The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe - Essay Example

? The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe (01.08.11) Introduction The Englishman’s Boy is a historical novel by Guy Vanderhaeghe, which depicts the 1873 Cypress Hills Massacre whereby a band of American wolfers assaulted a group of Assiniboine. The book deals with philosophical and moral issues that arise from the manner in which these historical events were recorded almost fifty years later by those who benefited in the massacre. The author has used the technique of interconnecting time lines and story narratives in adopting a post-modern approach to portray details of the Cypress Hills Massacre, which is characteristic of demonstrating the relationship between conflicting historical versions. This paper will focus on the power commanded by Rachel Gold, the main female character and on how other women in the novel are oppressed, which will be substantiated with reference to the histories of women’s roles in early Hollywood. Main Body The story is narrated by Harry Vincent whose dream woman is Rachel Gold. Rachel is a Jewish vampy screen writer who helps Harry Vincent get a job as a writer of film plots with Best Chance Pictures after he arrives in Hollywood from Saskatchewan. Rachel is depicted as a powerful lady of very strong character as she maneuvers her life through a male dominated environment. She s able to create a place for herself and is recognized for her ability to write screenplays in surroundings where people hated women. She is portrayed as being extremely beautiful and catches the eyes of several men in Hollywood. But she was outnumbered in terms of her sex as well as religion. Rachel managed to gain immense recognition and clout in Hollywood because of her pulpy screen plays, which made her a force to reckon with whereby no one could take her lightly. She is depicted as being very considerate towards Harry and his un-well mother. Because of Rachel’s strong influence over film makers, she develops her own style of portraying the presence of anti-Semitic feelings in Hollywood as more and more Jews start entering the film making business in terms of starting production houses and directing films. It is perhaps in this context that Rachel enjoyed saying that “The true test of any scenario is to read it to a cameraman. Cameramen are invariably Irish and invariably drunk. If they can grasp the plot, the moral, the theme of your simple tale through an alchoholic haze, you can be assured you have struck the proper intellectual level” (36). She had the veracity to challenge film producers with her screen writing and often got away even after declaring that men can be divided into two distinct classes; gigolos and cruel people (Staines, 1997). The most noteworthy features of the novel are the moral issues that are raised by intentionally creating suggestions relative to another massacre, the Holocaust (Vanderhaeghe, 1997). Just as the Holocaust was attributed to Hitler, the author attributes the Cyprus Hills Massacre to Tom Hardwick who was leading the wolfers. Although the number of Assinboine killed in the massacre were only about 20, the author clearly lays emphasis on the white-indian conflict, including the sufferings that characterized the way in which the history of the region was shaped. The story assumes further importance in the context f the Holocaust because Rachel was also a Jew. In all the references to Hollywood, the author depicts a strong link with the Holocaust that has contributed to contemporary debates in regard to whether writers should be held responsible for the anti Semitic feelings created by their work (Janes, 2002). Menckenian rhetoric is used by Rachel because she believes in boorishness and accepts it with a great deal of distaste in the context of what was demanded by the public from Hollywood films. Rachel is able to accurately represent Mencken’s oratory and concepts relative to language that distinguishes her from characters such as Harry and Chance. She does not favor elements in Chance’s style such as his style of manipulating languages to achieve his own ends. She boldly refuses to concur with Harry because of his submissive attitude of just doing what he is asked to do. The book appears to become complex at times because the narrator, Harry Vincent, admires Damon Ira Chance the most because he is the one who sells out in terms of the plot by hiding the truth so that Hollywood does not suffer. The involvement of women is hardly noticeable in clearly indicated that they did not matter in the day to day activities of Hollywood. Women are oppressed and are made to betray the morals that are supposed to be upheld, which is evident from the roles that they are given in simply complying with the requirement of the plot and the whims of producers (Brown, 1987). Instead of addressing the emotional and career needs of his women workers, Chance caters more to his selfish interests. Harry Vincent’s opening scene in which he looks towards the studio through the window is very similar to the initial scenes in the Hollywood movie The Day Of the Locust, which was produced in 1939. The scene in this movie refers to the main character looking out of the window as he observes an army of soldiers passing by. The soldiers were moving in a mob as if running away after suffering a defeat. Vanderhaeghe too depicts a similar opening scene in saying that “Roman legionaries tramp the street accompanied by Joseph and Mary, while a hired nurse in cap and uniform totes the Baby Jesus. Ladies-in-waiting from the court of the Virgin Queen trail the holy family, (5). This is clearly depictive of the manner in which Hollywood films of the period viewed women in terms of their role of acting as ladies in waiting. The vulgar description of their body is not viewed in good taste, such as when he writes “tits clenched flat under Elizabethan bodices sheer as the face of a cliff” (6). Despite being a woman of strength, Rachel had written such plots so that she got recognized in fulfilling the need of the story and in complying with her producers’ requirements. However, the author can be criticized for having complicated the simple national allegories by focusing on Harry’s shifting positions whereby he first collaborates with Chance and then opposes him. At the same time, in depicting Harry’s struggles in Hollywood, the book has exposed the foundations of personal as well as national identity of women. Rachel is a Jew and very close to Harry, who is not sure whether to reveal his national identity to her, fearing that she may reject him. His Canadian identity gives him power despite the fact that he is susceptible to being exploited by Chance. The oppression of women and their insignificant influence in Hollywood is particularly evident when, in direct reference to Rachel’s Jewish identity, Chance attempts to demoralize her and other women when he asks Harry to “produce films that are rooted in American history and American experience” (16), obviously implying that films should depict women primarily in keeping with past American patterns. This was a clear indication that the involvement of women in Hollywood films could not be made more important because so far women had been virtually absence in film production. In directly referring to Rachel, Chance tells Harry that the large number of foreigners in Hollywood have degraded the quality of Hollywood films. He wanted to convey that Rachel was a Jew and her screen writing was creating damage in the industry. However, since she was powerful in Hollywood, such comments did not make much impact. But this statement clearly indicated that women were not welcome in film production in Hollywood. It was in such ways that Rachel was able to overcome the tribulations that people attempted to thrust upon her. Harry gives in to financial consideration and portrays himself as an American, which is why The Englishman’s Boy can be considered as an evaluation of cultural imperialism in America. During this period, there is immense lack of noteworthy contributions by women in Hollywood except by Rachel, who has been fortunate to have asserted herself and gained the status that she enjoyed. She is better off than other women who live in the superficial belief that they are celebrities. But these women were living in an unrealistic world because they had no identity in Hollywood. Any woman willing to act could be asked to act in the roles offered in Hollywood films of the period. Under such circumstances they did not have any bargaining power and were mostly oppressed in being made to accept the available roles at whatever prices that were offered by the producers. Conclusion At the end of the novel, Wylie shoots Chance because he believes that Chance had prevented him and Harry from returning to Canada. The shadows of history can be seen fading away through national boundaries and Harry feels tarnished and overcome because of his experiences in Hollywood. He takes off because he cannot reconcile with a corrupt Hollywood that does not deal fairly with people, especially women, and goes to Canada where he wants to live with his institutionalized mother. Harry’s departure for Canada is indicative of the inadequacies and differences associated with being a foreigner in Hollywood. He is sad because after reaching Saskatoon, he has to again act as a projector of Hollywood movies and of the value systems that he had himself wanted to escape from. It is thus evident that the differences amongst American and Canadian spaces are present only to a small extent. Works Cited Brown, Dorothy M. Setting a Course: American Women in the 1920s. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987. Janes, Daniela. “Truth and History: Representing the Aura in The Englishman’s Boy.” Studies in Canadian Literature 27.1: pp.88-104, 2002. Staines, David. “Guy Vanderhaeghe.” The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature. Toronto: Oxford, 1997. Vanderhaeghe, Guy. The Englishman’s Boy, Picador, 1997. Read More