Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Finally, I finished this book.

While there is much worth discussing, my previous comments concerning the movie mostly suffice. I have only a few more points to mention:

If I were to name my literary interests, I would say that I am fascinated by studying how the body is portrayed in literature. In the case of this novel, I suggest that it depicts the beginnings of the modern transformation of masculinity into its current feminized state. In other words, men today are said to be feminized; I wonder if such effeminate masculinity began to take shape in the 1950s.

Frank describes his experiences in war as invigorating, a time in which he saw the Truth. If masculinity once was about force, power, and decisiveness - the word I think fits best is "brute" - then what better exercise of such masculinity than in war? However, once the war ended, culture expected him to be content with settling into the routine of home, wife, and kids. In other words, he traded in brute masculinity for a new kind of masclinity - an office job with a desk, dinner parties, community plays, and banal conversations with neighbors. For someone used to something entirely different, fitting this new mold was difficult.

After all, when I picture the 1950s, I see the happy family sitting around the black and white television after father comes home from a day at work, something reminiscent of Leave it to Beaver. I cannot, however, envision this kind of setting anytime before WWII.

This is the kind of masculinity Frank was expected to conform to. Thus, for me, part of the crux of Frank's crisis is his inability to adjust to these beginnings of modern masculinity upon returning from WWII.

Indeed, John Givings, who is by far the most insightful character, says that Frank did not want to move to Paris because he wanted to prove his manhood. Even Frank himself says "that my masculinity'd been threatened."

The other point I want to make is Flannery O'Connor thought that politeness and tact was what held society together. I think this book is an irrevocable refutation of that belief. The characters are wholly nice to each other, creepily so in fact; yet, none are happy. They strive to keep up appearances and not let on to their inner turmoil, but that pretext is the very thing that hastens their downfall. In other words, adopting some ideal masked as happiness only robs us of our real, true selves.