Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Arrowsmith was a novel by Sinclair Lewis that was published in  1925. Sinclair Lewis won the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith though he later declined it. Lewis offers a critical viewpoint of the culture of a scientific society in this novel. Arrowsmith is a progressive novel that offers insight into the problems of scientific culture during that age. Science writer Paul de Kruif greatly assisted Sinclair Lewis in writing this novel. In the novel, Lewis describes many aspects of medical training, medical ethics, and scientific fraud. The novel deals with the experiences of a young idealistic doctor who tries to challenge and improve the existing system of medical practice.

Characters:

Martin Arrowsmith is the titular protagonist of the novel. He is a gifted medical doctor with medical ethics and has a strong interest in medical research. Martin begins with a humble background and through his talent and hard work, he writes his success story from undergraduate medical student to a wealthy and highly successful doctor. However, his success doesn’t satisfy him and he decides to give away all the success he earned for a noble pursuit of purity of purpose within the scientific research branch of medicine. Max Gottlieb is a professor of Bacteriology who is an ideologist and prefers ethical medical practices. However, he faces criticism from the less scientifically inclined people working in the field of medicine for pursuing ethical ideas that appear to be eccentric. Professor Gottlieb strongly influences Arrowsmith. Madeline Fox is a young English graduate whom Arrowsmith meets during his college years and falls in love with her. While Madeline pretends as an intellectual, she lacks knowledge. Arrowsmith is impressed by her pretensions and becomes engaged with her, only to get separated once he realizes that she cannot grasp the depth of medical ethics. Leora Tozer is a young nurse, who is not as well educated as Madeline, but she is committed to her career in nursing. Her true heart attracts Arrowsmith who breaks up with Madeline and marries Leora. Leora dies as a result of pandemic bubonic plague while nursing the patients. Joyce Lanyon is a rich widow woman whom Arrowsmith meets after the death of Leora. They marry and try to settle with each other. Terry Wicket is another medical practitioner who likes Arrowsmith and is interested in medical research.

Summary:

The novel revolves around Martin Arrowsmith, a young promising man with a keen interest in science and medicine. He is born and raised in a small town, Elk Mills, and goes on to become a medical student at college, where he meets Max, Gottlieb, a bacteriologist, who becomes his ideal, mentor. He is a brilliant and dedicated medical student who impresses all. He meets a young girl Madeline Fox, an English graduate. They develop a relationship and get engaged. Soon Martin realizes that Madeline isn’t as intelligent as she pretends to be. Her snobbish attitude and behavior of looking down at those she thinks are beneath her, results in their breakup. Meanwhile, he faces some difficulties at college and eventually insults his mentor, Max Gottlieb, and is suspended from school. He starts again as an ordinary worker. He reaches a small town Wheatsylvania in North Dakota and begins private practici9ng medicines. He gets the support of Leora Tozer, a young nurse, and her family. He finds that Leora Tozer’s kind-hearted soul is just opposite to that of Madeline Fox and falls in love with her. Leora’s family agrees to their marriage as he is the only doctor in the area. Leora's family encourages him to complete his graduation and then Leora and Martin move to Winnemac to begin working as medical practitioners. Meanwhile, Martin engulfs himself in a moral dilemma between the commercialism of physicians and his true love for scientific research.

At Winnemac, he is the local doctor but he fails to gain the trust of people. He is met with dislike, as the townspeople continue to gossip about him, and he also loses a patient of his. Things get complicated in his married life too as Leora suffers a miscarriage. Martin feels as if he is a failure but Leora encourages him and they move out to Nautilus to begin afresh.

In Nautilus, he again faces the same dilemma and unhappiness and fails to gain the trust of people. His major interest is in scientific research and he finds that he has no interest in medical practice as a doctor. He then joins Rouncefield Clinic in Chicago which is an exclusive private hospital that allows Martin to spend some time in research work. Soon he publishes a scientific paper. Max Gottlieb reads that paper and invites him to take a post and work with a wealthy and elite research institute in New York City. Initially, he is happy about pursuing his dream in research but soon becomes frustrated by the constant pressure to complete his research and show results. He is also under pressure to sell his work, but he is reluctant to do so.

He manages to make a breakthrough in his research and identifies a treatment for pneumonia and plague. He and Leora then travel to an infected region on the island of St. Hubert to test his treatment. Arrowsmith discovers a phage that can effectively destroy bacteria.

At the same time, Martin learns about the outbreak of bubonic plague on a fictional Caribbean island. He decides to move to that Caribbean island to test the effectiveness of his phage. He settles on the island along with Leora and a few associates. Leora and Martin begin serving and treatings patients suffering from Bubonic plague. Leora suggests that he should use his newly discovered phage to cure the masses. However, scientific principles demand that he avoid its mass use on the Island until thoroughly tested, even at the expense of lives that might be saved. While tests are still going on, Leora suffers from the plague. Only after his wife, Leora, and all the other people who came with him from the institute to the island die of the plague, does he reluctantly abandon rigorous science and begins to treat everyone on the island with the phage. He is too saddened by the death of Leora and decides to forego his phage research. Despite his life-saving, he regards his actions on the island as a complete betrayal of science and his principles.

While on the island, he meets a wealthy widow socialite named Joyce Lanyon. He begins an affair with her. Soon they marry and return to New York where he is heralded as a public hero for his actions on the island. He is first promoted within the laboratory and then offered the directorship of the entire institute. Martin and Joyce soon become parents of a child. While martin wishes to devote all his time to the research work, Joyce is a socialite and wants Martin to accompany her to various parties and social gatherings. Her affluent status and lifestyle bear a constant weight on him. While he has the offer to be the director of the entire research institute in New York, he declines the promotion and abandons his new wife and infant son to work in the backwoods of Vermont

as an entirely independent scientist. He is accompanied by Terry Wickett, another medical practitioner who, like Martin, is more interested in scientific research. In the backwoods of Vermont, they continue with their research, without the pressure of businesses. When his wife finally offers to move to Vermont to be close to him, he tells her that he wants nothing to do with her and she should just go away.

The novel depicts the theme of medical ethics as Martin tries to oppose the commercialization of medical practice. He faces enough temptation to involve in corruption and to be in the race for financial success as the only goal. However, he continues to safeguard his interest in research and his ethical medical code. However, he realizes that the only way to preserve his ethics and avoid corruption is to completely devote himself to the purity of research. At last, he decides to go away from society to the backwoods of Vermont.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

John Dryden | Damatic Works

 John Dryden | Dramatic Works |

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Dryden was the most successful author of the Restoration period. He began his career during the rule of Oliver Cromwell and continued after the death of Cromwell, Dryden celebrated the Restoration of Monarchy and the return of King Charles II in 1660. That was the year when the ban on theaters was revoked. Dryden established himself as a poet and began producing dramas too. Dryden turned to dramatically works following the reopening of the theatres at the Restoration; his first attempt, the comedy The Wild Gallant, was presented in 1663 at Drury Lane. It was a comedy that was written in prose. Though the prologue and epilogue of The Wild Gallant were written in verse. It was a derivative work. John Dryden borrowed a lot from Ben Jonson’s Every Man Out of His Humour. In the preface of The Wild Gallant, John Dryden wrote “this is the first attempt I made in dramatic poetry.” The play has a prologue, in the opening scene of which two astrologers are featured who make horoscopes for the play’s fortunes for that day and discuss how the play will be performed. They discuss how the play will be received by the audience when it is performed.

In 1664, The Indian Queen was performed. It was a tragic play written by John Dryden in collaboration with Sir Robert Howard. Sir Robert Howard was Dryden’s brother-in-law. This play gained huge success. After this play, Dryden wrote a sequel to it which was titled The Indian Emperor and was performed in 1665. The Indian Queen was a heroic historic tragedy written in rhymed couplets.

John Dryden returned to comedy as his play The Tempest was performed in 1667. The alternative title of this play was The Enchanted Island. John Dryden wrote The Tempest or The Enchanted Island in collaboration with William Davenant. William Davenant was the unofficial poet laureate of King Charle’s I’s court. The Enchanted Island was an opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. William Davenant was considered a foster child of William Shakespeare. The Tempest or The Enchanted Island was written partly in blank verse and partly in rhythmic prose. Dryden and Davenant kept a good amount of Shakespeare’s original verse. However, the tone of the play was brought down. They also added an impressive amount of their own rhythmic pattern and added a few new characters to the play including Hippolitto, a man who has never seen a woman, and Dorinda, the second daughter of Prospero. While Miranda, the girl who has never seen a man except her father falls in love with Ferdinand, son of the Duke of Mantua. On the other hand, Hippolitto falls in love with Dorinda. Another character is the ghostly ethereal Milcha, who is Ariel's girlfriend.

Another important dramatic work by John Dryden was The State of Innocence, published in 1677. Dryden started writing it in 1674 and before writing this work, Dryden met John Milton and asked for his permission to write and adaption of Paradise Lost. The full title of this play is The State of Innocence and Fall of Man, an Opera. Originally, it was titled The Fall of Angels and Man in Innocence: An Heroic Opera. The State of Innocence is a five-act drama, chiefly focusing on Books 2, 4, 8, and 9 of Milton's poem. Dryden wrote this adaptation in Heroic couplet. Dryden was an admirer of Milton's, and described Paradise Lost as "one of the greatest, most noble and most sublime poems which either this Age or Nation has produc'd".

In 1676, Dryden again published a tragic drama titled Aureng-Zebe which was loosely based on the Indian Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and tells the story of his succession to the throne of Delhi. The other important characters of the play included Shah Jahan, Aurang-Zebe’s father, and Morat (Murad Baksh(, the youngest brother of Aurang-Zebe.

John Dryden again published a tragic drama in 1678 which was titled All for Love; or, the World Well Lost. It is a heroic play written in blank verse. It is again an imitation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Dryden stressed more on the last hours of the life of Antony and Cleopatra. The subtitle of this drama was The World Well Lost. John Dryden took the story of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra in his drama All for Love.

Another important drama by John Dryden was Oedipus which he wrote in collaboration with Nathaniel Lee. Oedipus was published in the year 1679. It was an adaptation of Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles. The full title of the drama was Oedipus: A Tragedy. In the preface of Oedipus, Dryden refers to Sophocles, who wrote the original work, along with Seneca and Comeillie who adapted the subject of Oedipus to create their own works in Latin and French respectively. Dryden then explains why he considers Sophocles’s original work better than Latin and French adaptations.

So we have briefly discussed seven important plays by John Dryden; namely, The Wild Gallant, The Indian Queen, The Tempest, The State of Innocence, Aureng-Zebe, All for Love, and Oedipus: A Tragedy. We will continue to discuss the poetic works of John Dryden. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Babbitt is a satirical novel by Sinclair Lewis that was published in the year 1922. It is a contentious novel that satirizes American culture and society, criticizing the folly of middle-class life as well as social pressures towards conformity. The word babbitt refers to a businessman who conforms to prevailing middle-class standards without questioning them. The story satirizes the popular American dream and describes how an individual is forced to conform to the norms.

Characters:

George F. Babbitt is a successful middle-class real estate broker with a wife and three children. Despite his success, he is not satisfied with his life and family. Myra Babbitt is George’s wife, she is matronly, kind, diligent, and uninteresting to almost everyone. She is devoted to her family and tries to please George. She doesn’t even confront him when suspects him of having an extramarital affair. Ted Babbitt is George’s 17-year-old son who is not very bright in his studies. He is a natural mechanic and doesn’t want to pursue higher studies. He elopes with Eunice Littlefield, a neighborhood girl. Tinka Babbitt is George’s 10-year-old daughter, and Verona Babbitt is George’s eldest daughter. She is a filing clerk at the Gruenberg Leather Company offices. She is interested in social work and progressive socialist politics. She marries Kenneth Scott an emerging reporter. Paul Riesling is one of George’s close friends who used to be his classmate and roommate at State University. He wished to be a violinist but ended up being another businessman. He is very resentful of his wife Zella Riesling who is a religious zealot and uses religion as a weapon against him. Paul shoots at her and goes to jail. Tanis Judique is a beautiful middle-aged widow with whom George develops an affair. Seneca Doane is a progressive lawyer who fights the standardization of thought. Extremely liberal socialist, he heads farmer-labor tickets and inspires Babbitt to temporarily turn to political rebellion.

Summary:

George F. Babbitt is a middle-aged man, a highly successful real estate agent who sells houses at rates that exceed what people are actually able to pay for them. He enjoys his social status and is proud of his house at Floral Heights, as it is standardized from the architecture to the atmosphere, which appeals greatly to Babbitt. But Babbitt is profoundly dissatisfied. His family irritates him, and he generally has the sense that his life is empty. He consistently dreams of a young fairy girl with whom he is happy and free, and he notices every pretty woman he sees. He is greedily devoted to his work. He closes a deal by forcing a poor businessman to buy a piece of property at more than twice its value. This gives him a sense of pride, as he pockets his earnings, feeling that he has done a good job.

To celebrate his success, he calls his old friend Paul Riesling, a talented musician who could have been a successful violinist but was forced to get into the tar-roofing business to provide for his wife, Zilla. Zilla is an eccentric woman who antagonizes other people and then wants Paul to fight for her. She continuously demeans Paul as a coward and irreligious. When Paul discusses his issues with Babbitt, he gets sad and suggests that the two should take a vacation to Maine, away from their wives.

Although he finds the trip refreshing, he reverts to his former habits and uneasiness shortly after returning to Zenith. Although he has always been an upstanding and moral citizen, Babbitt desires to break with social convention and marital fidelity. Meanwhile, Paul gets involved in a heated argument with his wife, and in a fit of rage, he shoots at her for which he is jailed for murdering his wife Zilla. Myra calls Babbitt at his office and informs him about the incident. Babbitt gets shocked and goes to meet Paul at the jail. Meanwhile, Myra goes away to meet some relatives along with the three children. Babbitt feels that his world is collapsing around him, triggering him to go off the rails, adopting a more bohemian and free-spirited way of living. His faith in the almighty dollar has been demolished, and in its place, he has a newfound respect for the importance of living a life of freedom and integrity.

As Babbitt is living alone, he decides to enjoy his freedom to its fullest. He begins an affair with Tanis Judique, an interesting and attractive widow, he begins an affair with her and becomes entangled in her group of bohemian friends. He goes out every night while Myra is away, drinking and dancing until dawn and reveling in his freedom. With the influence of the progressive Seneca Doane, he also frightens and disappoints all of his conservative friends at the Boosters' club by supporting liberal politics and labor union strikes. When he is invited by Vergil Gunch to join the Good Citizens' League and to bring down men like Seneca Doane, Babbitt refuses.

Yet, Babbitt becomes even unhappier when his former associates begin to ignore him and his business begins to suffer on account of his politics and his infidelity. Even his relationship with Tanis loses its appeal when she becomes emotionally demanding.

He severs the extramarital relationship and longs to rejoin the ranks of solid, standard citizens. When Myra falls ill with appendicitis, he has both the motivation and the excuse to renounce his uncharacteristically immoral behavior and return to his more familiar and comfortable lifestyle. He joins the Good Citizens' League, repairs damaged business relationships, shows greater affection for his wife, and renews his membership in the Church. While he returns back to his normal Babbitt life, he appreciates the value of freedom he enjoyed when he was alone. His brief rebellion does slightly change his view of the world. Babbitt discovers that his son Ted has secretly married Eunice, the daughter of his neighbor. He offers his approval of the marriage, stating that though he does not agree, he admires Ted for living his life on his own terms.

Critical Analysis:

Babbitt proved to be a controversial yet successful novel by Sinclair Lewis and became a reason for his Nobel prize in literature. H.L. Mencken hugely appreciated Babbitt and said that this novel was a stunning work of literary realism. Mencken called Lewis “an old professor of Babbittry.” According to H. L. Mencken, George F. Babbitt was an archetype of the American city dwellers who touted the virtues of Republicanism, Presbyterianism, and absolute conformity because "it is not what he [Babbitt] feels and aspires that moves him primarily; it is what the folks about him will think of him. His politics is communal politics, mob politics, and herd politics; his religion is a public rite wholly without subjective significance.

However, many other critics found Babbitt as an exaggeration in Lewis's depiction of the American businessman. Edmund Wilson mentioned that as a prose stylist, Lewis's literary “gift is almost entirely for making people nasty” and the characters unbelievable. Many other critics also criticized and dismissed Babbitt as “a monstrous, bawling, unconscionable satire” and said, “Mr. Lewis is the most phenomenally skillful exaggerator in literature today.”

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

John Dryden | Early Works, Annus Mirabilis the Year of Miracles

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Dryden was the most influential literary figure of the Restoration age of English literature. John Dryden was born on 19^th August 1631 and he died on 12^th May 1700. He was an English Poet, literary critic, satirist, translator, and playwright. John Dryden was known for his use of a sharp edge of praise in his satires to attack his victims. He was appointed as England’s first Poet Laureate in 1688. Sir Walter Scott called him Glorious Dryden as he was the most significant and influential writer of the Restoration Age and that is why this period of English literature is also known as the Age of Dryden.

Dryden established Heroic Couplets as the standard form of English poetry. He wrote successful satires, religious pieces, fables, epigrams, compliments, prologues, and plays in Heroic Couplets.

Influences and Criticism

Alexander Pope was highly influenced by John Dryden and praised his imitation of Horace’s Epistle II by saying “Dryden taught to join / The varying pause, the full resounding line, / The long majestic march, and energy divine." Wystan Hugh Auden said that Dryden was “the Master of middle style.” Samuel Jonson was another admirer of John Dryden who praised Dryden and said, "the veneration with which his name is pronounced by every cultivator of English literature, is paid to him as he refined the language, improved the sentiments, and tuned the numbers of English poetry." Jonson further praised Dryden and said that he found English as a brick and left it to marble. However, Johnson also criticized Dryden for lack of sensibility in his writings and said, "He is, therefore, with all his variety of excellence, not often pathetic; and had so little sensibility of the power of effusions purely natural, that he did not esteem them in others. Simplicity gave him no pleasure."

William Wordsworth strongly criticized Dryden’s work and said Dryden's descriptions of natural objects in his translations from Virgil were much inferior to the originals. Yet, Wordsworth admired many of Dryden’s works and presented his famous ode “Intimations of Immorality” which is stylistically similar to Dryden’s ‘Alexander’s Feast.’ John Keats was another admirer of John Dryden who imitated Dryden’s ‘Fables’ in his poem Lamia. Mathew Arnold ignored John Dryden and Alexander Pope’s influence and suggested that both are “classics of our prose,” with lesser importance in the modern approach. George Sanistbury was an ardent admirer of John Dryden and T. S. Eliot was highly influenced by John Dryden and praised him for writing "the ancestor of nearly all that is best in the poetry of the eighteenth century," and that "we cannot fully enjoy or rightly estimate a hundred years of English poetry unless we fully enjoy Dryden".

John Dryden was an admirer of the Latin language and he often used Latin grammar in the English language and thus proposed that English sentences should not end in prepositions because Latin sentences cannot end in prepositions.

In 1644, John Dryden joined the Westminster School as a King’s Scholar. He wrote his first elegy in Westminster titled About the Death of Lord Hastings. John Dryden joined Oliver Cromwell’s government as an Assistant Secretary of State in 1650, He was close to puritan poets like John Milton and Andrew Marvell and processed with them at the funeral of Oliver Cromwell on 23^rd November 1658. in 1659, he published his first major work titled ‘Heroic Stanzas’ which was a eulogy on Cromwell’s death. It was a cautious and prudent work in its emotional display as Dryden was aware of the upcoming political change. In 1660, Dryden published another major work titled Astraea Redux as a celebration of the return of Charles II to the throne. Astraea Redux is an authentic royalist panegyric work in which Dryden expressed interregnum as a period of chaos that is reduced or removed by the Restoration of the King as he restores peace and harmony. In this work, Charles II is presented as the restorer of peace and order. Dryden was criticized for siding with Royalists while initially, he was part of the Oliver government. But Samuel Jonson protected Dryden by saying that if he changed, he changed with the nation. Dryden successfully transferred his allegiance to King Charles II and wrote two more panegyrics titled To His Sacred Majesty: A Panegyric on his Coronation (1662) that he wrote as a celebration of the coronation of Charles II, and To My Lord Chancellor (1662).

The Puritan ban on English theaters was lifted in 1660. Dryden wrote his first play titled The Wild Gallant which was performed by the King’s Company on February 5, 1663. The play was published in 1667 and at the same time, Dryden published his historical poem Annus Mirabilis.

The literal meaning of Annus Mirabilis is ‘Year of Miracles.’ The poem commemorates the events of years 1665-1666 in London. Despite the title of the poem, the year was full of hardships for England. The poem described the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London in 1666. The title was perhaps meant to suggest that the events of the year could have been worse.

The first event mentioned in the poem of the miraculous year was the Battle of Lowestoft in which the Dutch Naval fleet defeated English ships. The second event was the Fourth Day Batlle of June 1666 which was not a clear defeat of the English forces. The tables were turned on July 25 1666 when English Navy thoroughly defeated the Dutch navy in St. James Day Battle.  All these events constitute the first part of the poem Annus Mirabilis and suggest that despite the earlier setbacks, England miraculously emerged victorious under the leadership of King Charles II.

The second part of Annus Mirabilis majorly deals with the Great Fire of London. King Charles II had already announced his plans for improving and widening the streets of London and soon the fire broke. Despite the losses due to the major conflagration, the fire was stopped and London was saved with a promise that King Charles II will rebuild it. The poetic view of Annus Mirabilis is that these disasters were all averted, that God had saved England from destruction, and that God had performed miracles for England.

The poem contains 1216 lines of verse, arranged in 304 quatrains. Each line consists of ten syllables, and each quatrain follows an ABAB rhyme scheme. While Dryden is known for his use of Heroic couplets in his poems, he followed a pattern referred to as a decasyllabic quatrain in Annus Mirabilis. In this decasyllabic style, each quatrain essentially ends with a full stop and thus the poem gives a feel of prose that was noticed by A. W. Ward. Dryden again praised Charles II in this poem and suggested that a good king is required for the making of a great nation. Annus Miraculous became a strong reason behind the announcement of John Dryden as the first Poet Laureate of England.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Sinclair Lewis was an American writer and playwright who became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. One of his most successful novels is Main Street, published in 1920. It is a satirical novel that begins with references to the start of World War 1. A satirical novel is a form of fiction in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or exposing the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself for improvement. Sinclaire Lewis satirizes the small-town life of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, a fictional town based in Sauk Center, Minnesota. The novel relates the life and struggles of Carol Milford Kennicott as she comes into conflict with the small-town mentality of the residents of Gopher Prairie.

Characters:

Carol Milford Kennicott is a midwestern liberal young woman, a librarian by profession. She marries Doctor Will Kennicott who takes her to a miserable small-town life, away from her more liberal life in St. Paul. The novel mainly concerns her relationship with small-town characters. Dr. Kennicott's natural authority in the small town attracted Carol to him, but he turns out to be more conservative than she originally hoped for. He often criticizes Carol for her curious and spunky attitude. Vida Sherwin is another young woman who marries a man from the town and settles there. Unlike Carol, Vida is conservative and likes Gopher Prairie's old-fashioned society. Bea Sorenson is a resident of Gopher Prairie. Her husband Miles Bjornstam is a free-thinking Swedish man whose wife and child die accidentally. The townspeople consider him responsible for their death. Guy Pollock is a lawyer, a free-thinking man who naturally attracts Carol. He is also tired of small-town life. Eric Vallborg is another resident of Gopher Prairie of Swedish origin. Carol begins an affair with him. Fern Mullins is a young high school teacher. She is not much older than her students and eventually, she falls for one of her students named Cy Bogart. Soon it becomes the talk of the town and she is badly mistreated after which she runs away from the town.

Summary:

Carol Milford is a young, bright, and beautiful student of Blodgett College, Minneapolis, Minnesota. She dreams of settling in a small town and improving it into a place of beauty, culture, and refinement. After completing her graduation, she starts working as a librarian at St. Paul college. One day, she meets Doctor Will Kennicott at a friend’s party and gets attracted to him. Dr. Will Kennicott courts her for a year and then he marries her. After their marriage, they move to Will’s hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota.

Carol finds out that Gopher Prairie is a dull conservative town and she gets disappointed by the narrowmindedness of the people of Gopher Prairie. Carol observes that the town’s people are thoroughly uncultured and often backbite against each other. She comes in contact with Will’s neighbor Mrs. Bogart who is a religious zealot who hypocritically gossips about others. Bea Sorenson is another young lady who arrives at Gopher Prairie on the same day when Carol arrived. Unlike Carol, Bea gets impressed by the splendor of the town. She decides to stay in the town and becomes Carol’s maidservant.

Carol decides to refurbish Will’s old-style house according to her liking and changes all the furniture. She prepares to throw a party to celebrate her marriage with Will. At the party, Carol realizes that the townspeople do not appreciate any change. Despite her genuine efforts, Carol is criticized by all others for her new thoughts and modern style. She is even derided for her choice of clothing. Carol realizes that she might have made a mistake. She looks for the socialite fun of her city life but finds that the small town is more reserved and intimate than her friends back home. However, she is not giving up without a fight. She always dreamed of transforming such a backward place into a beautiful attractive town with elegance. Gradually she tries to mingle up with the townspeople and recruits a drama club that performs a show titled ‘The Girl from Kankakee. Along with that, she joins a bridge club of young married women and attends a literary society named Thanatopsis Club. Soon she realizes that the programming of these clubs is drab and dull. She tries to reinvigorate Thatopsis Club by giving a push to the library and trying to inculcate a habit of reading in townspeople. People begin to listen to her ideas as she has been a professional librarian. However, the Library Board doesn’t consider the books as a means to bring change or improvement, rather considers them as precious property. The local librarian doesn’t want people to take books for reading because she likes to keep them clean. She feels that if people will take the books for reading, they will get ruined. Will sides with the librarian and accuse Carol of being an elitist and that ensues a bitter argument. Carol meets a local guy named Guy Pollock who is a lawyer by profession and realizes that like her, he also favors a liberal viewpoint. She immediately befriends her and finds him attractive. But soon she realizes that Guy Pollock is not interested in bringing any change and he lives there only because he is suffering from ‘village fever.’ Another lawyer is Percy Bresnahan, a local money man who comes on strong to Carol and gets rejected. She befriends Vida Sherwin, a high school teacher.

Later on, Carol witnesses Will amputating an arm of a patient to save his life and envisions him as a heroic figure. Will and Carol give birth to a baby whom Carol names Hugh after her late father.

Meanwhile, Bea Sorenson marries Miles Bjornstam and gives birth to a child. Miles is ostracized by the townspeople for his support of socialism and the Democratic Party. Bea and her son suffer typhoid. Miles seeks help for their cure but nobody helps. Carol decides to serve Bea as her nurse. After some days, Vida, and two other women visit Bea’s house to see her but they show they're disdained. Miles gets infuriated and tells them to go away. Later on, Bea and her son succumb to death. The town’s people blame Miles for their death and he is forced to flee away.

Carol befriends Erik Valborg who is attracted to her and starts taking her on long walks. Will becomes aware of the growing relationship between Eric and Carol but ignores it. Meanwhile, he develops an affair with Maude Dryer. Meanwhile, Fern Mullins, a young high school teacher gets embroiled in a controversy as rumors of her being in a romantic relationship with one of her students get spread. She is forced to leave the town and flea away. Will realizes the emergency and warns Carol and puts stop to the growing relationship between Carol and Eric. Carol decides to break up with Eric but she is too disheartened by the ill-fate of Fern Mullins. She decides to leave the town and her husband. She goes to Washington DC to work. Will tries to stop her but she says that she will return at a proper time. Carol’s time in Washington gives her a new perspective. She feels as if she can make a small contribution to help change Gopher Prairie for the better. When she returns, Carol accepts the townsfolk for who they are. She continues to fight small battles to enforce change. Soon, Carol gives birth to a daughter, whom she hopes can continue her legacy. In the end, Carol discusses her difficulty in inciting reform as Will inattentively ponders the weather.

In 1921, Main Street was initially chosen as the winner of the Pulitzer Prize. However, the decision was later changed in favor of the TheAge of Innocence by Edith Wharton. In 1926, Sinclair Lewis was again offered the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Arrowsmith but he refused it. In 1930, Sinclair became the first American to win Nobel Prize in Literature. Both Main Street and Arrowsmith were mentioned in the Nobel committee's presentation speech.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

The Restoration Age of English Literature

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The period from 1660 to 1700 is known as the Restoration Age of English Literature. King Charles II came out of exile and was restored in 1660 to reinstall the monarchy in England. The change of government from Commonwealth to Kingship brought a huge change in the mood of the nation. The effect of Puritanism was receding while England was cherishing the Renaissance delight. This period is also known as the Age of Dryden because John Dryden was the most influential or representative writer of this period.

The religious zeal of Puritanism was weakening as the society, in general, was accepting a more rational and realistic approach. The two main events of this period include the establishment of the Royal Society of England which ensured the rapid development of science. The establishment of the Royal Society was a landmark in the history of England. Interest in science began to grow. The growing interest in science caused the beginning of rational inquiry and a scientific and objective outlook. Objectivity, rationality, and intellectual quality also enlivened the literature of this period. The other event that defined the restoration age was the Great Fire of London which was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of London from Sunday, 2 September to Thursday, 6 September 1666. The Restoration of Charles II brought about a revolutionary change in life and literature. The instincts which were suppressed during the previous era came to violent excesses. The King had many mistresses and numerous children. He was surrounded by corrupt and degenerate ministers. Profligacy was glorified in the royal court. Corruption was rampant in all walks of life. The Great Fire of 1665 and the Plague that followed, both were popularly regarded as suitable punishments for the sins of the profligate and selfish King. While London was burning and the people were suffering, the King and his nobles kept up their revels. The beginning of the Restoration began the process of social transformation. The atmosphere of gaiety and cheerfulness, of licentiousness and moral laxity, was restored. The theatres were reopened. There was a stern reaction against the morality of the Puritans. Morality was on the wane. There was laxity everywhere in life. All these tendencies of the age are reflected in the literature of the period.

English Literature had influences from Roman and Greek literature during the Elizabethan, Jacobean and Puritan eras. However, during the Restoration Age, the French influence was predominant because the King had spent the period of his exile in France. The French manners and fashion spread from the court to the aristocracy. It also influenced contemporary literature.

Religious and Political Conflicts

During the years of Charles I, the two political factions were the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. During the age of Restoration, the Whigs and the Tories came forth as the two major political factions. While the Whigs followed the footsteps of Parliamentarians and openly supported the calls of limiting the monarchial powers in the interest of the people and the Parliament, the Tories supported the Divine Right theory of the King and strove to restrain the powers of the people in the interest of the hereditary rulers. These two political forces affected literal works. Prominent literary figures either supported Whigs or Tories through their works. John Dryden was a Tory. During the period of Oliver Cromwell, Puritans enjoyed power after the Restoration. The supporters of the Puritan regime were fanatically persecuted. The nation was predominantly Protestant and the Catholics were unduly harassed. The religion of the King himself was suspect. His brother James was a Papist (Roman Catholic). As Charles II had no legitimate heir, it was certain that after him his brother James, a Catholic, would succeed to the throne. Efforts were made to exclude James from the throne. The King sided with his brother and he removed all obstacles to the accession of James. Dryden‘s famous poem Absalom and Achitophel reflects these religious and political conflicts of the day.

James II ascended the throne in 1685. He soon revealed his Roman Catholic prejudices and he secretly tried to establish Catholicism in the country. He became unpopular within three years and the whole nation rose against him. The bloodless revolution of 1688 called the Protestant William and Mary of Orange to the throne. The country was once again restored to health and sanity. These deep and vigorous movements brought about certain changes in the inner social life. With the revival of factions and parties and the excitement caused by the Popish Plot, a quality of force and ardor revived in civic feelings, so that the tone of literature and social life is somewhat modified. With the political and moral transformation which began in 1688, the very Keynote of English literature, as of English life, was greatly changed. The literature of the Restoration age was starkly different from the literature of the past that enthusiastically supported individual heroism. During the age of Restoration Individual enthusiasm was discouraged while ideals of conduct under reason and common sense, to which all men should adapt themselves were promoted. The writers, both in prose and poetry, tacitly agreed upon the rules and principles by which they should write. Rules and literary conventions became more important than the depth and seriousness of the subject matter to the writers of this period. They express superficial manners and customs of the aristocratic and urban society and did not pry into the mysteries of the human mind and heart. The authors of the period were not endowed with exceptional literary talents. So they turned to the ancient writers, in particular, the Latin writers, for guidance and inspiration. It was generally believed that the ancients had reached the acme of excellence and the modern poets could do no better than model their writings on the classics. Thus grew the neo-classical school of poetry. The neo-classicists or pseudo-classicists could not soar to great imaginative heights or could not penetrate deeply into human emotions. They directed their attention to the slavish imitation of rules and ignored the importance of the subject matter. This habit was noticeable in the age of Dryden. It strengthened in the succeeding the age of Pope. 

The literature during the age of Restoration was realistic. It was very much concerned with life in London, and with details of dress, fashions, and manners. The early restoration writers wrote about corrupt courts and society, emphasized vices rather than virtues, and gave us coarse, low plays without interest or moral significance. The Restoration writers eschewed all extravagances of thought and language and aimed at achieving directness and simplicity of expression. Dryden accepted the excellent rule for his prose, and adopted the heroic couplet, as the next best thing for the greater part of this poetry. It is largely due to Dryden that ―writers developed formalism of style, that precise, almost mathematical elegance, miscalled classicism, which ruled the English literature for the next century.

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Tender is the Night is a semiautobiographical novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that was published in the year 1933. His wife Zelda Sayre (Fitzgerald) was suffering from mental disorders and was hospitalized in Baltimore, Maryland due to her suicidal and homicidal tendencies. During this period, Fitzgerald rented a house in the suburbs of Towson to be close to the hospital where his wife was being treated. Meanwhile, he continued to write the manuscript of his fourth novel. The novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young psychiatrist, and his wife, Nicole, who is one of his patients. The story mirrors events in the lives of Scott and Zelda as Nicole descends into mental illness and Dick starts his descent into alcoholism. While working on the book, Fitzgerald was beset with financial difficulties and drank heavily.

The title of the novel is taken from the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats.

Characters:

Richard Dick Diver is a Yale alumnus, a psychiatrist who gets the responsibility of treating the daughter of a business tycoon. He falls prey to Florence Nightingale Syndrom and marries the rich girl. However, the marriage doesn’t work and he becomes an alcoholic. Nicole Diver is an affluent mental patient who was sexually abused by her father. She improves under the treatment of Dick and falls for him and marries him. Rosemary Hoyt is an eighteen-year-old promising Hollywood actress who falls in love with Dick Diver. Tommy Barban is a Franco-American part-time soldier who admires Nicole and when Nicole fails to save her marriage with Dick, she divorces Dick and marries Tommy Barban. Frank Gregorovious is a Swiss psychiatrist who introduces Dick Diver to Nicole. Beth Warren is Nicole’s sister who opposed her marriage to Dick. Abe North is an alcoholic music composer while Mary North is his spirited wife who later divorces him and remarries a rich man. Albert McKisco is an American novelist who challenges Tommy for a duel. Violet McKisco is the wife of Albert McKisco who discovers that Nicole is suffering from mental illness and gossips about it while demeaning her. Jules Peterson is a black man who helps Abe North and is later found dead on the bed of Rosemary Hoyt.

Summary of Tender is the Night

The novel begins as a third-person narrative with the description of a beautiful ‘rose-colored’ hotel in the south of France on the French Rivera. The first character that appears is the young beautiful actress Rosemary Hoyt. She is just 18 years old and is vacationing in the hotel with her mother. To avoid the attraction of people in the hotel, she wanders off to a less-trafficked part of the hotel and there she sees Dick Diver and his gorgeous wife Nicole Warren Diver. Dick is the son of a prominent minister. He is a genius psychiatrist who married one of his former patients. Nicole Diver was his patient who is an extremely wealthy American. Her sister didn’t approve of their marriage as she believed that Dick married Nicole because of her fortune. However, Dick genuinely cares for Nicole who suffered incestuous sexual abuse from her father. As Nicole faces a mental meltdown, she completely relies on Dick for constant support.

As Rosemary observes the couple, she immediately falls in love with Dick. She adores his sophisticated behavior, personal intelligence, status, and equally wealthy friends. Rosemary admires Nicole and Dick as a couple as they appear so smart, fashionable, beautiful, and glamourous. However, she senses something wrong as if there is a strain in their relationship. She tries to make use of that fissure and imagines developing an affair with Dick. When she finds Dick alone, she tries to kiss him but Dick resists. Yet, he starts feeling warmth towards her and considers having an affair with her.

All appear gay and cheering as the days and nights and tender in the villa. One day, Abe North in his alcoholic spell accidentally kills a black man named Jules Peterson whose body is found in Rosemary’s bed. Rosemary gets horrified and seeks Dick’s help. Dick moves the bloodied body and makes the murder look like an accident so that Rosemary’s film career is not destroyed. Witnessing a homicide, Nicole suffers a mental meltdown and Violet McKisco sees Nicole having a nervous breakdown in the hotel bathroom. Violet gossips around about Nicole and this confirms Rosemary’s suspicion that something is wrong between the couple. As Violet continues to defame Nicole, Tommy Barban, another guest, comes to Nicole's defense and insists that Violet is lying. Angered by this accusation, Violet's husband Albert duels Barban on the beach, but both men miss their shots. Following these events, Dick, Nicole, Rosemary, and others depart the French Riviera.

The narrator then offers some back flashes. Dick was in his early 20s when he met a 16-year-old Nicole in the Viennese hospital where he worked. Dick helps Nicole overcome her fear of men. Gradually, Nicole improves and she becomes infatuated with Dick who, in turn, develops Florence Nightingale syndrome. The Florence Nightingale effect is a trope where a caregiver falls in love with their patient, even if very little communication or contact takes place outside of basic care. Feelings may fade once the patient is no longer in need of care.

Dick determines to marry Nicole to provide her with lasting emotional stability. The couple has two children, they travel extensively, and are visibly happy.

Meanwhile, the murder of Jules Peterson has a strong effect on Nicole, so when a Swiss mental clinic offers Dick a fellowship, the Divers agree to move there. Things go wrong as soon as they reach Switzerland. One former patient of Dick accuses him of cheating on Nicole. Disturbed by this accusation, Nicole purposefully crashes her car. Dick somehow manages to soothe Nicole. Soon he receives news that his father died. He must travel to the States to attend the funeral.

After the funeral, Dick decides to go to Rome where he meets Rosemary who is working on her new film. It doesn’t take long for the two of them to act upon the sexual longings they shared at the French Riviera. However, one day, Dick sees Rosemary with one of her co-actors in a compromising situation and objects to that. Their affair ends abruptly, and a drunk Dick eventually gets in trouble with the police. He is thrown in jail, and Nicole’s sister wires money to meet his bail. Dick is humiliated to his core. After the affair and his time in jail, Dick increasingly feels that he is no longer in control of his life. His reliance on alcohol increases.

He returns back to Switzerland but soon the other staff and patients of the hospital recognize that Dick is often drunk or is reeking of liquor. The management at the clinic eventually pays for him to leave. He starts making scenes in public and Nicole realizes that he is longing for Rosemary, who now is a major star in Hollywood.

Dick and Nicole return to Riviera. One Night Dick gets so drunk that he creates a scene and throws major insults at the couple’s old friends. Forced to support Dick and diffuse the situation, Nicole finds an inner strength that she previously thought she lacked. Nicole tries to better the situation but finds that she cannot do much as Dick is longing for Rosemary who is now a major star in Hollywood. As she realizes that Dick doesn’t love her and their marriage is a sham, she thinks of developing an affair with Tommy Barban who deeply admires her. She seeks divorce from Dick to be with Barban and Dick agrees to the divorce. Nicole soon marries Tommy Barban and begins her new confident and happy life. One day, she learns that Dick has returned to America and is living a nomadic existence. While he pined for Rosemary, she refused to return his affection and Dick continues to deteriorate.

Thus the novel ends here. Fitzgerald considered Tender is the Night is his best work, even better than The Great Gatsby. Tender is the Night has since been ranked as one of the best books of the 20th century. Its themes include adultery, the dangers of fantasy, parenting, the meaning of true love, and the instability of financial and social success.

This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.