The Mud Below

How does 'The Mud Below' offer a revisionist interpretation of the mythology of the west and western settlement?

 

Overview

- the story of Diamond Felts - a small time bull rider who has a very troubled family past

- follows his story - from when he first got onto a bull and held on for 8 seconds - described as 'the experience had been exhilarating and unbearably personal' - through his times as a travelling bull rider and a seemingly lonely life that is associated with it.

- story includes the hostile relationship he has with his family - his mother did not want him to go to school to become a bull rider, so resents him for going against her wishes - his father tells Diamond that he isn't his father and then leaves them - Diamonds younger brother looks up to him in some ways as he wants to be a bull rider like him, but seems confused as he wants to stick up for his mum more - a focus on the cowboys family a new concept?

 

Masculinity

- Cowboys/heroic figures were the height of masculinity in Western novels/films

- "Proulx rewrites the genre of the Western from a feminist perspective that deconstructs the figure of the cowboy—an iconic image of US masculinity." - Arosteguy

- "Proulx’s male characters, on the other hand, exhibit constructed and fluid masculinities" - Arosteguy

- "His identification with the bull introduces an important theme in the story as Diamond, for the first time in his life, experienced a sense of power over others" - Rood

- Diamond Felts called derogatory names - 'half pint' and 'shorty' - shows the lack of masculine authority by the main character

     - Mother is the main person to do this - replaces his real name with 'Shorty' - "although    they [mothers] recognise to some extent the problem with dominant culture's strict definition of masculinity and seek ways to remove their sons from this restrictive environment, the mothers do exhibit signs that they too have internalised these ways of judging a man" - "reinforces the underlying anxiety that forces him to pursue bull riding" Arosteguy -

- Shows other weaknesses - the rejection by his father plays an important and destructive role in Diamonds life - "not your father and never was"

- "As a result of this emotional trauma, Diamond is as stunted emotionally as he is physically, his outward appearance mirroring the inner self" - Rood 'Understanding Annie Proulx'

- Diamond gets hurt quite a bit from his bull riding and does suffer from his injuries - something that is not seen in Westerns - the hero recovers quickly

     - tore the ligaments in his knee and dislocates his shoulder, both from bull riding

 

Loneliness - Travelling

- Cowboys usually lead a lonely life - travel mostly by themselves for a long time - The Searchers - Ethan Edwards visits his family after travelling for many years, and then leaves at the end by himself

- Diamond does travel with a couple of different companions - but does not respect them - Was annoyed a Leccil when he went back home to settle down; he rapped his second companion, Myron Sassers wife in the back of his truck; Pake Bitts was a Christian, but Diamond was rude to him because of this - but he must of respected him to some extent as he carried on with Diamond to the end of the tale - westerns did not show this sort of disrespect in the friendship between cowboys

- Didn't stick around for long - felt like they were of no use after they had helped or done their heroic deed - can't stay in his mothers house for more than 4 days when he hurts his knee, may be due to fact that the civilised old life is not what he wants, and he prefers his wild, but lonely, lifestyle

- Proulx makes the point that although some cowboys may talk about their family and how much they miss them, they still choose to lead a lonely life on the road - "You all make a big noise about family, what I hear, wife and kids, ma and pa, sis and bub. But none of you spend much time at home and you never wanted to or you wouldn't be in rodeo"

 

The lifestyle of a rancher/cowboy

- Diamonds mother tried to bring her sons up away from the rancher lifestyle - thinks it would mean that they wouldn't amount to much - "No. You can't. You're going to college. What is this, some kid thing you kept to yourself all this time? I worked life a fool to bring you boys up in a town, get you out of the mud, give you a chance to make something out of yourselves.." - "The mother figure, in Proulx's work, is often plagued by extreme feelings of guilt because she has failed to protect her son from falling victim to the allures of fantasy life" - Arosteguy

- the mother figure is rarely seen in Westerns - so we never see whether this sort of lifestyle was accepted by them for their sons - adds an extra realistic layer of the story

- living on a ranch is largely seen as a desirable thing to do in western mythology - Proulx puts across the idea that this would not be true for everyone

 

Conclusion

- as a overall, it would seem that Proulx is writing these stories to debunk the mythology of the West - which would make her stories a revisionist reinterpretation of the Western genre

   - not all cowboys were tall, heroic and didn't have emotional issues

   - the lonely life of the cowboy did not make you mysterious, it was quite depressing for these men

   - the life of a rancher was probably not a desired life to lead

- Diamonds mother plays quite a big role in the story - shows how the role of women have a bigger impact on men than represented in Western film/TV shows

- places the role of the hero's family as a whole as a significant reason for the actions of the main character - normally we see the hero as a singular figure with no background to explain his actions

- "revealing the inherent complexities involved in maintaining the successful image of the cowboy—reveals just how implausible and problematic such a masculinity is. In interrogating the cowboy figure’s inability to accommodate complexities of globalization, amid other realities of twenty first- century America, Proulx criticizes the mythology of the cowboy figure" - Katie O. Arosteguy 'Deconstructing the myth of the cowboy'

- "where descriptions of the beautiful but forbidding landscape create a lyrical counterpoint to the violence and tragedy of individual lives" - Rood 'Understanding Annie Proulx'