The Concept Of The American Journey In Selected Literature Works
Thinking of the six novels we have read as journeys, some theoretical and others literal, leads me to no easy conclusion as to similar goals or objectives between characters as they are different races and ethnicities. The connection between characters is a desire for their own favorable marriage. Marriage is used as the linking of two people such as Dolores and Humbert or Janie and Tea Cake as well as in an indirect strong connection between a person and a thing such as Jim and Ms. Walter or George Willard and Winesburg. The American journey is the character’s ways of repairing or escaping his or her respective marriages. I might as well start with Huckleberry Finn. He is married to adventure. In his mundane life of sophistication and education by Widow Douglas and Ms. Walter, he is unwittingly drawn into an adventure down the Mississippi river. He does not tire of it, but rather begins to see it in a different way. Huckleberry realizes that what makes an adventure is not danger, kidnapping people, or even finding treasure; a person can experience an intellectual journey, or perhaps a social one. On a different plane is Jim whom is under the totality, as a slave, of Ms. Watson. Extensively so Jim is married to slavery. It is inescapable, forceful, and overtly grotesque.
Edna Pontellier in what I will say would be an excruciating, lonesome marriage wants to feel as if she is not a subservient to Leonce. The young man, Robert, greatly represents the ideal husband to Edna in the ways that he encourages self-governing herself and provides his fair share to care of the children. Is that really all Edna wants, however? I find that, in the novel, Edna sees an issue not only with her husband, but also with the societal role a woman is supposed to play; that being the raising of children, care of the men, and maintenance and creation of the home. A connection exists here between slavery and marriage. Can a wife in some ways not be similar to a slave? The phenomenon that builds the line is that it is commonly believed that a woman enters willingly into marriage. The truth is that, especially in Chopin’s era, a woman is thoroughly forced to be married because they are not viewed as capable of providing for themselves. Edna and Janie are similar in situation. When Nanny says to Janie, ” Dat’s what makes me skeered. You don’t mean no harm. You don’t even know where harm is at. Ah'm ole now. Ah can’t be always guidin’ yo’ feet from harm and danger. Ah wants to see you married right away, ” she may be acting out of her concern of a grandmother, however, what is occurring is a distrust of Janie and repetition of a deep-rooted tradition for guardians of a woman to assure she is married and provided for before their, the guardian’s, death. “The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, but Janie didn’t know how to tell Nanny that. She merely hunched over and pouted at the floor. ” Janie, with cold displeasure, is complacent towards Nanny because she feels as if she does not have a choice but to marry Killicks.
A similar passage is in The Awakening. It is said about Edna, ” Another time she would have gone in at his request. She would, through habit, have yielded to his desire; not with any sense of submission or obedience to his compelling wishes, but unthinkingly, as we walk, move, sit, stand, go through the daily treadmill of the life which has been portioned out to us. ” An overt sense of rebellion is present, tracking back to Edna’s discomfort in her marriage. Although much later born, the same emotions exist between Edna and Janie: both see their ideal portrayal of love as escape. The group of houses joined together on an island has the same effect as Winesburg has in Winesburg, Ohio. Leonce occasionally leaves the island, his escape, explaining why he cannot sympathize with Edna’s feelings of imprisonment. Elizabeth Willard is a more extreme manifestation of the feelings that Edna and Janie have towards marriage. It is said about Willard, ” A definite determination had come into the mind of the defeated wife of the Winesburg hotel keeper. The determination was the result of long years of quiet and rather ineffectual thinking. ”
Willard is especially in exile because she is ill and does not leave the hotel; she works, sleeps, and suffers all within the same walls. George Willard, the central character slowly goes through his own journey and Elizabeth's death untethers his marriage to Winesburg. Janie’s first two marriages, Edna’s, and Elizabeth’s marriages all share a similar pitiful existence. The wife is expected to be complacent and happy with her husband; None of the three ultimately are and escape in their own ways; Janie abandoning Killicks and then scorning Jo until his death, Edna leaving while her husband is in New York and telling him through a letter, and Elizabeth hating Tom until she dies. Although it is a great abstraction of marriage, the characters of As I Lay Dying are married to their grief. Grief is what drives them and fuels the chagrin and diluted optimism they all possess. Somehow when the terrible events stack up all the characters push through; especially Anse, but he has an understandable compulsion to bury Addie and move on. However, the other characters never give up to the point that Darl and Vardaman lose their minds. Of course, Humbert has his two official marriages; the second of which fulfills his passion for his beloved Lolita. A marriage to Dolores makes the story sound even more despicable, but his relationship with Dolores lasts longer than either of his marriages. Also, Dolores is a fair match to Humbert’s cunning and truly can cuckold him if she so desires. There is no easy way out for Humbert in his marriage to Dolores, and she knows that, so she takes advantage of it. Ultimately, Dolores stays vigilant for her chance of escape. At first Humbert puts it best, ” She came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently. You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go. ” Dolores is similar to Jim because Humbert finagles his way into possessing Lolita as a piece of property and escape is no easy task for either of them.
The strictly American essence of these novels can fit into two categories. First would be a display of oppression that was solely present in America. In this category is Huckleberry Finn, The Awakening, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Lolita. Second is the group that reels with isolation and rural relations which is a very American habit of people to think if he or she achieves a, b, and c they will be okay; therefore, they spend their lives working towards a few goals that equal success to them. An example is George Willard believing if he can attain a respectable position at the Winesburg Eagle, court a woman, and produce a family he will be alright. Even Humbert, as the distinct European, is not exempt from this ideology. He believes if he can acquire his precious nymphets without drawing attention to it everything else will fall in place. The worst off in this ideology is Jo in Their Eyes Were Watching God. First of all, he needs a beautiful, complacent wife. Second, he needs a position of status to validate his self-worth, and third he needs a community to call his own; his creation. We see that Jo dies a disdainful, pathetic man even though he achieved his a, b, and c. In their different marriages the characters are discontent. He or she either achieves control or an escape. The heroine, Dolores, manages to conquer both and mentally disrupt Humbert. , so she is the true champion among them all. The American journey is the abilities for these characters to transcend either expectations or oppression to arrive at a satisfactory concept of his or her lives.
