The Main Theme of the Novel Under the Title Revolutionary Road - Research Paper Example

 The novel under the title Revolutionary Road has been written by renowned American novelist Richard Yates in 1961, where the author has highlighted the domestic problems faced by a young couple belonging to the lower middle stratum of society. The writer has successfully portrayed the socio-cultural environment of his characters while drawing out their dwelling in some suburban part of Connecticut, USA during 1950s. The main theme of the novel is this that if a person is under a delusion about him and overestimates his abilities and qualities at large, he has to pay ransom amount for this serious mistake committed on his part. In addition, childhood memories and socialization process, according to the author, leaves indelible impact on the personality of the individuals; the same is observed by the protagonist character in the novel under analyses. Though both the major characters of the novel i.e. April and Frank Wheeler are under an illusion that they are outstanding individuals and have been blessed with some unusual talent that makes them superior to all other people living in their neighborhood, yet the husband is a bit more crazy in this regards. The thoughts and views developed in Frank’s mind of being exceptional person are actually the outcome of his family background. He remembers his childhood when he was given extreme care and affection by his old parents, who begot their son, i.e. Frank, at the later part of their life. (Chapter 2) Frank also lost his parents at his early age, and had to struggle a lot to start his career as well as to establish his family life. Being the beloved child of his parents, he was adored by the two. He was accustomed to the spoon feeding due to the sheer love showered by the parents upon him. It is therefore, he could not come out of those feelings even in his mature years. Hence, his past life seems to be left indelible impact on his thinking, and he looks ambitious to become a professional writer in life. It is therefore, Frank along with his wife, is estimating his abilities, skills and apparent beauty through newspapers and other media resources during the entire novel. (O’Nan, 1999) Frank Wheeler is doing his job against the position of somewhat middle order management at the Knox at the local city, where his father rendered services at lower level many years ago. He maintains a very negative opinion about his job and is determined to do something extraordinary in life. Though he is drawing regular salary out of his job, and meeting all his expenses out of it, yet it is not satisfying him mentally and psychologically; it is therefore, he declares his job as drab, dull, dreary and monotonous activity. Consequently, he always appears to be nagging about his job that does not earn peace of mind and tranquility for him. He has ambitions to become a ‘first rate’ writer, because he is someone first rated. His feelings of being extraordinary are not confined to himself; on the contrary, he also views his wife, April Wheeler too, as a first rate actress and consoles at the backside of the stage on the failure of her play i.e. the Petrified Forest. Frank and April have not been in good terms with one another, and their regular fighting has created rift between the two. April admits again and again that she has never been in love with Frank; similarly, Frank views her as an empty shell, and hollow type of woman. But his words and gestures reveal that he is in love with her wife. He appears to be dazzled with the exceptional beauty April contains. But his passion for his wife looks abating with the passage of time, and same is the situation regarding her talent and skills, about which Frank’s ideas change altogether after her failure as actress. (Chapter 3) Thus, he just considers himself as exceptional talent that could win applause outside the country. Frank always miscalculates himself by considering him as distinguished personality with extraordinary traits, which may turn him famous, prosperous and successful for the future years to come. But his delusion brings difficulties for the couple leading them towards their ultimate ruin by taking the life of the wife and leaving the husband in a perplexed situation where he does not know what to do next in the aftermath of April’s sad demise. Frank has O’ Nan (1999) argues, that very American belief in the possible and in his own untapped potential, and April is all too aware of his pretensions. She tries to go along with him in seeing themselves as somehow special or better than their neighbors the Campbells, but it’s difficult for her. She knows him too well. Since Frank intends to see his family flourished, he refutes April’s plan of getting their third baby aborted at the initial stage of its conceiving. April, on the contrary, appears to be far more realistic than her husband, and aims to keep the size of her family a bit shorter, so that they can manage the financial hurdles in a better way. She is under the delusion that she would be able to get a lucrative job in France without making hard efforts for it, and thus would be in a position to bear all expenses alone in order to let her husband discover the profession where he could touch the height of triumphs in life. Actually, her past life has been spent as a prosperous girl, where she had no worries regarding money and financial matters. It is therefore, she did not consider money as a difficult thing to earn, as she was working alone in her acting career, as O’ Nan submits that she was working alone, and visibly weakening with every line. Before the end of the first act the audience could tell as well as the Players that she’d lost her grip, and soon they were all embarrassed for her. She had begun to alternate between false theatrical gestures and a white-knuckled immobility; she was carrying her shoulders high and square, and despite her heavy make-up you could see the warmth of humiliation rising in her face and neck. (1999) To conclude, it becomes evident that if man explores himself in a justified way, and sticks to realistic approach about oneself and the people around him, it becomes quite easy for him to get success in life and make a sure headway on the road to progress and prosperity. On the contrary, if he lives in imagination and maintains boastful opinion about him, his life turns dreary and somber as a result of miscalculations and daydreaming. Thus, the author gives the message that individuals having boastful imagination about them have to undergo severe trials in practical life. On the contrary, those who are down to earth and have realistic approach, often meet their goals and targets in life. References: O’Nan, Stewart. The Lost World of Richard Yates: How the great writer of the Age of Anxiety disappeared from print. Boston Review, November 1999 (Retrieved from http://bostonreview.net/BR24.5/onan.html) Yates, Richard Revolutionary Road Vintage Contemporaries 2000 Read More