles and the prevention of independent thought caused an element of mental and physical castration. Much like history, slavery, and memory, Beloved itself is a fragment text depicting the discontinued nature of memory. Most slave narratives chronologically reveal the trials of slave life, excluding the true voice of the slave. Slaves (or more accurately, ex-slaves) autobiographies record the process in which the ex-slave writes his or her self into an existence recognized by dominate American society. The author portrays the way he or she overcomes the slaveholding society s continuing attempts to eradicate his or her identity; simultaneously, s/he rewrites that identity to fit the dominate culture s norms, despite the fact that these norms tend to conflict with his/her own experiences during and after slavery. (Drake 91) As Drake suggests, much of what is written as slave narratives caters to abolitionists and pro-slavery individuals and has been formatted to tactfully suppress the feelings of the slaves in order to refrain from

59 A Place for Beloved 59 offending the audience. 4 The authors of these narratives such as Douglass mention events too terrible to expand upon or exclaim that they have forgotten many things. Morrison digs deeper and offers reader the imaginative life of Sethe, an imaginative reconstruction that attempts to represent those missing truths. Furman argues, She arrives at this truth through her own memory-not particular memories of slavery, of course-but a personal (and seemingly unrelated) memory that gives her almost clairvoyant access to the interior lives of characters (78). This always shows true in her portrayal of Sethe and when she undergoes an act of rememory, which is Sethe s way of marking both re-appearance and re-membrance (Holloway 95). Rememory aids Sethe in filling in all of the spaces slave narratives seem to leave. Unfortunately her brain was devious. She might be hurrying across a field, running practically, to get to the pump quickly to rinse the chamomile sap from her legs.... Then something. The plash of water, the sight of her shoes and stockings awry on the path where she had flung them; or Here Boy lapping in the puddle near her feet, and suddenly there was Sweet Home rolling, rolling, rolling out before her eyes, and although there was not a leaf on that farm that did not want to make her scream, it rolled itself out before her in shameless beauty. (Morrison 6) In this passage, Sethe is constantly having to fight with her flashbacks of Sweet Home. In struggling with those memories, Morrison shows the importance of allowing those memories to surface in order to allow the character to deal with those repressed events and thoughts. Many times this action is absent in traditional slave narratives. For example, during his narrative, Douglass tells his reader that as a child he witnessed a terrible demonstration of slave brutality directed toward his aunt. Although he describes his first introduction to slavery s hell by telling of her screams and the blood, Douglass still seems somewhat detached, ultimately isolating the reader. This same situation may surface even when describing happier times such as in his essay, My Escape From Slavery. You may put a away, she said. I was not long in accomplishing the

60 60 April Spann job, when the dear lady put into my hand. TWO SILVER HALF- DOLLARS. To understand the emotion which swelled my heart as I clasped this money, realizing that I had no master who could take it from me, THAT IT WAS MINE THAT MY HANDS WERE MY OWN, and could earn more of the precious coin... (129) Even in times where he is obviously elated, Douglass still utilizes a disconnected or voice. Because of this representation, readers may begin to question the relationship between experience and representations of that experience (Smith 343). The authenticity of the subject s experience is questioned due to the lack of involvement readers sometimes feel. Morrison does not allow such distance in her narrative. Further aligning the text with postmodern ideas, the Beloved not only represents memory as unsolicited and pervasive but also presents the individual s mind at war: She shook her head from side to side, resigned to her rebellious brain. Why was there nothing it refused? No misery, no regret, no hateful picture too rotten to accept? Like a greedy child it snatched up everything. Just once, could it say, No thank you?... I am full God damn it of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up. I am still full of that God damn it, I can t go back and add more.... But my greedy brain says, Oh thanks, I d love more-so I add more. (70) In keeping with personalizing Sethe s story through the Postmodern trait of stream of consciousness, Morrison exposes Beloved s thoughts about life without Sethe and how much she feels part of her: I am Beloved and she is mine. Sethe is the one that picked flowers, yellow flowers in the place before the crouching. Took them away from their green leaves.... I saw her face coming to me and it was my face too.... Now I have found her in this house. She smiles at me and it is my own face smiling. I will not lose her again. She is mine. (214) By blurring their identities with Beloved s statement You are my face; you are me/ You are my face: I am you, (216) Morrison invites the

61 A Place for Beloved 61 reader into Beloved s mind and allows him or her to somewhat feel Beloved s possessive feelings for Sethe. Morrison uses pauses or gaps in her writing to mimic the thought process with its many breaks and repeated thoughts. Clearly Beloved benefits from the context of postmodernism, but limiting the text solely to the Postmodern category fails to recognize its diverse nature. Most readers of Beloved are not aware of the various controversies surrounding the text. Perkins states: It is not simply that the multiplicity and the diversity of particulars precludes intellectual grasp of them, but also that the literary historian deliberately resists grasping them totally. Moreover, in the view of postmodernist cultural criticism, each particular is itself inhabited by indeterminacy, for each must be interpreted and, hence, can be seen from multiple perspectives and bear innumerable different meanings. (108) However, any formulaic automatic labeling of a text tends to isolate the reader s interpretation. Gerald Graff states in his book, Beyond the Culture Wars that we, must remember that the reading of a text (its interpretation) differs from person to person (26). Further, Graff argues that: The best solution to today s conflicts over culture is to teach the conflicts themselves, making them part of our object of study and using them as a new kid of organizing principle... (12). One might wonder how Beloved might be predominately categorized as a Postmodern text when it also embodies traits of other genres such as romantic, thus, straddling literary theory lines by doing exactly as Perkins describes, having multiple perspectives and... innumerable meanings (108). Exposing the issues surrounding Beloved and its categorization not only assists in gaining a sense of meaning of the text but also helps in appreciating the various critical interpretations of Beloved and texts like it (Graff 57). One of the multiple perspectives available for the text is Romanticism. Arthur Lovejoy states, For one of the few things certain about Romanticism is that the name of it offers one of the most complicated, fascinating, and instructive of all problems in semantics (46). Lovejoy hints at the complicated task of trying to clearly define the

62 62 April Spann term Romantic. The word Romanticism and its era during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries touches many areas such as literature, philosophy, art, religion, and politics. A Handbook to Literature characterizes Romanticism as having an interest in sensibility, nature, primitivism, sympathetic interests in the past, mysticism, individualism, romantic criticism, and a reaction against Neo-Classic traits (Holmon 441). In essence, Romanticism seems to favor the individual as the center of everything; so, expression of feelings and thoughts tend to exude or incorporate the above-mentioned traits. By using this rough description of Romanticism, Beloved may easily fit into Romanticism for Morrison s writing appears to seek innovation over conservatism or tradition. Some fairly invisible trait found in the text may be the importance of nature. Examples may be found in Beloved s materialization initially taking place in a river near 124 and in Denver s place of refuge with a small space between a huge enclosure of bushes. Baby Suggs held her spiritual gatherings during spring in a clearing deep in the forest. Another connection lies in the depiction of Beloved. Clearly, Beloved is a ghost story dealing with a house occupied by the spirit of a baby girl. This baby girl eventually materializes into flesh and sets out for retribution (Malmgren 97). Beloved s supernatural identity is evident in her references during her interior monologue when she speaks of where she crouched in the dark with others who were dying. I am always couching the man on my face is dead his face is not mine his mouth smells sweet but his eyes are locked some who eat nasty themselves I do not eat the men without skin bring us their morning water to drink we have none... someone is thrashing but there is no room to do it in if we had more to drink we would make tears we cannot make sweat or morning water so the men without skin bring us theirs. ( Morrison 210) This passage may be interpreted in various ways, both illuminating the fact that Beloved is of the supernatural. One way would be to see Beloved describing the after life and her crouching in the ground with other members of the dead. She describes where they cannot sweat nor tear which is true in death. Another way of understanding

63 A Place for Beloved 63 this passage would be to see Beloved as a connection to the traumatic experience of slavery. She not only knows about events that took place during her brief life, but also those preceding her life (Ferguson ). She knows of objects such as diamond earrings that existed in Sethe s past along with experiences. The limitation of space and water may be seen as evidence of her double presence where she also recollects images from the Middle Passage. This double presence vividly illustrates how Beloved can be analyzed with a focus on its use of the supernatural. Beloved s major connection to Romanticism is found in its likeness to the slave narratives that emerged during the Romantic era. Ex-slaves and abolitionists began to advocate for slave testimonials to aid in the liberation of slaves. The purported goals of a slave narrative [was] to reveal the truth about slavery by describing a representative personal history, one which might stand in for the experiences of all slaves (Drake 93). With Beloved, Morrison too, seeks to show a more truthful representation of slave experience. Like most slave narratives, Morrison attempts to create a novel that gives expression, form, and importance to her work. The characters of Sethe and Paul D try to come to terms with their identities following slavery. For Morrison, this insight into their identities, especially Sethe, comes through the act of rememory and her reconstruction of the repressed and present, which is somewhat represented in or paralleled to Romantic slave narratives. Because Beloved encompasses shared traits of both Postmodernism and Romanticism, placing the text in just one category is entirely too difficult. The conflict surrounding Morrison s text presents itself in the question of how should Beloved be categorized? A Malmgren states, At first reading Toni Morrison s Beloved strikes one as an unusually hybridized text part ghost story, part historical novel, part slave narrative, part love story (96). Whenever asked what she feels about Beloved being viewed mainly as Postmodern or told that her novel resembles the mythic and gothic, she states she is not comfortable with the label or any label, for they [labels] limit her works and breeches her writing from the truth. (Furman 81) The fact that Beloved straddles so many generic lines is evident from the opening: 124 is spiteful (Morrison 3). We learn that 124 is a house haunted by a baby s ghost,

64 64 April Spann immediately connecting it to Romanticism, but going further readers learn that the text becomes more complicated as the writing style gets more nontraditional. In doing so, Morrison is able to create a closer reader/author relationship for the reader is invited to participate by filling the in the gaps of the interior monologues, thus, pushing Beloved into the Postmodern genre. In essence, Toni Morrison has a novel that best fits the class of neo-slave narrative. Beloved cannot be read only as a Romantic text for it goes beyond the traditional slave narratives of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in form. Drawing upon sentimentality, ex-slave narratives began with comments on how happy and normal childhood was and explaining the defining event that introduced them to slavery in hopes of gaining sympathy. Beloved does almost the opposite. Lee states,... Beloved set almost a century earlier deals less with the metaphysical premises of good and evil to focus instead upon the institution of slavery and its overwhelming perversion of meaning. 5 As previously explained, Beloved is not a call for the end of slavery because it is a text written specifically for the twentieth century. By not dwelling on the good versus evil of slavery, Morrison is able to concentrate more on exposing slavery s lasting consequences, the effects absent from most narratives by highlighting the connection between the enslaved self and historical fact. Because of this, readers who know Beloved and its background, may feel that through Sethe Suggs they have actually met Margaret Garner or have a more clear understanding of true slave experience told here as never before. It may be best to say that Morrison is correct in her stance against the literary labeling of Beloved. Because the text is notable for its magical realism and Postmodern fiction, Beloved can easily be termed a neoslave narrative in order to extend to all analogous genres, thus, proving the paradox of subjective labeling. Dubey states, Morrison locates her own art of writing novels within a sphere she terms public, a modern sphere constituted by its distance form the organic racial community... (190). Altogether recognizing that conflict will continue to surround Beloved because of its diverse nature, this study furthers the argument that literary labeling and categorization is quite arbitrary.

65 A Place for Beloved 65 Notes 1 Irvine, Martin. The Postmodern, Postmodernism, Postmodernity. Approaches to PoMo Georgetown U. 10 Apr < 2 The Middle Passage as it has come to be known is the trans-atlantic route of the slave trade. It represents the period or voyage that captured African slaves underwent on ships. Seen nothing more than cargo, slaves were densely packed on slave ships, lying side by side, with no room to move, not even for excretement. Many times slaves lay on top of one another. The condition were so horrendous that voyages starting with over two hundred slaves would end with only one hundred slaves or even less surviving. Many would die due to diseases from the overcrowding, starvation or dehydration, slave uprisings, or suicide by jumping into the sea and drowning (Herbert xvii). 3 A bit can best be described as a piece of thick metal that was placed in a slave s mouth. It was usually attached to a headpiece and could easily be tightened to increase pain. The device was mainly used as a means of punishment or torture. It prevented proper salivation and speech, temporarily impeding salivation and speech even after release. 4 Whenever ex-slaves wrote of their accounts they made sure to stick to certain guidelines. In the essay, The Site of Memory, Morrison explains, Whatever the style and circumstances of these narratives, they were written to say principally two things. One: This is my historical life-my singular, special example that is personal, but that also represents the race. Two: I write this text to persuade other people-you, the reader, who is probably not black- that we are human beings worthy of God s grace and the immediate abandonment of slavery (104). 5 Lee, Rachel. Missing Peace In Toni Morrison s Sula and Beloved. African American Review (Winter 1994). 23 Mar EBSCOhost <http: www:// triton.libs.uga.edu/cgi-bin/door/homepage.cgi>. Works Cited Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Cantor, Norman F. Twentieth-Century Culture Modernism to Deconstruction. New York: Peter Lang, Davis, Kimberly Chabot. Postmodern Blackness: Toni Morrison s Beloved

66 66 April Spann and the End of History. Twentieth Century Literature 44.2 (Summer 1998): Denard, Carolyn. Beyond the Bitterness of History: Teaching Beloved. Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Toni Morrison. New York: MLA, Douglass, Frederick. My Escape From Slavery. The Century Illustrated Magazine 23.1 (1881): Essential Documents In American History. EBSCOhost. Drake, Kimberly. Rewriting the American Self: Race, Gender, and Identity In the Autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Harriett Jacobs. Melus 22.4 (Winter 1997): Dubey, Madhu. The Politics of Genre In Beloved. Novel: A Forum On Fiction (Spring 1999): Eagleton, Terry. The Illusions of Postmodernism. Oxford: Blackwell, Ferguson, Rebecca. History, Memory, and Language in Toni Morrison s Beloved. Contemporary American Women Writers: Gender, Class, Ethnicity. Ed. Lois Zamora. London: Longman, Furman, Jan. Toni Morrison s Fiction. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, Graff, Gerald. Beyond the Culture Wars. New York: Norton, Holmon, C. and William Harmon, Eds. A Handbook to Literature. New York: MacMillian, Holloway, Karla F. C. Narrative Time/Spiritual Text. Unflinching Gaze: Morrison and Faulkner Re-envisioned. Eds. Carol A. Kolmerten, Stephen M. Ross, and Judith Bryant Wittenberg. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, Irvine, Martin. The Postmodern, Postmodernism, Postmodernity. Approaches to PoMo Georgetown U. 10 Apr 2002 < town.edu/irvinemj/technoculture/pomo.html>. Klein, Herbert S. The Middle Passage. New Jersey: Princeton UP, Lee, Rachel. Missing Peace In Toni Morrison s Sula and Beloved. African American Review 28.4 (Winter 1994). 23 Mar EBSCOhost < Lovejoy, Arthur. On The Discrimination of Romanticisms. Romanticism: Points of View. Ed. Robert Gleckner and Gerald Enscoe. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Malmgren, Carl D. Mixed Genres and the Logic of Slavery In Toni Morrison s Beloved Critique 36.2 (Winter 1996): McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction. New York: Methuen & Co., Mobley, Marilyn Sanders. A Different Remembering: Memory, History, and

67 A Place for Beloved 67 Meaning In Beloved. Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. T. Appiah. New York: Amistad, Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Plume, The Site of Memory. Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. Eds Russell Baker, et al. Boston: Houghton, Perez-Torres, Rafael. Knitting and Knotting Narrative Thread-Beloved As Postmodern Novel. Toni Morrison: Critical Approaches. Baltimore: UP, Perkins, David. Is Literary History Possible. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, Smith Valerie. Circling the Subject: History and Narrative In Beloved. Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Eds. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. T. Appiah. New York: Amistad, 1993.

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69 Hester Prynne: The Thwarted Prophetess in Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter Susan R. Rooks Earlier in life, Hester had vainly imagined that she herself might be the destined prophetess, but had long since recognized the impossibility that any mission of divine and mysterious truth should be confided to a woman stained with sin, bowed down with shame, or even burdened with a life-long sorrow. The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise, moreover, not through dusky grief, but the ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end! (SL ) The question of Hester Prynne often comes down to whether or not Hester is a successful champion of liberation and does Hawthorne stand by her. Critics have argued both. For example, Darrel Abel claims that Hester typifies romantic individualism, and in her story Hawthorne endeavored to exhibit the inadequacy of such a philosophy (300). On the other hand, Nina Baym asserts, We are led to believe that Hester s brooding thoughts aim at the overthrow of the entire Puritan establishment. But in what way does Hawthorne demonstrate the inadequacy of such a philosophy? ( Plot in SL 404) Some question whether or not Hester is even liberated at all. 1 So can this disagreement ever be solved and, if so, would that benefit Hawthorne s text and our understanding of it? Baym argues that conflict is unavoidable in literary scholarship due to the nature of language. She states that one way of accounting for the debate regarding the text is to stress Hawthorne s ambiguity, that is, the way in which he makes it difficult or impossible to extract a clear and particular message from his work (A Reading xxvi). Baym extends the reading of ambiguity in The Scarlet Letter to reading any text: Some contemporary critics now believe that ambiguity is inescapable in all linguistic texts; because language itself is inherently unstable..., 69

70 70 Susan R. Rooks no interpretation can ever be definitively established as the right one. Even those who prefer to think of language as more solid than this may agree that the world of a complex fictional text like The Scarlet Letter is bound to be so resonant and rich in connotations that different readers will necessarily have different responses. (A Reading xxviii-xxix) Debate, such as the conflict over Hester Prynne, enriches the process of interpretation. Gerald Graff, in his book Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, explains: Contrast is fundamental to understanding, for no subject, idea, or text is an island. In order to become intelligible in itself, it needs to be seen in its relation to other subjects, ideas, and texts. When this relation of interdependence is obscured because different courses do not communicate, subjects, ideas, and texts become harder to comprehend, if not unintelligible. (108) Not only does conflict assist in understanding a primary text itself but conflict helps in understanding critical interpretations of texts, as well. For The Scarlet Letter, one of the premier canonized texts of American literature, entering the debate is essential to comprehending and grappling with the richness of the text. While debate helps the reader to contend with the text and ensures the text s continuation, one must be leery of the critical theory used to interpret the text. Terry Eagleton argues in Graff s book that without some kind of theory, however unreflective and implicit, we would not know what a literary work was... or how we were to read it (53). Although most people recognize that interpretations of texts are debatable, the ways in which one comes to an interpretation should also be regarded as debatable. One form of critical theory that has repressed debate about Hawthorne in the past is biographical criticism. Nina Baym describes a time when discussion of Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter had a biographical emphasis, viewing the novel less in and for itself than as an index to the fascinating psyche of its author (A Reading xxv). She goes on to describe the nature of such a critique:

71 Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 71 The concern in The Scarlet Letter with the isolation of particular human beings from the larger society and the reasons for that isolation, as well as the focus on secrets and guilt, were taken as expressions of Hawthorne s personal maladjustment, and critics searched the biographical records for explanation. Some found it in the absent father who had died almost before Hawthorne could remember him; some in an allegedly eccentric and withdrawn mother; others in the foot injury that kept him from active play at a crucial time in his youth; others in the oppressive New England heritage. (A Reading xxvi) While interesting, such biographical critiques tend to be products of reasoning in what David Perkins terms a hermeneutic circle. The biographical critic reads texts in the light of a taxonomic (pre)conception, and this evokes a nexus of expectations about the texts... (113). Thus, this critic is reasoning in a hermeneutic circle from a concept to a set of texts and from the set of texts to the concept (85). If readers can use elements outside of the text to conceive its meaning, then certainly they can use the text to come to assumptions about the author s life. These critics reverse Perkins s statement and are reading the author s life in the light of certain preconceptions based on The Scarlet Letter, which produces expectations about the author. Looking for meanings in the text based on biographical elements is also tempting. Michael Davitt Bell concludes that Hawthorne does not support Hester as a reformer based on Hawthorne s biographical information: Left fatherless and brotherless at the age of four, Hawthorne grew up surrounded by women. Not surprisingly, he seems to have found it difficult to maintain his masculine identity in these surroundings. All his life he resented any attempt on the part of women... to challenge his distinct role as a male. He particularly disliked female reformers. (87-88) Even Nina Baym in Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Mother: A Biographical Speculation offers an interpretation of the text based on Hawthorne s relationship with his mother, although she is careful to call it a speculation. She comments on the use of biographical information to determine whether or not the text is a feminist one: Why

72 72 Susan R. Rooks did Hawthorne pick a woman protagonist? Why a lone woman? Why a mother? To the extent that we seek biographical explanation for such choices we are probably always limited to surmise rather than certain knowledge (1). For a text such as The Scarlet Letter, interpretation helps keep the text s solid place in the literary canon by continually keeping it a live issue. Graff explains that [t]he best way to kill the classics has always been to put them on a pedestal, safe from the contemporary forces that challenge them (50). Jamie Barlowe argues that canonical criticism on The Scarlet Letter illustrates attempts at keeping out contemporary criticism. She points out that a large portion of women s scholarship regarding The Scarlet Letter and Hester Prynne is ignored in favor of male criticism. 2 She states that the patriarchal status quo... has not only determined readings of Hester Prynne, but also whose work on her should be read and legitimized, even normalized... (45-46). She goes on to categorize[s] the malestream s response to Hawthorne s Hester Prynne as sexually transgressive and thus morally inadequate and/or defeminized, or as sexually transgressive and thus politically radical (47). Barlowe also assesses the often ignored women s scholarship and deduces: [M]uch of the women s scholarship that discusses Prynne can be generally categorized as follows: (1) strongly negative critiques of the representations of Prynne and of Hawthorne as her creator; (2) celebrations of Prynne s strength and of Hawthorne s courageous portrayal; (3) ambivalent relationships to Prynne and Hawthorne; (4) examinations of Prynne s relationships to historical figures, particularly to Anne Hutchinson, and of Hawthorne s relationship to history; (5) discussions of Hawthorne s artistry and discussions of his characters as artists; (7) analyses of the convention of the fallen woman; and (8) positionings of The Scarlet Letter and its female protagonist inside genre conventions and expectations, particularly those of the romance and of novels of adultery... (48-49) Barlowe attempts to use women s scholarship on The Scarlet Letter to form a rereading of Hester Prynne... [that] shows what can happen when the women s scholarship is engaged... (78-79). She goes on to

73 Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 73 declare that the female tradition allowed [her] to resee and reread mainstream scholarship as fundamentally gendered, exlclusionary, and self-perpetuating (50). In forming her own argument, Barlowe employs women s criticism in order to demonstrate the collaborative nature and extent of this body of scholarship (50). She is careful to note, however, that collaboration does not mean consensus and offers a quote from James Sosnoski to assert her point: Literary criticism calls for intellectual collaboration. The form of critical collaboration I have been advocating converges upon the apprehension of a problem and the critics involved band together to seek solutions to it. This form of collaboration in literary criticism occurs when a group of differing intellectuals... concur about a possible reading of it. By concurring they do not seek conformity.... Differences are crucial.... (50-51) Furthermore, readers might also find it easier to make out the sense of the [text], for the controversy over it might give them the sort of context for reading it that they probably lack (Graff 57). By entering the debate, the reader is more likely to make connections between The Scarlet Letter, which was written in the mid 1800s and set in the 1600s, with the present, therefore generating not only interest but understanding in the text. In the case of The Scarlet Letter, the debate over Hester Prynne as feminist has offered modern-day female readers a connection with the text. For example, there are more overtly feminist readings of Prynne and Hawthorne after 1960 (Barlowe 49). With the surge of feminism in the 1960s continuing to the present, female readers recognized the feminism inherent in the character of Hester Prynne and were able to identify with her. That is not to say that women prior to 1960 did not recognize the feminist/womanist potential in the character of Hester Prynne or in critiques of her (Barlowe 49) but the women s movement provided more women with a context for reading the text. In returning to the primary debate over whether or not Hester Prynne is a feminist character, let us address, first, the claim that far from being a potential female reformer, Hester is not even liberated. David Leverenz asserts, Hester is far from liberated, even inwardly, despite

74 74 Susan R. Rooks her extraordinary perceptiveness about social repression (560). However, Hester s punishment stems from her refusal to conform to the Puritan mind-set. Thus, her sense of identity is one of liberation, depicted by her move away from Puritanism. 3 Hester makes it clear that she does not align herself with Puritanism by advocating other beliefs. While in the prison she asks Chillingworth, Wouldst thou avenge thyself on the innocent babe? (SL 51) Puritans believe that man is born with sin on his soul. By saying that her baby is innocent, she is espousing a Romantic belief that man is born good. 4 Thus, her convictions go against the most basic Puritan beliefs. Her separation from Puritanism is also seen in her freedom from external constraints or laws. After the leaders force her to wear the letter, she is alienated from the society to which the leaders want her to conform. Her alienation allows her to live without the restraints of Puritanism. Nina Baym argues, As the representative of individuality, Hester, rather than subjecting herself to the law, subjects it to her own scrutiny... she takes herself as law (A Reading 64). Hester s sense of empowerment is revealed when the narrator declares, She was selfordained a Sister of Mercy (SL 110). Her act of ordaining herself and not believing that another person must ordain her, as is the usual custom, is the epitome of lacking external constraints. Hester also refuses to see what the Puritan leaders have deemed to be sinful as such. Hester explains to Dimmesdale, What we did had a consecration of its own. We felt it so! (SL 133). She believes that her and Dimmesdale s deed is sacred so it cannot possibly be an act of sin. Baym expresses that Hester is unable to transcend her heartfelt conviction that she has not sinned. She loves Dimmesdale, with whom she sinned; she loves the child that her sin brought forth. How, then, can she agree that her deed was wrong? (A Reading 64). Hester rejects the Puritan beliefs that insist on the wickedness of her behavior by declining to believe that her deed was wrong. So if Hester is indeed a liberated figure, why does she not become the prophetess that she has envisioned? Critics disagree on this, also. One interpretation espouses that Hester ends up conforming to the Puritan mind-set, and therefore relinquishes her liberation and any fu-

75 Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 75 ture hope of becoming the prophetess. 5 But the text clearly states that Hester s conformity is only an outward show. Although she appears to conform by remaining in the community, wearing the A, and doing good deeds, Hester s mind remains liberated. The narrator states, Much of the marble coldness of Hester s impression was to be attributed to the circumstance that her life had turned, in a great measure, from passion and feeling, to thought. Standing alone in the world, alone, as to any dependence on society, and with little Pearl to be guided and protected, alone, and hopeless of retrieving her position, even had she not scorned to consider it desirable, she cast away the fragments of a broken chain. The world s law was no law for her mind. (SL 112) Hester must not act on her thoughts and is unable to become the prophetess of a new truth in the Puritan community because she has been obstructed by the society s role of mother. As long as she lives in the community she must abide by their rules or else risk losing Pearl. So she is kept from being a social reformer but she never parts with her individualistic mind-set. The narrator comments, It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society (SL 113, emphasis added). Thus, inwardly Hester has not conformed. If Hester did not have Pearl, the narrator goes on to say, Hester might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect. She might, in one of her phases, have been a prophetess (SL 113). The forest scene demonstrates how the Puritan community keeps Hester s liberation under wraps by insisting that she mother to their standards. While in the forest, she and Dimmesdale reunite after seven years and decide to run away together. At this time, Hester takes the scarlet letter from her breast and declares, I undo it all... (SL 137). Next she takes off her cap and allows her hair to fall down. The narrator observes that in that moment, Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves, with her maiden hope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour (SL 138).

76 76 Susan R. Rooks By tossing the letter away, Hester rids herself of all the community has imposed on her.... She is restored to full womanhood (Adrianne Kalfopoulou 50). Dimmesdale follows Hester s lead and comes the closest he ever does to sharing in what appears to be an exchange of equal partnership (Kalfopoulou 51). When Hester calls for Pearl to join them, Pearl does not want to cross the brook and instead begins to stomp and scream. Dimmesdale, disturbed by Pearl s passionate outbreak, says to Hester, Pacify her, if thou lovest me! (SL 143) Kalfopoulou explains: [Just as] Hester might succeed in breaking through the constraints of convention and redefine her womanhood in terms uncontained by the Puritan order, Hawthorne invokes motherhood, that most traditional of woman s roles... Dimmesdale, so much in need of stability, pleads with Hester to pacify Pearl. Appealing to Hester in her maternal capacity, he places the entire burden of responsibility for Pearl on her. So Hawthorne calls Hester s development to a halt by invoking a role which subsumes it. Pearl is only finally appeased when Hester replaces the scarlet letter on her bosom... Hester s maternal role becomes then a way of evading the issue of autonomy. (51) However, as stated before, Hester s motherhood only outwardly neutralizes Hester s individuality. The forest scene shows that when Hester attempts to display her inner individuality, the Puritan society contains it by evoking motherhood. So Hester is unable to reform the community because [a]s a solitary, victimized woman Hester can rethink all social relations. But as a mother she has to nurture conventional womanhood (Leverenz 559). Hester realizes that she cannot become the prophetess because of Pearl and says that [t]he angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful... (SL 177). Barlowe considers the patriarchal constructions of womanhood while regarding Hester s description of the prophetess. Barlowe explains that women are adored as virgins, feared as witches, despised as spinsters, or exploited and abused as wives... (54). So when Hester states that the prophetess must be pure, she essentially means virginal. As a virgin, the patriarch would have less of a hold over the woman and

77 Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 77 could not as easily force her to confine herself as Hester is forced to do in order to keep Pearl. Since this woman would not be a mother, she would not be obstructed from reforming the community. Although she would most likely be labeled a witch, just as Anne Hutchinson was, the community would not be able to control her actions. During the final scaffold scene Dimmesdale asks the crowd to look at Hester s letter and explains that her pain is not nearly as bad as the pain he has had to endure over the past seven years. Barlowe states, Or as Donohue puts it, Not content to be a great sinner, Dimmesdale has to be the one sinner of the world... (74). Dimmesdale is causing the crowd to reread Hester s letter as not being equal to the letter he himself bears. So, even in pain, they cannot be equal. While Hester is gone, her letter, life, and legacy continue to be in danger of becoming interpreted by the patriarch. At the end of the novel, Hester returns to Boston after leaving Europe, where she takes to wearing the scarlet letter again even though not the sternest magistrate of that iron period would have imposed it (SL 177). By coming back to Boston, wearing the letter, and counseling groups of women, she is able to interpret the letter and keep hope alive that some day a prophetess will emerge and reform the community. The women that she counsels are in the continually recurring trials of wounded, wasted, wronged, misplaced, or erring and sinful passion, or with the dreary burden of a heart unyielded, because unvalued and unsought... (SL 177). They came to Hester s cottage demanding why they were so wretched... (177). The Puritanical patriarch has interpreted these women and their passions as wretched. So Hester comforted and counselled them, as best she might (SL 177), all the while waiting for a prophetess to come so that these women and their passions might be reread. Notes 1 For example, David Leverenz asserts that Hester is not liberated in Mrs. Hawthorne s Headache: Reading The Scarlet Letter, which I will address later. 2 As an example of this point, the text that I use to cite quotes from The Scarlet Letter also includes 19 critical essays on The Scarlet Letter proper. Of the 19 essays, 18 are by males and one is by a female. 3 Puritans believed that man was born corrupt with sin already on his soul

78 78 Susan R. Rooks and that society s job was to keep control over these evil people. Whereas Romanticism is based on the belief that man is born good society corrupts humans and that the individual is the ultimate authority. 4 I am indebted to Dr. Jane Hill for this point, which she made during a class lecture. 5 For example, Michael Davitt Bell states that what Hawthorne approves in Hester is her ability to overcome [her] rebelliousness and assume the feminine qualities of domesticity (89-90). Works Cited Abel, Darrel. Hawthorne s Hester. In Gross Baym, Nina. Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Mother: A Biographical Speculation. American Literature (1982): Plot in The Scarlet Letter. In Gross The Scarlet Letter: A Reading. Boston: Twayne, Barlowe, Jamie. The Scarlet Woman and the Mob of Scribbling Scholars. The Scarlet Mob of Scribblers. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, Bell, Michael Davitt. Another View of Hester. Hester Prynne. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea, Graff, Gerald. Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Kalfopoulou, Adrianne. Hester s Ungathered Hair: Hawthorne and 19 th century Women s Fiction. Gramma (1993): Leverenz, David. Mrs. Hawthorne s Headache: Reading The Scarlet Letter. Nineteenth-Century Fiction 37.4 (1983): Perkins, David. The Construction of English Romantic Poetry as a Literary Classification. Is Literary History Possible? Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter rd Norton Critical ed. Ed. Seymour Gross and others. New York: Norton, 1988.

79 IV. Divorcing the Ivory Tower: Introducing Controversy Into the Classroom

80

81 Catch the Literary Bug : Why Deny Children the Privileges of Reading? Megan Ridley The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, A Day No Pigs Would Die, How To Eat Fried Worms, James and the Giant Peach, A Wrinkle in Time, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone are all texts that have been censored over time. Parents consistently challenge both classic novels and many young adult literature books for demonstrating, for example, sexism, racism, hatred, and supernaturalism. Due to the awkwardness teachers, administrators, and schools districts feel towards teaching texts with controversial ideas, teachers are now practicing, in effect, self-censorship of literature. As a result, students are missing out on numerous learning opportunities because of parents reaction to controversial topics. In Who s Protecting Whom? Laura Freedman and Holly Johnson write, Teacher self-censorship of literature for early adolescents deprives these students of opportunities for conversation and discovery at a crucial stage of their development (356). An example of a book teachers are currently self-censoring in the classroom is The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Through close analysis of this book, and the controversies surrounding it, I argue that by allowing such censorship, teachers as well as parents are cheating their children of valuable literature. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is about a young girl, Kit, who travels from Barbados to a colony in Connecticut. Kit befriends the Quaker Widow Tupper who is thought by the towns people to be a witch. Soon after, Kit is accused of witchcraft simply for association with the widow. Elizabeth George comments, [...] sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler, protected by a loving grandfather, a household of personal servants, and the paradise of Barbados, is rudely pushed into the harsh life of colonial Connecticut a life where her open independence and easy view of life are not appreciated; where slavery is not condoned, women are not free or independent, individuality is looked upon with surprise and suspicion, and freedom is a very relative concept. (89) 81

82 82 Megan Ridley As George s summarizing comments may suggest, The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a highly regarded book. A critic from Random House notes, Strong plot, fully-realized characters, and convincing atmosphere distinguish this historical narrative of a girl whose rebellion against bigotry and her Puritan surroundings culminates in a witch hunt and trial (5). Given current trends toward teachers self-censorship, however, this acclaimed book, critiquing bigotry and Puritanical judgment, may not remain in the classroom. Without a doubt, denying children the participation in conversations on controversial issues handicaps them to some extent. Gerald Graff argues, in his book Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, If students are to learn to read and write better, then instead of shielding them from that conversation, we have to start making it more available to them (85). Including children in such conversation allows for their growth not only intellectually, but also developmentally into the next stage of adulthood. Therefore, parents who attempt to shield their children from what they believe to be controversial issues are undoubtedly doing more harm than good. In educational settings, teachers should seek to facilitate students discovery of relevant messages in texts. Graff notes, Instead of trying to root out and extinguish the message-hunting approach to the arts, we teachers would be more straightforward if we acknowledged the inevitability of message hunting and thought more about how to help students formulate messages less reductively. Insofar as criticism is inevitably a sort of higher message hunting, students have to engage in it, and warning them against the practice can only be confusing. (85) Graff s ideas about how to revitalize American education, as his subtitle puts it, are echoed by a number of scholars on education and pedagogy. Swiderek has argued, To be educated means to be allowed to think and wonder about ideas and their consequences; to be indoctrinated means to hear only about acceptable values, beliefs, and traditions of a group (qtd. in Freedman and Johnson 592). Freedman and Johnson point out, Through the window of literature, students have

83 Catch the Literary Bug 83 immediate access to the experiences of others beyond their own families, friends, neighbors, classmates, and teachers (356). Literature can open children s imagination and allow them to think and learn at a higher level. Besides the learning benefits children receive from reading from a broad spectrum of topics, if the book interests them, then they are not sitting in front of a television, video game, or computer. Another disadvantage to teachers censorship of literature is that it not only keeps students from a well-rounded education but also actually harms the child s natural curiosity to learn, often making reading a chore for students. Graff makes this point about his own education when he says, It was through exposure to such critical reading and discussion over a period of time that I came to catch the literary bug (69). Graff notes that conflict is what lured him into literature. We can apply this notion to pedagogy in secondary education as well. In Who s Protecting Whom? the authors describe, It is also at the middle level that students find controversial issues immediately compelling and, given the opportunity, think and wonder about ideas and their consequences (592). When a child is intrigued with reading a book, taking the book away is, in effect, taking the thrill of reading away. Freeman and Johnson write, Even though teachers may consider particular books as assets to their curriculum that would engage their students in deep, reflective response and conversation, they opt for safer titles, rationalizing that their students may not be able to handle the other material emotionally or psychologically. (356) Yet, reading books that are challenged puts a thrill into the task of reading. This is the case with the series of Harry Potter books. Gary Schmidt, ironically, titled his article The Dangerous Harry Potter because he argues that there is nothing dangerous about the collection. Schmidt says, By contrast J. K. Rowling s Harry Potter books have swept both sides of the Atlantic, moved kids away from videos and computer meanderings to an artful set of novels, and caused 10- year-old boys and 70-year-old grandmothers (like my son and my mother) to eagerly await the next installment in the seven-part series

84 84 Megan Ridley (1). One important fact that Schmidt points out is that the Harry Potter series has broken the new trend of children sitting in front of televisions and computers practicing mindless skills. 1 These books have put the thrill back in reading for many children. However, teachers are being warned not to teach these controversial books. One of the real reasons why teachers are concerned about avoiding controversy is their fear of losing their job. Their worries are a result of parents challenging controversial topics taught in the classroom. Because of past cases of faculty members being fired for teaching controversial books, educators avoid such conflicts. In George Washington Intermediate School in New Castle, Pennsylvania, for example, librarian Nancy Prentice s job was threatened for reading a folktale Tam Lin to a group of fifth-graders. The story did include controversial topics such as supernatural elements which led to Prentice being labeled a Satanist by one parent. One mother demanded that the school fire Prentice and revoke her teaching certificate ( Books and Jobs 12). Prentice found her job challenged because she read a book that dealt with a controversial issue. Although school administrators decided not to remove the book from the library, Prentice feared this type of incident would reoccur: Anticipating a possible repeat of the incident next Halloween, Prentice asked the superintendent to draft a new policy that would protect her from such charges. He declined to put anything in writing and advised her to rely on her own judgment (12). 2 Another case similar to Prentice s took place in Kalispell, Montana. Librarian Debbie Denzer was fired for lending two seventh-grade girls books to assist in their research paper on the history of witch trials. Parents found the books inappropriate. The irony of this scenario is that the Salem Witch Trials are a part of American history. In an article titled, Burn the Books? the author sarcastically says, Maybe the administrators should search the school library and burn all the encyclopedias that discuss witchcraft! (6). If parents want books that deal with witchcraft removed from libraries, schools will lose many literary sources. This context of debate within secondary education informs my analysis of the challenge to specific texts of young adult literature. A decision to teach what may be labeled as controversial texts follows in

85 Catch the Literary Bug 85 the spirit of Graff s advice to teach the conflicts. Parents that have challenged The Witch of Blackbird Pond argue the use of this book on two levels. The first is a kind of immediate reactionary response to the fact that the book has the word witch in the title. The second argument made by parents is that the book deals with the hanging of witches as well as witchcraft. However, parents arguments about this book are weak and reveal that they have not read the book. In fact, there is never any witchcraft practiced in this book. Elizabeth Speare s characterization of witchcraft and witchhunts is consistent with the time period of the book, during the year Therefore, not only could this book be used as a stimulating source of reading for language arts, it could also serve as a valuable history lesson. Although many educators believe The Witch of Blackbird Pond to be a wonderful teaching tool, many parents have proven to strongly disagree. In 1991, five children were removed from their classroom every day so that they were not subjected to this novel. At Walker Park Elementary in Walton County, Georgia, a language arts teacher chose to read this book to her class every day after lunch. When parents of five children heard of the ideas suggested in Speare s book, problems arose in the classroom. Without making a huge deal of the matter, the parents agreed to allow their children to leave the classroom during this time and report to the library until the remainder of the book was finished. Had these parents read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, they might have found that the author uses the subject of witchcraft and witchhunts to make important points about tolerance and individuality. The plot that focuses specifically on witches consists of a very old lady who lives by Blackbird Pond. The town has labeled Widow Hannah Tupper a witch because she is a Quaker instead of a Puritan, which is an unaccepted religion in Connecticut in The towns people do not know Hannah, but only of the rumors they have heard. As the book progresses, Speare unfolds the idea that people s early and false judgments do more harm than good. The harm of false judgment develops when a young girl whom Kit teaches, Prudence, questions Kit about Widow Hannah Tupper. She says, Why do they say she s a witch? (117). Kit responds, Because they have never tried to

86 86 Megan Ridley get to know her. People are afraid of things they don t understand (118). Kit explains to the young girl the sole reason why Hannah is labeled as a witch is because she is not of the same religion. People of the town believe that she must practice witchcraft because she will not attend the church services. Furthermore, Kit s uncle questions Kit as to why she has been associating with the Quaker. Uncle Matthew claims, She is a heretic, and she refuses to attend Meeting. She has no claim on your charity (132). Although Hannah is not of the same religion as the rest of the town, there is no evidence that she is a witch; in fact, the narrative suggests that it is the small-mindedness of the community that leads to this conclusion. This kind of story, in fact, helps make the important point that students who are not like everyone else are often marginalized and victimized. Hannah is outcast from the town because she is not like everyone else, which is the case in all schools. When children do not act as what is the set normal, than the children are labeled and outcast from the main groups. The Witch of Blackbird Pond clearly reveals that if a woman in seventeenth-century Puritan culture acted outside of what was expected, she was labeled weird and a witch. All mishaps such as illness or bad fortune are blamed on Hannah. The main character, Kit, never practices witchcraft either; however, because she is from the island of Barbados and chooses not to live as everyone else, she is labeled a witch. Upon Kit s first church service, all in attendance stare as she walks down the aisle. The Reverend Gershom Bulkeley questions, So this is the orphan from Barbados? (55). Speare continues, Most of the churchgoers did not come near her (55). Kit seemed different not only because she was from a far off island, but also because of the rich attire she wore and the high self-esteem she upheld. Her individual ability to maintain her own sense of self is apparent in early scenes where she and her aunt enter their first church service: As Kit moved behind her the astonishment of the assembled townspeople met her with the impact of a gathering wave. It was not so much a sound as a stillness so intent that it made her ears ring. She knew that her cheeks were flaming, but she held her head high under the feathered bonnet. (53)

87 Catch the Literary Bug 87 After Kit has been caught associating with the falsely accused witch, Hannah, the towns people arrest her. Even Uncle Matthew questions, Since when do you lock up a girl for disobedience? That is for me to settle (200). The constable responds, Not disobedience. This girl is charged with witchcraft (200). At this point of the book, Kit s life is at stake because she is unfamiliar to the towns people and has been associating with Hannah. As this brief analysis suggests, many wonderful lessons can be taught using The Witch Of Blackbird Pond. A writer for Random House says, As students come to know Kit Tyler and the other characters in this novel, they will recognize once again the important role that family relationships play in all of our lives (1). A book is being challenged that teachers can use in teaching family values? Do parents really know why they challenge young adult literature, or are they jumping to conclusions? The Witch of Blackbird Pond teaches children how to work well among their brothers and sisters as well as how to deal with stern parents and, overall, is an example of how to work well in a family environment even when the particular situation is disappointing. Teaching a book that has been thought controversial such as The Witch of Blackbird Pond can be beneficial to students. Lessons that incorporate history, science, and language arts can all be drawn from this book. Teachers can divide the class into groups and discuss the differences between Quakers and Puritans and other significant facts of American culture during 1687 in the early colonies. Such group discussions can allow for substantive understanding of the arguments of the text. Graff points out, In short, reading books with comprehension, making arguments, writing papers, and making comments in a class discussion are social activities. They involve entering into a cultural or disciplinary conversation, a process not unlike an initiation into a social club. (77) Another possible teaching tool to use with Speare s award-winning novel would be to discuss the justice system of the past with the present. Students could compare Kit s rights, which are not protected, with humans rights today, asking such questions as, What determines a

88 88 Megan Ridley person s innocence? How does a trial work? The Witch of Blackbird Pond could be used as a vehicle in teaching a class about the First Amendment of the Constitution and how a trial is set to work. In Speare s novel, Kit is taken to a shed and locked inside to serve as a temporary jail cell. This is one of the first acts that the towns people do to take away Kit s rights. A young, scared girl suffers in a lonely, cold barn to await her trial. Kit describes, The shed was entirely empty save for a pile of straw in one corner of the dirt floor. There was no window, bit the rough boards let in chinks of daylight as well as drafts of cold November air. Kit leaned against the doorpost and let the tears run down her cheeks. (202) When the day finally arrives for Kit s trial, she learns that if they think you be guilty they ll send you on to Hartford to wait trial (208). Kit s anguish grows as she cannot predict what will be in her future. A key passage to point out to children is when Kit s charge is read to her. The magistrate reads, Katherine Tyler, thou art here accused that not having the fear of God before thine eyes thou hast had familiarity with Satan the grand enemy of God and man, and that by his instigation and help thou hast in a preternatural way afflicted and done arm to the bodies and estates of sundry of His Majesty s subjects, in the third year of His Majesty s reign, for which by the law of God and the law of the Colony thou deservest to die. (209-10) It appears that Kit s sentence has been pre-determined just as the judgments about Widow Tupper and Kit. Kit has no rights, and her life is at stake. Finally, using visual aids of colonial New England could enrich students views of this historical past. Students could use passages from the book to draw their own colonial town. Students, working in groups, could not only draw their own pictures of what they imagine colonial New England to be, but they could write a story with their picture. Not only do all of these ideas incorporate the text, but also teach students history lessons as well. Also, the conflicts of the novel can be

89 Catch the Literary Bug 89 contextualized appropriately through history. Teachers could bring in the Salem Witch Trials from history and use the novel to lead into this awkward subject. The Witch of Blackbird Pond demonstrates the fact that the rights of women were non-existent during this decade. This book could show students that the Salem Witch Trials were unfair as well because the women were pre-judged and falsely accused just as Widow Tupper and Kit. The Witch of Blackbird Pond could set a mild scenario for such a controversial history lesson. To teach a lesson on the history of the Salem Witch Trials, educators could begin by allowing children to write their reactions to witches during this time period. Teachers could then lead their class in a discussion of how prejudices lead to unnecessary violence, as in the historical facts of the Salem trials. Students could also make application to their own cultural situations by considering how people should never prejudge because such judgment is always inaccurate. Teachers can ask the students to write about a time in their own lives when their first impression was wrong and what caused the change. All in all, the appropriate way to teach the conflicts in The Witch of Blackbird Pond would be to allow students to use the controversies within the narrative itself (for Kit and Hannah primarily) to confront controversial social ideas such as prejudice and intolerance in their own culture. As George comments about real students reactions to the book, The students first hook was, of course, the witchcraft in the story. However, they were soon grabbed by issues of discrimination and adolescent uncertainty presented by this historical colonial novel (89). The teachers and parents who are able to recognize the benefits of reading any type of book are allowing their children not only to learn and have fun through each turn of the page, but also have to have exposure to critical conflicts that will help them through life s situations. In an article titled, From Strawberry Statements to Censorship, Richard Peck states, A novel is not real life. A novel is a commentary upon real life. A novel for young readers offers an option their peer group leaders never told them they had (28). For years to come parents will continue to challenge books taught to their children that involve controversy. Not all adults will ever fully grasp Marylaine Block s point that it doesn t matter if the books are

90 90 Megan Ridley great literature or not; if they speak so powerfully to kids concerns and fears that, instead of decoding one painful word after another, they gulp down paragraphs and chapters whole, they learn both fluency and they joy of reading (9). Are parents so ignorant to deny their children these privileges? Notes 1 Prentice says she will continue to provide the same kinds of library programs she always has. I intend to keep sharing folklore and fairy tales that have elements of the supernatural in them. I feel it is very important that librarians give children the opportunity to use their imaginations (12). 2 However, if books children enjoy reading are forbidden for further reading, the thrill is taken away. In another article titled, Muggles vs. the Wizards, Angie Cannon and Adam L. Cataldo say, The American Library Association has logged 52 challenges in 27 states, making the volumes the most controversial books of the past two years. In fact, complaints tripled last year. The biggest beefs: The books depict witchcraft and antifamily. (28) The Harry Potter collection contributes more than just sparking a child s interest to read but also teaches valuable lessons as many have pointed out. Cannon and Contaldo write about Harry Potter, The book contains some powerful and valuable lessons about love, courage, and the ultimate victory of good over evil (28). Works Cited Block, Marylaine. Afraid of Harry Potter. Library Talk 14.2 (Mar./Apr. 2001): 9. Books and Jobs Challenged in Two Censorship Cases. School Library Journal 40.5 (May 1994): 12. Cannon, Angie, and Adam L. Catalso Muggles vs. the Wizards. U.S. News & World Report l30.20 (May 2001): 28. Consoli, John P. Burn the Books? Editor & Publisher (Sept. 1996): 6. Freedman, Lauren and Johnson, Holly. Who s Protecting Whom? I Hadn t Meant to Tell You This, a case in point in confronting self-censorship in the choice of young adult literature. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 44.4 (Dec. 2000/ Jan. 2001): 356. George, Elizabeth. Still Good Reading: Adolescent Novels Written Before English Journal 81.4 (Apr. 1992): 89.

91 Catch the Literary Bug 91 Graff, Gerald. Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Peck, Richard. From Strawberry Statements to Censorship. School Library Journal 43.1 (Jan. 1997): 28. Schmidt, Gary. The Dangerous Harry Potter. Christian Home and School: Harry Potter. 15 March 02:1-3. < harry_potter.shtml>. Speare, Elizabeth G. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. New York: Bantam, The Witch of Blackbird Pond. The Random House. 15 Mar. 2002:

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93 Disturb the Universe: Using Conflict to Teach Literature in Secondary Education Christina Tidaback Since the disastrous day of the shootings at Columbine High School in April 1999, more and more attention has been focused on the problem of violence in schools. One of the leading causes behind such school violence is bullying. According to mental health experts, bullying is defined as an abuse of power. Victims are usually smaller, younger, weaker, outnumbered, or simply less confident and popular (Harvard Mental Health Letter 1). To the extent that knowledge is power, the more educators arm their students with the awareness of various types and manners of bullying, the less likely bullying will occur, especially to the degree of causing violence in schools. One of the most significant strategies teachers may use for impartially introducing controversial issues, such as bullying, into the classroom is carefully chosen young adult literature. Gerald Graff, in Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, states that, [L]iterary representations are not simply neutral aesthetic descriptions but interventions that act upon the world they describe (29). Rather than using literature as a neutral aesthetic zone that educators can hide safely within, I recommend the more effective use of texts as a tool to teach conflict. Accordingly, teachers can use the vehicle of literature as a means to introduce contentious topics that are affecting students worlds. Although educators might long to teach as if education [is] a conflictfree ivory tower (Graff 6), the reality is that conflict persists in students lives on a day-to-day basis. Consequently, what better tool to use to teach students, but the very instrument, conflict, that has imposed such an upheaval in the school systems of today. The issue of conflict, however, should be considered not only in terms of cultural changes and student s individual, personal problems, but also within the teaching profession and within the discipline of 93

94 94 Christina Tidaback English. Graff states that, [S]tudents typically experience a great clash of values, philosophies, and pedagogical methods among their various professors, but they are denied a view of the interactions and interrelations that give each subject meaning (12). When subjects and/or issues are interconnected, students are given the opportunity to envision the entire picture versus just a segment. This whole depiction of a matter will help to empower students to create a better-formed view about an issue and/or subject. Consequently, conflict needs to be represented in front of the class instead of behind closed doors of faculty rooms in order to allow students to understand the process of constructing a literary argument. As Graff asserts, Teaching theory is not a question of adding something to one s analysis... but of explaining what one is doing and why one is doing it in that way and not another (54). Graff furthers his argument for the effective use of conflict within the classroom by using Fredrick Crews declaration that literature is a site of struggle whose primary conflict, both intrapsychic and social, deserve to be brought to light rather than homogenized into notions of fixed authorial values (31). How can students feel comfortable asserting their opinion if they are not allowed to see the clashing perspectives that surround a piece of literature? As Graff summarizes, Opposing texts and theories need one another to become intelligible to students (15). Plastic is hard because it is compared to a cotton ball, but doesn t plastic become soft when compared to a brick? Teachers must present various points of view on a piece of literature in order for students to be equipped to form their own opinions. However, in order to read various academic arguments on a novel, as well as to intelligibly debate their ideas in class, students need to have a basic understanding of the dialogue used in the literary profession. As Graff asserts, Our ability to read well depends on our ability to talk well about what we read (71). He advances his argument by contending that,... the problem is that what students are able to say about a text depends not just on the text but on their relation to a critical community of readers, a discourse community which over time has developed an agenda of problems, issues, and questions with respect both

95 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 95 to specific authors and texts and to culture generally (75). For this reason, students must be exposed to an academic discourse community in order to effectively and readily debate their ideas within the classroom. In addition to the importance of educating students with knowledge of academic discourse in order to debate conflicting issues surrounding the students worlds, the teacher plays another crucial role in the classroom, the role of facilitator. If an educator is not willing to play the role of facilitator, Graff s theory about teaching through conflict will fail: Good teachers, after all, want their students to talk back. They know that student docility is a far more pervasive problem than student intransigence (9). If teachers are threatened by the idea of students challenging their theories and ideas about a literary piece, then teaching through conflict will not work. Edification, however, does not mean imposing one s thoughts on a class to the point where they are conditioned into believing specific ideas are the only possibly correct idea. Graff confirms this when he says, Good students... do not appreciate brainwashing (9). Only those instructors who are willing to empower their students to participate in and challenge academic thinking will successfully achieve students active participation as well as heightened awareness of societal issues. Graff s idea of teaching through conflict serves as a basis for my argument about a specific pedagogical strategy for Secondary Education Literature classrooms: teaching through conflict to discuss a significant text that, itself, treats peer conflict, specifically bullying, as a theme. Subsequently, I will discuss how to use The Chocolate War as a guideline for the study of two other books within Literature Circles, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli and Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Such intertextual study will illustrate various cultural perspectives of the heroine/hero of the novel, which includes social, economic, and gender issues. Facilitating discussions on timely cultural issues, such as bullying, will raise awareness of students about these prevalent issues and better prepare them to handle future problematic situations. As Graff affirms, [W]hen truth is disputed, we can seek it only by entering debate (15).

96 96 Christina Tidaback The Chocolate War Today s baby boomers were reared in times of romanticism. Wars were won, the American Dream was a real possibility, and even through the turbulent 1960s were colored with strokes of idealism (Headley 1). In general, students of the 1950s through 1980s did not fear going to school. 1 They were not faced with the real possibility of seeing a gun on school grounds or of personally knowing someone who was killed during a shooting rampage while going about their daily routine in school. Accordingly, up until early 1970s young adult literature was viewed as an aesthetic means of entertainment to reinforce good morals and behavior in teens. It was not until the publication of books like The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, that critics have begrudgingly begun to change their stance on the function of adolescent literature. Karen Coats states, The publication of Robert Cormier s The Chocolate War in 1974 marks one of those watershed moments when the terms of how we understand adolescent literature and culture are profoundly changed (Coats 290). This change in young adult literature has presented today s teachers with the tools they need to help introduce controversial cultural issue into the classroom. Despite Coats resounding endorsement, conflicting views exist amongst literary critics and educators as to whether a book like The Chocolate War does more harm or good when introduced to adolescents. Kara Keeling maintains that every single term The Chocolate War provokes more controversy among students in the class than any of the other twelve novels that I teach. The objections are always the same: the language, the sexual reference, the violence (1). Anne Scott MacLeod supports this idea with, Each of [Cormier s] hard-edged novels for the young goes considerably beyond the standard limits of contemporary realism to describe a world of painful harshness, where choices are few and consequences desperate (74). These inferences imply that Cormier s text goes too far beyond realism to be useful without being objectionable. Conversely, Virginia R. Monseau believes that Cormier s works can be used not only as compelling literary works, but also as a means of helping students understand what s happening to them during this difficult time called adolescence (1). Fur-

97 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 97 thermore, W. G. Ellis contends, Cormier s characters stepped boldly and independently into a world of adolescent literature... it took the good sense... to have a larger view and see the much greater problems that young people face (Headley 2). Whereas, most critics focus on the debate of the controversy of issues in Cormier s book, Yoshido Junko places The Chocolate War in a social cultural context, reading it as a novel about changing perceptions of masculinity during the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s (105). Junko s point of view of social cultural context explains why The Chocolate War may appear to be a harsh view of realism. Consequently when faced with such a diversity of literary critique, which of these various viewpoints should an educator adopt for her classroom? A main function that The Chocolate War plays in the classroom is as a tool of introduction to societal issues. Within the first two chapters, Cormier introduces the issues of bullying concerning Archie and The Vigils, the loss of a mother and single parenthood in introduction of Jerry Renault, and the effects and impact of adolescent esteem concerning all characters. All three of these topics, plus several others, are explored through the lives of seven main characters, all but one of which are teenagers: Jerry Renault, the tragic hero; Goober, the good kid with no backbone; Carter, the popular jock; Janza, the bully; Obie, Archie s reluctant right-hand man; Archie, the diabolical manipulator; and Brother Leon, the insecure power-hungry teacher. Each of these characters enables students to assume a different role in a school society through reading The Chocolate War. As stated by Monseau, Concepts like identity confusion, fidelity, emotional autonomy, and identity achievement are abstract and difficult for some students to grasp; but when we connect them to the behaviors of fictional characters that adolescents care about, they suddenly become meaningful (1-2). Readers embrace Jerry due to his tragic life circumstances as well as his want to make a difference. Furthermore, students can relate to the concept of The Vigils because they represent any clique of peer pressure that is present in schools today. Goober s character plays on the reader s emotion of wanting to be more assertive and stand-up for one s beliefs, as well as allows students to relate to his will being stifled by the overbearing peer pressure surrounding him. The reader wants Obie to

98 98 Christina Tidaback finally stand-up to Archie and his diabolical plots. Additionally, they want Archie to draw the black marble in the end so he can get a taste of his own manipulations that he has gotten away with throughout the entire novel. Moreover, the reader wants Brother Leon to get stuck with all the chocolates so his manipulations and abuse of power can be exposed. Adolescents relate to Cormier s characters and therefore are able to vicariously become them, thus allowing the students to realize the impact each type of personality has on the school s society and to empower students to want to challenge the conformity. Ellis contends, [Cormier] focuses our attention on individuals. In doing so, he causes us to see, through these individuals, that the boundaries and the controls need not be accepted passively. They can be challenged; indeed, they must be challenged (11). Jerry Renault is an example of a Cormier character that tests the traditions of his school s, Trinity s, society. Although conformity had always been a tradition at Trinity, this year the demands to conform not only came from The Vigils, but also from a teacher, Brother Leon. It was an expected tradition at Trinity for the students to sell chocolates for the school s annual fundraiser; however, this year is different. It s different because Brother Leon illegally used school funds to pre-purchase a large amount of chocolate. It s different because The Vigils are outwardly acknowledged by Brother Leon in order for them to help influence the student body to sell 50 boxes/each of chocolate, so that Brother Leon s deception is not discovered. Ultimately, it is different because freshman, Jerry Renault is refusing to sell the chocolates against the tradition of Trinity. Jerry s refusal to sell the chocolates not only defied the school tradition to sell chocolates, but it also challenged the conformity imposed by the Vigils and Brother Leon. Cormier connects Jerry Renault s challenge to conformity by not selling the chocolates to T. S. Elliot s challenge to conformity of the literary canon in his writings when Cormier has Jerry have a poster in his locker of a wide expanse of beach, a sweep of sky with a lone star glittering far away. A man walked on the beach, a small solitary figure in all that immensity. At the bottom of the poster, these words appeared Do I dare disturb the universe? By Eliot... (Cormier 129). This poster and Eliot s words from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock become the driving theme behind Jerry s stand

99 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 99 against the conformity of Trinity. Through Jerry s individual fight against conformity, students reading Cormier will not only assume the roles of the individual character s, but they will also grasp the universal relevance to today s societal pressures. Jerry s dispute to not sell the chocolates begins as a prank assigned by The Vigils, a symbol of peer pressure conformity. His continued resistance to sell them becomes an individual need of Jerry s to not conform; however, this individually-motivated fight transitions in the midst of the book into a universally motivated stand against conformity. The issue of Cormier s writing being focused on systems versus individuals is an issue that is debated amongst critics. MacLeod asserts, Cormier is far more interested in the systems by which a society operates than he is in the individual (74). On the other hand, Headley contends, Robert Cormier appeals to adolescents to reach beyond self-centered concerns to address more global issues (4). It is evident throughout his book that Cormier allows the reader to gain a perspective of the societal effect one s choice can have. Students are exposed through characters of The Chocolate War to issues that not only affect one person, but several. Jerry s choice not to sell the chocolates started to influence everyone into not selling chocolates and almost the demise of the sale and Brother Leon. It is not until Archie s choice of The Vigils intervention that the chocolate sale and Brother Leon are saved from devastation. Furthermore, MacLeod asserts that when the class nervously allows Brother Leon to maliciously tease a student in front of them until confronted by an uncomfortable student, [Cormier] wants to demonstrate the source of power, which is, of course, the students themselves (76). Archie is the only student who exhibits understanding of the power the student body has as a whole to influence the behavior of the school. He uses that knowledge as his power behind the control he has over The Vigils and the school. Archie s and Brother Leon s comprehension of the possible threat an individualized student body could have on their power, enables them to realize they must manipulate singled-out people in order to keep the whole school in line. Jerry s refusal to not sell the chocolates threatened the conformity of the school to follow the crowd s example set by Archie and Brother Leon.

100 100 Christina Tidaback Although individual character identity and universal issues are an important aspect to expose to adolescents when reading The Chocolate War, Cormier s creation of Jerry Renault as an abject hero serves the most relevant theme for today s students. Karen Coats asserts, Through this text the reader is introduced to a new kind of figure in adolescent literature and culture the abject hero. Adolescence is a time of cultivating group identity; socially abject figures are those who cannot seem to manage either the material conditions and habits or the identification necessary to sustain a position in a social group. (290) Coat s abject hero allows students to see that the good guy does not always win despite his noble character or respectable intentions. This perception will enable them to realize that Jerry s inability to fit-in automatically puts him in the role of an outcast. Even though the idea of the good guy not succeeding in the end violates the unwritten rule that adults expect young adult literature to follow (Keeling 2), it also prepares adolescent for the reality of their world. In addition to the acceptance of the possibility of the abject hero, Monseau introduces the idea that although Jerry is to some degree the victim of implacable social pressure... she must also bear some of the responsibility for his situation: his own actions help bring it about (4). Monseau brings out a vital theme: despite the uncontrollables in society, a person does have the ability to make certain choices. Jerry made the choice to follow The Vigils command to not sell the chocolates and Jerry chose to get in the fighting ring with Janza. Both were choices, though coerced, he made. Through Cormier s exposure to the consequence of one s choices and the possibility of an abject hero, teachers can highlight the importance of thinking through the options available before making a decision. Due to an emphasis on students need to make good choices, educators should reveal to them morality issues and individual development crises that dominate the genre adolescent literature (Headley 2). Students realize the impact of the whole picture by seeing Archie s manipulation of Jerry by getting him to fight the bully, Janza. As Jerry

101 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 101 is getting annihilated by Janza in the boxing ring, he is overcome with the sickness of knowing what he had become, another animal, another beast, another violent person in a violent world, inflicting damage, not disturbing the universe, but damaging it. He had allowed Archie to do this to him (Cormier 254). By allowing Archie and The Vigils to manipulate him into making the wrong choices, he loses sight of his initial goal: to make a difference in the world, to disturb the universe. If students are more aware of the possibility of a situation, of the potential ramifications of their actions, they will be better equipped to avoid making the wrong choice. The result of Jerry s bad choice to fight Janza leaves Jerry [sinking] to the stage, bloody, opened mouth, sucking for air, eyes unfocussed, flesh swollen. His body was poised for a moment like some wounded animal and then he collapsed like a hunk of meat cut loose from a butcher hook. And the lights went out (Cormier ). In the end as Jerry is lying in a pool of his own blood on the stage in the dark, unable to speak, he screams in his head to his friend Goober: He had to tell Goober to play ball, to play football, to run, to make the team, to sell the chocolates, to sell whatever they wanted you to sell, to do what-ever they wanted you to do.... They tell you to do your own thing but they don t mean it. They don t want you to do your own thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too. It s a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don t disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say. (Cormier ) Jerry ends up sacrificing his physical and emotional well being through his bad choices. Instead of letting students walk blindly into controversial situations, educators can expose them to such conditions through young adult literature. Monseau confirms that, Adolescents, however, untested and insecure must have the chance to experiment with different roles, to succeed and to fail, before they can commit to a certain way of thinking and behaving (2). Given the high stakes of today s societal influences, such as school shootings, the more student s are able to test the waters through literature, the better they will be equipped to make the necessary decision when faced with a real life

102 102 Christina Tidaback choice. The Chocolate War serves in a classroom, not only as a wellwritten piece of literature for students to study, but also as a tool to introduce and facilitate discussions on issues that will better arm students to understand the potential ramifications of their choice to disturb the universe and equally consequential choice not to. Once the class as a whole has dissected the various perspectives on The Chocolate War, the classroom can be split into Literature Circles, discussion groups of 6 students each, in which they will choose 1 of 2 books to read and discuss amongst themselves. By using Literature Circles, students will be more apt to bridge the gap between various themes in a book as well as relate them to current conflicts in society when given the opportunity to facilitate their own discussions in smaller groups. A 1998 study of fourth graders by Klinger, Vaughn, and Schumm found that students in peer-led groups made greater gains than controls in reading comprehension and equal gains in content knowledge after a reading and discussing social studies material in peerled groups (Daniels 2002). These peer-led groups will enable students to feel less anxious about using the discourse of the English community in order to discuss their ideas, thus enabling them to become more proficient. In addition, students will be more receptive to being exposed to and potentially accepting other peers views that may conflict with their own. After a teacher-based facilitation of The Chocolate War, students will be prepared to direct their own analysis of a text within the smaller confinements of a Literature Circle. Two good choices for their Literature Circle books to complement Cormier s text are Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, and Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Both these books share the common theme of bullying among youth, yet each highlight dissimilar forms. In addition, each book demonstrates a well-written piece of literature as well as various other themes that are pertinent to the issues within school systems today. Furthermore, Stargirl, a new unprecedented young adult literature work, takes place around the year 2000 in a Midwest high school, whereas Lord of the Flies, an established classic, takes place on a secluded island during the end of WWII, thus allowing students to pick an era about which they are most interested.

103 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 103 Lord of the Flies Published in 1954 while WWII was still vivid in the minds of most the world, William Golding s Lord of the Flies unfolds a fable of the dangerous closeness of civility and savagery in mankind. William Golding... has told how his first novel Lord of the Flies emerged from reflecting... on how it was that Hitler and his National Socialist could so suddenly and so successfully have revived barbarism in our times, and in a modern and advanced industrial state (Watson 11). Minnie Singh claims that Lord of the Flies is about The Government of Boys and that [Roger] represents the erosion of restraint... and... if the project of government may be understood macropolitically as civilization, then its micropolitical counterpart is education, with civility as its project (206). In addition, the novel has been plausibly interpreted as a Christian parable and Greek tragedy, and less plausibly with reference to neo-freudian, Jungian, and Marxian concepts (Fitzgerald and Kayser 78). Notable Lord of the Flies critics, James R. Baker and Bernard Dick, argue that Lord of the Flies is an allegory on the disintegration of society due to a tragic flaw in human nature: man fails to recognize, and thereby appease, the irrational part of his soul (Fitzgerald and Kayser 78). Consequently, Lord of the Flies is perceived as a multilayered, well-written piece of literature that not only introduces a myriad of possible themes to a reader, but also is written in a manner to which all ages can relate. Similar to the adventure tales of Robinson Crusoe, by Defoe, and Wyss Swiss Family Robinson (Slayton 351), Golding relates a story of British boys, who, while trying to escape a possible atomic war, are marooned on a desert island due to a plane wreck without the guidance of an adult. The island provides plenty of edible fruit as well as fresh water to drink; however, two obstacles haunt the boys on the island, the want for meat and the beastie. There are five main character that Golding develops his plot around (Slayton 354): Ralph, the good leader (Singh 210), Piggy, the intelligent outcast, Simon, the Christ figure, Roger, the unscrupulous one, and Jack, the irresponsible authority. Each character enables students to assume a different role in the society of the island.

104 104 Christina Tidaback Roger and Jack are the characters who need the constraints of society in order to keep him civil. Roger gathered a handful of stones and started throwing them. Yet there was a space around Henry (a younger child)... in which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboos of the old life... Roger s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins (Golding 62). Through his character, students can explore the effects of rules on a person in a society. Do rules make the person, or the person make the rules? Roger is not a leader; he is a follower who succumbs to the example of his leadership. When he follows Jack into his tribe, Roger becomes the uncivilized terror of the Jack s tribe. Jack is the figure of peer pressure. He uses his role as leader of the hunters to pressure the other boys into joining his group. Who s going to join my tribe?... I gave you food, said Jack, and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe? (Golding 150). Through reading Jack s role of irresponsible leadership, students will be able to see the negligent use of coercion through his want for only fun and games. Jack sets forth no specific rules and orders the tribe to call him chief and obey his commands. Ralph and Piggy are the good counter parts of Jack. He is the initial leader-elect of the island and unlike Jack, tries to direct the group with rational, organized leadership. The main goal for Ralph is to keep the fire going in order to signal a passing ship for rescue. Due to his age, size and possession of the conk, Ralph is whom the boys look to for guidance, but as Ralph realizes, it is Piggy who possesses the ability to think logically. Piggy, Ralph s rational sidekick, is the voice of reason on the island. Being that he is overweight and health impaired, Piggy keeps his ties to civility whereas the rest of the boys become swept up in the chaos of nature. Piggy and Ralph are co-dependant on each other. Ralph needs Piggy s grounding voice of reason, and Piggy needs Ralph to protect from the abuse of Roger and Jack. Neither one is an effective leader individually, but together they form a well-rounded chief. Unlike any of the other characters is Simon. He is the one who realizes that the beast is really a product of their imagination and deeprooted fears. In addition, Simon has an all knowing, unexplained understanding of human nature. This nature is shown when he tells Ralph,

105 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 105 You ll get back to where you came from (Golding 111), alluding to Ralph s eventual rescue. Consequently, Simon is typically seen as the Christ figure of the island, which comes to a direct point of parallelism of Christ when he is sacrificed by Jack s tribe in a ritual dance. Although Golding wrote this novel 50 years previous to current times, it stands timeless. A group of boys from anytime could be deserted on an unexplored island and fall into a dangerous game of savagery. It is a book that can be used to explore a multitude of issues that are still present in today s society. Through the intimacy of the Literature Circle, students will be able to discuss the impact of the various characters roles on society, thus enabling them to relate it to current situations. Furthermore, since this book does not have a school setting, it will allow students to think out of the box on controversial issues and apply it to the outside world as well as the school society. Stargirl Jerry Spinelli s Stargirl unfolds in a suburban Arizona high school that is predominantly white and upper middle class (the school has a T.V. studio) with a culture that replicates itself through the students allegiance to conformity (Emminger 1). In Mica, Arizona, conformity is an expected statute that is followed by all affiliates of the community by all, that is, except Stargirl and A. H. Brubaker, Stargirl s tutor and friend. Although Spinelli references to the traditionalism of Mica s community, especially when referring to A. H., his main focus is the conformity expected within Mica Area High School. Mica Area High School MAHS was not exactly a hotbed of nonconformity. There were individual variants here and there, of course, but within pretty narrow limits we all wore the same clothes, talked the same way, ate the same food, listened to the same music. Even our dorks and nerds had a MAHS stamp on them. If we happened to somehow distinguish ourselves, we quickly snapped back into place like rubber bands. (10) Unlike the typical student at MAHS such as the leaders in conformity, Hillary Kimble and Wayne Parr Spinelli describes Stargirl, as

106 106 Christina Tidaback magical as the desert sky.... As strange as her pet rat.... As mysterious as her own name (intro). Throughout the book, Stargirl s persona invokes Audrey Hepburn s character, Holly Golightly, 2 in the classic movie Breakfast at Tiffany s, who is considered a true phony. Stargirl is considered a true phony in the sense that she truly is that good intentioned, unlike a phony who pretends to be well intentioned. By the student body at MAHS, Stargirl is considered a fake, an actress, and a scam. Her character is too good to be true to them because nobody could be so naively selfless and giving as Stargirl. Even though Stargirl does try to conform for the sake of Leo, she finds that she cannot, for that would make her a fake. Stargirl is a true phony. One of the most important and unique themes that Spinelli portrays is one of group hostility aimed against one who chooses not to conform to the norms of the school s society. Spinelli captures the enmity of peer pressure within public schools in the studio scene when Hotseat, the school s T.V. show, is interviewing Stargirl in front of a group of her classmate. Although Stargirl is a true phony, someone of the best intentions without any underlying motivation of self-gain, these classmates, unable to see anything but self-motivation, turn quickly volatile when allowed to question Stargirl. In a swift few minutes what begins as their questioning of the uniqueness of her name, turns to accusations of her school loyalty, and eventually to her loyalty of her country. Spinelli exposes the common thinking of today s society: that everything someone does has to have an angle and will benefit herself in some way. Since Stargirl cheers for both teams, she must be disloyal to her school. And because she shows up at places she s uninvited, she must be nosy. Furthermore, because she doesn t say the Pledge of Allegiance correctly, she must be a traitor to her country. As the novel develops, Spinelli explicitly displays how it is beyond the thinking of MAHS that someone could go out of her way for someone or give him a gift simply because she believes he needs it. Moreover, Spinelli shows how it is impossible for the social order to grasp that a person who is different may simply be their own person, instead of a cookie cutter image of the person society believes they should be. Through Spinelli s exaggeration of Stargirl s character, he enables his readers to comprehend how unnecessary and even boring

107 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 107 it is to conform to the standard of one s society compared to someone who chooses their own path to express themselves. Educators can use Stargirl as a tool to help expose such ideas to their students. In Young Adult Literature Stargirl serves a unique purpose in the classroom because it gives the perspective of a girl being bullied by her classmates since she will not conform to their way of life, which up until the publishing of this novel in 2000 had always been from a boy s. Whereas both The Chocolate War and Lord of the Flies are told from a boy s perspective about males in various settings, Stargirl is told from Leo s perspective, Stargirl s boyfriend, about a girl and the pressures she goes through in a public high school. This perspective allows both male and female students to relate to Spinelli s central themes. As a contemporary young adult novel, Stargirl highlights very relevant issues for today s teens. Brook Palermo of American University asserts that Stargirl touches upon many issues that teens can relate to such as individuality, conformity, first love, school, the power of love and hate, the power of the individual over a group and the power of the group over the individual, loneliness, and cliques (2). Adolescents today are faced with a multitude of controversial issues. Language Arts teachers have the opportunity, indeed, to disturb the universe by exposing teenagers to such issues in an unbiased, educational manner. The use of young adult literature, such as The Chocolate War and Stargirl, combined with timeless classics, such as Lord of the Flies, can expose students to these conflicts in the safe confines of the classroom. Through the use of student-based discussions, students and faculty will be exposed to various perspectives. Such enlightenment will benefit both faculty and students alike, for it will empower them to realize the impact a person can have on his society when he proactively follows his dreams and goals. By absorbing the perspectives around one s self, and using them to help eliminate societal conflicts through awareness, students and faculty can, in the words of T. S. Eliot, dare to disturb the universe. Notes 1 This is a general reference to overall atmosphere in schools previous to

108 108 Christina Tidaback the school violence of the 1990s in relation to guns. Furthermore, this reference does not take into consideration the violence in schools due to racial tensions of integration. 2 Similar to Stargirl s name, Holly Golightly s name suggests a surreal, naïve nature surrounding the character. Both texts suggest that the world cannot comprehend or accept a truly innocent, kind individual as represented by both, Stargirl and Holly. Works Cited Bullies and Their Victims. Harvard Mental Health Letter 18.5 (Nov. 2001): 1-4. Coats, Karen. Abjection and Adolescent Fiction. Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society 5.2 (2000): Comier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Random, Daniels, Harvey. Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups, Second Edition. New York: Stenhouse, Emminger, Kelly. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 45.2 (Oct. 2001): Fitzgerald, John F., and Kayser, John R. Golding s Lord of the Flies: Pride as Original Sin. Studies in the Novel 24.1 (1992): Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, Graff, Gerald. Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Headley, Kathy Neal. Duel at High Noon: A Replay of Cormier s Works. The ALAN Review 20.2 (1994): 1-5. Hollahan, Eugene. Running in Circles: A Major Motif in Lord of the Flies. Studies in the Novel 2.1 (1970): Junko, Yoshido. The Quest for Masculinity in The Chocolate War: Changing Conceptions of Masculinity in the 1970s. Children s Literature 26 (1998): Keeling, Kara. The Misfortune of a Man Like Ourselves : Robert Cormier s The Chocolate War as Aristotelian Tragedy. The ALAN Review 26.2 (1999) 1-8. MacLeod, Anne Scott. Robert Cormier and the Adolescent Novel. Children s Literature in Education 12.2 (1981): Monseau, Virginia R. Studying Cormier s Protagonists: Achieving Power Through Young Adult Literature. The ALAN Review 22.1 (1994) 1-5. Singh, Minnie. The Government Boys: Golding s Lord of the Flies and

109 Teaching Literature in Secondary Education 109 Ballantyne s Coral Island. Children s Literature 25 (1997): Slayton, Paul. Teaching Rationale for William Golding s Lord of the Flies. Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Metuchen: Scarecrow, Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. New York: Knopf, Watson, George. The Coronation of Realism. The Georgian Review 41.1 (1987): 5-16.

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111 V. I will carry you kicking and screaming, and in the end you will thank me.

112

113 Linking the Past with the Present: A Connection between Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary Laura Wagner Jane Austen s 1818 novel Pride and Prejudice and Sharon Maguire s 2001 movie Bridget Jones s Diary appear to have many direct correlations. It may seem, at first, as though-century English culture and twentieth-century contemporary culture have little in common; however, after taking a closer look, representations of the struggles of the unmarried females in these two periods are amazingly similar. Literary history provides us with an opportunity to understand how the present came to be. We use texts from the past routinely to comment on contemporary texts; however, as McGann argues, the present can also help us to interpret the past. In his essay, Rethinking Romanticism, McGann states that History is a continuous process, and... the past itself is, like the future, a serious possibility (McGann 52). Pride and Prejudice is an example of a timeless literary novel that allows us insight into and a better understanding of the present day film Bridget Jones s Diary. The plot of Pride and Prejudice may be said to serve as a transhistorical narrative in this kind of analysis. Conversely, the film may illuminate significant narrative aspects of the Austen novel. Reading the two texts in dialogue with one another provides us with a richer understanding of both. The first notable similarity between Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary is the parallel between many of the characters. One could argue that the main character, Bridget Jones, could be directly linked to the character of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Neither of the characters is a conventional woman. Each simply wants to find happiness for herself. The challenges facing Bridget in the twentieth century are specifically different but, also, very similar to Elizabeth s. The character of Wickham in the novel and the character of Daniel in the film are similar in personality, and both characters are considered to be rather wealthy, slightly cocky, and womanizers. Mrs. Jones and 113

114 114 Laura Wagner Mrs. Bennet parallel each other as well. The two women are only focused on one agenda, and that is having their daughters married off into well-respected families. An understanding of the direct relationships between Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary can be understood after doing an analysis of the novel followed by an analysis of the film. The connection can be made easily following an examination of the way characters deal with issues such as marriage, class, and communication in their respective times. In his article, Jane Austen, Kilvert comments that the chapters in Pride and Prejudice are enriched by the author s frame of commentary and the angle of vision. Bridget Jones s Diary is similar because the scenes are enriched by the director s frame of commentary and angle of vision. These enrichments can be seen clearly in the dramatic dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice (Kilvert 113): It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife (Austen 5). Kilvert says that the dialogue is followed by an immediate shift. It descends from the realms of universal truth to the specificity and dullness of a neighborhood view: However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters (Austen 5). Other than narrative technique, an important feature to compare between the two texts is their genre. The comedy of manners 1 was a theatrical tradition that shaped Jane Austen s method of writing in the novels. In this method much of the action is realized dramatically in dialogue and where the positions, movements, and the relationships of the characters are graphically drawn. The method conveys a full awareness of other people, their gestures, their expressions and moods (Kilvert 112). Austen writes with the true fictional comedy of manners, which creates, as Kilvert has argued, the effect of mental theater and imaginative visualization. Maguire uses this method to establish the same kind of effect in her film. Thematically, Austen s novels have been argued to question the en-

115 Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary 115 ergetic hopefulness of the period (Kilvert 103). One of Austen s major achievements in the novels is to have captured the total illusion of the gentry s vision, the experience of living in privileged isolation, of being party to a privileged outlook, of belonging to a privileged community, whose distresses, such as they are, are private, mild, and genteel (Kilvert 103). Brian Southam argues that, Austen, by capturing the limited vision of the gentry, exposes its self-centered nature (qtd. in Kilvert xi). He claims that, she succeeded in liberating the novel from its original function as an instrument of cultural self-flattery (qtd. in Kilvert xi). A more specific cultural critique in the novel comes in the form of exposure of gender roles. A major theme in the novel is the predicament of being a woman in a man s world. The women live in a world fueled by men and run for their advantage, in which marriage looms as the central and decisive act of the woman s life, and where the prevailing view, is that Marriage has... no natural relation to love. Marriage belongs to society; it is a social contract (Kilvert 115). Other than marriage, there was little possibility for a woman to do anything with her life. Her education paved the way for her to live in a polite society and provided her with fashionable accomplishments to catch the eye of a future husband. The alternatives were unthinkable. According to Kilvert, to be a governess was to sell oneself into the slavery of superior servanthood. At worst, marriage could be the solution to an economic and human problem as it is in Pride and Prejudice. As the narrator states, The only honourable provision for well educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. (Austen 103) Other pressures regarding marriage included making the right marriage. In the eighteenth century, having the right marriage meant having one that was acceptable to the family and whose status and respectability were defined by the networks of relationship and association that are generally established through marriage. These values were vital to the society s structure. The right marriage could easily make a

116 116 Laura Wagner family, but the wrong one could also ruin it. Under such circumstances, love was simply an added bonus. Several marriages are presented throughout the novel Pride and Prejudice, and they all have various problems. However, Jane Austen shows how a woman can triumph over these pressures and problems of marriage. A good example takes place when Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth in an attempt to warn her off, facing her with the substantial dynastic claims of the Darcys against the improper upbringing of the Bennet s. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other. They are descended on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father s, from respectable, honorable, and ancient, though untitled families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses. What divide them are the upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere, in which you have been brought up. (Austen 287) The way in which Austen takes up for women is not argumentative, but dramatic. Her belief in women is understood in her creation of heroines, whose claim to existence is human, whose reality comes from their self-awareness, possession of mind and feelings, and whose existence is not a result of their conformity to some stereotype in either fashionable life or fashionable literature (Weinsheimer 82). The characteristics given to Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice reflect Austen s belief in women. Mrs. Bennet s main priority was to find men for her daughters to marry. Fortunately, her success is good, and she is able to get husbands for three out of five of her daughters. Her feeling of fortune is enhanced because she feels two of the men are financially well-off. However, Mrs. Bennet nearly defeats her own purposes by indulging in vulgar publicity. Jane and Elizabeth find themselves to be damaged by their mother s loose tongue as, for example, when Elizabeth overhears Mrs. Bennet talking freely and openly at a gathering to Lady Lucas about the expectation that Jane will marry Mr. Bingley. In the mind of Mrs. Bennet, one of the greatest advantages of Jane s

117 Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary 117 marriage is the fact that it would increase her other daughters chances of finding mates. As a result of Mrs. Bennet s sassiness, Darcy associates Mrs. Bennet s superficiality with Jane and is unable to see Jane s sincere regard for Bingley. Mrs. Bennet leads Darcy to steer Bingley away from Jane and causes much pain and uncertainty to her daughters, whose well being she ought to have in mind (Bilger 161). Mrs. Bennet s care and concern for her daughters becomes blurred by her intense desire to find mates for them. Anyone who has read Pride and Prejudice will easily find familiar characters and elements in the 2001 film Bridget Jones s Diary. Bridget Jones s Diary is the story of a year in the life of an average, single, thirty-two year old British woman who, armed with only her wits and charm, goes in search of the ever-elusive Mr. Right. Unlucky in love Bridget (Renee Zellweger) has not just one, but two candidates: the fun and sexy Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and the dour Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), whom she overhears calling her a verbally incontinent spinster when they first meet at a party. Not surprisingly, she goes for Daniel, who turns out to be a less than perfect catch. Then, just when her interest in Mark begins to emerge (following his statement that he likes her just the way she is), he hooks up with man-eating lawyer Natasha, who is determined to marry him. Meanwhile, her parents marriage is on the rocks and she embarks upon a career in television news. Amazingly, all of these modern day complications for the unmarried woman end happily in marriage, just as Austen s plots do. One would expect the film s clear relationship to Austen s novel to be recognized, but reviews do not indicate this at all. The film is critically acclaimed for its humor and outstanding performances. According to Jonathon Foreman, a movie critic for the New York Post, Bridget Jones s Diary is as good a romantic comedy as has come out for some time (qtd. in Irwin). Equally positive, Gonzalez offers, Bridget Jones is both a loveable and human heroine who defines herself by the men around her. She betters herself to impress men, not just to make herself feel better, (Gonzalez). Movie critic Christopher Null suggests perhaps a focus that would more clearly link the film with the novel, She [Bridget] is a prime example for modern singles (Null), whereas Elizabeth was a prime example of a modern single woman in her time.

118 118 Laura Wagner Movie critic James Berardinelli agrees. He says, Two literary characters who represent single women of their time are Jane Austen s Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Helen Fielding s Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones s Diary. Fielding brought us Bridget Jones, not to update Elizabeth Bennet, but to parallel her with a modern day interpretation. (Berardinelli) Clearly there are several strong links that connect the novel and the film. In order to fully understand and appreciate the film it is crucial to compare their similarities. One of the first most obvious links between the novel and the film is that the main characters in Bridget Jones s Diary, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Bridget Jones, Mark Darcy, and Daniel Cleaver, have many similarities with the main characters in Pride and Prejudice. Mr. and Mrs. Jones could be closely related to Mr. and Mrs. Bennet both as a couple and separately. As a couple, the Jones marriage is falling apart in its latter years, much like the Bennets. Mrs. Jones acts as though she is frenzied and ready to go out and experience life. Separately, Mr. Jones can be closely related to Mr. Bennet. He remains calm even though Mrs. Bennet tortures him on a regular basis. Mrs. Jones, as an individual, can be closely related to Mrs. Bennet. She wants nothing more than for her daughter to marry a rich young man and live happily ever after, thus meaning that she will do whatever she has to do to make this happen. Mrs. Jones is a good example of why it appears as if single women in their thirties disappoint their parents. A specific example of the way Austen s plot gets dramatized in the film occurs in the opening scenes of the movie where Bridget goes home for a New Years Eve party. Right when she walks in the door, Mrs. Jones says to Bridget, You will never get a boyfriend if you look like you have wandered out of Auswitz (Bridget). Making this comment is Mrs. Jones way of telling Bridget that she is not dressed appropriately. Of course, dressing appropriately to Mrs. Jones is wearing clothes that are very out of style. After Bridget changes clothes into the hideous outfit her mother has so graciously bought for her, Bridget goes over to talk to her dad and she says, How is it going

119 Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary 119 dad? His response is, Torture, your mother is trying to fix you up with some divorcee (Bridget). There is a similar sarcastic moment between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in the novel when Mrs. Bennet comments to Mr. Bennet, it is very likely that he [Darcy] may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes (Austen 5). Mr. Bennet promptly replies, I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better (Austen 5). A further parallel between the two texts is when Bridget has the pleasure of meeting Mark Darcy during the New Year s Eve party. Mark is the man Mrs. Jones has picked out for Bridget to marry. He is a wealthy barrister who first appears to be somewhat snobby, arrogant, and even rude at times. It is not until the very end of the movie that he slowly begins to change his attitude. At the party he tells his mother that he will not go on a date with someone (referring to Bridget) who, smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and dresses like her mother (Bridget). Mark Darcy s character is closely related to Fitzwilliam Darcy who is the proud rich man with a crude character in the book Pride and Prejudice. Darcy s character is revealed to Elizabeth at the ball where the two characters dance in silence until Elizabeth forces Darcy to make small talk. Unfortunately their small talk turns into a heated discussion where Elizabeth attacks Darcy s character. She says to Darcy, if I do not take to your likeness now, I may never have another opportunity (Austen 80) to which Darcy replies, I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours (Austen 80). However, as in the book, Marks changing feelings towards Bridget are apparent. Mark Darcy s opposite, Daniel Cleaver, shares similar qualities with George Wickham. He is very handsome and personable, yet somewhat of a pervert. He is Bridget s boss, and he continuously finds ways to flirt with her in the office by telling her how attractive she looks in her different outfits; first through an that said, I believe your skirt is missing and then through another which comments on the way her breasts look in the see-through shirt she was wearing. He dates Bridget for a while with the disapproving Mark Darcy looking on. During a conversation with Daniel, Bridget inquires about why he and Mark do not like each other. Daniel replies that it is because Mark

120 120 Laura Wagner slept with his fiancé and left him broken hearted. Having heard this Bridget decides that she likes Mark Darcy even less than before. She also feels a bit of pity for Daniel who she has decided is perfect. A connection to Pride and Prejudice can be made when Darcy explains to Elizabeth why he does not have any regard for Wickham. This explanation is, of course, not the same explanation given to her by Wickham. Darcy writes in a letter, Mr. Wickham s chief object was unquestionably my sister s fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds; but I can not help supposing that the hope of revenging himself on me, was a strong inducement. (Austen 166) Another similarity between Bridget Jones s Diary and Pride and Prejudice beyond specific characters is the texts common theme of marriage. Bridget, who is not married, has several married friends. They all act like their respective spouses. Their behavior is demonstrated during the scene where Bridget goes to have dinner at a friend s home and they are all present. She says hello, and each couple says hello in return at the same time and in the same way. It is as if they are a reflection of the other. They make Bridget feel as though she is a minority because she is not married. For her, being single is like being in a lower social class. They ask her why there are so many more women who are single and over thirty these days. Bridget s answer to the somewhat awkward question is, It starts with the fact that there is nothing but scales all over the body underneath the clothes, (Bridget) and then she changes the subject. Later, as Bridget is preparing to leave, Mark comes to make conversation with her. However, everything he says comes out in a negative and slightly rude way. Finally, he gets to his point and says, What I am trying to say is that I like you just the way you are (Bridget). This statement deeply touches Bridget, who is now beginning to think that Mark is a possibility in the marriage field after all. Darcy makes a strikingly similar statement to Elizabeth in the novel when he tells her, In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you

121 Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary 121 (Austen 157). Though Elizabeth does not feel the same, she is still moved by Darcy s sentiment. These two statements show a striking similarity between the two leading men from both the novel and the film. Bridget s ongoing problems with Mark and Daniel come to a breaking point on her birthday. She is cooking dinner for herself and a few of her friends when the doorbell rings. She finds that it is Mark who has come to congratulate her on a recent television appearance. She invites him to stay for dinner, and just as they are all toasting Bridget for being a bad cook and being exactly who she is, the doorbell rings again; this time it is Daniel. Daniel has come to apologize to Bridget for being so stupid and leaving her. He sees Mark and immediately inquires as to why he is there. By the end of the scene, Daniel has managed to take Bridget into the kitchen for a chat, Mark has left the party and then come back to ask Daniel to step outside, and then the two men fight out in the street. The end result is that Bridget hovers over Daniel to see if he is all right, and then she tells Mark how wrong he is for beating Daniel up. Daniel then proceeds to tell Bridget, If I can not make it with you, then I can not make it with anyone. Sadly, Bridget tells Daniel, Your offer just is not good enough for me. I am still looking for something extraordinary (Bridget). Elizabeth makes a similar, yet more subtle, rejection to Wickham in the novel. After Wickham is finished with his slighted proposal, Elizabeth answered only by a slight inclination of the head. She saw that he wanted to engage her on the old subject of his grievances, and she was in no humour to indulge him (Austen 192). Following Bridget s realization that Daniel s explanation for the hatred between him and Mark is a lie, she realizes that the extraordinary thing she is searching for is Mark. She goes to Mark and apologizes for being wrong about him. She apologizes in a way that Mark would have. She begins by telling him that the length of his sideburns are too long and the clothes that his mother buys him are ridiculously ugly, but then she tells him that she likes him just the way he is. Mark Darcy moves to New York a few days later, but returns quickly when he realizes that the timing is right if he wants to be with Bridget forever. Bridget is easily compared to Elizabeth. The two characters want

122 122 Laura Wagner nothing more than to be happy. They do not care about the wealth or looks of a man. They simply want to be treated with respect and have a genuinely loving relationship. Bridget and Elizabeth share an independent and witty spirit, which eventually leads them to discover the man they have been searching for throughout the film and the novel. Ironically enough, both Bridget and Elizabeth find that the men they choose are the same men whom they found to be less charming in the beginning. It is clear that there are several links between the timeless and ever popular classic, Pride and Prejudice and the humorous modern day film, Bridget Jones s Diary. These links can be made through the similarities between characters, as well as the similarities of the situations in which they find themselves, and the overall relationship between men and women. Through these links we are able to have a richer understanding of both the novel and the film. Notes 1 A Glossary of Literary Terms refers to it as witty, ironic form of drama that satirizes the manners and fashions of a particular social class or set. It is concerned with social usage and the ability or inability of certain characters to meet social standards, which are often exacting but morally trivial. The plot, usually concerning an illicit love affair or other scandalous matter, is subordinate to the play s brittle atmosphere, witty dialogue, and pungent commentary on human foibles. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin, Berardinelli, James. Bridget Jones s Diary. Reelviews (2001). 3 Mar /movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/b/bridget.html. Bilger, Audrey. Laughing Feminism. Detroit: Wayne State UP, Bridget Jones s Diary. Dir. Sharon Maguire. Perf. Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant. Miramax, Gonzalez, Ed. Bridget Jones s Diary. Slant Magazine (2002). 3 Mar Irwin, Lew. Bridget Jones s Diary. Show Biz Data (2001). 3 Mar

123 Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones s Diary 123 / Kilvert, Ian Scott. British Writers. Vol 4. New York: Scribner s, McGann, Jerome. Rethinking Romanticism. The Challenge of Periodization: Ole Paradigms and New Perspectives. Ed. Lawrence Besserman. New York: Garland, Null, Christopher. Bridget Jones s Diary. Filmcritic.Com (2001). 3 Mar Weinsheimer, Joel. Jane Austen Today. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1975.

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125 It s hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world : Enjoying the Timeless Wasteland Eric Hudson In the film American Beauty, the main character, Lester, claims that it would be easy for him to be angry shortly after he has been killed. However, he states, It s hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world (Mendes). It may seem unusual that a man who has just quit his job, learns that his wife is cheating on him, fantasizes about an underage girl, and has just been shot would have such a positive outlook. He is only able to do so because he is able to see the true beauty in his desperate surroundings, a contemporary wasteland. The images of the wasteland appear frequently in modern and contemporary literature. Significantly, in comparison to this film, the Modernist poet Wallace Stevens presents a ruined world, or wasteland, in many of his poems. Within this desperate world, Stevens highlights symbols of beauty that stand in stark contrast to their surroundings. Similarly, the contemporary movie American Beauty presents a world of despair, a bourgeois contemporary wasteland of materialism, and Alan Ball s screenplay also uses symbolism to highlight beauty. Movie critic Robert Zimmer Jr. describes how contemporary audiences also fall into this wasteland: Our modern society is constructed around the notion that happiness is found through material success: a lucrative big-money job, a nice house in a quiet neighborhood, fancy cars, etc. American Beauty doesn t just expose this lie it shows just how hideous living the lie can be. Both Stevens and Ball show that there is beauty everywhere, even in the least expected places. American Beauty and the poetry of Wallace Stevens share very similar symbolic representations of beauty within a culture of materialism. Because of this, these works could be said to share a Romantic view. How can we use a label of Romantic for mod- 125

126 126 Eric Hudson ern texts? The question is informed by understanding current debates about periodization in literary study. The problem is that literary periods are formed diachronically to create a master narrative of history (Griffin 135). Griffin borrows a quote from Fredric Jameson to explain this narrative:... individual period formulation always secretly imply or project narratives or stories narrative representations of the historical sequence in which such individual periods take their place and from which they derive their significance. (135) Literary classifications also exist by comparing one text to another. In his book Is Literary History Possible? David Perkins explains: Once a classification exists, its concept and canon are continually tested against each other in a process that gradually modifies both. As a literary historian groups texts, he compares them with each other and with a taxonomic concept. He is reasoning in a hermeneutic circle. In its negative aspect, reasoning in a hermeneutic circle means that we cannot know what texts are to be classified as romantic, for example, unless we have a concept from romantic texts. According to Holman s A Handbook of Literature, Romanticism is a literary era that tends to see the individual at the center of all life, and it places the individual, therefore, at the center of art, making literature valuable as an expression of unique feelings and particular attitudes and valuing its fidelity in portraying experience, however fragmentary and incomplete, more than its values adherence to completeness, unity or demands of genre. (453) Both the contemporary film American Beauty and Modernist Wallace Stevens poems match this definition. Both attempt to show beauty in everyday experiences instead of materialistic processions. American Beauty is a film about a middle-aged man, Lester Burnham, trying to find beauty in his ordinary life. When Lester describes his life

127 American Beauty 127 at the beginning of the film, he says, in a way I am dead already (Mendes). He feels that his life has lost something and describes himself as sedated. This sedation applies to many characters in the film. His wife feels that she must put on the impression of success at all times, even if it means covering any unhappiness. His daughter Janie is seeking to find her place and identity in this world. With the help of Ricky, Janie eventually realizes that happiness is not about material possessions. However, her friend, Angela, struggles with this concept, and often calls Janie and Ricky weird. The idea of true beauty becomes apparent as these characters search for happiness. The underlying theme of American Beauty is shown as Ricky films the two girls dancing from the room. Instead of focusing on the blonde-headed Angela, who personifies the stereotypical beautiful girl, Ricky uses his camera to zoom in on the reflection of Janie. The reflection shows Janie crack an adoring smile, and Ricky sees the true beauty of the scene. He is able to see past the culturally constructed beauty of Angela and focus on what is truly beautiful, just as the focus of American Beauty is finding beauty in even the most desperate surroundings. The main character Lester searches for this same beauty. He is trapped in a ruined world, which causes him to question his own worth. Lester realizes that suburban life has left him soulless. He seems to have all the keys to succeed in life. He has the nuclear family, a good paying job, a nice home in a nice neighborhood, and even a Mercedes SUV. Although he makes good money in marketing, he becomes trapped in a job that has no future. His office environment is an endless sea of cubicles with no personality. The dull gray backgrounds show that this is a desperate world in itself. Lester sits caged in his cubicle staring at a lifeless computer screen. He has no interest in his job and sees no beauty in the material world it creates for him. His life has become a far cry from the joy he had as a teenager working all summer just to buy an eight track. Lester remembers his life before he became trapped in this materialistic world as he claims, It was great, all I did was party and get laid. I had my whole life ahead of me (Mendes). Lester s wasteland prevails at home as well as in the office. The marriage with his wife is merely a show. While at one time this mar-

128 128 Eric Hudson riage did have true affection and passion, it is now just a mask to put on the appearance of success. This sad relationship causes Lester s wife to have an affair with The King of real estate. It causes Lester to see masturbation as the highlight of his day and to lust after a high school girl. Lester s relationship with his daughter is also in a desperate status. The two barely communicate, and when they do, there is an uncomfortable tension. When Lester does try to talk with her, she says, you can t all of a sudden be my best friend just because you have a bad day. I mean, hello, you ve barely even spoken to me for months (Mendes). The two barely know each other. Lester is not the only character struggling in what is supposed to be an ideal world. As mentioned above, Lester s wife, Carolyn, is searching for beauty in her life. Carolyn s wasteland consists of a fixation on things like the price of her couches, and outselling her chief rival (Zimmerman). Even when it seems that she may find some happiness with Lester as they begin to kiss on the couch, she becomes too concerned that Lester will spill beer on her expensive couch. Her focus is on material items and the quest for success. However, these offer little beauty in her life. She is stuck in a desperate world that leaves her in tears and even causes her to slap herself after she is unable to make a sale. This self-mutilation is caused by the wasteland. When she cannot succeed in an environment that is nearly unachievable, she takes it out on herself. She lashes out from her trap by committing adultery and finding solace in shooting guns. After the audience sees this wasteland, the film shows how there is beauty in such a horrible place. Just as Ricky is able to use his camera to see past the stereotypical ideals to see Janie s beautiful smile, the characters of the film search for beauty in their life. Director Sam Mendes uses Ricky s camcorder to show the viewer beauty in the simplest things. Ricky records a grocery bag blowing in the wind and claims it is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. As the bag spins and twirls, he realizes there is a beautiful force: It was one of those days where it was a minute away from snowing, and there was this electricity in the air, you could almost hear it, and this bag was just dancing with me... that s the day I realized there s

129 American Beauty 129 this entire life behind things. This completely benevolent force that wanted me to know that there was no reason to be afraid... sometimes there s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can t take it and my heart is just going to cave in. (Mendes) Earlier in the movie when Ricky is speaking of the dying homeless woman he recorded, he says: It was amazing... when you see something like that. It s like God is looking right at you just for a second, and if you are careful you can look right back. [And what do you see?] Beauty. (Mendes) It is very significant that these are not necessarily miraculous events in which Ricky finds peace. He is able to see beauty in the spectacular events of everyday life. Mendes uses bold symbolism to help the viewer share this idea of beauty. Just as the boring grays signify the wasteland in Lester s office, Mendes contrasts this with red to represent beauty. This beauty is always contrasted with a plain background. The red roses that appear in numerous scenes underlie the theme that passionate beauty can be found everywhere, even in this dreary world. The viewer first notices the American Beauty roses at the beginning of the film when Lester s wife is pruning the roses that outline the family s house. Carolyn slaves over these roses in an attempt to make them look perfect. Her constant concern of them keeps her from actually enjoying them. She overlooks the beauty of them and sees them only as materialistic symbols. Also, whenever the family sits down for dinner, there is always a bouquet of red roses in the center of the table. These point out the potential beauty for this family. Finally, a symbol with the roses is in Lester s daydreams of Angela. These roses are an escape for Lester. They symbolize his individual ideas of beauty. His idea of beauty is not necessarily having sex with the young girl. It is more the desire of freedom and escaping from the boundaries of his materialistic wasteland. More obvious symbols include the red Firebird that Lester buys after he leaves the corporate world. It is the car he always loved, and

130 130 Eric Hudson with it he is able to break the conformity of his life. Instead of having the practical family cars that serve a specific function, Lester escapes with a sports car. Unlike the SUV he owns, the Firebird is not a symbol of materialistic success. To him the car is a symbol of the hopes and desires he has had since he was a child. Lester s transformation is signaled when he leaves the entrapping world of marketing. Once he leaves this materialistic world, he is able to buy the Firebird and find the beauty of life. Another image of beauty is the family s red front door. The door is symbolic as each member of the family crosses a threshold in search of beauty. From the outside of the door, the house looks beautiful, and the viewer must assume there is a happy family inside. However, once the viewer crosses that border and enters the house, the family s problems become evident. Just as the materialistic items are used to hide the family s personal problems, the red door masks the malfunctioning relationships between the family members. The imagery is vivid after Lester has been shot. His bright red blood spills across a white table. Then as the audience finds the expression on the deceased Lester, they notice a slight smile on his face. Lester reflects on his life and says that he feels, gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life (Mendes). He remembers the first time he saw his cousin s new Firebird, his grandmother s paper-like skin, his daughter, and his wife. Even as he lies lifeless, he is able to find beauty in life: Sometimes I feel like I am seeing it all at once and it s too much, and my heart fills up like a balloon that s about to burst and then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on, and then it flows through me like rain and I can t feel anything but gratitude for every moment of my stupid little life. (Mendes) This is certainly not the same character that saw masturbation as the highlight of his day. Just as Ricky saw beauty in everyday things through his camcorder, Lester sees beauty in his life. For both, common day events become spectacular displays of beauty. It is a beauty that is so powerful, both have trouble dealing with it.

131 American Beauty 131 The idea of beauty in a materialistic wasteland figures prominently in both the works and personal experiences of Wallace Stevens. After a short stint in journalism, Stevens eventually yielded to his father and obtained a law degree. This eventually lead to a career in insurance sells (Lyons). Although he was an accomplished poet in his lifetime, he never left the world of insurance sales. In the last years of his life, this materialistic wasteland wore him down. According to a letter by Father Arthur Hanley, who spoke with Stevens shortly before his death and wrote of his alleged deathbed conversion, Stevens expressed a certain emptiness. The letter also states that Stevens and his wife had not been on speaking terms for several years (Filreis). 1 Stevens constantly struggled to find beauty in his own life. In a letter to Barbara Church, Stevens writes: I like a world in which the passing of the season (or the passing of the seasons) is a matter of some importance; and I have often wondered why newspapers did not contain wires from Italy reporting flights of storks; or from Buenos Aires reporting on the Argentine spring; and most of all I have wanted in winter daily dispatches on the front page of the Tribune describing the dazzle over the Florida keys, and so on. However, today General McArthur is more important than the sun. (Mao) Stevens clearly lived in a world of despair, ranging from his personal professional ideals to the cold war. It is obvious by his letter that he longs for something more than the material wasteland he becomes trapped in. Just as Ricky used his camcorder to find beauty in everyday events, Stevens seeks beauty in common events. Stevens uses his poetry to write of the mind s hunger for imaginative possibilities and reality s stubborn resistance (Dunbar). Certain critics have argued that Stevens is a romantic writer. Joseph Carroll claims that Romanticism is key in Stevens works. Carroll explains that Stevens rejects conventional religion and poses as an alternative to it a lyric naturalism suffused with romantic affect but skeptically holding back from the crucial visionary element of transcendental spiritualism (Carroll 251). He should be categorized as both Modern and Romantic, which once again shows just how vague and arbi-

132 132 Eric Hudson trary the definitions of these periods are. In the poem The Ultimate Poem is Abstract, he writes: It would be enough if we were ever, just once at the middle, fixed In This Beautiful World of Ours and not as now, Helplessly at the edge, enough to be Complete, because at the middle, if only in sense, And in that enormous sense, merely enjoy. (Stevens 16-21) In this poem, Stevens seems to parallel Lester s statement that we should relax and stop trying to hold on. Stevens argues that if we were not constantly on the edge, we could relax and simply enjoy all the beauty that surrounds us. In his poem, The Idea of Order at Key West, Stevens offers a clear idea of such beauty as he presents a scene of a woman singing as she walks down the shoreline. He shows how the beauty of the scene is not the sand or the crashing waves. Instead of these ideals of an island paradise, which are traditionally considered beautiful, Stevens shows that the true beauty is that the individual woman creates and composes the scene: it was she and not the sea we heard. For she was the maker of the song she sang.... It was her voice that made The sky acutest at its vanishing. She measured to the hour its solitude, She was the single artificer of the world In which she sang. And when she sang, the sea, Whatever self it had, became the self That was her song, for she was the maker. Then we, As we beheld her striding there alone, Knew that there never was a world for her Except the one she sang, and, singing, made. (Stevens 14-43) This poem can be seen as a Romantic text. It is this individual woman that is the center of the scene, and as the definition of Romanticism states, therefore the center of art (Holman 453). As the narrator

133 American Beauty 133 speaks to Ramon Fernandez 2 about the scene, there is, as Holman defines, A fidelity in portraying [the] experience (453). The accurate portrayal of the narrator s experience is essential to Stevens, just as Romantic works stress the experience over completeness and unity. The poem Sunday Morning also deeply affirms the Romantic notions. Critic Walton Litz claims, Sunday Morning is about the satisfactions of life in a world without any great coordinating mythology, the spontaneity and freedom that position holds (Dunbar). Waggoner describes how the poem relates a Romantic yearning for spirituality, even while questioning religion: There is a passionate longing for [religious belief] in it for what has been lost and must continue to be denied. The longing is not, of course, for the woman s Christian beliefs as such, but for something they represent to the speaker, some lost security perhaps. The poem is at once naturalistic in its ideas and religious in its feelings. The woman s dreams of Domination of the blood and sepulchre are denied in the argument of the poem. The woman... gives the appearance of dramatic form to what is effect is an interior monologue, a debate within the speaker between aspects of himself. (433) After analysis, I believe it is easy for a reader to see the similarities between Stevens and American Beauty. Although Wallace Stevens poems are considered modernist texts, and American Beauty is a contemporary work, both can be effectively analayzed under the lens of Romanticism. These types of analyses stimulate questions about how literary periods are created and how useful they are. David Perkins claims that these literary periods are created by reasoning in a hermeneutic circle from a concept to a set of texts and from these texts to the concept (Perkins 85). This simply means that a preconceived definition of the period is applied as the texts are explored in search of that definition. Although Wallace Stevens poetry and American Beauty are not in the chronological period of the Romanticism, they share a Romantic vision, and such image revisions of works from different chronological periods help create new, better methods of literary history. McGann speaks on how literary works can meet the criteria from a distant era:

134 134 Eric Hudson At issue here is how we pursue an historical method of literary investigation. Because historical method is strictly a form of comparative studies, its goal is not the recovery of some lost originary cultural whole. The presumption must be that the object of study is volatile and dynamic not merely that it... was an unstable and conflicted phenomenon, but that is continues to mutate as it is subjected to further study. (11) The film American Beauty and Wallace Stevens poetry share many Romantic qualities. Both share similar symbols to show the materialistic wasteland, and both search for the individual beauty in these scenes. Both show how real beauty is in the everyday events of life. Whether it is a bag blowing in the wind or the changing of the seasons, both share the Romantic idea of individual beauty. As a creative conclusion, we might try to imagine what new dynamic possibilities in literature would look like. Suppose a handful of Harvard professors gather in an attempt to define a new literary categorization. They decide the terms that defined previously held assumptions that no longer apply to more recent literature. One of them mentions that many of Stevens poems and American Beauty present the theme of beauty in a desperate world. The other professors look at other works to see if the same theme applies. As they explore other works, they are looking with these exact perimeters in mind to shape a new category. Suppose one of them reads Ralph Ellison s Invisible Man, and decides that it fits the definition his colleague brought up. He decides that the narrator of the book lives in a ruined world that controls his actions. Next, the professor decides that the beauty of the book, besides actually making it through the laborious second half, is that the narrator finally realizes he must honor his own individuality. This same exercise continues as other works are reviewed. This group of professors decides this must be a theme that ties several works together and use it to define a new literary subset. One professor notes that The Simpsons also live in a desperate world. The idiotic Homer is trapped in a blue-collar job in which his boss doesn t even know his name. The wife, Marge, works tirelessly for an unappreciative family. Bart is a selfadmitted under achiever. Lisa seems bright, but is trapped by her surroundings. And the baby, Maggie, has yet to grow one inch in the first

135 American Beauty 135 thirteen seasons. The professor continues to explain that the beauty of this work is that that family honestly loves each other, and that Bart s red hat symbolizes the beauty of his boyhood playfulness. The other professors agree that the show fits the definition for the grouping, and suddenly Matt Groening, the show s creator, is a literary figure. Since every grouping or classification needs a basic time frame, they decide to link it with 1923, the publication year of Wallace Steven s poem Sunday Morning. Literary periods have often been constructed around political events, and this group can be linked to the September 11, 2001 attacks on America which certainly show the world in a desperate status, and yet have caused an awareness of the beauty that rose from the attacks. Instead of crumbling in fear, Americans beautifully came united to withstand the attack. While this outrageous scenario of a new literary classification scheme is consciously outrageous, it points out the need for new possibilities and dynamics in the way literature is categorized. It just shows how the Perkins hermeneutic circle is prevalent in the creation of literary periods. Notes 1 The letter by Father Hanley speaks of Stevens interest in Pope Pius X and the Catholic Church before his death. Through his life, Stevens poetry often questioned the usefulness of such religion, and many believe he was an athiest. 2 James Galvin Quotes Stevens as saying Ramon Fernandez was not intended to be anyone at all. Works Cited American Beauty. Dir. Sam Mendes. With Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. Dreamworks Pictures, Burklund, Elmer. A Century of Wallace Stevens and his readers. Sewanee Review 106 (1998): Filreis, Alan. Wallace Stevens Alleged Deathbead Conversion. 10 June < Lyons, Donald. Wallace Stevens Real World. New Criterion 16 (1998): McGann, Jerome J. Rethinking Romanticism. The Challenge of Periodization.

136 136 Eric Hudson Old Paradigm and New Perspectives. Ed. Lawrence Besserman. New York: Garland, Mao, Douglas. Wallace Stevens for the Millennium. Southwest Review 85 (2000): Perkins, David. The Construction of English Romantic Poetry as a Literary Classification. Is Literary History Possible? Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, Stevens, Wallace. Idea of Order at Key West. Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry & Prose. Ed. Frank Kermode and Joan Richardson. New York: The Library of America Sunday Morning. Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry & Prose. Ed. Frank Kermode and Joan Richardson. New York: The Library of America The Ultimate Poem is Abstract. Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry & Prose. Ed. Frank Kermode and Joan Richardson. New York: The Library of America Voices & Visions: Wallace Stevens. Dir. Nathan Dunbar. The New York Center for Visual History, Inc Zimmer Jr., Robert. American Nightmare. The Coffee Shop Times. 23 Sept <

137 The Things You Own, End Up Owning You : Fight Club as a Romantic Text Matt Tuck Gentlemen... Welcome to Fight Club The first rule of Fight Club is... you do not talk about fight club. The second rule of Fight Club is... you DO NOT talk about fight club. 1 The third rule of Fight Club... someone yells Stop! goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule... only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule... one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule... no shirts, no shoes. Seventh rule... fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule... if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight. Tyler Durden Of Fight Clubs, Lovejoys, and the Literary Canon As Tyler and Jack sit in a rundown bar, Jack contemplates his life after the loss of his apartment. He mulls over each individual piece of furniture and every appliance, unsure of how he will ever replace them. The things you own, end up owning you, Tyler tells him. It is with that statement that Fight Club firmly establishes itself as a Romantic text. By comparing Fight Club with Henry David Thoreau s Walden and William Blake s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, it can be established that the film embodies thematic concepts common to both the American and British Romanticisms. Accepting a contemporary film as Romantic, labeling literary periods based on similar authors, themes, and cultures (a.k.a. periodization ) is determined to be arbitrary. Arthur O. Lovejoy, in his essay On the Discrimination of Romanticisms, explains that broad terminology for a literary period is arbitrary in that one term incorporates too many variable ideas and philosophies that are, in essence, different: 137

138 138 Matt Tuck The fact that the same name has been given by different scholars to all of these episodes [German, French, and British Romantic Periods] is no evidence, and scarcely even establishes a presumption, that they are identical in essentials. There may be some least common denominator of them all; but if so, it has never yet been clearly exhibited, and its presence is not to be assumed a priori. (47) Lovejoy s argument focuses on the varying traits of Romantic periods within England, France, and Germany, resulting in his theory that the term Romanticism should be replaced with the plural, Romanticisms. He argues that the singular Romanticism is inappropriate because it does not allow for the separate thoughts and ideas of Romanticism in its varying degrees. Taking Lovejoy s essay into account, it can be inferred that not only are there Romanticisms in individual countries, but that a Romanticism also extends the boundaries of time. Traditionally, reference books and literary critics have labeled the Romantic period as existing between 1785 and Using Lovejoy s interpretation of the restrictions of the term Romanticism, it would seem, then, that the timeline for Romanticism is as arbitrary as its label. By comparison with texts traditionally thought to be Romantic, a contemporary work could be considered a Romantic text, transcending the constraints of the time period. Not only, then, could modern poetry and/or novels be labeled as Romantic, but so could film. Such is the case with David Fincher s film Fight Club. The film exhibits many traits of Romanticism, such as revolt against materialism and established institutions, and, therefore, should be considered as Romantic text. 2 A problem with examining a modern film as Romantic (which may imply a transhistorical perspective) is the conflict within a changing literary canon. Exploring Fight Club as a Romantic text by juxtaposing it with the established literary text of Henry David Thoreau s Walden and William Blake s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell assumes that it is appropriate to include film as literary canon. The conflict is that certain members of the literary community still feel that film does not have equal standing in the literary canon and its teaching may be hazardous to students because it signals that the literary mainstays, such as Shakespeare and Chaucer, are being pushed out of the curriculum.

139 Fight Club as a Romantic Text 139 For this type of critic, [...] that the classics are going out is presumably as obvious as that tuition fees are going up (Graff 17). Gerald Graff, in his book Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, explains that the conflicts about changing the literary canon should be beneficial to both teachers and students. To paraphrase Graff, adding new ideas to the canon produces conflicts, which results in better education programs (97). The literary canon needs to change so that film is incorporated within its confines. Adding new ideas to the literary canon is necessary because it keeps college curricula from becoming stale and, subsequently, offering nothing new: The seductive assumption, however, is that only certain classics possess enough substance to justify being studied (25). Adding new ideas into the established curriculum is a proverbial breeding ground for debate. The debates, as Graff sees it, are what propels the curriculum: The university is expected to preserve, transmit, and honor our traditions, yet at the same time it is supposed to produce new knowledge, which means questioning received ideas and perpetually revising traditional ways of thinking (7). Bringing film into the literary canon evokes a new sense of learning by allowing students the opportunity to see literary merit within the new media. Examining Fight Club as a Romantic text not only aids to establish film as literary canon, it also presses Lovejoy s argument that: [...] art shall always go on bringing new provinces of life within its domain and achieving ever fresh and original effects (53). The Romantic period, then, should not be thought as ending in 1870, thus becoming nothing more than a relic of the past. Re-viewing Fight Club as a Romantic text proves the period s vitality and fecundity, that is, the offspring found in the world of modern media. Fight Club allows audiences to understand that the ideals and principles of the Romantic period are not only alive, but thriving in a post-cold War materialistic world. Slaves with White Collars : Fight Club and Thoreau David Fincher s film Fight Club echoes the transcendental philoso-

140 140 Matt Tuck phy of Henry David Thoreau. Several scenes from Fight Club are directly comparable to Thoreau s Walden and Resistance to Civil Government. While some literary critics may find it objectionable to list Fight Club with a literary canon mainstay such as Thoreau, it is Thoreau himself who advocates such use of his text in chapter one of Walden: I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits (868). Though some critics may think otherwise, Fight Club is a complex and intelligent film worthy of comparison to classic literary authors such as Henry David Thoreau and William Blake: Fight Club is a difficult film to describe because its layers of conscious and unconscious sedition beneath its gritty, elegantly dirty surface (Nechak 1). Within Walden, Thoreau establishes his view of society, particularly consumerism and man s obsession with the material world. In Walden: Chapter 1. Economy, Thoreau begins by describing his surroundings while he wrote the text: When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor (368). Thoreau goes on to explain to his readers that he chose Walden Pond as his location in order to escape the rituals of day-to-day life and experience nature in its purest form. This desire to escape the modern world is voiced in Fight Club through the characters of Jack³ and Tyler Durden, 4 who act as philosophers for their cult, Fight Club. Jack and Tyler become the film s mouthpiece for its anti-materialism theme: It s a dangerously seductive and subversive work that, in its messianic intensity and insanity, speaks volumes about the way we live, the material things we think will make us happy and the denial of our baser instincts that ultimately cripples us and makes us ill (Nechak 1). To achieve the state of consciousness needed to brood their philosophies, Jack lives with Tyler in his dilapidated house in an abandoned industrial zone called Paper Street : [...] we were alone for a half a mile in every direction (Jim Uhls 35). The house becomes Jack and Tyler s cabin, and Paper Street is their Walden Pond. Like Thoreau, Jack and Tyler construct their ideas of modern life within the solace of the wilderness. Throughout the film, Tyler and Jack find havens in which to seclude themselves from humanity, such as the house on Paper Street and Lou s

141 Fight Club as a Romantic Text 141 Tavern. Within these havens, Tyler becomes the modern-day philosopher, giving his views on the contemporary world. The second meeting between Tyler and Jack occurs inside a bar named Lou s Tavern. Within this bar, the two characters converse over a pitcher of beer as Jack contemplates his life now that his apartment and belongings have all been lost in a fire. As Jack pities himself and his loss, Tyler makes revelations about modern life, alluding to his notion that material possessions are of little purpose: Well, you did lose a lot of versatile solutions for a modern life (27). Thoreau makes a similar comment in Economy as he theorizes about the true necessities of human life being food, shelter, and warmth: Our outside and often thin and fanciful clothes are our epidermis or false skin, which partakes not of our life, and may be stripped off here and there without fatal injury (Thoreau, Walden 880). His hypothesis is that man only needs those things which are crucial to his survival. All others are merely garments, whether those objects are clothes, jewelry, or extravagant houses. Tyler s cynical comment is reminiscent of Thoreau s ideology in that Tyler is pointing out the in-necessity of Jack s lost possessions. Until this point, Jack seemed to believe that his life would end without his apartment and possessions. Jack, embodying the everyman personae, had spent his life believing that these fanciful pop-culture artifacts are essential to his modern day survival: His [Actor Edward Norton s] nameless narrator moves into enlightenment through sadism and pain, and in the crazy world that defines Fight Club, he speaks not only for the men who have been emasculated by rules made generations before, but for all people lost in the mayhem and chaos of twentieth-century urban life and debt (Nechak 2). Tyler takes on Thoreau s philosopher personae as he points out the inadequacies of human possessions: By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they are employed, as it says in an old book, laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal (Thoreau 869). As Thoreau noted, meager objects are falsely considered necessities. People clad themselves in elaborate clothing to portray an image of themselves rather than using their clothing for protection against the elements; the garments become more of a social statement rather than a necessity: Even in our democratic New

142 142 Matt Tuck England towns the accidental possession of wealth, and its manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the possessor almost universal respect (879). By living in the woods, Thoreau set himself against the bourgeoisie society of the city: He refines his life to a mockery of excesses he sees in others lives in clothes, houses, food, and the trappings of high social status (Abbott 74). Fight Club eventually expands its dank basements and becomes a way of life, later being referred to as Project Mayhem. At this point, Tyler, like Thoreau, makes the bold revelation that the clothes do not make the man, to contradict the cliché: You are not your job... you are not how much money you have in the bank... not the car you drive... not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis (Uhls 80). Deep inside the dank and musty cellar of Lou s Tavern, Tyler gathers his dark congregation. He preaches to them, a modern-day Thoreau gone astray. Tyler rants his philosophy to the Fight Club members, which echoes from the first scene in Lou s Tavern: working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don t need (Uhls 67). Fight Club preaches the idea of letting go of material possessions, or at least the mindset that these things are necessary. Thoreau, from his handcrafted cabin in Massachusetts, spoke of the same ideology and understood that men would work their entire lives to gain more and more possessions: And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him (Thoreau 885). Similar to Thoreau s day, everything bought could be paid for with credit. The drawback is that one must repay that debt. For many people, the rest of their lives are spent repaying that debt, never truly owning those things they hold so dear: This is the reason he is poor; and for a similar reason we are all poor in respect to a thousand savage comforts, though surrounded by luxuries (885). Jack s life takes a sudden U-turn after he meets Tyler. Everything about his former life becomes a symbol of his proverbial drowning his insomnia, his monotonous job, even his color-coded apartment. All of these features make Jack appear to be an average American citizen, but the insomnia is his subconscious rejection of the status quo. He finds a refugee in the concrete jungle of the cold city, a place where men can be men in their most primitive state: You weren t

143 Fight Club as a Romantic Text 143 alive anywhere like you were there [...] Who you were in Fight Club is not who you were in the rest of the world (Uhls 47). Like Thoreau living in the woods, Jack and Tyler abandon the constraint of the modern world. They build a place that allows them to be truly free: It was right in everyone s face. Tyler and I made it visible. It was on the tip of everyone s tongue. Tyler and I just gave it a name (45). They build Fight Club. What You re Feeling is Premature Enlightenment : Fight Club and William Blake Tyler takes Jack s hand and leaves a soft kiss on the top. Tyler speaks calmly. This, he says, is chemical burn (Uhls 69). He proceeds to pour powdered lye onto the moistened area of skin. Jack writhes and squirms, attempting to pull his hand away, but to no avail. As Jack begs for relief, Tyler preaches his dark sermon. What you re feeling, Tyler tells him, is premature enlightenment (71). Jack s burning hand becomes a metaphor for Fight Club s philosophical message, delivered with unbearable pain and leaving the lasting impression of a scar: The first soap was made from the ashes of heroes. Like the first monkeys shot into space. Without pain, without sacrifice we would have nothing (70). Tyler s message is simple one must sacrifice in order to find true salvation, not from above, but from within. The pain is a part of the process, allowing one to reach a higher plain of thinking. Tyler, then, becomes the pastor in the world of Fight Club. Roughly halfway through the film, the overall theme begins to somewhat shift direction. Tyler has taken Fight Club to a new level. It is no longer the hidden retreat for the working man. Fight Club now becomes an army, later named Project Mayhem. The film retains the Thorea-esque qualities of man living in a pure and simple world, free from the economical oppressions of the modern world. The anti-materialistic nature of Fight Club remains, as Tyler preaches to Jack two scenes prior. Tyler badgers Jack, who speaks on the telephone with a detective, who suspects Jack of arson: I reject the basic assumptions of civilization, especially the importance of material possession (64). This single comment embodies all that Tyler seems to want from Jack.

144 144 Matt Tuck However, Tyler s continuous sermon is changed with his statement: Tell him the liberator who destroyed my property has re-aligned my paradigm of perception (64). The re-aligned paradigm of perception shifts the theme of Fight Club to not only encompass Thoreau s vision of a utopian, anti-materialistic society, but embodies a Blakean ideology of changing perception. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake portrays his vision of a utopian society in A Memorable Fancy, in which the genius of the Devils, the free-thinkers, causes the Angels, the passive followers, to look like torment and insanity (1315): How do you know but ev ry Bird that cuts the airy way, / Is an immense world of delight, clos d by your senses five? (1315). Blake asks his readers how he or she knows that the world is what is found in the five sense? Blake envisioned a paradise where mankind would see with more than their physical appendages; that is, he longed for a world where people could find more in their environments than just the physical: Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires ( Plate ). Tyler, by creating Fight Club and passing along his philosophies in the form of pain, takes on the persona of William Blake as Tyler seeks to change the members collective perception on the world around them. As Blake looked for a new society, he called for action to change the established class-structure: As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent, the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb; his writings are the linen clothes folded up. Now is the dominion of Edom, & the return of Adam into Paradise; see Isaiah xxiv & XXXV Chap. ( Plate ) In the third Plate, Blake advocates a forceful change in the modern society, the bourgeoisie in particular, by using Jesus Christ as his example for the ultimate revolutionary: Thirty-three years was of course the age of Jesus at the time of the Resurrection: it is now 1790 and time for a new dispensation to rise up and replace the one Swedenborg proclaimed (Ferben 94). For Blake, the binary oppositions of the world created the first true

145 Fight Club as a Romantic Text 145 change in perception: Without Contraries in no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence ( Plate ). Because of the necessity for these binary oppositions, Blake believed that within mankind there must also be the contraries: From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell. (1314) Blake portrays Good as the blind-follower figure who can do nothing but walk behind another. These people, who he labeled as good, were actually Blake s embodiment of evil, in that they suppressed creative and inquisitive thought with cold, calculating logic. The Evil, then, were the true artists of the world, who painted their revolution like graffiti on the walls of the bourgeoisie. The Evil people were those who could see past their physical limitations. Tyler and his band of misfits form Project Mayhem, a rag-tag group of devoted Fight Club members whose purpose is to perform mischievous acts in order to change the public s perception of reality. In a Blakean sense, Tyler and his minions are evil, while the socially acceptable, productive members of the modern world are good. As Tyler issues the first homework assignment to his congregation, the first direct parallel between the Good and Evil of Fight Club is made: This week, each one of you has a homework assignment. You re going to go out and start a fight with a total stranger. You re gonna start a fight and you re gonna lose (Uhls 83). As Jack soon notes, Most people, normal people, do just about anything to avoid a fight (85). The evil members of Fight Club are sent out to disturb and distort the ordinary world of the good people. It is through the irrational actions of the Fight Club members that a viewer discovers that, while a functional member of society is taught to avoid physical conflict, it is sometimes necessary to abandon the unwritten laws of edict to find a higher spiritual plane. In Fight Club, two worlds 5 are established through the eyes of Jack.

146 146 Matt Tuck For him, the ordinary world is his apartment and his job. The special world is Fight Club, where he can go and experience the primal, violent nature of men without the fear of repercussions. This contradiction between the ordinary and special worlds exists in Blake s Marriage of Heaven and Hell in the form of the contradiction between Good and Evil. The Good, then, is the ordinary world where mankind plods through their daily lives. The special world is found within the Evil, where people act upon their impulses and energy and release their creative spirit. Fight Club comes to represent William Blake and his ideals in a modern world. Fight Club is the contradiction that Blake wanted in order to, as Thoreau would say, wake his neighbors up. As Tyler is the energized contradiction to Jack s uninspired life, Fight Club is the raw, physical contradiction to society s repressive political correctness. I Will Carry You Kicking and Screaming, and in the End, You Will Thank Me : Fight Club s Solution to the Modern World Jack and Tyler sit inside an empty office building, waiting on society to reach ground zero as Project Mayhem matures and reaches its full potential: We have front row seats for this theater of mass destruction. The demolitions committee of Project Mayhem wrapped the foundation columns of a dozen buildings with blasting gelatin. In two minutes, primary charges will blow base charges, and a few square blocks will be reduced to smoldering rubble. (Uhls 2) The buildings Tyler has planned for the theater of mass destruction are three credit buildings. His plan is to level these buildings, which would destroy everyone s credit rating, essentially putting society at ground zero with no credit report: Out these windows, we will view the collapse of financial history (130). Project Mayhem, basically, is Thoreau s vision of a utopian society put into motion. Thoreau seems to feel that buying one s life on credit

147 Fight Club as a Romantic Text 147 leads to slaves of the materialistic world because the debt can never be paid without having more debt: And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him (Thoreau 885). As evident throughout Fight Club, Tyler Durden seems to view debt in the same light as Thoreau. He metaphorically initializes Thoreau s ideas by destroying the credit buildings and bringing the world, one step closer to economic equilibrium (Uhls 130). Tyler, then, erases the debt records for the majority of the modern society. In Thoreau terminology, the white collared slaves are freed from their financial chains. Just as Fight Club was outlet for men to journey into their spiritual past by experiencing their primal nature, Project Mayhem has allowed society to venture into a primitive state free of debt. As Thoreau saw the land as owning the farmer, Tyler Durden has changed the public s perception and now the farmer once again works the land. Tyler s act of destruction alters society s worldview, just as Blake s philosophies preached. Project Mayhem, by destroying credit ratings, has essentially devastated the capitalist hierarchy. He has transformed the modern world into a depression-era United States, where the bourgeoisie were forced out of their ivory towers when the stock market plummeted on Black Tuesday. Similar to that time, the rich elitist in Tyler s world will be pushed out of their high social rank because they will no longer hold the power of debt and money over the working class. For many of the bourgeoisie, they will have to till the land with their hands, something Thoreau hoped for living in the woods of Walden Pond. They will be forced to work alongside the working class and see them for their strengths rather than their lack of financial means. Project Mayhem, then, initializes Blake s philosophy of changing perceptions. The social hierarchy will be rebuilt from ground zero, allowing all citizens an opportunity to view each other as human beings rather than as members of any particular class. The purpose of establishing Fight Club as Romantic has been to gain a better understanding of classic works found in the literary canon. Not only does Fight Club embody ideals of Thoreau and Blake, but it connects the two philosophers in a new light. As Jerome McGann stated in his essay Rethinking Romanticism :

148 148 Matt Tuck Because historical method is strictly a form of comparative studies, its goal is not the recovery of some lost originary cultural whole. The presumption must be that the object of study is volatile and dynamic not merely that it (in this case, the romantic period ) was an unstable and conflicted phenomenon, but that it continues to mutate as it is subjected to further study; indeed, that its later changes are the effects of such studies. (166) After coming to a full realization of himself and his world, Jack calmly delivers the final lines of Fight Club: Trust me. Everything s gonna be fine (Uhls 135). The film comes to a close as the explosives are set off and one at a time, the credit buildings crumble. Like the credit buildings, Fight Club aids in destroying the barriers of literary canon and periodization; they become rubble like the buildings in the film. Notes 1 It is interesting that, since the paper focuses on Fight Club, that we, as writer and reader, are essentially committing the deadliest of the Fight Club sins we are talking about Fight Club. 2 Defining some of the Romantic traits should not take away from Lovejoy s argument on Romanticisms. In fact, it heightens his argument. As Jerome McGann said, If we take such an approach to a topic like the romantic period, then, our object will not be to define the period but to sketch its dynamic possibilities (166). ³In the course of Fight Club, it is revealed that the narrator, Jack, and Tyler Durden are one entity. For the purposes of this essay, I will be regarding them as two separate characters because, essentially, they are independent personalities with varying goals and emotional drives. 4 The narrator is never officially given a name in the movie. In the screenplay and in the film s ending credits, however, he is referred to as Jack, so I will refer to him as thus. 5 The idea of abandoning the unwritten laws of proper edict brings into context the existence of the ordinary world and the special world. In Jungian terms, the ordinary world is the world in which every human being functions on a day-to-day basis, otherwise known as reality. Each person holds within him/herself feelings and desires that are unacceptable within

149 Fight Club as a Romantic Text 149 the ordinary world. These impulses must be acted out in some shape, form, or fashion. For the average person, these dark desires play out in the special world. The special world is a part of the subconscious where one can act out every irrational impulse without consequences in the ordinary world (Vogler 81). Works Cited Abbott, Collamer M. Thoreau s Walden. Explicator 56 (1998): Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, Ferber, Michael. The Poetry of William Blake. London: Penguin, Fight Club. By Chuck Palahniuk. Screenplay by Jim Uhls. Dir. David Fincher. Twentieth Century Fox Graff, Gerald. Beyond Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts can Revitalize American Education. New York: Norton, Lovejoy, Arthur O. On the Discrimination of Romanticisms. Romanticism: Points of View. Eds. Robert Gleckner and Gerald Enscoe. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, McGann, Jerome J. Rethinking Romanticism. The Challenge of Periodization: Ole Paradigms and New Perspectives. Ed. Lawrence Besserman. New York: Garland, Nechak, Paula. Fight Club Dissects the Primal Nature of Men. Seattle Post- Intelligencer. 15 Oct (1-2). Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton, Vogler, Christopher. The Writer s Journey. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions, 1998.

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151 Notes on Contributors Jeremy Bell will graduate in Spring 2003 with a degree in English and a minor in Secondary Education. He plans to teach in the Poole County school system in Savannah, Georgia. Eric Hudson will graduate in May 2002 with a major in English and a minor in Political Science. He is planning to move to New York in order to pursue a career in publishing. Melanie Leggat will graduate in August 2002 with a major in English and a minor in Marketing. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in advertising. Steven Loicano intends to graduate with a degree in English in December Megan Ridley will graduate in May 2002 with a major in English. She plans to teach Language Arts in Middle Grades. Rebekah Rogers will graduate August 2002 with a degree in English. She plans to teach high school starting in the fall. Susan R. Rooks is senior English major who will graduate in May April Spann will graduate in August 2002 with a degree in English. She plans to pursue a career in Education. Christina Tidaback is pursuing her initial certification in Secondary English concurrently with her Masters in English Curriculum. Matt Tuck is the author of Lost Bones of the Dead and will graduate with a degree in English in May He intends to pursue a career in screenwriting after graduation. Laura Wagner will graduate in August 2002 with a degree in English. She plans to pursue a career in the paralegal field. 151