The Changing Roles Of American Males In Marriages And Families

As a phenomenal literary figure, a combination of prolific novelist, poetess,playwright, critic, editor, and a university professor, Joyce Carol Oates is one of thepreeminent fiction writers of her generation.But critical reception of her has always been controversial, mainly over hertheme of violence and absence of feminism. Many critics complain about theexcessive violence in her works, which are too bleak for readers. Feminist criticsdistaste her works because she has created few strong, independent female rolemodels they favor. Yet despite the general disregard of Oates as a feminist writer, anumber of others have defended the feminist sensibility underlying much of hernovels and short stories. However, considering Oates' personal intentions, the presentcontroversies are somewhat off-track. Actually, comparing with social violence andgender issues, Oates is more interested in giving readers a vivid faithful delineation ofa modern panorama of American life. Most of her novels, especially those early ones,which run pages of hundreds, are really "Balzacian".This thesis chooses three of her early novels, namely With Shuddering Fall(1964), Wonderland (1971) and Childwold (1976), and tries to understand them froma new perspective—a sociological perspective. By analyzing the three malecharacters' roles in their marriages and families, the present thesis argues that Oates'searly fiction faithfully reveals American men's changing roles in marriages andfamilies from the early 1930s to the late 1970s within the context of the decline ofmarriage and family forms—from the traditional extended families to the nuclearfamilies and to the new blended families.Mr. Herz in With Shuddering Fall is a Godlike father living in a strictlypatriarchal society. He represents the power and the order of the society. Sex roles inhis family relations accord perfectly with the most traditional social norms—men areinstrumental males and women are expressive females. Mr. Herz stands right at thecenter of masculinity. Neither his wives or women nor his daughters can escape fromthis male dominance. Although he suffers a stroke at the end of the story, he stillremains as a representative of the patriarchal system. The family form in With Shuddering Fall is a typical traditional extended family which consists of an oldsystem of family performances with the close connections of two or three generationsof relations.Different from Mr. Herz in With Shuddering Fall, Jesse in Wonderland lives in asociety in which male dominance begins to waver from its long stable historical rootsat the impact of women's liberation movements. Men are no longer the sole dominantforce of the society and women's roles have been changing dramatically in the U.S.A.Women are more active in social as well as in marital life. As a result, men have toredefine their roles within the families. Jesse can neither dominate his wife or hislovers nor control his daughters though he tries to. He has lost the privileges of atraditional husband and father. Nevertheless, he can still enjoy a normal family life ifhe likes to because his family, which consists of Jesse himself, his wife and their twodaughters, is a typical nuclear family—the ideal American family form in 1950s and1960s.Kasch in Childwold is a person of spoiled identity. He tries hard to make apilgrimage towards his illusionary kingdom. However, without a fixed position in hisacademic career and failed to orientate his status in his marriage, he is inevitablybetrayed by his first wife. Still, he cannot help falling once again into another failedmarriage, and is betrayed once again by his second wife. Self-imprisoned in thedecaying Bartlett farm, he even loses the right of living a normal life. Kasch's maritalexperiences are a vivid reflection of the contemporary American situations ofmarriage and the family. The Bartlett family in Childwold provides a perfect exampleof the new extended blended family in the late 1970s.From a sociological perspective, it is clear that the declining gender roles ofthree male characters and the declining trends of American marriages and families arejust the changes in historical process. Therefore, it may be safe to say that Oates'early novels truthfully reflect and record the trace of historical changes and thedevelopmental trends of American society.