Modernity And Americanness:A Cultural Interpretation Of The Wheelers' Anxiety In Revolutionary Road

Anxiety becomes an overt statement in American literature in the mid-twentieth century.The American writer Richard Yates(1926-1992)is regarded as "the representative writer in the Age of Anxiety",whose works mainly indicate Americans'loneliness,confusion and existence predicament in the latter half of the twentieth century.Yates' first novel Revolutionary Road,published in 1961,was nominated for the American National Book Award.The protagonists in the novel,Frank Wheeler and April Wheeler,are typical Americans plagued by anxiety in the so-called Age of Anxiety.Uncoincidentally,Rollo May(1909-1994),regarded as the "Father of American Existential Psychology",lives at the same age with Yates.May has deep insight into modern man's anxiety and notes that man's anxiety is conditioned by the standards and values of his culture.May forms the theory on anxiety,and his main works include The Meaning of Anxiety,Man's Search for Himself.By means of Rollo May's theories on anxiety and the method of contextualization,the thesis endeavors to interpret the Wheelers' anxiety culturally,arguing that modernity and Americanness are two fundamental factors leading to the Wheelers' anxiety.Firstly,the thesis focuses on the textual manifestations of the Wheelers' anxiety and their methods for dealing with anxiety.The empty community life with hypocritical community members reflects the Wheelers' loneliness and loss of the sense of belonging.Meanwhile,faced with meaningless vacuum of life,Frank and April lose the basic experience of being,incapable of putting the inner strengths to love.The Wheelers deal with anxiety by using both constructive and negative methods.They establish the community theater in order to gain the sense of belonging,but it is ended up with failure;they both have frantic sexual behavior with others to temporarily free themselves from anxiety,but at the cost of the loss of the self.Secondly,the thesis gives an analysis of the impacts of modernity as causes to the Wheelers' anxiety.On the one hand,modernity threatens man's value of being.In a decentered society without the ultimate truth and stable values,the standards and values by which men rely on for certainty are greatly destabilized.Living in great uncertainties,men fall into the abyss of emptiness and helplessness.Though the Wheelers have tried many ways to find the meaning of being,they fail to obtain any positive results.On the other hand,modernity threatens men's sense of security.Modernity is a product of scientific and technological progress as well as economic and social changes.The coming of the atomic age,the fear for the war,the dehumanizing effect of technology on man,and the influence of consumerism and social media,bring about overwhelming fears in America in the 1950s.May points out the married couple turn to each other to seek the sense of security.Frank and April maintain the fragile symbiotic relationship to fill the need for security.Thirdly,the thesis analyzes the impacts of Americaness as causes to the Wheelers' anxiety.Rollo May specifically notes that American society emphasizes competitive individualism,stressing individual success and the acquisition of wealth,which results in one's loneliness and alienation,and aggravates one's anxiety.Frank's promotion makes him withdraw from the plan to go to Paris.He indulges in the work and the acquisition of wealth,which causes his self-alienation.Meanwhile,in the mid-twentieth century America,there is a cultural trend towards mechanism and conservatism due to the lack of the sense of belonging and the sense of security.People seek stability and safety by means of automation conformity,at the price of the impoverishment of the self.This clinging to conformity challenges the traditional American revolutionary spirit which speaks highly of man's dignity,complexity,belief in freedom and the pursuit of happiness.Yates embodies the American revolutionary spirit in April who,incompatible with this mechanical life pattern,rebels against it with her death.Americanness magnifies anxiety.In the end,Frank is swallowed by anxiety,and April frees herself from anxiety by means of death.Through the analysis,the thesis gives an in-depth look at the theme of the novel,and the cultural causes to the Wheelers' anxiety.