Some could interpet Easy by the Commodores as strictly a breakup song. I see more than that. In the song, a few very powerful lines represent so much more. For me, it tells the story of a person who comes to terms with the pressures of living up to others expectations. It speaks of a declaration of independence, claiming their life as their own. As a result a carefree outlook is found in regards to the opinions of others “easy, like Sunday morning” (Commodores). The person in the song is comfortable in his or her own skin and not willing to compromise for the sake of another.
The pain of trying to live up to someone else’s expectations is exhausting. We are created by design to have free will. We are creatures of individual experiences. Each and everyone of us have our own opinions and values. If we are lucky enough, these opinions and values are those we create. Not simply something handed down from our parents or forced upon us by someone. We have the right to independent thought and expression. Unfortunately people somehow feel that their values and opinions are superior to others. The idea that each and everyone one of us are entitled to our own truths in this world is appalling to some. These particular people feel the need to force their opinions on people. They cannot grasp the concept that; I am allowed to have my say, you are allowed to have your say, and we are both right. Just because we don’t agree does not make either wrong.
The person reflected in this song has decided enough is enough. No longer can they live in an environment were the spirit cannot be free. Confused by the concept they ask “Why in the world would anybody put chains on me” (Commodores)? They ask, how can anyone who loves me not allow me to be myself? Unable to live life according to their accord it is clear “I’m not happy when I try to fake it” (Commodores). They are declaring that they have the freedom to choose how there life should go. They are free to be themselves. They are allowed the power to not fulfill some model they did not create.
This song represents my inner battle with people in several different phases in my life. I could call it my theme song for these growth spurts. I have the opinion that people try to create molds for you to fill. I am not about conforming to some idea that someone has of how I should. What I should say, do, think, or act. Quirky would be an appropriate term for me. I have no taboo discussion topics. I feel deeply and am not afraid to show it. Humor is my medication to deal with all of life’s sour moments. I am by no means perfect in any way and that is completely o.k. with me.
The battle began as a child. My mother, whom I love dearly, had a concept of how I should portray myself. She has her own ideas about how any woman should carry herself. What she should say, and what opinions she should have. All of her ideas went completely against my grain. From the jump I had my own opinions on how I was going to carry out my life. After many battles and pleading with her please to just let me be who I am, she finally relented. To this day we have what we call discussions but everyone around us thinks we are arguing. It’s a family joke that she and I laugh about. My father also had his ideas about the direction my life should play out. Needless to say it did not go the way he wanted it to, but I am happy anyway. Broke but happy.
This song was also with me when I decided that I could no longer be in a relationship. He had his expectations of my life. I was very in love but realized I could not be with a man that did not understand how I ticked. I did not feel the need to constantly explain myself to him. More importantly I questioned myself. Should conform to this idea of a proper little woman that he wanted me to be? I decided not. How boring! I am what I am.
In all this song reminds me every time I hear it of what I don’t want my life to be. I want to free from any expectations but those that I create. Faking it through life and not enjoying every minute that life has to offer is not the way I perceive living. My mission statement is; “Let me be me regardless!”
Commodores. Easy. Motown, 1977.
http://www.seeklyrics.com
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
More Than An Image
THE OTHER SIDE OF A MIRROR
By Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
I sat before my glass one day,
And conjured up a vision bare,
Unlike the aspects glad and gay,
That erst were found reflected there –
The vision of a woman, wild
With more than womanly despair.
Her hair stood back on either side
A face bereft of loveliness.
It had no envy now to hide
What once no man on earth could guess.
It formed the thorny aureole
Of hard unsanctified distress.
Her lips were open – not a sound
Came through the parted lines of red.
Whate'er it was, the hideous wound
In silence and in secret bled.
No sigh relieved her speechless woe,
She had no voice to speak her dread.
And in her lurid eyes there shone
The dying flame of life's desire,
Made mad because its hope was gone,
And kindled at the leaping fire
Of jealousy, and fierce revenge,
And strength that could not change nor tire.
Shade of a shadow in the glass,
O set the crystal surface free!
Pass – as the fairer visions pass –
Nor ever more return, to be
The ghost of a distracted hour,
That heard me whisper, "I am she!"
This poem was written in the Victorian era where women were to be seen not heard. Mary E. Coleridge was a woman of her era yet in her writings allowed herself the ability to delve into her own identity as a woman (Pullen). It seems as though even 100 years ago women felt the same feelings women still feel today. Women want to be heard. They do not want to be just a beautiful face looking through a mirror. Women want their opinions to matter, not as just an after thought. Women are equal to men in mind and spirit. The quest is the same for women no matter the era; hear me, don’t just see me!
Coleridge was shy and unsure of her abilities as a poet. She did not want to tarnish her great-great uncle Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s name by publishing her works under her name so she chose to write under the pseudonym ‘Andos’ (Pullen). The term ‘Anodos means “on no road”, Coleridge chose this pseudonym in honor of her favorite novel Phantastes (Goss). Despite her shyness she was a skilled writer and released two collections of poems, as well as six books in her lifetime (Goss). It was not until after her death in 1907 that full credit was given to her for her works (Pullen). Perhaps other saw her as the genius she was and despite her request, thought the woman behind the work deserved the recognition she could never give herself.
The poem speaks of a woman who realizes while looking in her mirror not all is as it should be. She begins a journey into unspeakable thoughts in her era, that women are more than they are allowed to be. While looking at her reflection she questions who the woman before her is. Before when she looked into this same glass she saw expressions of a woman happy with the world she lived in. Now she saw a woman undisguised, a woman uncultivated in a culture where men were viewed as superior. Unhappy with her place in this world she grows resentful:
A face bereft of loveliness.
It had no envy now to hide
What once no man on earth could guess.
It formed the thorny aureole
Of hard unsanctified distress. (Coleridge)
In this she no longer feels the need to hide from herself the desires of something more. No one of the era would understand that she had something more than just a pretty face to give to the world of literature. She plays the martyr for the sake of social dignity. She will wear her crown of thorns just as Jesus did. As it is undignified to speak the injustice of a woman’s role, she must suffer in her anxieties, as it would be a sin to defy the role of a well-to-do Victorian daughter (Pullen).
She keeps her silence as, “she had no voice to speak her dread” (Coleridge). She slowly begins to understand her place in this world. Shocked to find out the truth behind the lie her soul begins to die in “The dying flame of life’s desire” (Coleridge). More than just a face she has a place and is being denied. Denied a place where her truths are upheld, and she is equal among men. Where her voice is strong and heard. She begs to the forces “O set the crystal surface free” as she is without the voice she longs to express (Coleridge). She is too in tune with social graces to ever betray her role. She keeps her secret with the mirror. She will not break the silence, as it would disgrace so many. Meanwhile she must live with the gruesome knowledge that “I am she!” (Coleridge).
It is a shame that she felt the pressure to remain in the role expected of her. She had a powerful pen to capture the feelings of a woman’s plight in the Victorian era of forced silence and despair. More of a shame is that she felt the need to hide her work. Surely if she had claimed her work more women would have not felt so alone and possibly stepped out of the role to demand the rights they so richly deserved. It would also seem that her pen name ‘Anodos’ could explain her feelings toward her place in her world. That she had no road to travel, as her path was marked for her. She did not dare mark her own path. She had the voice of many, yet no map to reach her inner destination. It is sad that she had no one by her to say that I too am she.
Coloridge, Mary Elizabeth. “The Other Side of the Mirror.” A Book of Women Poets
from Antiquity to Now Eds. Aliki Barnstone & Willis Barnstone. New York: Schocken Books, 1980. 470-471.
Poems of the Fantastic and Macabre. Ed. Theodora Goss. 15 Apr. 2007
http://www.poemsofthefantastic.com/poets/COLERIDGEnf.html
Pullen, Christine. Literature Online. 2000. Chadwyck-Healey 15 Apr. 2007
http://wf2la6.webfeat.org/Jm6dH171/
By Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
I sat before my glass one day,
And conjured up a vision bare,
Unlike the aspects glad and gay,
That erst were found reflected there –
The vision of a woman, wild
With more than womanly despair.
Her hair stood back on either side
A face bereft of loveliness.
It had no envy now to hide
What once no man on earth could guess.
It formed the thorny aureole
Of hard unsanctified distress.
Her lips were open – not a sound
Came through the parted lines of red.
Whate'er it was, the hideous wound
In silence and in secret bled.
No sigh relieved her speechless woe,
She had no voice to speak her dread.
And in her lurid eyes there shone
The dying flame of life's desire,
Made mad because its hope was gone,
And kindled at the leaping fire
Of jealousy, and fierce revenge,
And strength that could not change nor tire.
Shade of a shadow in the glass,
O set the crystal surface free!
Pass – as the fairer visions pass –
Nor ever more return, to be
The ghost of a distracted hour,
That heard me whisper, "I am she!"
This poem was written in the Victorian era where women were to be seen not heard. Mary E. Coleridge was a woman of her era yet in her writings allowed herself the ability to delve into her own identity as a woman (Pullen). It seems as though even 100 years ago women felt the same feelings women still feel today. Women want to be heard. They do not want to be just a beautiful face looking through a mirror. Women want their opinions to matter, not as just an after thought. Women are equal to men in mind and spirit. The quest is the same for women no matter the era; hear me, don’t just see me!
Coleridge was shy and unsure of her abilities as a poet. She did not want to tarnish her great-great uncle Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s name by publishing her works under her name so she chose to write under the pseudonym ‘Andos’ (Pullen). The term ‘Anodos means “on no road”, Coleridge chose this pseudonym in honor of her favorite novel Phantastes (Goss). Despite her shyness she was a skilled writer and released two collections of poems, as well as six books in her lifetime (Goss). It was not until after her death in 1907 that full credit was given to her for her works (Pullen). Perhaps other saw her as the genius she was and despite her request, thought the woman behind the work deserved the recognition she could never give herself.
The poem speaks of a woman who realizes while looking in her mirror not all is as it should be. She begins a journey into unspeakable thoughts in her era, that women are more than they are allowed to be. While looking at her reflection she questions who the woman before her is. Before when she looked into this same glass she saw expressions of a woman happy with the world she lived in. Now she saw a woman undisguised, a woman uncultivated in a culture where men were viewed as superior. Unhappy with her place in this world she grows resentful:
A face bereft of loveliness.
It had no envy now to hide
What once no man on earth could guess.
It formed the thorny aureole
Of hard unsanctified distress. (Coleridge)
In this she no longer feels the need to hide from herself the desires of something more. No one of the era would understand that she had something more than just a pretty face to give to the world of literature. She plays the martyr for the sake of social dignity. She will wear her crown of thorns just as Jesus did. As it is undignified to speak the injustice of a woman’s role, she must suffer in her anxieties, as it would be a sin to defy the role of a well-to-do Victorian daughter (Pullen).
She keeps her silence as, “she had no voice to speak her dread” (Coleridge). She slowly begins to understand her place in this world. Shocked to find out the truth behind the lie her soul begins to die in “The dying flame of life’s desire” (Coleridge). More than just a face she has a place and is being denied. Denied a place where her truths are upheld, and she is equal among men. Where her voice is strong and heard. She begs to the forces “O set the crystal surface free” as she is without the voice she longs to express (Coleridge). She is too in tune with social graces to ever betray her role. She keeps her secret with the mirror. She will not break the silence, as it would disgrace so many. Meanwhile she must live with the gruesome knowledge that “I am she!” (Coleridge).
It is a shame that she felt the pressure to remain in the role expected of her. She had a powerful pen to capture the feelings of a woman’s plight in the Victorian era of forced silence and despair. More of a shame is that she felt the need to hide her work. Surely if she had claimed her work more women would have not felt so alone and possibly stepped out of the role to demand the rights they so richly deserved. It would also seem that her pen name ‘Anodos’ could explain her feelings toward her place in her world. That she had no road to travel, as her path was marked for her. She did not dare mark her own path. She had the voice of many, yet no map to reach her inner destination. It is sad that she had no one by her to say that I too am she.
Coloridge, Mary Elizabeth. “The Other Side of the Mirror.” A Book of Women Poets
from Antiquity to Now Eds. Aliki Barnstone & Willis Barnstone. New York: Schocken Books, 1980. 470-471.
Poems of the Fantastic and Macabre. Ed. Theodora Goss. 15 Apr. 2007
http://www.poemsofthefantastic.com/poets/COLERIDGEnf.html
Pullen, Christine. Literature Online. 2000. Chadwyck-Healey 15 Apr. 2007
http://wf2la6.webfeat.org/Jm6dH171/
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Gaining Revenge
The story of “The Cask of Amontillado” is one that gives a comparative of two men. One is lead strictly by his id and the other being motivated by his id, has moments of rationalization. In this battle of forces Montresor’s ego is not strong enough to stop his appetite for revenge.
Montresor it seems has been pushed to the limit as to what he can take from Fortunato. In frustration he plots revenge on his dear friend as insults he could not tolerate. The risk he would take in committing this revenge mattered little to him. He needs to make Fortunato pay for his actions. It appears that Forunato publicly insulted Montresor as later he says to him “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was”(Poe 241). Which suggest that whatever the insult was, it greatly affected everything Montresor held dear. All that was gone and now revenge must be had.
Fortunato seems to be a very arrogant man. Full of himself he counters anyone’s knowledge of Amontillado being superior to his. His comment to Montresor in reference to Luchesi’s knowledge is that “he is a ignoramus” (Poe 243). He also basks in his superiority over Montresor. For example, when confusion arises in Montresor over Fortunato’s gesture with the wine bottle, Fortunato takes this opportunity to humiliate him in his knowledge of the Masons. Fortunato also had the audacity to question Montresors arms. It is no wonder Montresor had so much animosity towards his dear friend. His friend felt the need to constantly rely on his id, as it seems he lacked a superego. Much to his misfortune he comes in contact with that area of his consciousness a little to late.
Montresor seems to vary in different degrees of his consciousness. He is in much of his id throughout the story but reveals areas of his ego and superego. Montresor plays the part of a concerned friend for Fortunato’s benefit. In those moments he will do anything to fulfill his need of revenge. When in reality his id is much in charge in these moments. He knew just the strings to pull to get Fortunato to react in accordance to his plan. If he played upon Fortunatos pride he could achieve his goal in gaining revenge.
The intent in his plan was to make Fortunato suffer humility. The humility Montresor must have felt in the insults brought forth by Fortunato. Killing Fortunato went a bit far in his revenge. Wouldn’t it had been enough when he heard the “sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing” to let him out (Poe 244). Hearing the break in Fortunato’s pride he had made his point.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Reading and Writing about Literature. Ed. Phillip Sipiora. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. 240-244.
Montresor it seems has been pushed to the limit as to what he can take from Fortunato. In frustration he plots revenge on his dear friend as insults he could not tolerate. The risk he would take in committing this revenge mattered little to him. He needs to make Fortunato pay for his actions. It appears that Forunato publicly insulted Montresor as later he says to him “You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was”(Poe 241). Which suggest that whatever the insult was, it greatly affected everything Montresor held dear. All that was gone and now revenge must be had.
Fortunato seems to be a very arrogant man. Full of himself he counters anyone’s knowledge of Amontillado being superior to his. His comment to Montresor in reference to Luchesi’s knowledge is that “he is a ignoramus” (Poe 243). He also basks in his superiority over Montresor. For example, when confusion arises in Montresor over Fortunato’s gesture with the wine bottle, Fortunato takes this opportunity to humiliate him in his knowledge of the Masons. Fortunato also had the audacity to question Montresors arms. It is no wonder Montresor had so much animosity towards his dear friend. His friend felt the need to constantly rely on his id, as it seems he lacked a superego. Much to his misfortune he comes in contact with that area of his consciousness a little to late.
Montresor seems to vary in different degrees of his consciousness. He is in much of his id throughout the story but reveals areas of his ego and superego. Montresor plays the part of a concerned friend for Fortunato’s benefit. In those moments he will do anything to fulfill his need of revenge. When in reality his id is much in charge in these moments. He knew just the strings to pull to get Fortunato to react in accordance to his plan. If he played upon Fortunatos pride he could achieve his goal in gaining revenge.
The intent in his plan was to make Fortunato suffer humility. The humility Montresor must have felt in the insults brought forth by Fortunato. Killing Fortunato went a bit far in his revenge. Wouldn’t it had been enough when he heard the “sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing” to let him out (Poe 244). Hearing the break in Fortunato’s pride he had made his point.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Reading and Writing about Literature. Ed. Phillip Sipiora. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. 240-244.
Psychotic Dreams
Reading this story it becomes clear that Rojack is psychotic and misunderstands his hallucinations as a force of evil outside himself. The people he surrounds himself with are all psychopaths “living rationally in the world, but motivated by an antisocial attitude” (Leeds 192). Rojack is surrounded by each characters psychopathic behavior, yet he perceives their behaviors as evilness. Throughout the thirty-two hour span of the story, what is clear is that insanity would have been a great defense, had he been formally charged with the murder of his wife.
Stephen Rojack is a deeply troubled man who has accomplished much in ways of dreams despite his oddities. He excels in matters of accomplishments yet he seems to lack the ability to hold any form of a relationship together. Rojack steps to the edge many times yet never does he have the courage to jump. He fights with the darkness because he knows to give in would swallow him whole never to return. The average person can tell right from wrong. Rojack understands and feels the fear associated with “the terms of death and darkness” and lives with them as “immediate personal dangers” (Weinburg 261).
The relationship with the moon is a clear indication that something is amiss in Rojack. The moon perhaps a metaphor for what he views as crossing to the dark side. He notices the moon on several monumental occasions in his life yet does not connect the simple fact that it just might be night. To him, he and the moon have a connection. The moon in moments of despair calls him to be free of the world. Maybe the moon will not let him down as Deborah has. He feels with suicide “the part of me, which spoke and thought and had its glimpses of the landscape of my Being, would soar, would rise, would leap the miles of darkness to that moon” (Mailer 19).
The thoughts of suicide lead him to Deborah. Misery after all needs more misery to truly be happy. It is then the thought occurs to him that maybe Deborah is the cause of his misery. Rojack must kill his wife in an attempt to save himself. To kill her would offer relief of his suicidal thoughts. As he remembers from his time spent in Vietnam that, “murder offers the promise of vast relief” (Mailer 15). Remorse is not found within him after the murder of his wife because; he can now begin to live again.
Another indication of his troubled mind are the constant voices inside his head leading and suggesting actions for him to take. At moments after her death he somehow feels Deborah is the source of the voices. That she somehow has placed a curse on him. At one point he asks the voices “Let me be free of you” as if he were talking to someone that could set him free (Mailer 196). His own mind is the only one that can set him free, not some curse he wanted to believe in. Curses can be removed, insanity cannot. He was not free of the voice, as he stood on the parapet at Kelly’s the voice was again telling him, “Look at the moon, look up at the moon” (Mailer 242). For his mind knew if he looked the moon would have its way with him and now he did not want to die.
Through banter of unimaginable thoughts, he avoids jumping from start to finish to be one with the moon. However he still stands on the edge of reality. Possibly once he comes to terms with the fact that no matter how many times he calls Cherry he won’t reach her, as he could never reach Deborah. His curse is that soon he will again be obsessed with suicidal thoughts and fascination with the moon.
With such life changing events in the story “one expects the modern activist hero to learn, change grow” yet he does not (Weinberg 261). This furthers my point that Rojack is psychotic. Anyone faced with the events in this story would surely be changed forever, unless they lack the ability through some mental disorder.
Mailer, Norman. An American Dream. New York: Dell, 1966
Leeds, Barry H. “The Structured Vision of Norman.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 191-192.
Weinberg, Helen. “The New Novel in America: The Kafkan Mode in Contemporary.” Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols.Detroit: Gale, 1974. 261.
Stephen Rojack is a deeply troubled man who has accomplished much in ways of dreams despite his oddities. He excels in matters of accomplishments yet he seems to lack the ability to hold any form of a relationship together. Rojack steps to the edge many times yet never does he have the courage to jump. He fights with the darkness because he knows to give in would swallow him whole never to return. The average person can tell right from wrong. Rojack understands and feels the fear associated with “the terms of death and darkness” and lives with them as “immediate personal dangers” (Weinburg 261).
The relationship with the moon is a clear indication that something is amiss in Rojack. The moon perhaps a metaphor for what he views as crossing to the dark side. He notices the moon on several monumental occasions in his life yet does not connect the simple fact that it just might be night. To him, he and the moon have a connection. The moon in moments of despair calls him to be free of the world. Maybe the moon will not let him down as Deborah has. He feels with suicide “the part of me, which spoke and thought and had its glimpses of the landscape of my Being, would soar, would rise, would leap the miles of darkness to that moon” (Mailer 19).
The thoughts of suicide lead him to Deborah. Misery after all needs more misery to truly be happy. It is then the thought occurs to him that maybe Deborah is the cause of his misery. Rojack must kill his wife in an attempt to save himself. To kill her would offer relief of his suicidal thoughts. As he remembers from his time spent in Vietnam that, “murder offers the promise of vast relief” (Mailer 15). Remorse is not found within him after the murder of his wife because; he can now begin to live again.
Another indication of his troubled mind are the constant voices inside his head leading and suggesting actions for him to take. At moments after her death he somehow feels Deborah is the source of the voices. That she somehow has placed a curse on him. At one point he asks the voices “Let me be free of you” as if he were talking to someone that could set him free (Mailer 196). His own mind is the only one that can set him free, not some curse he wanted to believe in. Curses can be removed, insanity cannot. He was not free of the voice, as he stood on the parapet at Kelly’s the voice was again telling him, “Look at the moon, look up at the moon” (Mailer 242). For his mind knew if he looked the moon would have its way with him and now he did not want to die.
Through banter of unimaginable thoughts, he avoids jumping from start to finish to be one with the moon. However he still stands on the edge of reality. Possibly once he comes to terms with the fact that no matter how many times he calls Cherry he won’t reach her, as he could never reach Deborah. His curse is that soon he will again be obsessed with suicidal thoughts and fascination with the moon.
With such life changing events in the story “one expects the modern activist hero to learn, change grow” yet he does not (Weinberg 261). This furthers my point that Rojack is psychotic. Anyone faced with the events in this story would surely be changed forever, unless they lack the ability through some mental disorder.
Mailer, Norman. An American Dream. New York: Dell, 1966
Leeds, Barry H. “The Structured Vision of Norman.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 191-192.
Weinberg, Helen. “The New Novel in America: The Kafkan Mode in Contemporary.” Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols.Detroit: Gale, 1974. 261.
Annoted Bibliography on “An American Dream”
Aldridge, John W. "Norman Mailer: The Energy of New Success." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit:Gale, 1974.258-259.
Aldridge’s take on Mailer is one of admiration with subtle hints of detest. He clearly sees Mailer as using his writings to outrage readers and critics. Mailer’s ego is to set to destroy him instead of placing in the league of those he admires. He views Mailer, as taking a new direction is his work a more grown up approach to language uses. He points out that the book appalled critics at the time it was released. Some suggest that this book was not a breakthrough in the writer but a breakdown of the writer. Aldridge sees the book as Mailer’s attempt to use fantasy and witchcraft to poke fun at the psychotic American dream. He also compares the character Rojack to Mailer, as that he has gotten away with murder in writing this book. He has wrote against every known method. Aldridge gives Mailer great credit for slapping us into our own realities with such honesty of human nature.
Leeds, Barry H. “The Structured Vision of Norman.” Contemporary
Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 191-192.
Mailer grows as a writer from one with despair of the human nature to one of hope. He makes an attempt to go beyond his own limitations. Mailer tackles the differences in the mystic and atheistic views and finds himself more as a mystic in the view of death. Mailer tackles the fear in death as throughout the story Rojack continually taunts death. Mailer draws the line between psychotic and the psychopath. Leeds implies that Mailer views himself as a renegade and demonstrates in the story that a psychotic moves back and forth from the insane and displays hallucinations where as a psychopath remains level with no ins and outs of insane thinking that he has choice to act in an insane manner. Leeds contends that Rojack is lead by his own selfish needs. Rojack in nature goes against every social grain and is aware of this fact throughout the story he is attempting to understand the evil within himself and those that surround him.
Weinberg, Helen. “The New Novel in America: The Kafkan Mode in Contemporary.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit: Gale,1974. 261.
Weinberg points out that Mailer, as an author, tends to write about accepting the dangers of the unconscious mind and the darkness that lurks with in it. Another common theme is death and coming to terms with the knowledge that ultimately this happens to us all. She points out the difficulty in creating a work that defines the American existential experience, but suggest that Mailer has a gift in creating a character that portray this theory. Weinberg suggest that to embrace the ugliness of the darkness within, one would either grow or become one with the dark side. She implies that the character Mailer created in Rojack reveals this inner battle yet he remains the same. He is unchanged in nature by what transpires in the book. Throughout the story Rojack experience all levels of human emotion and experiences but remains his own man, not conforming to the ideas of his peers.
Aldridge’s take on Mailer is one of admiration with subtle hints of detest. He clearly sees Mailer as using his writings to outrage readers and critics. Mailer’s ego is to set to destroy him instead of placing in the league of those he admires. He views Mailer, as taking a new direction is his work a more grown up approach to language uses. He points out that the book appalled critics at the time it was released. Some suggest that this book was not a breakthrough in the writer but a breakdown of the writer. Aldridge sees the book as Mailer’s attempt to use fantasy and witchcraft to poke fun at the psychotic American dream. He also compares the character Rojack to Mailer, as that he has gotten away with murder in writing this book. He has wrote against every known method. Aldridge gives Mailer great credit for slapping us into our own realities with such honesty of human nature.
Leeds, Barry H. “The Structured Vision of Norman.” Contemporary
Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 191-192.
Mailer grows as a writer from one with despair of the human nature to one of hope. He makes an attempt to go beyond his own limitations. Mailer tackles the differences in the mystic and atheistic views and finds himself more as a mystic in the view of death. Mailer tackles the fear in death as throughout the story Rojack continually taunts death. Mailer draws the line between psychotic and the psychopath. Leeds implies that Mailer views himself as a renegade and demonstrates in the story that a psychotic moves back and forth from the insane and displays hallucinations where as a psychopath remains level with no ins and outs of insane thinking that he has choice to act in an insane manner. Leeds contends that Rojack is lead by his own selfish needs. Rojack in nature goes against every social grain and is aware of this fact throughout the story he is attempting to understand the evil within himself and those that surround him.
Weinberg, Helen. “The New Novel in America: The Kafkan Mode in Contemporary.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. 92vols. Detroit: Gale,1974. 261.
Weinberg points out that Mailer, as an author, tends to write about accepting the dangers of the unconscious mind and the darkness that lurks with in it. Another common theme is death and coming to terms with the knowledge that ultimately this happens to us all. She points out the difficulty in creating a work that defines the American existential experience, but suggest that Mailer has a gift in creating a character that portray this theory. Weinberg suggest that to embrace the ugliness of the darkness within, one would either grow or become one with the dark side. She implies that the character Mailer created in Rojack reveals this inner battle yet he remains the same. He is unchanged in nature by what transpires in the book. Throughout the story Rojack experience all levels of human emotion and experiences but remains his own man, not conforming to the ideas of his peers.
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