
American Studies ETDs
Publication Date
12-6-1978
Abstract
Masculinity is largely a product of myth that collides with reality in the modern world, evoking tensions, dilemmas, and contradictions, while prescribing idealized virtues. Manhood is defined by custom, mores, taboo, and the collective social illusion called the American Dream, a dream founded upon democratic idealism. This dissertation examines male national character. Renditions of manhood in three novels are discussed to explain the contemporary male ethos. Masculinity is engendered within the culture in either-or terms. However, in various ways, the protagonists of this investigation have been found to express a potential for a polymorphous masculinity, one which adheres to the best of what men have always been. The frontier myth of individuality is here called male romantic deviance, simply, the idealization of behavior which opposes societal norms. Romantic deviance encourages self-direction, self-isolation, resistance, and the fear as well as exhilaration of freedom, whereas society discourages these tendencies. Male myth, in the archetype of the father, expresses a life-enhancing messianic impulse. Men authentically experience manhood when they play the archetypal father, assuming responsibility for the welfare of others regardless of sex. The messianic impulse is acted in three distinct patterns, the male as savior-protector of institutions, as savior-protector of women, and as defender of innocence. The Messiah is the hero who illustrates that masculine effort continues to be noble. While freed from his role as woman's Messiah, the male continues to be authentic in his ritual fatherhood, i.e., in affirmation of democratic idealism rather than in pursuit of power. Readings in history and culture are cited in addition to literature (Chapters I and II) to explicate the development of contemporary notions of American manliness. The origins of male mythology and mythology's links to behavior are discussed to illustrate specific dynamics of masculinity in American culture. Melville presents Ishmael's initiation ritual in an existential universe cursed by the disappearance of most verities assumed to delimit manliness. Monomaniacal Ahab is the quintessence of life-limiting elements of the masculine mystique, especially of the male obsession with dominance. Ahab is destroyed because he seeks certitude and control of existence, whereas Ishmael accepts inevitable limitation and manhood's "pondering repose of "If." Queequeg acts as Ishmael's spiritual master as well as his beloved brother. In their hierogamous relationship, Melville portrays a taboo, for their intimacy transcends ordinary comradeship. Ishmael has learned that manhood no longer is fixed by nature and tradition, nor is achieved by established ritual. Kesey's novels underscore male intimacy and the need for idealism rather than machismo. McMurphy as an American Adam expresses the myth of life on the open road, but his love for other men ends in his martyrdom for justice and brotherhood. The Stampers achieve manhood and heroism in the ritual struggle of fathers and sons in which family love and roots triumph. For Melville and Kesey, heroism, the struggle against inevitable defeat, is rooted in tragic vision. The magnificent gesture, not conquest or ultimate victory, defines the heroic. Melville's and Kesey's conceptions of manhood converge in the belief that men must function responsibly as fathers and brothers within society as it exists. Their protagonists give us "vision, method, and knowledge," and they return to society rather than flee to "the territory ahead."
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
American Studies
Level of Degree
Doctoral
Department Name
American Studies
First Committee Member (Chair)
Joel M. Jones
Second Committee Member
Illegible
Third Committee Member
Helen Marie Bannan
Fourth Committee Member
Ferenc Morton Szasz
Recommended Citation
Baurecht, William Carl. "Romantic Deviance and the Messianic Impulse in American Masculinity: Case Studies of Moby-Dick, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Sometimes a Great Notion." (1978). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds/133