On The Marketplace Manhood In The Pit

Frank Norris(1870-1902)was an avant-garde of American naturalist literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.The Pit is one of his Trilogy of the Epic of the Wheat.This novel has been analyzed in the academia from the perspectives like naturalism,psychoanalysis,economic and marital themes and so forth.Though quite a few studies have paid attention to the economic elements and male characters in the novel,the relationship between the two needs further discussing.In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,American society underwent a transformation of market economy,which brought about unprecedented challenges to the traditional identity and status of the middle-class white men.In order to accommodate themselves to the development of market economy,the white men attempted to construct a new model of masculinity that is in conformity with Kimmel’s marketplace manhood,a type of masculinity in which men derive their identities from the capitalist marketplace.Based on the constructive effect of economic transformation on gender identity and temperament,this thesis intends to examine the representation of the protagonist Jadwin’s marketplace manhood from the perspective of masculinity studies and explore the relationship between market economy and gender temperament in market investment,market monopoly and market competition,bringing to light Norris’ s reflection on the transformation of the ethics of capitalist spirits in market economy.This thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One mainly investigates the shaping of male desire in market investment,which is assumed to arouse Jadwin’s desires for personal profit and fame.He participates in speculation by taking risks for social identity as an investor,which shows that market investment gives rise to the expansion of male desire and the decline of male self-control.Chapter Two primarily focuses on the construction of male power in market monopoly,which is believed to inspire Jadwin to search for the power for manipulating the market and dominatingother males.He makes use of strategies to scheme wheat prices in the market and governs subordinated peers by means of sadism.It can be inferred that market monopoly contributes men to strengthen individual power and deepen their instrumental rationality continually.Chapter Three chiefly discusses the ways in which market competition brings about male anxiety emotionally and physically,and argues that Jadwin’s participation in market game leads to his isolation in marital life,and high-intensified work causes his physical emasculation.It is illustrated that market competition can generate the absence of communicative rationality and physical weakness.In Jadwin’s case,the decline of traditional male temperance,enhancement of instrumental rationality,and deficiency of communicative rationality demonstrate that men have abandoned the ethics of capitalist spirits with the core of religion and produced new ethics and values oriented by economic interest in market economy,thus constructing the marketplace manhood.Through the analysis on Jadwin’s male virtues,Norris implies his reflection and critique on the transformation of ethics of capitalist spirits in market economy and its impact on individuals,families,and society.This is enlightening to understand the construction of gender and ethical values in market economy.