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AN ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL ARCHETYPE by W BRETT WILEY

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AN ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL ARCHETYPE by W BRETT WILEY THE AMERICAN CAIN: AN ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL ARCHETYPE by W BRETT WILEY (Under the Direction of James Nagel) ABSTRACT There is a national archetype based on Cain, the son of the Biblical Adam. The figure, the offspring of R. W. B. Lewis’s American Adam, appears when a character exhibits specific Cainian traits and reenacts his life experiences, most notably the murder of a double, either in pursuit of the American Dream or as a result of a failure to attain the opportunity suggested by the national ideology. There are a number of examples of the archetype, in particular, Frank Norris’s McTeague, Caroline Gordon’s Rion Outlaw, and John Steinbeck’s Caleb Trask. The evidence of a second national archetype is a significant addition to the study of American literature, providing a necessary addendum to Lewis’s seminal work, The American Adam . The American Cain, who serves as a representative of the consistent conflict in the country that can often turn violent, provides perspective on the overt hope and idealism of the figure Lewis identified in the early writings of American authors and reveals the inherent issues with the dream to which he corresponds. INDEX WORDS: American Cain, American Adam, American literary archetypes, American Dream, Frank Norris, McTeague , Caroline Gordon, Green Centuries , Penhally , John Steinbeck, East of Eden , The American Adam , Cain, Abel THE AMERICAN CAIN: AN ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL ARCHETYPE by W BRETT WILEY B.A., Berry College, 1998 M.A., The University of Georgia, 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2008 © 2008 W Brett Wiley All Rights Reserved THE AMERICAN CAIN: AN ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL ARCHETYPE by W BRETT WILEY Major Professor: James Nagel Committee: Douglas Anderson James Kibler Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2008 iv DEDICATION For Elizabeth and Olivia v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks to Dr. James Nagel, Dr. James Kibler, Dr. Douglas Anderson, and Professor Jere Morehead who provided support, encouragement, and advice during my graduate studies. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1 The Son of the American Adam ............................................................................... 1 2 McTeague : The Dentist and the American Dream ................................................... 77 3 Green Centuries : Progress, Tradition, and the American Cain............................... 128 4 East of Eden : Paradox and the American Cain ...................................................... 199 5 The Continued Relevance of the American Cain ................................................... 275 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 323 CHAPTER 1 THE SON OF THE AMERICAN ADAM “Few literatures can compare with America’s for sustained analysis of national character, and for regular discussion of alternative societies. Through the phenomena of independence, republicanism and the melting-pot, the Old/New polarity became, and remains, a social and literary fixation. There was, of course, no single New World, no single Old: reactions and expectations varied from individual to individual, from one national to another. But the sense of a fresh start of gigantic potential and proportions, the chance to create the world over again, an Eden without a Fall, without an Eve, was common to everyone.” 1 “Generally, what emerges from the antislavery moment, the Civil War, and the inequities of Reconstruction is the problem of democracy in a nation whose destiny was no longer so clearly manifest.” 2 “The [Cain-Abel] myth itself . is a foundation myth[,] and the emergence of . Cain presents the character best suited to lead his time into a new order of being.” 3 I. A New American Hero From its beginnings, America has been characterized as a place of opportunity and freedom 2 for all those who seek a new start, whether they are natural citizens or immigrants arriving in the United States for the first time. Many of the earliest arrivals viewed their journey to the “New World” in Biblical terms, uniting the Genesis account with their trip to the land of promise and potential. As a letter writer in the anonymously scribed Mourt’s Relation declares, the country where the separatists landed on that first journey to what was to become Plymouth was “one the most pleasant, most healthful, and most fruitful parts of the world.” It was as Scott Donaldson and Ann Massa articulate, “in the passage across the Atlantic, [the pilgrims] believed themselves transformed, lifted by God out of history and into a new Eden.” 4 Richard Slotkin echoes these comments, arguing that the new inhabitants not only believed they were in a second “Garden” but further accepted the idea that “the New World was . an Eden from which the serpent and forbidden trees had been thoughtfully excluded.” 5 David Noble suggests that those early ideals created a pervasive belief that anything was possible for the citizens of the country, a perspective that remained ubiquitous as time passed: The soaring faith of the American romantic affirmed the ability of the average citizen to rise above his personal weakness and the traditions and institutions of his European ancestors because, in the United States, every individual was in close contact with nature; the West was a limitless national reservoir of spiritual strength. 6 A seemingly uncorrupted “nature” offered the original settlers the chance for a new beginning; the frontier, which appeared to stretch infinitely to the West, only expanded those initial beliefs. The “soaring faith” of the citizenry increased the possibility that a re-creation of Eden could be achieved, inhabited by Adams and Eves seeking a better life. The attitude first perpetuated by William Bradford and others in early texts, and then 3 described by Donaldson, Slotkin, and Noble, was adopted by many of the first arrivals to the land. No matter their original intentions, whether for religious liberty, economic opportunity, or just a new beginning, the first immigrants risked death, disappointment, and financial ruin for the chance to improve their situation in that second Eden. Their efforts and idealism produced a shared belief, the genesis of the American Dream, that setting foot on new soil would free them from the hardships they left behind and would offer them a better, more prosperous life. As William Bradford writes in Of Plimouth Plantation , the “New World” promised “vast and unpeopled countries” that were “fruitful and fit for habitation,” a welcomed replacement for the persecution the pilgrims faced in England and the temptations and “great licentiousness” they found in Holland. 7 In some cases, the experiment worked to great success. Despite considerable obstacles and some questionable methods, communities, towns, and eventually a nation grew out of these first ventures, and roots were laid for commercial, political, and societal development. Those who journeyed across the ocean for the right to practice their beliefs in their own way found the space to do just that. Others who sought business opportunities discovered a viable location in which to pursue such ends. Those who merely wanted to have a fresh start met that desire amidst the burgeoning society. Settlements were established, commerce flourished, and citizens reveled in freedom as they pursued their dreams in a growing country. For those willing to take the chance, the developing states provided space to pursue individual desires; it was, in fact, a new Eden of sorts. The ideals of future opportunity and freedom from the past pervaded the developing land; as a result, they came to be represented by an archetype that, according to R. W. B. Lewis, was defined in the early writings of the nation. In 1955, he published what was to become a seminal investigation of early American writing, arguing that a national icon did exist that embodied such 4 optimism and hopefulness and provided a model that citizens could follow. In The American Adam , he reports that the most influential thinkers and authors of the young country, reflecting, in some part at least, the collective mind of the culture, recreated the first man of the Bible on the shores and in the forests of the “New World.” The figure established a path of progress for new arrivals and represented potential fulfillment for those who were laying down roots. Lewis illustrates that the writings of American intellectuals and authors offered a varied but continually developing picture of the American Adam, a prescription for what the people, and in turn the nation, could become. Grounded in the beliefs of Protestant pilgrims seeking the Edenic promises of the “New World,” the earliest inhabitants embraced the foundations of the American Dream, an idea that established them in a place of independence, economic and social opportunity, freedom, and the prospect of future success. The dreams of a culture produced a hero that satisfied the hopes of countrymen from all perspectives, whether Puritans, Transcendentalists, Congregationalists, atheists, or others. Each group could, in different ways, recognize and embrace the character for its own ends. As Lewis shows, within one hundred years of the
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