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In this essay, I will be discussing how the theme of realism is present in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, and how Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth represents the conventions of postmodernism. I will then explain how realism and postmodernism both depict what life was like during the period they originated despite the century-old age gap between the two. This essay will demonstrate how realism attempts to create scenarios that are similar to real-life and communicate elements of the truth, whereas postmodernism has a more abstract portrayal of the world and uses historical events as metaphors and symbolism entwined with earlier styles of writing.
Realism is identified by literary critics in two ways: (1) a movement of the nineteenth century, related to literary prose fiction, by novelists such as George Eliot and Balzac; (2) human life represented in literature by different historical movements throughout the centuries. Realism was created in the Nineteenth Century as an opposing genre to romanticism, an Eighteenth-Century genre that emphasized nature and the imagination, and the emotions of the individual. Its emergence can be explained in terms of a set of historical conditions linked to the rise of capitalism and consequently, the middle class. As cultural conditions changed, writers turned to more realistic styles of writing to address their new concerns as the struggling middle class, Realism is plausible not because it reflects the world, but because it is constructed out of what is (discursively) familiar (Belsey, 2002:40). Literary realism was the dominant genre from Civil War to World War I, but really did not mean the same thing to all authors. For William Dean Howells, realism was constructed to report just the facts. For Edith Wharton, it was about probing the interior mental states of her characters. Wharton`s realism is all about accurately depicting the emotional and moral dilemmas of upper-class characters. This form of narrative is considered psychological realism, specifically her novel Ethan Frome where the narrator delves into the protagonist`s thoughts and feelings.
Realism sets the boundaries for postmodernism. Postmodernism is the disappearance of the real. This genre moves towards storytelling through sign and symbolization. It is a relatively young genre, originating in 1968 as the new modernism. Metafiction is often a feature present in postmodernist texts, a style of self-aware prose narrative. It is a novel about a novelist writing a novel, each book would also typically have the same title as Lost in the Funhouse. Postmodernism was a move away from poetry-style writing, towards a more fictive narrative, where modernist literature worked on time, and literary postmodernism would work in time (Connor, 2004:63). Modernism had been characterized by its efforts to establish seriousness in the novel whilst incorporating realist influences, whereas postmodernism based itself on the historical impacts on society, it became the thing it represented. This supports my argument that Lost in the Funhouse is a mark of postmodernist literature. Lost in the Funhouse uses self-reflective speech to build a sense of Metafiction, he died telling stories to himself in the dark (Barth, 1969: 95) This draws a link to the Implied Author as it helps the readers to understand the story and the fictionality of it. These metafictional devices serve as a purpose for humor. Barth deconstructs the writing of a short story through the writing of Ambrose`s story.
During the period of writing realism, landscape, and nature were key themes in establishing identity. The conventions of literary realism serve to agender an appearance, make an impression of the real, and support the text’s representation of reality on a theoretical level. In the novel Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton portrays realistic points of view. She achieves this by describing the town of Starkfield, its limited shops, and the people who live there, If you know Starkfield, Massachusetts, you know the post office. If you know the post office you must have seen Ethan Frome drive up to it (Wharton, 2000:33). She appoints each character with specific characteristics that can be easily recognized later in the novel. She describes the landscape, putting the book in a place, that the reader can instantly recognize. Starkfield is represented as a small town, as Ethan Frome is an American realism novella, the focus is on domestic lives. As the narrator is extra-diegetic, they describe the town as being left behind, emphasizing how it is underdeveloped. The name of the town is also a symbolic representation, the adjective stark has connotations of bare and desolate, further exploring how empty the town is. This could be a metaphor for how barren the characters’ lives are, specifically the protagonist Ethan Frome. Despite the novel being rooted in Realism, the description of winter has romantic elements, with its use of metaphors. Just as Ethan`s house had been battered by the accumulated cold of many winters (Wharton, 2000:15), so had Ethan himself.
Edith Wharton employs two narrators to tell the tale in Ethan Frome. The prologue and the epilogue feature an unidentified, omniscient narrator, they have complete and unlimited knowledge of what happens, but all we know about them is they are not a resident of Starkfield. It is in the prologue that the reader understands the novel`s exploration of this mysterious man, Ethan Frome, and wants to know more. It was that night that I found the clue to Ethan Frome, and began to put together this vision of his story (Ethan Frome, 2000: Prologue), the reader only receives the facts that the narrator wants us to have. The first-person point of view in the prologue and epilogue sets out an eyewitness account, giving the novel a sense of intimacy and realism. The narrator then shifts to third person limited, the events of the story unfold in the thoughts and feelings of one character: Ethan Frome. This encourages an emotional involvement between the reader and the character as it forms a connection. The narrator’s interpretation of the snippets of conversation with the people of Starkfield is what sets the tone of the novel, but we are not sure how much of that is the truth.
Lost in the Funhouse opens in the third person perspective. However, throughout the narrative there is the presence of three points of view; the protagonist, the author, and the narrator or speaker, who exists with the metafictional elements in the narrative. The narrator of Lost in the Funhouse is aware the story is written as there are references early on to grammar and language. Italics are employed, in fiction stories especially, for outside intrusive, or artificial voices, such as radio announcements (Barth, 1969:72), Barth uses the narrator to address the issues of story writing as he mentions several alternative ways the story could end, the first expedition found his skeleton in one of the labyrinth corridors (Barth, 1969:95). Lost in the Funhouse tells the story of a family trip to an amusement park, specifically focusing on the funhouse. The protagonist is Ambrose, a 13-year-old boy who gets lost in the funhouse, both literally and metaphorically. The implied author is a construct, the image of the writer that is produced by the reader based on their understanding of the text. The mirrors in the funhouse could be interpreted to be fragments of Ambrose as he is confronted with images of himself with no way out. Does the short story begin with the rhetorical question for whom is the funhouse fun? (Barth, 1969:72) that construct the foundations of the narrative that is going to unfold. The details of Ambrose`s life fed to us create an intradiegetic, omnipotent narrator who is within the narrative world but also has complete knowledge of all other characters in the narrative world.
There is a series of juxtapositions in the narrative. In the funhouse, it is easy for a person to become lost in the secret mazes, which trigger feelings like fear and panic. But the overriding message of a funhouse is fun and excitement, these two elements contradict each other. Lost in the Funhouse requires the reader’s full attention in order to learn from the text as there is much disorientation and the presence of two narrators disjoints the narrative. The story is fragmented and uses symbolization, and metaphors to portray the story. In Christopher Norris`s article Lost In the funhouse: Baudrillard and the politics of postmodernism suggested that postmodernism is a genre where the ideas of truth, validity, or right reason simply drop out of the picture (1990:120).
Wharton draws on the expectations and restrictions that women experienced in nineteenth-century American society. She conveys the message that women were raised to become nothing more than domestic servants and companions for men (Yacin, 2018:48). Wharton reinforces my argument by the way she emphasizes the expectations of women through Zeena. Her role previous to being Ethan`s wife was to care for his sick mother. Women were expected to know how to care for the sick and serve a household, actions which shamed and dazzled Ethan. Shortly after the marriage between Ethan and Zeena began to crumble, Zeena developed an illness. This illness gave Zeena, and many other women, an opportunity to escape the pressures and burdens of their day-to-day lives. Illness on the surface appears negative, but it provided women with an element of control in their lives at a time when women didn`t have much power. Women were trapped, fleeing the household to seek medical care made them appear selfish and careless, but her lonely, mediocre life was the reason for her symptoms. This portrayal shows the sexist views of men on women in the 1900s. Furthermore, Mattie is introduced as a meager, vulnerable character, she is aware of the fact that she can only exist when she is in a close relationship with a man. Her economic dependence is a criticism of female entrapment and reinforces the gender roles of the nineteenth century. When studying Ethan Frome, Ethan`s infatuation for Mattie becomes obvious, her being a much younger and more beautiful woman, opposite to his wife; infertile, ugly, and sick.
A significant theme of realism is pessimism. The harsh reality of the accident set an ironic deathly tone about the house and although Mattie and Ethan are bound together as they had wished, it is via paralysis rather than immortal love, I don`t see there`s much difference between the Frome`s up at the farm and the Frome`s down in the graveyard (Wharton, 2000: 114). Psychological realism is prominent in this novel with Frome thinking of various different scenarios that would occur if he were to run away with Mattie, I think this is important in the discussion of gender as it puts Ethan in a traditionally vulnerable position, as it is, unfortunately, a societal norm that men do not discuss feelings. Ethan Frome is inspired by Edith Wharton`s personal life, emphasizing the real in realism. At the age of twenty, Edith married an older man. This is represented in Ethan Frome as Ethan Frome had married an older woman; Zeena and young Mattie fall for Ethan, an older man. At an early stage, the marriage crumbled just like Frome`s marriage in the novel. Her unhappy marriage forced her to devote her energies elsewhere, like her writing and representing the harsh realities of married life.
As the world celebrated the end of World War II, writers and novelists were questioning the idea of a new narrative that would interest all. This was mirrored through the deconstruction and ironic representation of former theories. Postmodernism could simply be the construct of a representation of the past, which will also lead to understanding (Thompson, 2004:39). John Barth criticizes the severance of the conventional relationship between author and reader through the use of language in Lost in the Funhouse, as the narrator, like Ambrose becomes lost. The funhouse is a symbol of frustration; Barth`s frustration with the new fiction and Ambrose`s prepubescent sexual frustration. Ambrose learns on his journey through the funhouse, that language is a metaphor for sex and that the funhouse is the epitome of sex. He knows the funhouse is for lovers, and that he is not one. The funhouse is a reminder that narrative is just representation told through the playfulness and inventiveness of language, and that the element of storytelling is not a clear picture of reality, but like the many mirrors in the funhouse; one of the many ways life can unfold.
A postmodern writer, such as Barth, self-consciously toys with the disconnection that he receives from society. Ambrose and his narrator alter-ego are both extremely self-aware, the ending would tell what Ambrose does while he`s lost, and how he finally finds his way out (Barth, 1969:77). Ambrose being trapped in the funhouse until the day he dies is a metaphor, he isn`t physically trapped, but mentally trapped in the confines of society and his head, he wonders: will he become a regular person (Barth, 1969:95). Lost in the Funhouse inadvertently highlights the struggles of adolescence, a confusing time, and a time where exploration is key. During the time Lost in the Funhouse was published, the Vietnam War escalated as did domestic resistance to it and there was a rise in a student protests. These students were fighting for their freedom to grow up and find themselves. Ambrose echoes this lack of authority and control as, when he is in the hall of mirrors, he cannot acknowledge himself from another perspective. In a way Ambrose is expressing his need for definitive authority; he will construct funhouses for others and be their secret operator (Barth, 1969:97).
Edith Wharton`s novel Ethan Frome overall supports the literary conventions of realism. It portrays the style and characterization of the early nineteenth-century lifestyle through the domestic focus on one man and his wife, an empty world glimmering about them wide and grey under the stars (Wharton, 2000:52). Realism is the accurate representation of situations in an everyday world. Edith Wharton portrays realistic points of view, a step away from the unique and unusual romantic literature that preceded it. Lost in the Funhouse reinforces postmodernist literature conventions in the way it comments on the techniques of fiction and the concerns of a writer attempting to write a story. John Barth enables readers to identify with postmodernism when he depicts disorientation and fragmentation of reality by displaying postmodernist techniques such as metafiction, the questioning of authority, and the death of the author he wishes he were dead but he`s not (Barth, 1969:97). These two novels come together to represent and echo the woes of their time, Ethan Frome and Lost in the Funhouse are textbook examples of their genres.
Bibliography
- Wharton, E., 2000. Ethan Frome. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions.
- Barth, J., 1969. Lost in the Funhouse. London: Secker
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