Great American Novels

Over the course of the semester, the fundamental question of this class has been: what factors determine a “Great American Novel”. Whether a novel is great or not is subjective, but I believe there are a few decisive features that make a book worthy of this prestigious title. A truly great American novel must demonstrate a uniquely American experience or idea, and apply it to relatable characters. Just because a novel is set in the United States does not necessarily mean it is an American novel in the sense of this class. The American experience is necessary for a great American novel because it provides the significance and meaning. It is either a criticism or glorification of something exclusively American. The author’s goal is to make a commentary on a certain piece of US culture or history through the medium of a fascinating story. The story of a great American novel must be compelling and relatable to the American audience. If the story is not compelling or the audience cannot relate to it, the meaning is lost. While the story may seem like the most important aspect of any novel, in this case the deeper meaning behind the story is more important. If a novel contains an interesting story that is relatable and makes a meaningful and reasonable commentary on American society, it is in my opinion a “Great American Novel”.

Francie Nolan is a young avid reader and writer who is very unique and has been faced with many hardships surrounding her life. Here is a playlist that highlights some aspects of her character. I expanded on three of the songs and explained why I chose them, the rest of the songs are listed at the bottom of this post. 

1. Walden Pond by Atta Boy

There are two reasons why I chose this song. One reason is that this song mentions the singer’s father quite a bit, and a line that particularly resonates is “I’m just the daughter of a man who lives on oak and wine”. These lyrics can easily be applied to Francie’s alcoholic father. However, this is not the reason why I chose this song, I chose it because the message is one of well wishes and optimism, which are primary characteristics of Francie. 

2. Tears In The Typing Pool by Broadcast

This song is about writing. It reminds me of what Francie might feel like when she is sitting on the fire escape reading, or when she is deep in thought and writing. It portrays a sense of calm and peace in her inner world.

3. The First from Me That’s Flown by Sorcha Richardson

This song is very melancholic and reminds me of how Francie might feel about her Dad’s death. The lyrics that are particularly poignant are “They say we’ve time on our hands, but no we don’t. Keep you on my mind, I’m keeping you close.” It is a very honest song that deals with the death of a loved one.

Here are the other songs I included on the playlist:

My Little Corner of the World by Yo La Tengo

Plants by Crumb

Spacing Out by beabadoobee

Young by Frankie Cosmos

Although many of my peers hated and dreaded reading this book freshman year, To Kill A Mockingbird was easily the best book I read throughout my high school english classes. Describing this book as a classic is appropriate, but in my opinion, is truly one of the greatest American novels of all time. It teaches a lesson of prejudice and unfairness in the judicial system, something that unfortunately is still prevalent to this day, as well as how racism in this country hasn’t gone away whether or not we like to admit it. It makes me sad to think about the fact that some schools are completely taking this out of their curriculum, since I think that it is an essential read for everyone, especially at the high school level. Yes, I understand the fact that the book uses racial slurs that are not acceptable in today’s society, but at the end of the day, it is the biggest lesson the book is trying to teach. It’s telling us these things because they were bad then, and they’re bad as well too! If we as a nation and the future don’t learn about our history and what we did wrong so many years ago, we are bound to repeat it. It’s just that simple.

Binx is the main character in “The Moviegoer” yet he is constantly pushed around by his family and never really until the end gets to decide his own path. His Aunt although does play a large role in this life but disregards Binx’s opinion and decides that he should become a doctor even though he is already a stock broker. These ideas from his Aunt don’t stop there and she even tries to block the relationship between him and his future wife his Cousin Kate. His Aunt constantly belittles Kate and says things behind her back, yet Binx never stands up to her. His aunt even hired an investigator to figure out Kates location after she left for a few days, and once realizing she was with Binx she screamed at him forcing him to come back immediately. This lack of strength on Binx’s part makes his character very hard to cheer for because constantly he is being ignored and put down. Even though he eventually finds his way, it seems like he’s unbothered by his family’s consistent criticism even though I believe it should have played a larger role. In the end this makes rooting for Binx as a character very difficult as he really never stands up for himself even though he things he has the intellectual and moral high ground. 

The theme of fate vs. fortune is one that comes up quite often in No Country for Old Men. The biggest feature of this in the novel is the infamous coin toss scene, when Chigurh is debating with the store clerk––but in reality is just internally arguing––he goes back and forth many times over whether the tiny decisions you make in your everyday life affect your future, or if the universe just has a funny way of figuring things out on its own. While I believe that some decisions you make, such as bigger ones (where you go to college, where you decide to live, who you decide to marry) definitely have an impact on your future, the tiny ones (what you ate today, what you decided to wear today, etc.) have practically no influence on your future. However, the day after we were done reading the book as a class, I got home and my dad was home early from work for some reason. And there he was, on the couch, watching Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell in the movie, No Country for Old Men. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide for yourself. I absolutely thought it was freaky coming home to see that just playing on TV after such a big discussion piece was about fate vs. fortune.

Throughout the novel the main characters disregard love and are quite selfish in this. This is never addressed though in the book, and made it quite awkward to read. Binx for example near the beginning of the book explained how he keeps having affairs with his secretaries and how they always eventually break up with him getting bored. He knows this about himself yet later in the book becomes romantically involved with his new secretary. This is problematic for a number of reasons, first he knows that he is using her but she never really knows this, as-well as Sharon the secretary is also married. Sharon’s cheating never even plays a factor and Binx is completely fine with this. This disregard for love happens throughout, yet is really never addressed and I believe this puts a bad light onto Binx as a character. This happens again with Binx’s cousin Kate. She eventually breaks off her engagement and really messes with her past fiance by delaying the marriage, leading him on and eventually leaving him at the last second. Kate, Sharon and Binx romantically are all very selfish characters, but for some reason the book doesn’t really address this or even mention this fact. Binx even doesn’t really even seem bothered by his actions or those around him aswell.

While reading the novel “Revolutionary Road,” I find myself afterwards scared for marriage and pretty much every relationship to come after this point. The theme of April and Frank being unhappy in their current lives after marriage with kids is something so prevalent in this book, and it honestly has me questioning my whole life. Do I want to have kids anymore? Do I want to get married and live in the suburbs with a golden retriever or two? I understand that kids bring joy into many parents’ lives, but are also a lot to take care of. I also understand the fact that April and Frank didn’t plan their lives to go like this, but that could happen to anyone at the end of the day. People’s lives change everyday due to little things, most of which are inevitable. My whole life I have dreamed of having kids someday, but if I am truly going to change as a person in almost every aspect of my life for that, maybe I don’t want it. Just the thought of being that unhappy makes me scared for the future, but at the end of the day everything is going to be ok, right?

I believe that other than the obvious motive for the killing of Willie, Vernon giving the gun to Jack is the largest factor in the eventually murder. The idea of fear of death for Jack was a large driving factor in the book and this constant theme that was almost taken away once Jack got the gun. With his original reluctancy to have the gun, eventually it gave him the confidence to eventually commit the murder. As well as it was very much a crime of passion, I believe that if Vernon didnt give the gun the murder would not have happened. Jack was a very collected character throughout he book and his actions if you had only read the first 3/4 of the book it would have come as a surprise that he committed murder. This is even shown with his humility at the end bringing the body to the nuns. With all of these factors it is clear that his new ego with owning the gun and the paranoia of the fear of death were the main factors in the murder. And if Vernon did not give him the gun, I believe the murder wouldn’t have happened.

In this long blog I will be discussing what The Moviegoer teaches us about life. I believe the main themes which can be derived from the novel can teach us tons about our everyday life. These themes I will be discussing are existentialism, religion, and finding your path. For the main character Binx, these are all important issues and throughout the novel these are discussed. And with these themes they can all play a major part of your life.

The topic of existentialism is one that talks about your meaning and your free will on the earth. This culminates in a search that Binx has for what his path and why he was put onto the earth. This involves him thinking through his own life and trying to figure out how God and religion all plays a part. He is catholic, but he is still searching and not firm in his beliefs. This puts him in a situation where he doesnt have a strong framework to why hes on the earth and this he struggles with throughout. Binx also has a unique viewpoint on this search for his path because he is also a veteran of Vietnam. This was a point in a book that for many veterans they could relate to as coming back from war you are how put into a completely different world with new challenges and procedures. Following his return from war, Binx never really found his path and is constantly second guessing his choices, which doesn’t help with his family trying to change his career. In the end though he never really comes to a clear conclusion on nearly any of the issues of his path, religion or even his meaning. This allows readers to draw there own conclusions from the book, and this can be taken many ways. For example many catholics can takeaway the religious aspects of the book, while atheists can relate to the search for true meaning of religion. This is really where you can learn and what the book can teach us.

The book teaches us through his search for his path that its never a concrete way and there are always turns, steps backwards and adjustments needed on the way. It also teaches us that we shouldn’t just listen to others opinions and take there word as truth, we should develop our own opinions and look for our own truths. This is true for religion as-well as we should look to find our own place spiritually. You should constantly think twice and you should give your own opinion. There is also constant improvement that we can make personally. Binx even though he considered himself a boring person, he was constantly trying to better himself. And finally you need to make choices for yourself even in spite of what others think and will say. Constantly in the novel Binx doesn’t really stand up to his family and they really choose a majority of his life, but eventually Binx finds some happiness in forging his own path in a career and marriage.

Overall from the novel and from Binx what you can learn about and use for your own life is following your own path and coming to your own conclusions. As the book title says you shouldnt become a “moviegoer” in your own life, you should stand up to your choices and forge your own path even if there are setbacks along the way. You shouldnt just take everything as tehy come, instead you should try to find your own meaning and this can be in all aspects of life, in your job, dating, and even relationships with family and religion.

A fundamental theme of White Noise is a fear of death and one’s own mortality. It follows the main character’s attempt to overcome his own fear of his death through the control of others mortality. I argue that instead of fearing one’s mortality, one should instead embrace. As a wise turtle once said “one often meets their fate on the path they take to avoid it”. Fear of death is entirely healthy, as the human brain evolved to fear uncertainty’s, and death is the ultimate uncertainty, as you can never truly know what happens after. You can hold religious beliefs, you can embrace nihilism, you can become a slave to consumption as demoed by White Noise, but at the end of the day, no one knows what truly comes after, and this is intrinsically terrifying. To deal with this uncertainty, and our inability to function in the face, we’ve invented a whole host of coping mechanisms, such as religion, and White Noise serves as a critique of these and human nature in general, by showing that whatever action you take, whoever you kill, you cannot escape your own mortality.