Monografia Postmodernism & Existentialism

“In what ways is the theme of freedom portrayed in the novel “Expensive People” by Joyce Carol Oates?”

Abstract

This extended essay tries to answer the research question “In what ways is the theme of freedom portrayed in the novel “Expensive People” by Joyce Carol Oates?” The inspiration to choosing a work by Joyce Carol Oates is that, personally, she is thought to be one of the greatest contemporary authors, and that she is not given enough credit for her work. In this work the author previously mentioned talks about freedom in a complex way, and from this came the idea of the topic of the research question. The novel follows the eleventh year of the life of precocious genius Richard Everett, who throughout the novel is disintegrated to the point of becoming a murderer. He kills his freedom-obsessed mother, Nada, even though he suffered of an obsession with her.

Throughout this essay, it will be analyzed the ways in which freedom is presented, and the reason it is presented in a particular way. This analysis will be done through different approaches (the historical, the literary and the philosophical), and then contrasted between each other.

First off, in the chapter one, the historical and social context will be given. The sixties and what happened through this decade. Then, the literary movement it belongs to: postmodernism. Furthermore, the philosophical movement that is present in the novel. Then comes chapter two, where it is explained how Nada is a symbolism of the whole sixties decade. And moreover, the contrast between postmodernism and existentialism, and how the author represents something that would be like freedom in one of these movements, but not on the other.

It was concluded that freedom is portrayed in many ways—not enough to be analyzed in just 4000 words—and that, what can be considered as freedom in one angle, is not in another one.

Word Count: 298

Index

Introduction………………………………..4

Chapter I

I.I The Chaotic Sixties……………………………………… 5

I.II Postmodernism………………………………………… 6

I.III Existentialism…………………………………………..7

Chapter II

II.I The Society in Nada…………………………………… 9

II.II Postmodernism & Existentialism………………………..10

Conclusions ……………………………….12

Bibliography……………………………...13

Introduction

The question that will be answered throughout this extended essay is “In what ways is the theme of freedom portrayed in the novel “Expensive People” by Joyce Carol Oates?”. The reason of the making of this essay is that it’s personally thought that Joyce C. Oates is one of the greatest contemporary authors and that this is one of her lost classics, and both are not given enough credit. With this, it will be obvious what a masterpiece this work is, and how talented its author is.

In this novel, Joyce Carol Oates takes form of the obese but genius Richard Everett, an eighteen-year old teen who is writing a memoir of how he killed his mother—Nada—at the age of eleven. He starts the memoir by telling the reader he killed someone; but the memoir does not start by telling whom he killed, but how he got to the point of killing someone. He writes about his eleventh year of life, and in this memoir of his, we find his love and obsession with his mother, for whom he suffered what Freud would call, the oedipal complex. Throughout the novel, the theme of freedom its stumbled upon constantly. Everyone talks about it: Nada, Elwood (Richard’s Father), Mr. Body and Moe Malinsky (Friends of them) and many other characters. And although this theme is constantly evoked, it was noticeable how the freedom in the novel was not portrayed in the conventional way. This portrayal of freedom was intriguing and surprising.

Oates manages to portray an American suburb society of the sixties where money is abundant, where everybody lives for themselves, where hypocrisy is rife and where people are, as Elaine Showalter says in her introduction to the novel: "Expensive, rather than rich". Oates sharply portrays the family of an alcoholic but idealist executive as a father, a nomad writer who is constantly trying to be free as a mother and a genius who loves his mother to the point of madness as a son. Then, she puts the readers to question and reason what it to be free really is.

Though this freedom can be analyzed through many ways and approaches, it will be delimited to the historical context, and the literary and the philosophical movements. These will be explained, and later it will be analyzed how freedom is portrayed in different ways and how one character can be considered free or not depending on the lens it is seen through. Also, there are many characters in the novel, so mainly the ones analyzed will be the main characters: Richard and Nada. Some examples may be given of other people, but mainly it will be about these two, to not exceed from the 4000 words. It is hoped that there is a conclusion found as to how is freedom portrayed in the novel.

Chapter I

I.I The Chaotic Sixties

Our novel takes us back to this decade—The Sixties—and when we think of the sixties many names and events may come to mind: John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., The Beatles, The Vietnam War, Marilyn Monroe… To understand better this work by Oates, it is found of great importance that the time it takes place in, is fully understood.

The sixties was a decade of chaos, but also of revolution. On one hand, the death of J.F.K., economic contrast, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, but on the other hand there was the Antipoverty War and the Civil Rights movement supported by Johnson, the Black Revolution with Martin Luther King, Jr., students protests and feminism. So, though it was a stormy decade for the United States, with chaos of wars and oppression, many people were also fighting for good and freedom (Goodwin, S. and Bradley, B., 1999).

Before and throughout Kennedy’s presidency (1960-1963) there was an awful economical contrast in the country. At the beginning of the sixties 9.3 million people in the United States—one fifth—had only three thousand dollars for living expenses per year. In addition, even though one hundred years before Abraham Lincoln had abolished slavery in the United States, racism was still everywhere, especially on the South, where only ten percent of black children went to school with white children. Moreover, no issue was more loathed among the sixties than the Vietnam War; no one understood the reason the country was in it, and it brought disappointment upon the young ones who would have to serve this war (Zinn, 1999). During this war—the longest one ever on the United States history—thousands of young soldiers served for their country and about fifty thousand of them died (Bailey, T. and Kennedy, D.1987). This provoked among young Americans, a feeling of suppression and impotence, and among their parents—who had gone to or lived through The World War II—a feeling of frustration, after seeing only the inhuman side of humans. These were loveless years. 

Another great problem of the sixties was materialism and consumerism, which is mainly buying because you can. Consumerism is a movement that seeks to argue that everyone has the right to buy whatever they please, if they can. "The expansion of American consumer credit was an integral part of the postwar push for a growth economy based on mass purchasing power and mass consumption" (Logemann, 2008). This made a greater contrast among the social classes, for the ones who could, bought everything; and the ones who couldn't, had nothing.

However, among all this negativity and suppression, there were also some good people, and there is something really curious and rather important about these people. They all wanted or did something that involved freedom; either wanted freedom in speech, or freedom in equality or freedom from economical contras... freedom in general. 

It was on the sixties where the Black Revolution began. The famous Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I have a dream” talks about this dream he had for blacks and whites to be equal and to relate as normal people; he wanted black people to be free, because even though they were no more slaves, they were still marginalized and suppressed. The two presidents of the sixties—J. F. Kennedy and L. B. Johnson—worked for the civil rights of those times, and on 1964 Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that was proposed on 1963 by his precedent. On this Act most of the laws that segregated Black people, or made segregation susceptible, were eliminated (Bailey, T. and Kennedy, D.,1987). 

John F. Kennedy did not only help the Negro people, but also wanted equality among gender. On 1961, The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (PSCW) was established, helping woman on issues like education, employment and payments, social security, and other topics. Then, before his death, J. F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, that demanded a gender-blind workplace and for woman to be paid what they justly had earned. One year later, by his successor Johnson, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed with a title—Title VII—that prohibited the discrimination among sexes (Napikoski, L, 2013). 

Many other movements of equality and freedom were set among these years, for example the war on poverty was declared

...