Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 2011 John Savage John Klyczek Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Klyczek, John, "John Savage" (2011). Masters Theses. 288. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/288 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. *****US Copyright Notice***** No further reproduction or distribution of this copy is permitted by electronic transmission or any other means. The user should review the copyright notice on the following scanned image(s) contained in the original work from which this electronic copy was made. 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PLEASE SIGN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of cop . g it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. ¥VII Date I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University NOT allow my thesis to be reproduced because: Author's Signature Date This form must be submitted in duplicate. 1 of 1 5/9/2011 13:58 John Savage (TITLE) BY John Klyczek THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Masters of Arts in English IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 2011 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE 1\ \ ~ it'lI\"t'f ')- 01.( i '\. -~v('- .r, £ ,+KtL-(~~l THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR DATE ~ARTM~S~OL ~AIR \i dATE OR CHAI~GNEE ,{)~ ~ "t-?(J-klj THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER DATE THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER DATE ~A't ;LV{ ( DATE THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER DATE Copyright 2011 by John K1yczek To Melissa Anne Ruthenbeck, who taught me to Love. To my Mother, Susan Klyczek, who Loved more than anyone I've ever known; and to my Step-Father, Gary Smith, who Loved her and cared for her through her final hours. To my Father, John Alan Klyczek, whose Love is like Promethean Fire that consumes or forges; and to my Step-Mother, Angela Klyczek, whose Love is strong enough to kindle that fire. To Sol Ennis, the Love of my Life. To L'Trevenei'r "Ari" Arijont Phillips, my Brother in Love Forever. To The Denvits, especially Doris, who Love me like Family and gave me a Home when I had nowhere to go. To David Simon-Toledo and Kenny White, who taught me to fight for Love. And to God, who is Love Eternal and Infinite. Table of Contents Acknowledgments v Critical Preface vii Chapter 1: John Savage Chapter 2: Mind/Body Split 20 Chapter 3: Of Love and Budo: How to Break a Promise 43 Chapter 4: Ashok and Eye 51 Chapter 5: Of Trash and Treasure 64 Chapter 6: Never-Never Land: I Still Love You 84 Chapter 7: Let Go 102 Chapter 8: Mending Is Better Than Ending III Works Cited 123 Works Consulted 129 v Acknowledgements In my brief twenty-seven years on this blue and green speck of cosmic space dust, I have seen things and done things and experienced things I never dreamt of as a boy. To enumerate all those journeys would require more pages than is appropriate for an acknowledgments prelude-to say nothing of the egotism it would require. So suffice it to say here that I have changed, and that I can only take but partial credit for those changes; as such I would like to give credit where the rest of that credit is due: To my sister. Raelene Stamm, and her children, Bradley Stamm, Casey Stamm-my goddaughter-, and Lucy Stamm, who carry my Mother's Love and my Hope for a better tomorrow. To Josh Willett, who was found with me in that Lost Forest. To Chris Brown, who taught me to be Free. To Justin Johnson, who taught me to find Truth within. To Mandi Johnson, who taught me to find magick in Nature. To my cousin, Jordan Massey, who taught me the skills to write, record, and produce my independent hip-hop album John the Baptist. To Dan Krupa, who lifted me up to The Humanities. To Joe Compratt, who led me to Christ and the martial arts. To Mike Parker, who Baptized me in Christ. To Matthew Thomas and his wife Sarah, who walk with me in Christ-thank you for your financial support with my medical bills, and God Bless little Willow; may she be Light to this world of darkness. To the Eastern Illinois University Christian Campus House and everyone there who has Loved me in Christ as members of His Body. To Andrew "Ski" Szczecinski, my Brother in Christ, and the best, most open-minded training partner I've ever had in my eleven years in the martial arts. To Tony Chauncey, for his friendship and all of his wisdom as a musician, lyricist, producer, and sociopolitical activist. To Ashok Bhusal, my Brother in Brahman, who taught me to eat healthy and nourish my mind, body, and atman together as one. v vi To Colin Scholl, whose libertarian arguments helped to convert me from devout Marxism. To Dr. Michael Loudon, Dr. Jyoti Panjwani, and Dr. Danny Otto, who have always found the time to spend countless hours with me in their offices discussing history, philosophy, politics, religion, and literature. To W. Brett Anderson, Instructor of Geography at EIU, whose friendship and guidance as faculty supervisor of my independent study in cultural geography and social theory helped lay the launch pad from which I came to discover the connections between Malthusian eugenics, geopolitics, and the co-opted environmentalist movement. To my thesis committee, Dr. Letitia Moffitt, Dr. Daiva Markelis, and Dr. John Martone, for all of their help with John Savage and all of my creative fiction, non-fiction, and poetry throughout my study at EIU. To all of my peers in ENG 4763: Fiction Writing; and ENG 5020: Graduate Workshop in Creative Writing (Fiction), whose critiques and workshop contributions have helped to improve my craft as a novelist and author of fiction. To all of the English Department faculty at EIU, for all of the time and resources they have invested in me as a scholar-especially Dr. Tim Taylor, Dr. Fern Kory, Dr. Ruth Hoberman, Dr. Julie Campbell, Dr. Christopher Hanlon, Dr. Christopher Wixson, and Dr. Tim Engles. And to Alex Jones, all the Infowarriors, and everyone everywhere who exercises the courage to be ridiculed, ostracized, and even persecuted for speaking the Truth in defense of Love, Goodness, and Humanity's God-given right to Freedom. God Bless you all. VI vii Critical Preface My Masters Thesis, John Savage, is a retelling of Brave New World from the perspective of John "the Savage" -a loose retelling, much in the same way as Oh Brother Where Art Thou is a loose retelling of Homer's Odyssey-in which the historical and contemporary sociopolitical-economic derivations of the leitmotifs composing John Savage are fore grounded in contrast with Aldous Huxley's sublimation of those very same historical, sociopolitical-economic policies and events from which he derived the leitmotifs composing Brave New World. Responding to Huxley's misanthropic characterization of John "the Savage," my Masters Thesis, John Savage, is a denunciation of the implicit misanthropy in Brave New World and a revolt against it somewhat in the same way that Brave New World is a parody of "the horror of the Wellsian Utopia and a revolt against it" (qtd. in Baker 23). In particular, John Savage is a revolt against the eugenicist notion of genetic inferiority as insinuated through Huxley's portrayal of John "the Savage" as a cerebrally-challenged, superstitious, sexually-repressed, sadomasochistic primitive; likewise, the novella is also a revolt against the eugenicist belief in biological determinism through genetic inheritance. John Savage expresses its refutations of those eugenicist, biological determinist dogmas through the protagonist's-John Savage's-struggle to escape the sins of his father and break his family's generational cycle of abuse.