Overindulgent Tripe

Or the clearest evidence to date that the world just isn't listening to a single word I'm saying... This one really is for you, Jean. Afterall, you are the one who told me to read the book. You'll see what I mean when it's all over.

I was so excited. My mind was racing. And, I even had an audience. So, using the escarpment as a sounding board, here's what I came up with:

Thesis: Rushdie's novel Fury exposes the imposing aspects of Emersonian self-reliance and progress models, which have been incorporated into the American Dream.

1. The failure of the Dream: In Fury, commercial success never equates with social success or happiness. Moreover, commercial corruption becomes the infamous "price" of material success. Don't you see? Success isn't even enough...particulary if you're alone in the end as a result. The American Dream ignores the sacrifices one must make to achieve it; and the sacrifices can ultimately defy the dream itself. It's a circular problem. It's a problem of circularity...
2. Nonconformity and the Progress Narrative: Emerson says that everyday we should be striving for something better than what we obtained the day before. Progress is key. Progress is pivotal. But, progress is also probably a lie. So, what should someone do when progress feels impossible? How can one type of progress be distinguished from and judged against another type of progress? Who decides who is right? Well, let's be democratic about this...but Emerson loved individuality, and that conflicts with majority (read: mob) rule...So is nonconformity Emersonian because it is unique? or is it un-Emersonian because it might be defiant of progress? Something tells me Emerson really wanted progress to win out in the end.
3. The selfish side of Self-Reliance: Emersonian self-reliance puts the individual, and his (and I mean his, because Emerson said very little about women) opinions ahead of everyone else. Often, believing in oneself means clashing with every one else. When the main character of Fury finds himself wielding a knife over the body of his sleeping five year old, he realizes he wants to kill his son and his wife for no real reason. Maybe his fury is a result of the progress narrative getting him down. Maybe his insatiable desire to have freedom, and his subsequent cross-atlantic migration is the result of self reliance taken to the extreme. Maybe he's overindulging in a progress narrative that has gotten out of hand.

So, the problem is that for the whole rest of the world, the American Dream is one big mess. Other people see it and if they can't believe it, they hate it. The enormity of American influence thus becomes an oppressive force, in Fury for a British immigrant who continually gets screwed by trying to exploit the capitalist system for his own selfish purposes.

It's like an overreaction to everything American...But then, what is the attraction of the States? Rushdie was living in the US when he wrote the novel...And clearly his popularity is gaining him a lot in terms of capital. But the rage in the novel is what interests me the most. The five page rants about how stiffling America is. The assertion that the draw towards America is almost masochistic. And that's understandable...the main character has those tendencies. But it's hard to ignore how the influence of American culture bleeds through and becomes central to the fury, the rage, the frustration of the speaker/writer.

It starts to seem undeniable that Emerson's influence is not about to stop. The American Dream soundly situates itself on Emerson's bootstrap narrative: progress, slowly or quickly, but do it of your own accord and do it consistently. The idea that any body (umm, probably any white man) can achieve greatness and become a genius just by being unique is undeniably flawed. When Emerson wrote it, it was sort of true. Look at what came of it and you can see that much. But what about that "are they my poor" stuff? That seems to be right in the crux of the anti-American sentiment that is infused into Rushdie's novel.

My answer? Of course they're your poor. Do everything you can for every person you meet that needs your help. If you believe in progress so much then, for the love of all that it is holy, help the world progress! Trust in self is one thing, abandonment of all humanity is another thing altogether!!

And an anti-American stance is incredibly important for a Canadian student studying American Literature because so much of Canadian identity is wrapped up in the desire to be "not American." (Defining self by the other, in fewer words). The knee jerk anti-American sentiment that I love about this book almost definitely has tons to do with the fact that I am Canadian, and I recognize just how infuriating American idealism can become.

And then I realized that all this time, my attentive listener was attentively taking pictures of my backside. In case you thought I was getting carried away...I was.