America, in it's infancy (and I
suppose today as well) was obsessed with total freedom. Anything
British or otherwise highly European was representative of life
before the United States and therefore bad. Ultimately this ideology
is why today the US is always that one county that uses a different
standard than the world, but I digress.
The Contrast seems to be more or less
between America and Europe. On a micro level we see this with the
pairings of Jonathan & Jessamy and Manly & Dimple. Jonathan
and Jessamy both hold the same relative position, however Jessamy is
much more intelligent and refined. Jonathan, on the other hand, is
quite simple and often downright stupid. In an inverse of that,
Manly's character far surpasses that of Dimple's.
So a balance is struck, right? Well,
not exactly. The core of this argument is America's drive, at the
time, to be different and their own. Jonathan is simple, but he is
not manipulative and ill-willed like Jessamy. In addition, Jonathan
is undoubtedly American.
It's obvious in things such as the way he talks and his dislike of
theater, said in the introduction to be common at the time. Jonathan
may be an idiot, but he's our
idiot. Much like Jessamy, Dimple is intelligent but manipulative.
Unlike Jonathan, Manly doesn't have many ill qualities. Instead he
serves almost as a device to speak directly to the American people;
more than once he departs on a tangent that feels more like a lecture
than a response in a conversation.
In
Manly's rants he mentions several things relevant to America at the
time, such as the Grecian City-States, however the particular piece I
want to focus on is when Dimple confronts him on the quality of
American entertainment. To Manly, the quality is not quite as
important as the origin and intent – maybe your entertainment is
better, but ours is important because it's ours. Ultimately Tyler
conveys a very strong sense that, while America may not be the best,
it's also not the worst; in addition, it's OURS, and we should
embrace that.
(I
wrote this in the final hours of Monday with my internet down. I
apologize if it's similar to what someone else already posted.)
I'd agree that Tyler is portraying America in a patriotic sense, without being idealistic about it. He recognizes our country's faults, and even points out the aspects of Euro-centric culture that are better than America's budding culture (entertainment, attitudes toward fashion). And still, there's a sense of pride for America that Tyler portrays through Manly.
ReplyDeleteI really like how in depth you analyzed the characters. It's always important to see what the driving force is behind how everyone interacts with each other. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI thought Jonathan was more naive than stupid, because while he was following Jessamy's suggestions on how to court a woman, he still had the intelligence in him to find it illogical to be treating a woman that way. However, I like your analysis and this is just me being picky :)
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