The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer and Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston

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The mission chosen by every writer highly depends upon his/her civilian position. Understanding the potential of literature to influence the views and attitudes of readers, novelists frequently used their works as methods for communicating their civilian views to their readers.

Raising the anti-Vietnam war concerns, Norman Mailer in his The Armies of the Night and Maxine Kingston in her Tripmaster Monkey expressed their positions concerning the war in Vietnam and totalitarian features in American government. Establishing the relationship between the civilian position and national identity, the novelists offered different methods for confronting war and totalitarian governance, ranging from active protest in Mailer to pacifism in Kingston.

This paper will analyze the texts of The Armies of the Night and Tripmaster Monkey to show how Norman Mailer and Maxine Hong Kingston expressed their anti-Vietnam concerns through their main protagonists who are depicted as ambiguous rebels who protest against the war and determine their national identity.

Anti-Vietnam concerns expressed by Mailer and Kingston

Active protest of Norman Mailer in The Armies of the Night

The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel/ Novel as History by Norman Mailer was a form of the active protest of the novelist against the war in Vietnam and the indifference of the vast majority of his compatriots. In this novel, Vietnam is presented as a symbol of evil corrupting the country and ruining the lives and dreams of its citizens.

Norman Mailer considered lethargy and entropy of his compatriots as important factors contributing to the development of events in Vietnam and criticized the passivity of Americans in The Armies of the Night. In one of the episodes of this novel, the author describes the indifferent attitude of the masses towards Vietnam by depicting an elderly woman in Vegas who only giggles in response to the words about tragedies in Vietnam and sticks to her own business.

The woman is depicted in the gaming hall in Vegas and unable to adequately react to the phrases about war being preoccupied with the game. “Madame, we are burning children in Vietnam. – Boy, you just go get yourself lost. Grandma’s is about ready for a kiss from the jackpot…I hit! I hit! … Why, you poor burned child – you just brought me luck” (Mailer 152).

In this unrealistic situation the orange-haired grandma is compared to the working class uninformed on the events in Vietnam and indifferent towards them. The woman’s striking indifference reveals Mailer’s criticism of his compatriots’ entropy and passivity.

During demonstrations, Mailer gave speeches encouraging his compatriots to express their protest against the campaigns in Vietnam by sticking the photographs of then-president Lyndon Johnson upside down to express their attitude towards his presidency and decisions. Furthermore, Mailer regarded the book The Armies of the Night as influential as the march depicted in it (Wilson 87).

Mailer expressed his anti-Vietnam concerns through the self-named protagonist of the Armies of the Night Norman Mailer. The central idea developed by Mailer in this book is that people should fight against war. The novelist insisted on active demonstrations and pointed out at the possible methods of expressing protest in the form of civil disobedience.

Mailer hated any violence inflicted by the government and regarded the war in Vietnam driven by the state ideology as one of the examples of the state’s violence (Carme and Coy 192). Originating the method of new journalism, Mailer includes the excerpts from Time and other official sources into this book and intertwines them with his personal memoirs as a participant of the march at the Pentagon.

However, this decision to complicate the viewpoint of the novel can be justified with not only the author’s attempt to provide a more realistic evidence and convincing readers, but also an act of rebellion and civil disobedience of a novelist who crossed the barriers of traditional genres to demonstrate his independence from conventional norms and state’s hierarchy.

Expressing his anti-Vietnam concerns, Mailer does not provide any details on the grassroots situation in Vietnam and concentrates on depiction of American realities. Therefore, the anti-Vietnam concerns were represented in the historical context of American nation and Mailer’s criticism of totalitarian features in the state system of his time.

The Armies of the Night expressed Mailer’s protest against the war in Vietnam and his criticism of compatriots’ passivity. The author regarded this novel as a part of his personal contribution to the struggle against the totalitarian government in the country and appeal to his compatriots encouraging them to struggle against war and not to remain indifferent.

Pacifism of Maxine Hong Kingston in Tripmaster Monkey

Raising the anti-Vietnam concerns in her novel Tripmaster Monkey: His Fakebook, Maxine Hong Kingston proposes an idea of peace literature and proclaims pacifism to be the most appropriate method of anti-war struggle. In contrast to the active protest offered by Mailer and his criticism of entropy of his compatriots, Kingston distinguishes between passivity and pacifism and selects the latter as a mode of revolt for the main protagonist of her novel Wittman Ah Sing.

Kingston pursued the goal of promoting peace in her literary works and tried to tell about a society without violence in which citizens use non-violent means to achieve non-violent goals. The writer confessed that in her novel Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book, she attempted to depict the world healthy and nurturing young Wittman so that he could be a good man making his contribution to the welfare of the community (Sugiyama 132).

The anti-war theme was further developed by Kingston in her following novel The Fifth Book of Peace. However, a lot of issues raised in Tripmaster Monkey can be regarded as a rehearsal of future more detailed justification of the novelist’s anti-war position which can be found in other works of this author.

For instance, Wittman Ah Sing and Tana try to escape the war by moving to the Hawaii but, paradoxically, appear to be even closer to the military located on the island (Grice 119). The most significant point in this plot line is that the author represents this attempt to escape as an act of pacifism interpreted as heroism.

Kingston managed to find peaceful means of protest for her protagonists who express their anti-military moods by producing an anti-war theatrical play. The events of the play take place in Vietnam War era in California, where a would-be poet and playwright Wittman Ah Sing writes an anti-war play involving a wide range of multicultural characters. The theatre as the resolution found by the novelist provides all participants with opportunities to express their anti-war sentiments in non-violent space.

By planning to produce his play, the main protagonist of Kingston’s novel persuades a lot of men and women with different ethnic and educational backgrounds that fruitful cooperation and work for peace is the best possible solution whereas revolution and active demonstrations even if they are a result of the anti-war movement are militaristic in their nature and have much in common with war (Kingston 18).

Thus, Kingston considers the active rebellion offered by Mailer as inappropriate for achieving peaceful goals. Depicting the well-known Chinese warriors, Kingston does not represent them as great heroes as they were traditionally known to be, but people using violent means (Sugiyama 139).

The only example of the loud noises and explosions which can be found in Kingston’s novel is the representation of war in the play produced by the main protagonist. Therefore, war is represented as a fake in the novel and is under the control of Wittman and remains only an illusion in the peaceful world created by the author.

The peaceful position of the main protagonist and criticism of any violent means of protest is best expressed in his own arguments against revolution: “what’s crazy is the idea that revolutionaries must shoot and bomb and kill, that revolution is the same as war” (Kingston 305).

Thus, the book Tripmaster Monkey can be regarded as an embodiment of the idea of peace literature developed by Maxine Kingston who insisted on the use of peaceful means for reaching peaceful ends in contrast to the position of Norman Mailer who offered an active protest against the war in Vietnam as a result of totalitarian governance.

National self-identity of Mailer’s protagonist

The active position chosen by Norman Mailer for depiction of the protest of his self-named protagonist is inseparable from the national self-identity of the character. The active involvement into demonstrations, marches and other acts of civil disobedience aimed at expressing the anti-war sentiments is compliant with the author’s ideas on what it means to be American.

According to the Mailer’s assumptions, the main cause of his compatriots’ indifference and inactivity is the lack of their awareness on the events in Vietnam and the ideology of the government sending the military to war. The speeches given by Mailer at the demonstrations and his book The Armies of the Night represented the author’s attempts to raise the awareness of his compatriots and appeal to their national consciousness and dignity.

The novelist believed that by informing his compatriots on the evils of the totalitarian government, he would be able to change their attitudes and appeal to their national feelings. The elderly woman with red hair in the gaming room of Las Vegas symbolizing the masses of American people is passive only because she is uninformed. In other words, the war in Vietnam was not kept in secrecy, but the majority of the population did not understand the driving forces leading to this war as well as its implications.

Apart from this passivity because of the lack of information, active civilian position is a part of Mailer’s view on American national identity embodied in the characters of his self-named protagonist and other marchers participating in the anti-war demonstration depicted in the novel.

The expression of the anti-war sentiments and participation in the demonstration is the way offered by Mailer for obtaining the sense of American national identity. “Mailer never felt more like an American than when he was naturally obscene” (Mailer 61). Therefore, regardless of all the inconveniences and risks associated with participation in the march, only by coming through these troubles, the protagonist achieved the sense of national self-identity.

Thus, active position and confrontation against the totalitarian governance in general and war in Vietnam driven by ideology in particular was perceived by Mailer as a part of his national self-identity and his civilian duty. A true American citizen could not act differently.

However, Mailer does not limit his duty as an American citizen to only expressing his personal anti-war concerns and demonstrating his personal indignation, but also extends it to informing others on the consequences of war in Vietnam, the true underlying causes and the scope of the tragedy (Raman 174).

For the purpose of influencing the views of his compatriots and appealing to their national feelings, the author develops a genre of new journalism combining the features of fiction and conventional journalism. On the one hand, by intertwining his personal memoirs with the excerpts from current newspapers, the author provides substantial evidence for making his claims more believable and convincing readers.

On the other hand, by expressing his personal views on specific examples discussed in the media, Mailer sheds light upon the aspects which were previously overlooked by Americans. In other words, the readers of Mailer’s book could have read the newspaper reports previously, but in the context offered by Mailer the same facts were perceived differently.

The anti-war revolt expressed in The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer is closely interrelated with the sense of national identity in the main protagonist. The active position and confrontation to the totalitarian governance are the main features emphasized by Mailer as important elements of national self-identification of true American citizens.

Double national identity of an American with Chinese ancestry in Kingston’s character

Similarly to Mailer, the anti-war concerns raised by Wittman Ah Sing as the main protagonist of Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey are inseparable from the character’s national identity as an American citizen of Chinese origin. The Chinese ancestry and the influence of the Chinese culture can explain the emphasis put by Kingston upon the peaceful means of expressing the anti-war moods as opposed to the revolutionary means and demonstrations which Kingston associated with violence.

The Chinese ancestry plays an important role in the civilian position selected by Wittman. It is important that when looking for the non-violent means for expressing the anti-war sentiments, the main protagonist communicates his ideas to the wide masses, including people with different ethnic and educational backgrounds.

Similarly to Mailer the novelist who regarded informing his compatriots on the injustice of Vietnamese war and absurdity of any war in general as a part of his civilian duty, Wittman communicated his ideas of using the non-violent means for expressing the anti-war sentiments as the most appropriate way for confronting war.

The participation of the characters in the anti-war play is the most peaceful way for expressing the anti-war concerns of all possible methods. All characters of Tripmaster Monkey obtain certain non-violent skills which can be used for their survival. Wittman as the main protagonist of the novel creates the environment favorable for expressing the protest against war in which the rest of the characters can use non-violent means for reaching non-violent ends.

Therefore, the main characters do not remain silent, but the play on the peaceful stage is the only weapon they use. In that regard, the characters of this novel oppose the violence in all its forms, expressing their concerns but not using violent means for expressing their protest.

Due to his double ancestry, the main protagonist rethinks not only the current events taking place in American society, but also reconsiders certain points of the conventional Chinese cultural heritage. Thus, the famous Chinese warriors presented in Wittman’s play are not presented as great heroes as they were commonly known in the Chinese culture.

On the contrary, Kingston emphasizes the harm they do to themselves and the community by using the marital arts and violence. For instance, Lee Kuey who is known to be a Chinese national hero is presented as a brutal troublemaker. The main protagonist admits that “he made too much trouble for his own side” (Kingston 257).

Therefore, applying the core ideas of Chinese philosophy to the issue of war and warriors, the main protagonist admits that by using weapon, an individual causes harm not only to the community, but also to his/her own side. The main conclusion which can be drawn from the pacifist concerns expressed in Tripmaster Monkey is that a hero does not necessarily has to be a warrior and not using violent means does not imply passivity and indifference.

Achieving the sense of his double national identity Wittman Ah Sing comes to a conclusion that pacifism is an integral part of his double national identity and reconsiders the current events of the Vietnam-war era and even the national Chinese heroes through the lens of pacifism as the most appropriate method of confronting war. Trying to escape war and moving to the island, the main character does not lose his sense of national identity, but rather finds it in pacifism as his conscious position as an American citizen with Chinese ancestry.

The influence of Whitman on Mailer and Kingston

Raising the anti-Vietnam concerns and expressing their understanding of what it means to be a true American citizen, Mailer and Kingston underwent the influence of Walt Whitman who is recognized as a quintessentially American poet and journalist (Huntley 162). Including direct or indirect allusions on Whitman into their works, Mailer and Kingston emphasized their sense of belongingness to American culture in general.

Therefore, the anti-war revolt as one of the central motives of their works and their personal civilian disobedience did not imply their separation from the American culture.

The visual imagery used by Mailer in The Armies of the Night as well as the main purpose of writing this book clearly demonstrate that Mailer shared his mission with Whitman who became his spiritual guru.

The idea of stressing the American-ness of the novel and define national identity through the American style of prose reveal the intentions of Mailer. Critics compare the Song of Myself by Whitman to the hymn to America in Mailer’s The Armies of the Night (Wilson 11). Thus, even though there are no direct reference to Whitman, Mailer shares his mission and even uses similar visual imagery in his novel.

The allusions used by Kingston can be regarded as almost direct. Thus, Wittman Ah Sing as the chosen name for the main protagonist clearly demonstrates the intentions of the author to use a direct reference to Whitman and his well-known poem. Thus, when coming across the name of the main protagonist for the first time, the readers would associate it with the line from Whitman’s poem dealing with the importance of defining of self-identity for every individual.

This allusion emphasizes the importance of defining the double national self-identity for the main protagonist of the novel. Pacifism as a unique form of anti-war revolt chosen by Kingston for her protagonist is related to the self-identity of Whittman Ah Sing and the issues raised by Whitman in his well-known poem.

Thus, linking the anti-war revolts to the national self-identity of their main protagonists, Mailer and Kingston used indirect and direct references to Whitman as a quintessentially American poet and his Song of Myself as a hymn to personal and national identity.

Conclusion

As it can be seen from the analysis of the two novels, Norman Mailer in his The Armies of the Night and Maxine Kingston in her Tripmaster Monkey expressed their anti-Vietnam concerns through their main protagonists and stressed the importance of selecting the civilian position for defining the national identity. Regardless of the different methods of expressing their protest chosen by the novelists, they attempted to raise the awareness of readers on the scope of Vietnam War and its underlying causes.

Active protest offered by Mailer and pacifism offered by Kingston are represented as acts of civilian disobedience confronting the totalitarian governance of then-president who initiated the war driven by ideology. Finding appropriate ways for expressing their protest, Mailer and Wittman as the main protagonists of the novels under analysis manage to define their national identity of an American citizen and an American citizen of Chinese ancestry respectively.

Works Cited

Carme, Manuel and Derrick Scott. Nor Shall Diamond Die: American Studies in Honour of Javier Coy. Valencia: Universitat de Valencia, 2003. Print.

Grice, Helena. Maxine Hong Kingston. New York: Manchester University Press, 2006. Print.

Huntley, Edelma. Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. Print.

Mailer, Norman. The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel/ The Novel as History. New York: Plume, 1994. Print.

Raman, Meenakshi. Critical Perspectives in American Literature. Dehli: Atlantic Publisher and Distributors, 2005. Print.

Sugiyama, Naoko. “From the Woman Warrior to Veterans of Peace: Maxine Hong Kingston’s Pacifist Textual Strategies”. The Japanese Journal of American Studies 20 (2009): 131-147. Web.

Wilson, Andrew. Norman Mailer: An American Aesthetic. Bern: Peter Lang AG, 2008. Print.

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