May Day and Usa
May Day and Usa
In “Mary French,” Dos Passos draws a definitive line between his feelings on capitalism and socialism, as well as the rich and the poor. The parallel lives of Eveline Johnson and Mary French reveal Dos Passoss distinct attitudes in regards to the upper and lower classes of society.
As a member of high society, Eveline Johnson exemplifies Dos Passoss attitudes of the rich. These attitudes begin to take shape as Mary French enters the party, “Eveline Johnson was ushering them through some sliding doors into a high-ceilinged room dusky from shaded lights and cigarettesmoke where they were swallowed up in a jam of welldressed people talking and making faces and tossing their heads over cocktail glasses” (1527). This description tends to lean toward the superficial and a distaste of an extravagant lifestyle. Dos Passos discretely depicts various other guests as “Kings,” “Captains,” and “Screenstars.” Mary French becomes increasingly aware of just how phony and self-centered these guests really are as she watches the party unfold, “Mary was looking at it all through a humming haze like seeing a play from way up in a smoky balcony” (1529).
Simultaneously, Eveline acknowledges that her life, a reflection of self-centered capitalism, is in fact a waste. Eveline admits, “You know it does seem too silly to spend your life filling up rooms with illassorted people who really hate each other” (1530). This moment is of significance; throughout the story Eveline and Mary have had almost identical experiences. Both women have lost the loves of their lives, but it is Mary, the determined socialist, who puts the needs of others before her own. Mary is able to continue on with what is important to her rather than escaping the harsh realities of life by means of suicide. Dos Passos has constructed a shallow illusion of what the rich are like.
The socialist attitudes of Dos Passos solidify as the events in the story unravel. Socialist attitudes are present when Mary and her parents meet for lunch. Mary French, the socialist worker, is raising money for the less fortunate mine workers. Her parents on the other hand, ” Had both made big killings on the stockexchange on the same day and they felt they owed themselves a little rest and relaxation” (1521). This is typical of self-centered capitalists. Mary is the moral center of this story. She has the will to pick herself up and continue with the unselfish intentions of the socialist party. It is clear that Mary will struggle against the forces of a capitalistic society: corruption and the use of employment to keep the workforce under control.
On the contrary, Fitzgerald draws more of a Venn diagram then a concise line concerning his attitudes towards the rich and poor, as well as capitalists and socialists. Fitzgerald incorporates two sets of characters that are on opposite sides of the economic and political spectrum. What is difficult to understand is that almost all of the characters are unsympathetic; rather, they are stuck where the two circles coincide. Fitzgerald exploits the flaws of all the characters, and leaves the choice of a hero up to the reader.
In the very beginning of the story a conflict establishes itself between Phillip Dean and Gordon Sterret. Gordon has run into financial trouble and desperately begs Dean for money. Gordon has fallen from the class of wealthy Yale students to whom Dean still belongs. Dean demonstrates the snobby attitudes of the rich by thinking to himself, “Nothing was going to spoil his trip. If Gordon was going to be depressing, then hed have to see less of Gordon” (28).
The character of Edith Bradin expresses another clear example of Fitzgeralds attitude toward the rich. She is described in the following passage as a materialistic debutante infatuated with her own beauty. “She dropped her arms to her side until they were faintly touching the sleek sheath that covered and suggested her figure. She had never felt her own softness so much nor so enjoyed the whiteness of her own arms” (44).
Fitzgerald further exemplifies his attitudes of the rich as all the characters end up at Childs for breakfast the morning after May Day. Phillip Dean stops at the table where Gordon and Jewel Hudson are seated, “Prominent Teeth shook his finger pessimistically at the pair, giving the woman a glance of aloof condemnation” (65). Clearly Dean does not approve of Jewel, strictly because she is poor. The scene continues with the childish acts of Dean and Peter as they start a game of chase with the waiter in a drunken stupor. Both men end up on a lavish eating and drinking spree around town, simply out of foolish pleasure.
On the other end of the