India Morris

Wednesday, April 10, 13

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (US Declaration of Independence) How does Yates use the Wheelers to reflect views on the American Dream and 1950s values in Revolutionary Road? Make reference to language and contextual aspects.
Creating a sufficient definition of the American Dream is incredibly difficult as the Dream changes over time and from individual to individual. However, there must be a unifying element to make the concept valid; this unifying element is the fundamental belief that through the application of the American values everyone, regardless of status, has an equal opportunity to become successful. At the beginning of the 20th Century the American Dream, when viewed retrospectively as the concept did not appear until 19171, was about values and equality. Langston Hughes poetry focuses on a desire to achieve equality and the importance of values such as hard work, infinite possibility and freedom of speech in achieving this aim. However, by the mid 20th Century, and in part in response to the increase in consumerism, the dream is no longer about values but about being successful and particularly about being successful in a way that other people can recognise. The American dream in the 1950s was about becoming successful in the context of a society that attaches value to material goods, traditional nuclear families and appearance. It is clear that this American Dream is ill suited to Frank and April Wheeler but because of the importance placed on appearance and participation in 1950s American the Wheelers attempt to fulfill the American Dream leading to a loss of liberty, unhappiness and ultimately Aprils death. Richard Yates uses the characters of April and Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road to show the insufficiencies of the American Dream and the values of 1950s America. Society in 1950s American was focused on the acquisition of material goods, particularly goods which would cultivate a happy home, as a way to demonstrate how successful one was; Yates shows the impact this has on the Wheelers through careful description of their goods and their home dcor, this careful description conveys the view that the values of 1950s America do not aid the pursuit of happiness. When Frank and April first move to Revolutionary Road they care concerned about the picture window resolving: their solid wall of books would take the curse off the picture window2 and they could live there. The use of the word curse shows the importance of creating a beautiful environment to raise a happy, nuclear family in 1950s America; anything that has the potential to negatively affect the appearance of a the perfect family home expected by society infects the house and must be countered by something that meets the values of society. The Wheelers use a solid wall of books as this would give the appearance that they were well-read, intelligent people but the reader is again reminded on the superficial
1

Churchwell, Sarah. "The Great Gatsby and the American dream." 25 May 2012. The Gaurdian . 12 November 2012 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/25/american-dream-great-gatsby>. 2 Yates, Richard. Revolutionary Road. Third Vintage Contemporaries Edition . New York: Vintage Books, 2008. p. 31

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nature of society as solid wall suggests these books are rarely touched and function merely as a faade to detract from the picture window that has curse[d] the room . A similar concern is seen in American Psycho but as the American Dream is no longer about values but about being finically successful the description of Batemans home is calculated to convey his sheer wealth, the description of the glass-top coffee table with oak legs by Turchin sits in front of the sofa, with Steuben glass animals placed strategically around expensive crystal ashtrays from Fortunoff, though I don't smoke3 shows that Bateman needs to consume to demonstrate his wealth and appear successful within society. This is emphasized by the mentions of brand names such as Turchin, and Fotunoff and the underlying fact that these goods fulfill a superficial role as Bateman doesnt smoke and hes not sure if the time on the Sony digital alarm clock is correct4. These comparable descriptions show the evolution of the dream over time. The Wheelers need for a skillful arrangement of furniture [to] counteract5 the aesthetic failing of their living room shows that the society portrayed in Revolutionary Road values material goods and the Wheelers must purchase and display these goods to be viewed as successful in their American Dream. The Wheelers show the importance attached to a traditional nuclear family in 1950s America. Modern Women: the Lost Sex (1947) argued that many post war problems of America, such as alcoholism, teenage hooliganism and pregnancy outside of marriage, were due to changes in the normal nuclear family.6 This concern was countered in the 1950s when society encouraged women to return to the home and become housewives, these values are explored in Revolutionary Road as Frank and April Wheeler try to fulfill the expectations society has placed on them by living in the suburbs and developing a traditional nuclear family. Morenos view that Frank Wheeler, is caught at the crossroads of his yearning to return to a more bachelor-like frontier world of masculinity, intellect, and adventure and his obligation to perform the blurred roles of organization man, suburban father, and compatible husband,7 is well supported within the text. Frank was forced out of his world on Bethune Street where he wore proud mantles of veteran and intellectual as bravely as he wore his carefully aged tweed jacket and washed-out khakis.8 Whilst one could argue that Frank is still trying to fulfill societal expectations by taking care over his appearance with carefully aged tweed and washed-out khakis which makes his appearance sound artificial can constructed it is clear that Frank places emphasis on being a veteran and an intellectual as this allows him to belong to frontier world of masculinity, intellect, and adventure where he feels he belongs showing that Morenos view of Frank wanting to pursue a
3 4

Ellis , Bret Easton. American Psycho. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. p.25 Ellis. p.25 5 Yates. p.31 6 Bottaro, Jean and John Stanley. Democractic States. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2011. p.123 7 Moreno, Michael P. "Consuming the Frontier Illusion: The Construction of Suburban Masculinity in Richard Yatess Revolutionary Road." Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 3. 2003. p.88 8 Yates. p.21

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different frontier than the one society expects him to take is a more valid reading. When Frank is expected to follow the traditional values of 1950s American and support his nuclear family he finds himself making decisions that cause him distress in an attempt to prevent himself from becoming emasculated by not fulfilling the roles of organization man, suburban father, and compatible husband . This is why Frank angrily demands April yield to him yelling: you know God damn well you love me.9 Whether or not April loves him is not relevant to Frank, he is really searching for assurance that he has not failed to fulfill the roles society has outlined for him and he can only secure this reassurance by dominating April. The Wheelers are not suited to supporting a traditional nuclear family and it is the choice to pursue this life and not the frontier world of masculinity, intellect, and adventure that causes the American dream and 1950s values to fail Frank Wheeler. It is the failure of the 1950s values that results in Aprils death at the end of the novel. April dies because she tries to escape from the expectations of society by taking control of her life and aborting the baby that she was carrying because she felt she had to fulfill an obligation to society to be the perfect housewife that supports her family. It could be read that Aprils death is penance for failing society and not fulfilling the values of 1950s America or it could be read that Aprils finial act of defiance allows her the liberty that she has not experienced before in the novel and that death should not detract from the heroic nature of her rebellion. Whichever reading is favored it is clear that Aprils death fails to pull Frank away from his destructive pursuit of the American Dream as after Aprils death he imagines her as the careful, cheery housewife explaining happily: Try a damp sponge and a little dry detergent, darlingits there in the cabinet under the sink. That ought to take it up. There, you see? Thats fine.10 This cheery language, shown by the terms of endearment and efficient rhetorical questions makes this voice sound artificial and constructed, this is not the voice of the April Wheeler that dies as a result of the failure of the American Dream. Frank pursues this dream becoming the organization man that bores the Campbells talking about his half-assed job11 still deeply unhappy as a result of the values of 1950s America using his God damned analyst12 to make life somewhat bearable. Both Frank and April fail at the end of the novel, April dies because 1950s Values have failed her completely whilst Frank clings even closer to ideals that have made him unhappy pursing the American Dream until he becomes a hollow shell of a man. Yates uses the Wheelers to show the failure of the American Dream. In the 1950s when values were politically motivated messages to encourage the development of the suburbs, the fulfillment of traditional gender roles and the consumption of American goods many people became alienated from the positive aspects of the American Dream, i.e. the American values and the belief in equality, which were not viewed as important in society. 1950s values encourage the Wheelers to pursue the ideal of success as constructed by society and this means the American Dream fails Frank and April who ruined by the end of the novel.
9

Yates. p.293 Yates. p.341 11 Yates p.348 12 Yates p.348

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Bibliography
Bottaro, Jean and John Stanley. Democractic States. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2011. Churchwell, Sarah. "The Great Gatsby and the American dream." 25 May 2012. The Gaurdian . 12 November 2012 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/25/american-dream-great-gatsby>. Ellis , Bret Easton. American Psycho. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Moreno, Michael P. "Consuming the Frontier Illusion: The Construction of Suburban Masculinity in Richard Yatess Revolutionary Road." Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 3. 2003. 84-95. Yates, Richard. Revolutionary Road. Third Vintage Contemporaries Edition . New York: Vintage Books, 2008.