Ambiguity in American Literature

Ambiguity in American Literature

Ambiguity in literature after World War II reflects explores issues of self and society. These two ideas often work against each other instead of coexisting to form a struggle-free existence J.D. Salinger, Ralph Ellison, Sylvia Plath, and Richard Heller illustrate this struggle with their works. These authors explore ambiguity through different characters that experience the world in different ways. Identity, while it is an easy concept, it can be difficult to attain. These authors seek out ambiguity with the human experience, coming to different conclusions. Ambiguity becomes a vehicle through which we can attempt to define humanity J.D. Salinger's novel, Catcher in the Rye, Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, Sylvia Plath's novel, The Ball Jar, and Richard Heller's novel, Catch 22 explore ambiguity experienced through an attempt to find self. Each experience is unique, incapable of fitting a generic mold created by society.

J.D. Salinger's novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resist the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:

I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around, I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could have been there" (Salinger 213).

Holden realizes he must come to terms with how the world operates. He comes to appreciate the value of relationships but he still lives with ambiguity. At the end of the novel, we find Holden's future is still ambiguous, as are Holden's thoughts. He thinks he will apply himself but he wavers even as he thinks the words. Holden will probably always be a cynic but his realizations about the world remove any doubt about what the world is like.

In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison explores ambiguity experienced through the r. His life as an African-American in a white man's world leaves him with a sense of feeling less than real. When forced to answer who he is, the narrator claims finding the answer was like "trying to identify one particular cell that coursed through the torpid veins of my body" (Ellison 210). He struggles with discovering self because he has no clear definition of who he should be. At the end of the novel, he understands he "always tried to go in everyone's way but my own. I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself" (496). While he feels invisible, he is not; he realizes he is a real man that happens to be African-American. He begins to wonder why he should "strive toward colorlessness" (499) in a world where everybody wants to be more alike than anything else. He thinks, "life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat" (499). He had experienced so much to realize these seemingly simple facts. Without these simple facts, however, his life would have been so much more painful.

Sylvia Plath explores ambiguity from the perspective of a woman living in a man's world in The Bell Jar. Esther receives different messages about who she is and who she wants to be. Society tells her to be the good wife and mother but she never adapts well to this notion. She feels ambivalence toward most of the women she meets and ultimately feels pulled in different directions when it comes to expectations and desires. The conflict Esther experiences results from what society expects from "good girls." The article Mrs. Greenwood sends her exposes the hypocrisy she cannot ignore. The article explains how a "man's world was different than a woman's world and a man's emotions are different than a woman's emotions" (Plath 65). The notion of women being pure as the wind-driven snow and submitting to the will of their husbands becomes more of a burden than anything else to Esther. Esther knew omen could be talented and independent but they were also expected to live for their families and the lines between those two worlds was at best ambiguous for Esther.

In Richard Heller's novel, Catch 22, Heller observes ambiguity through radically different characters experiencing the same war. Ambiguity is played out through absurdity in many cases. Yossarian evolves through the novel and when he runs into the old woman, she tells him, "Catch-22 says that they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing" (Heller 416). Yossarian realizes that it makes no difference if Catch 22 actually exists or not because "everyone thought it existed" (418). He finally decides it does not exist because the authority that exists in the world does not need to prove itself. The scene in which Yossarian is searching for the young girl illustrates absurdity. As he encounters people who might commit suicide or go insane, he is arrested. The immorality that follows in the scene when Yossarian admonishes Aarfy is absurd and ambiguous as Yossarian attempts to make sense of what is happening. Things become muddled as Aarfy gets the apology he thinks he deserves. The ambiguity surrounding Yossarian's experiences are emphasized with the war and it is up to him to find a meaning he can live with for the rest of his life. He cannot go on believing what others tell him about anything; he must come to his own conclusions.