love-is-a-fallacy

IronyandUnreliableNarrative:aFormalisticApproachtoLoveisaFallacyTheNewCriticismreferstoanapproachtounderstandingliteraryworkthroughclosereadingandattentivenesstoformalpatternsandtheirsuggestedmeanings.TheNewCriticsincludesJohnCroweRansom,AllenTateandCleanthBrooks.Theformalisticcriticdealswithironyandparadox,withthepointofview,withthetensionthatresultfrommultipleinteractionswithintheorganicformoftheliterarypiece.Remindedoftheseprinciples,wecaneasilyfindthattheyaboundinMaxShulman’sLoveisaFallacy,whichisclassicshortstoryinAmerica.ThesceneissetwithDobieGillis,theprotagonist-narrator,introducingthemajorcharactersandreportingthestorytoanunidentifiedandnonspeakinglistener.Inthereportofreminiscenceofpastevents,hemovessequentiallyfromthedescriptionofthemajorcharacterstothecentralepisode-Petey’sexchangeofPollyasacommodityfortheraccoonwiththenarrator;then,thelogiccoursesforPollywiththeexhaustivepatience;therefusalofgoingsteadywithDobieGillisbyPollyatlast.Moreover,itdevelopsanargument;itcitesinstances;itreachesaconclusion,loveisafallacy.Inthisway,thethemedisclosesitself.Atthisfairlyobviouslevel,whatwecalledexternalformisevidentin“LoveisaFallacy.”Inthissimpleyetstructuredway,theformofneat,compact,controlledemergesinourreaders’minds.However,thereexistsaninterestingdiscontinuity,aparadox-thatmightcatchthereaders’attention.Repeatedly,thenarratordescribeshimselfasacool,calculating,acuteperson,evenagenius.Inoneword,hespeakshighlyofhimself.HehasanidealexpectationforthefutureanddevelopsPollyasanidealwifeforhim.Butontheotherhand,thereadersbegintodoubttherelianceaboutthenarratorduringthedevelopmentoftheplots.ReaderswonderwhetherDobieisasintelligentashesaid.DoesPollyisreallyastupidgirl?Thesurprisingendingdiscloseshisfolly.Thatistosay,thereseemsdiscontinuitybetweenwhatthenarratortellsusabouthisintellectandwhatheactuallyshowsus.Wehavereasontobelievethatheisanunreliablenarrator.Furthermore,readerscanfindthediscontinuitybetweenwhathedescribesaboutPollyandwhatsheactuallyis.Besidesherphysicalcharms,sheisacuteandwitthroughherrefusalofgoingsteadywiththenarratorbyuseofwhatshehaslearnedfromthelogiccourse.SodoesPetey.Thecontrastbetweentheintellectofthenarratorandhisfollypresentsusaremarkabletensionthatthenewcriticshavefoundimportantintheinternalformofapieceofliteraryart.Whatthenarratorseemstobetoreadersinfactbeliedbyhisfoolishdeedsandfinalfailure.Theironicdiscontinuityisattheheartofthestory,sothatformandthemebecomeone.Thisisthekeytounderstandtheessay.Notsurprisingly,thetensionbetweenthenarratorandtheimpliednarratoralsoresolvesitselfintotheorganicformofthestory.Theimpliednarratorrepresentsanironiceffectbymeansoftheunreliablenarrative.Intheanalysisoftheunreliabilityofthenarrator,thereaderscanrecognizetheimpliedcontradictionandconfrontationbetweentheimpliednarratorandthenarrator.Thereaderscanfurtherfindthedeviationofemotionalorientationandvaluejudgmentinmajorcharacters.Emotionalorientationreferstoone’sowninterpretationaboutloveandinwhichwayhewilltreatlove.Valuejudgmentmouldsaperson’sindividuation,andinsomeextentisameasurefordecidingwhatmanhewillbecomeinthefuture.Thetwofactorsaswesaidbelowhavealsoinfluencedthemajorcharactersinthestory,thatreaderscanseethetrailseverywhereintheirvariedappearances.Thefalseattitudeofthemajorcharacterstowardsthemisclearlytoourreaders.Thereareothercontrastsalso,fillingouttheformofthestoryandfurthercontributingitsthemes.Forexample,namesinmajorcharactersareclearlyinthispattern.Althoughthenarratorhimselfseemstorepresentaperfectimagetoallofus,thenarrator’sname,DobieGillisrepresentstheimageofhonestyandstereotype,predictinghisunhappyending.ThenarratorsaysthatPeteyBurchis“dumbasox”,butPeteyBurchhasconnectionstolovelinessandaffection.PollyEspymeansEye-spy,islovableandacuteratherthanstupid.Clearly,namesarenotjustincidentalsinthestory.Theyhavesymbolicmeaningsintheessay.Moremightbesaidofafewotherdetailsthatseemsignificantinthestory,suchasthehumorousandmerrylanguage,thecolloquialdialectsandslangs,theellipsis,inversion.Moreover,wehaveasimple-headed,dumbexpressionofPollyaswereadthewords,like“gee”“wow-dow”andsomeotherungracefulshortwordsindialogueatthefirsttime.Itcontraststotheboastofthenarrator,whichstrengthenstheironiceffectinthewholestory.Insum,aformalisticreadingof“Loveisafallacy”canoriginateinastudyofparadox,tensionsandpointofview.Itcanthenleadtohaveanironiceffectthroughtheclosereading.Finally,itisthenatureoftheformalisticapproachtoleadustoseehowparadox,tensions,ironycombinetoreachitstheme-loveisafallacy.