American Studies Blog Post 10

American Studies Blog Post 11

How does “job history” offer a revisionist interpretation of the mythology of the west and western settlement?

Introduction

The Wild West has given rise to immensely influential national myths. Annie Prolux’s short story “Job history” uses the mid-western setting to explore various aspects of theme and characterisation.

Summary

It follows a man named Leeland Lee’s life from birth to fifty and his adventure, set against the harsh backdrop of Wyoming life in mid-western America.

·     Prolux’s character Leeland Lee is typical of her narrative, with critic Katie Arosteguy stating, “Prolux rewrites the genre of the Western from a feminist perspective that deconstructs the figure of the cowboy – an iconic image of US masculinity.”

·       Leeland Lee is no acceptation to this. Prolux challenges this and criticizes this typical representation of the west and western settlement, throughout her narrative.

Point One

·       The west presented a myth where you could be anyone from anywhere and be able to achieve.

·   As French critic Giles Deueuze argued, like D.H. Lawrence and many others, America was concerned with “de-territorialisation”, or the movement across lines and boundaries, with being unafraid to flee to new lands or leave new ones behind.

·     This myth is presented as a failure through Leeland Lee’s character as he spends his whole life moving his family across America in search of jobs to support his family. Lee states, “it seemed like a good time to try another place.” As stated before, Lee has thirteen jobs throughout this short story, which reinstates how hard it was to hold a job within the 1950-1960’s economy.

·    CONTEXT - This comes to no shock as after World War Two the efficiency and productivity of the US economy had    dramatically improved and John F Kennedy made a promise in his 1960’s campaign to “get America moving again.”

·      Leeland Lee has to work many different jobs, ranging from carpenter work, raising hogs and pumping gas. Unlike the myth of work always being there within the west, Lee struggles with business. Once it seems like the family has settled, there is always something usually getting in the way. At the beginning of the novel, Lee manages to get a job at the Egge’s Service Station, where the road is initially on the main tourist road to Yellowstone. However, one day there is “a hundred cars stop for gas and oil, hamburgers, cold soda.” But business can change so quickly, which demonstrates how the west does not offer security. Within a few months, “there is a for sale sign on the inside window of the service station.” The harsh reality Prolux presents is that this idea of the west changing someone is not always evident. Completed with Ed Egge getting drunk and “driving at speed, hits two steers on the country road.” Katie Arosteguy again presents the idea that Prolux suggests that cowboy masculinity is anything but permanent, stable or easily defined.

·    This supported with the quote “departure, becoming and passage” by Deueuze who, supports identity as not fixed. Again reiterated through in Cultural Identity and Diaspora, with cultural identity being stated: “but, like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation. Far from being eternally fixed in some essentialised past, they are subject to the continuous “play” of history, culture and power.” Prolux again could be indicating through her narrative that as Leeland moves around so much with his family, they aren’t settled in one place enough to personally undergo this “constant transformation.” However they do see this transformation within moving around.

Point Two

·    Prolux questions the idea of isolation as the news features throughout the story. Leeland Lee’s life is chronologically presented through major events in America in the later half of the twentieth century, such as the Super Bowl and Vietnam. However, the opening and final paragraphs are closed with “There is no news on the radio” “nobody has time to listen to the news” The idea that although the news does not directly effect them, it still is a part of their life.

Point Three

·      The iconic representation of the cowboy figure as romanticized has been mythologized throughout the western history. As critic Elizabeth Abele described a cowboy as “romatacise[d] and residen[t] of the Western territory.”

·      Where the cowboy is a rugged individualist who is all but seen as the definition of masculine. He is the ideology of freedom, power, usually handsome and a true American identity. In contrast to this stereotype, Prolux describes Leeland Lee as a face with “heavy bone” a “thick neck” and “red-gold hair plastered down in his bangs.” With ”His nose lying broad and close to his face.”

·     In addition, to his looks, his personality is not of the romanticized. Leeland Lee’s story is an account of his day-to-day struggles however, there is little emotion expressed within the narrative, with everything being expressed matter of fact. The use of Prolux’s short sentences adds to the harshness of the west that she is trying to present. There is not even emotion used when Leeland Lee’s wife dies, it is simply put “Lori dies”. Although it is noted that Leeland Lee sits with her at the hospital everyday. The only hint of emotion, despite this, is through the youngest child who is stated to “cry inconsolably.” Again within the narrative, the only emotion used to describe Leeland Lee himself is when he returns from war which when he comes back to Wyoming is just seen as “heavier and moodier”.

Point Four

·      Violence against women is demonstrated within the short story “job history”. Prolux demonstrates that the western men are not all kind and gentle, and men use female bodies as another way for them to show dominant masculinity. There are two examples of this.

·      The first by Leeland Lee who despite is out of town a lot, “seems but back often enough for what he calls “a good ride” and so makes Lori pregnant again.” The implications of this are that Leeland Lee impregnates Lori without any thoughts of what she wants.

·      The second example is more obvious with Leeland Lee’s daughter. As Katie Arosteguy states, “here the women’s body is an object upon which the disenfranchised male can act out his fears and frustrations for perceived lacks of cowboy masculinity.” The encounter happens due to the youngest daughter of Leeland Lee’s eating the piece of cake he had been saving.

Point Five

·     In addition to Annie Prolux presenting women within her short story “job history”, Lori’s character is remarked as intelligent, hard working and supportive. Leeland Lee can also be viewed as having to depend on Lori at times. Her intelligence is shown through her money saving skills, “Lori is good at saving money and she has put aside a small nest egg” and again “Lori has saved a little money.” Lori is always the one who is able to make the journeys between jobs possible.

·     CRITIC - Katie Arosteguy states’ “the social and cultural constructions of female gendered subjectivity are fast becoming old.” This is again reinstated when Lori is one of the two who passes the first aid course on her first time. Furthermore, when Lori dies at the end of the short story, Leeland Lee is left with no family and it is not until a woman employs him to work for her that he seems to pick up the pieces and carry on with his life.

Conclusion

Prolux’s narrative constantly rejects traditionally held beliefs about the western settlement, primarily through her main character Leeland Lee, who portrays the west and the image of the successful cowboy as a failure.