The Barton Fink Problem - Essay Example

THE BARTON FINK PROBLEM Barton Fink is a playwright whose first Broadway show, a play about the common man, is a smash success. According to Bramann (2004), his agent convinces him to sell while his stock is high and go to Hollywood to quickly make enough money to fund the rest of his writing career. He arrives in Los Angeles, checks into the Hotel Earle, and is assigned to write a wrestling picture for Wallace Beery by the Capitol Pictures Studio. Suffering from writer’s block, Barton spends his days talking to the insurance salesman (Charlie Meadows) who lives in the room next door and seeking writing advice from alcoholic novelist W.P. Mayhew and his Secretary Audrey Taylor, until deadline looms. In the process very strange events begin to take centre stage. Barton Fink talks a great deal about the ‘common man’. According to Bramann (2004), Barton dreams of creating a large theatre for the masses “the common man” but exempts himself from the same group. He talks much about his own “personal pain” which he feels makes him uncommon. When he is hired by Hollywood to write a play about “wrestling”, he meets the writers’ “block”. He doesn’t have any idea about wrestling. His life is to write about the common people; and wrestling is not about the common people but the upper class. As such, his mind is failing to shift from the premise of writing for the common man. He tries to source help from his room in the Hotel Earle, but it is empty save for the dressing mirror, old dusty type writer and the gloomy wall picture of a girl on the beach, which is wet and peeling and oozes slime from time to time. After all, neighbours are also making a lot of noise that he cannot concentrate. A next door neighbour, Charles Meadow tries to give him hints, but he cannot get them because he feels his ideas are the best. Barton also tries to seek help from a popular writer, William Mayhew, but he is also heavily drunk and cannot give him any information according to his William’s Secretary Audrey Taylor, who also explains that she could help him since it is her who has been writing for William Mayhew. When Barton invites her into his room, he is enticed to have sex with her instead of getting ideas on the play about “wrestling” which he is supposed to submit in a week’s time to Jack Lipnik of the Capitol Pictures. Then he is involved in the puzzle of Audrey Taylor’s death, the Police and the rejection of the play by Hollywood. All such things happen because he does not want to throw away the idea of writing plays for the common man, whom he has become so popular with and yet does not care about them. He wants to live “the life of his mind” and not listen to other people’s advice, hence he has lost reality. Events that unfold in Barton Fink display what happens in everybody’s life. The play is mainly reflecting the psychological state of the protagonist. It is using the mind of Barton to show how people experience life. Barton explains his experiences through symbolism and imagery as he brings in as many characters as his mind drives him. He expounds his behavior as he interacts with other people in the process of writing the play. He notes that everybody can experience the same experiences he is going through; such as living in isolated worlds, not taking advice from others; being misled by others, being hypocritical, naïve and others. He also shows how other people look at others. For example, Bramann (2004) states that Charlie sees Barton as a friend and Jack Lipnik sees Barton as a failure. Barton is a character of mixed mood and emotion. At times he is sad, angry, happy, nervous, irritated, careful, pretentious, tormented, insecure and naïve. Several evidence show how such mood and emotion are displayed. To begin with, Barton is angry because of the noise in the hotel. He is happy when he finishes his play and celebrates at the bar. He is pretentious because he says he wants to write for the common people yet he does not belong to that group. He is in reality writing for Hollywood. It is also said that he does not like women yet he ends up having sex with Audrey. He is tormented by the noise and the writer’s block. He is nervous and irritated when he finds Audrey dead on his bed. He feels insecure when he knows who Charlie is, when he sees the hotel burning, and when he is offered to write the play which he does not know. He is also naïve because he is given the box of the essentials of Charlie but does not check what is inside. There are indeed so many examples to justify his mood and emotion. The play also shows how Barton refuses and rejects the world. Firstly, as Bramann (2004) states, he does not agree to the fact that the world today is made up of different people with different levels and desires. He thinks the commonest people are the “common man” when in reality things have changed. People have shifted from that paradigm and are entering the elites where plays of realism are no longer valid. In his case, he still maintains his belief of writing for the common people even though the later offers more opportunities. In this way he is refusing and refuting the world. Secondly, Barton does not want to be advised by others. When Charlie offers him advice on how he should go about writing the “Wrestling play”, he ignores his tips. Instead he concentrates on his own beliefs. When Audrey tells him that she knows the content of his current assignment, he does not take it again. When Lipnik gives him hints on how he should go about with his Hollywood assignment, he remains adamant. Refusing advice from others is the same as refusing the world. Thirdly, the choice of Hotel Earle is indicative of how much Barton refuses and rejects the world. Hotel Earle is deserted and isolated. It is inhabited by people who are of the common man type. Bramann (2004) further states that his room is also of low class with only one bed, dressing mirror and a picture of a girl. His choice of this hotel makes him isolated. There are better hotels where he could be inhabited comfortably. In this regard it is possible to say he is rejecting the world. Barton wants to devote his life in establishing a theatre for the common man. When he looks at the picture in the wall it confuses him. He hears noise from the splashing waters, yet there is none. Barton Fink does not like women yet he is seriously attached to the picture on the wall. This is symbolism which illustrates what Barton is going through. Perhaps the women here refer to the Capitol Pictures which Barton does not want to work for. He hates the Capitol Pictures (just like it is said he hates women). Unfortunately, he has been given a contract and gets attached to the same Capitol Pictures just like he is attached to the picture. The play “Barton Fink” has a lot of scenarios that make Barton look into people differently and heavily insecure. Barton looks into people with mixed reactions. He thinks people can be friendly, helpful, cruel and betraying at the same time. His encounters with people such as Charlie, William, Audrey, Lipnik and the Police officers, as Bramann (2004) states, provide vivid pictures of how Barton looks into the people. Firstly, the noise from neighbouring rooms makes Barton look at people as not having the conscious of the peace of the other people. Charlie’s wish to help him in writing the play and covering for Audrey’s death; and the subsequent revelations of his murderous life by the Police make him believe that people can be good and bad. People’s minds are complicated. They can be good on the outlook but evil in the mind. His sex encounter with Audrey makes indicates that people can betray others. Audrey agrees to have sex with him while her boss and lover, William Mayhew snores next room. Furthermore, Barton also sees people as being hypocritical. To begin with, Barton says he wants to write for the common man because that is where he belongs, yet in reality he does not belong to that group. Again, Lipnik kisses Barton yet in the end he declares Barton’s play useless. He further shows that he is harsh when he tells Barton that he will remain writing for Hollywood yet his plays will never be staged or casted. He also looks at people as being pretentious. William Mayhew is seen as the best writer when in actual sense, his Secretary, Audrey, does a great deal of writing for him. Again, Barton himself pretends he belongs to the common man but does not. He also pretends to hate women but he smiles each time he hears noises of people having sex; or when Charlie shows him a picture of a woman on the underside of his tie. He also makes love with Audrey, yet hates women. He also spends time looking at girl in the picture. Barton further sees people as being jealousy, unfortunate and murderous. Charlie is shunned by women because he is very fat. When he hears noise and screams of others making love, he shouts and cries and later kills them. He also sees people doing all they can to survive or hide reality. In the play “Barton Fink”, after the murder of Audrey, Charlie helps Barton hide the death of Audrey. When the Police come to investigate, Barton gives them empty data. When they see Charlie and want to arrest him, he shoots them dead. All this is done in an attempt to hide reality. As already alluded to, Barton Fink unveils a lot of scenarios that makes Barton feel insecure. The question is therefore “Why does Barton feel insecure?” In answering the question, particular insecure scenarios are explored alongside their insecurity. Firstly, Barton feels he is insecure in the writing of the “Wrestling pay”. He doubts his own writing talent, especially on plays he has no experience. His writing experience is much of the common man where he is quickly becoming a hero. However, his persuasion to write for Hollywood on topics and content he does not know is a blow that will end his writing career. He will not become as popular as he thought he would be. As such, he feels insecure. Secondly, the noise from Charlie and others in the neighbouring rooms disturb him from concentrating on his current assignment yet the due date is near. If he fails to come up with the right content by that date then he is doomed. Noise therefore is making him insecure. In addition, when he asks the front office to regulate the noise, Charlie apologizes to him despite his face showing elements of anger. Charlie is obviously keeping something against Barton. Furthermore, when Audrey is murdered on his bed right in his presence, Barton fears for his life. It is obvious the murderer could have murdered him too. Otherwise, there is no security for him in the hotel. That hotel is a wrong place to reside in. Further insecurity is seen when the Police reveal to Barton that Charlie is a serial murderer who has a bad record with the police. He kills and never leaves traces. Barton is awakened to the fact that he has been interacting with a terrible killer all along. Insecurity is also seen when Lipnik tells Barton that he will keep on writing for Hollywood because he is on contract. Unfortunately, he will be writing without being paid. And his works will never be published, staged or casted. This is insecurity because Barton’s desire to write and earn a living will be at stake. Besides, staying with Hollywood will mean the end of his dream to establish a theatre about the “Common man”. Again, there is another case of insecurity when the hotel is burning. Barton realizes that he can no longer live in that hotel. He picks his essential, including Charlie’s box and leaves for beach where he feels perhaps it is secure. Finally, the play also displays a lot of symbolism, which is a very important device when writing a piece of literature. It provides a deeper meaning beyond what is actually being described. It pulls and persuades the audience and stimulates them to think and search deeper into the other layer of the story. Just like Symbolism, hidden meanings also stimulate readers’ thinking and searching for more, hence lure them into reading the story further. This is the more reason why Barton Fink is dominated by symbolism and hidden meanings. Without such devices, the play could have been a boring lot; something superficial and nonsensical. It is the power of Symbolism and hidden meanings that are making Barton Fink fantastic and liked by masses. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bramann, Jorn. “Review of Barton Fink”. Originally Printed in Educating Rita Workbook. Reprinted in the Philosophical Forum. 2004. Retrieved: 9th March, 2014 from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/Fink.htm Read More