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Chapter 2
Robert Sinclair Lewis wrote that his text Main Street, was a representative of "main streets everywhere"1. Some critics labelled it as being "an authentic American story based on the acute observations of people and of social and cultural habits". The critics have wholly ignored McAlmon's work but in my opinion he has achieved a similar task in his writing of Village-As It Happened Through A Fifteen-Year Period2. McAlmon also has made "acute observations" of a typical village and examines the way in which change is entering the villages of America.
Primarily, Village is a text about the 1910's, the pre-war period that saw the beginning of many changes within society and the rise of new cultural trends. McAlmon closely traces the lives of the young members of society through these trends and illustrates how modernity pervades American society. The village in the 1910's seems to be balancing between stability and collapse. On the one hand McAlmon portrays it as a safe and stable environment away from the threat of war. It appears to be a self-sufficient community in which everyone is working together for the continuation of village life. Amongst the older generation there is no desire to leave the village to go to the city because the village holds everything a person needs. Yet on the other hand McAlmon slowly introduces factors such as consumerism and new farming techniques that destabilize the tranquillity and stability of the village. This experimentation reflects a modern society that desires change and progress.
While reflective of a modern society, this is a text that is rich in nostalgia. As an expatriate McAlmon seems to be focusing on past experiences of village life. Lawrence Levine suggests that the 'lost generation' were "attempting to reverse the trends dominating modern America and return to the moral and ethical code of the past"3. I do not think McAlmon is attempting to revert to the 'ethical code of the past' but instead, is trying to make some sense of the pre-war period and examining how war affects situations. By writing the text in the Twenties, McAlmon is able to follow the emerging cultures of his youth and is able to witness their development. He recognises that the War acted as a catalyst for women's movements and subsequently, how the power hierarchy changes in America. This is represented within the text. In examining a cross section of village life he is able to trace these developments from their initial beginnings through to their recognised status as dominant aspects of culture.
This nostalgia is illustrated by a modern style of writing that compliments the changing face of literature, which Malcolm Bradbury discusses in his essay, 'Style of Life, Style of Art and the American Novelist'4. McAlmon moves away from the typical text that runs from start to finish, with chapters separating stories and events and progresses towards a text that resembles more a stream of consciousness, with a continuous flow of stories that are intertwined with each other. They symbolise the 'happening' of events and chart the evolution of people and cultural movements. His experimental technique in writing is perhaps juxtaposed with the experimentation of the events within the text.
The evolution of people and families within Village is important to McAlmon. He recognises that the role of the family is central to the stability of village life. He portrays each family with their own identity that is based upon reputation rather than Class or wealth. Stability is maintained through this reputation because the villagers know what to expect from a particular family "The La Brecs...were recognisable as La Brecs always, as all of them were freckled, with some manner of sandy, brick or carrot coloured hair...all of them had the leanness and sharpness of facial feature"(16). This security also balances between apparent traditional family roles and changing family structures. I write 'apparent' because the text is a novel and not a historical discourse.
Within family life, traditional values are rejected by the younger generation. The typical parents in Wentworth expect their children to have a decent Christian upbringing. Thomas Campbell is an explicit example of wanting the best for his children but although described as a "godly man"(159), he physically abuses his children into behaving correctly. This is perhaps an extreme example of implementing traditional values but it shows how society no longer wants to accept these puritanical principles, as Campbell's son commits suicide "I have to go. There's no use. I won't stand it anymore"(161). The rejection of traditional family values illustrates a changing social climate. Campbell refuses to adapt and so drives his son to suicide.
In ignoring small-town values the younger inhabitants enter into a period of self-discovery. As McAlmon emphasises, those who moved away from the village could literally re-invent themselves and their status because, for the first time in their lives, they were among people who didn't know them (136). In having easier access to money the younger generation could take new directions in life. The improved quality of education allowed them better jobs that the village did not possess as McAlmon says, "some of the most promising generations of young men and women of the earlier generations were clerking in the shoe or department stores, or were travelling salesmen, or schoolteachers"(250). The changes that are within the whole area of the service sector allow men and women to move away from the village and to avoid working on the land or in the school.
The modern world is appealing to the young, while figures of the older generation, such as Campbell, try to cling to traditional values. McAlmon illustrates that there is a shift away from the village and believes that these factors contribute towards the destabilisation. He goes on to illustrate that the extension of the town boundaries came about because of shifting population trends and the rise of consumerism, "inhabitants were coming in; young people were going away, to college, to work in cities, to return disappointed, or not to return, in which case they were forgotten"(252). The move away from the village marks the beginning of consumerism and shows that the village is no longer self-sufficient. The arrival of travelling salesmen promote desire and need that were absent or limited before. The women are offered things they cannot usually get in the village and buy for the sake of it, "there was a mob, rush, smash, squash and bang through the portals...women were scurrying up and down the aisles of counters where goods were placed...sure that they had a bargain"(103). These factors like the rise of mass consumerism and the movement away from the village all bring inevitable differences that alienate the older generations.
The growing generational gap is wide and McAlmon emphasises its growth in the text. He does this by charting the development of culture over a fifteen-year period. These social changes are forms of experimentation and go against values that have been in existence for years. The attitude towards alcohol is an example of this. Prohibition was seen by many as a desperate attempt to reassert old values. The tale of Mr James is repeated throughout the text as a reminder to the dangers of drinking. This idea is promoted to the younger people in the form of an elocution contest as a subtle way of infusing temperance into their minds. Mrs Hammer uses this as way of making men pure and as the critic George Mowry suggests, temperance is an attempt to raise the standards of men5. It is one such change that seeks to destabilize the position of men within society. The Women's Liberation Society also sought to change patriarchal society. They aimed to move away from the traditional representation of women, filling traditional roles and living traditional lives as housewives. Nellie Angus represents this new class of woman. Her conversation is marked as being "racy"(136) and in taking up "stenography"(135) proves herself independent and illustrates how women in society are changing. The fact that she has a job in the city is a symbol of her status.
The flapper culture was the onset of this change, rejecting traditional values and principles for a new way of living. The dated values of sex were ignored as women slept with whom they chose, "no girl was immune from the suggestion of being fast if she consorted at all with men"(62). This liberation is adopted by the younger generation of Wentworth women. Olive La Brec with her dress "that revealed her body so sensuously"(92) seems to be a part of the emerging flapper culture that rejected traditional dress codes and were bold with new styles and modes of fashion. In reading society with hindsight McAlmon identifies all the insignificant traits of women in the 1910's that are prominent features of flapper-hood in the Twenties. McAlmon also mentions Lenore a few times in the text for her 'flapperish impertinences', and goes on to marvel how "she could have walked into any musical comedy or revue and have become a flapper star overnight"(84).
The emergence of the 'It' girls coincides with the rise of consumerism and there is a natural movement of women towards the city where their needs can be attained. Similarly, both Fitzgerald and Hemingway adopt the flapper image in their work. However, their representations of men are very different, but equally as real as those in Village. McAlmon presents the men of Wentworth as solid, hardworking and respectful figures of the community. They are not granted a vast amount of leisure time that both Gatsby and Barnes might enjoy. Their position is however being challenged and undermined by factors such as the temperance movement, sexual freedom and other cultural changes.
The boys of the village are striving to be seen as men through their drinking and sexual activities. McAlmon emphasises that there is little to do in Wentworth for children and so they are forced to grow up quicker as this dialogue between two boys shows, "I bet you'd be afraid to put it into a girl even if she ast you. If you can't take a sip of whiskey, or beer at least, you don't need to try and make me think you did anything to them White girls the other night up in the hay loft"(58). The activities of sex and drinking are ways of subverting the standards set by the older generation and are seen as "a great scandal"(61) that rocks the stability of the village. They want to be perceived as men, especially when the divide between the men and boys is minimal. This divide is illustrated by the rowdy boy/man activities of Halloween. There is a sense of the homoerotic within this community of men. As an expatriate in Paris, McAlmon would enjoy the company of male writers and artists and can identify with a crisis in gender that followed the War. As Sedgwick shows6, men living in close communities were very much a part of the homosocial. McAlmon's experience is drawn from this, living closely amongst men, and this can be related back to his childhood within Village. The children of the text may be representatives of his personal childhood experiences. As children Gene and Peter have a desire for each other that surpasses the normal levels of friendship, "They seemed very near and very far from each other...he almost resented his affection for Gene...he saw that Gene felt about him as he did about Gene; attracted, and antagonistic too"(11). Another boy, Glenn, experiences this level of friendship in a more explicit example later in the text. As buddies, Glenn missed "the fraternity house atmosphere, of fellowship with members of his own sex"(70). His homoerotic dream confirms his sexual ambivalence as we read, "The figure approached him as he was sitting slumped into a chair. 'I've been looking for you, Glenn...Take my hand' the figure said, and put one arm about Glenn's shoulder, while he took Glenn's hand with his own hand. After a moment he leaned over so that Glenn could feel the warmth of his body, and Ted's breath against his face. He stirred slightly, but felt no objection. The embrace of his friend became more firm, and his lips pressed against Glenn's"(72).
Although shocking for the Twenties, this dream reveals the inevitable changes that follow an experience such as War. The dream symbolises changing male roles within society and its inclusion in the text is intended merely to awake our perceptions towards homosexuality. Glenn was not a soldier but a member of an all-male fraternity house that reaffirms Sedgwick's ideas of the homosocial. What it does contribute to, is a crisis of gender within male society that acts to destabilize patriarchal dominance. McAlmon explores this crisis through the playful encounters between boys and attempts to justify this behaviour, passing it off as childish innocence. Yet towards the end of the text this innocence is replaced with homoerotic scenes involving both characters now as adults. The re-emergence of Peter living in Paris further emphasises the role of Paris for the expatriate and also for the homosexual.
Peter Reynolds, if remembered or mentioned at all by any of the old time younger people, was thought to be leading a dissolute life, somewhere in Europe, probably Paris, which was always known to be an immoral city. (250)
Although conclusions are drawn about Peter's "dissolute life" in Paris, nothing can prepare us for the most prominent scene that affects the stability of patriarchy. The castration scene is a symbolic emasculation that could be contrasted with Hemingway's castrated character, Jake Barnes. The castration of the old grocery peddler is represented graphically "the three young men laid strong hands on him and carried him kicking and protesting into a woodshed back of the old lady's house. There upon the workbench Alfred Bingham performed the operation, with a jack-knife"(65). Yet this castrated man dies and does not have to suffer the sexual frustrations shared by his eunuch counterpart Jake Barnes. It represents a symbolic disempowerment of men and only adds to the crisis in patriarchy.
McAlmon illustrates how the role of men within society changes after the war. He demonstrates the many trends that contribute towards the denunciation of patriarchy and force men to accept women as their equals. He represents men and their roles in relation to an evolving society. There are many destabilizing factors that challenge their dominant position and so McAlmon illustrates that men have to adopt new roles suitable for the new social environment of the Twenties.
1 Ann Massa, American Literature in Context IV 1900-1930, Methuen Inc., 1982, p 105.
2 Robert McAlmon, Village-As It Happened Through a Fifteen-Year Period, n.d., c1924, University of New Mexico Press, rpt., 1990. All subsequent references to this text will be shown in brackets following the quotation. Subsequent references to the text will be abbreviated to Village.
3 Lawrence Levine, 'Progress and Nostalgia: The Self Image of the Nineteen-Twenties', in Malcolm Bradbury, ed., The American Novel and the Nineteen-Twenties, Stratford Upon Avon Studies, Edward Arnold, 1971, p. 45.
4Malcolm Bradbury, 'Style of Life, Style of Art and the American Novelist in the Nineteen-Twenties', in Malcolm Bradbury, ed., The American Novel and the Nineteen-Twenties, Stratford Upon Avon Studies, Edward Arnold, 1971, p.17.
5 George Mowry, ed., The Twenties: Fords, Flappers and Fanatics, Prentice Hall Inc., 1963, p. 67.
6 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, Columbia University Press, 1985.