Professor Karoui-Elounelli

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The Beetle Leg

-John Hawkes-

I.

Introduction :

The Beetle Leg incarnates the tendency of literary self-criticism that

manifests itself through the play of parody. The target of parody is one of
the formulaic narrative traditions, and it is limited to the American context
( the western novel).The term formulaic refers to the kind of narrative
fiction in which little space is given to innovation as there are conventions
that tend to be repeated , allowing the reader to predict the plotline. Selfreflexive fiction relies on the ironic game that can only be discerned if one
is familiar with the archetype that is the target of parody. The myth of the
frontier experience is the target of criticism. The most consistent target of
parody in The Beetle Leg is the western novel in its conventions and
ideological content as it tended to confuse the myth of the frontier with
the historical content.
There is a common theoretical background to postmodern writings which
consists in the assumption that originality is a myth. This is the spirit of
crisis that John Barth attributes to the novel genre from the moment of its
emergence. Intertextuality is inevitable.
In Hawkes novel all the characters are flat and this reinforces the antirealistic tendency of this kind of fiction. This has to do with questioning the
very possibility of representation. The life-like content is undermined and

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even when here is something life-like; it is framed by a dream-like mood.

This playfulness destroys the conventional process of cultural portrayal.
This is meant to remind the reader of the inadequacy of language and that
style is a matter of invention.
Satire allows postmodern metafiction to preserve a link with the world
outside literature. The satirical dimension is reached through parody.
Satire is achieved through the devices that allow the postmodern narrative
to resist the conventions of realism.
The postmodern narrative opens with the kind of details that would
mislead the reader to expect an ordinary story through the accumulation
of conventional effects. Then, it destroys these claims through self-irony.
Authorship and readership are given equal importance in this kind of
fiction. There is an inescapable gap between the text and the authors
intention. Noting is too serious to be sheltered from parody.
II.

The Major Differences between Modernism and

Postmodernism:
A similar use of fragmentation but the implications are different. In
modernist literature, the use of fragmentation does not prevent the
reader from reconstructing the plotline. In Postmodern writings, we
are always prevented from reaching that stage.
A different use of psychoanalysis: Modernist writings display a
dogmatic belief in psychoanalysis while postmodern writings tend to
have a critical use of it.

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In modernist writings literary conventions are maintained while they

are totally destroyed in postmodern narratives.
III.

The Sheriff
The opening section is framed by the first-person narrator (the
sheriff) that announces the familiar in the western narrative. The
figure of the sheriff in the conventional western stands for law and
order. This is meant to encourage our expectations of the typical
western plot as we get introduced to the constant threat incarnated
by the forces of the wilderness as opposed to the forces of law and
order this is a lawless country. The comic absurdities are
emphasized through the fact that the task of keeping order consists
in spying on the townspeople rather than protecting them. This
comic absurdity gradually destroys the reliability of the narrator as
he associates his existence with the environment of the jail. Thus,
the boundaries between the law keeper and the outlaw are blurred.
The Sheriff also creates confusion between the jail as an institution
of punishment and the brothel (the saloon) that incarnates moral

IV.

transgressions. The Sheriffs voyeurism shows his perversity.

The Lampson Brothers
The sheriff is caught in an unhealthy obsession with peoples sexual
lives. This suggests a kind of moral perversity that destroys his
conventional role as the guardian of order. The sheriff introduces the
Lampson Brothers as totally different from the rest of the
community. He invites our expectation of the typical cowboy hero.
However, this insistence on their exceptionality remains only

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arbitrary as they appear comic. This is used to remind the readers of

the artificial process that creates stories. There is no basis for their
V.

distinction neither morally nor mentally.

The Red Devils
They function as a distorted version of the natives. Anachronism
implies a critical attitude towards the conventional western novel.
The traditional western relied on myth making in its depiction of that
historical phase. The parodic novel brings to the surface the whole
process of myth making and stereotyping. IT functions thus like a
critical text .The potential of evil is suggested in an absurd and
arbitrary way as Wade stresses the fact that they are harmless which
is again an ironic subversion of the conventional western narrative
that depicts the native tribes as part of the wilderness while the
white

pioneers

symbolize

civilization.

This

critical

comment

questions the artificial process through which the native tribes are
often depicted in the conventional western narrative. The Beetle Leg
demystifies the imperialist vision that informs the portrayal of the
native figures. Their emergence encourages us to expect that
traditional scene of confrontation between the forces of the
wilderness and the representatives of civilization.
Notice
The novel is thus a critique not only of the literary form but

also of the mythology that is represented as a historical fact.

The past as history is something we have access to only

through texts.
Even historical
interpretation.

narratives

came

into

being

through

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The rules of narrativity are equally present in the human

discourses.
In fiction, nothing is natural, everything is artificial.
In postmodern metafiction, the myth of originality

is

abandoned.

VI.

The Great

Slide
It is presented as the source of a constant threat.
It is what gives Mulges death a pseudo-epic quality.
It announces the dead Mulge as a central figure.
The third person voice is also an accomplice in turning
him into a myth. His reliability is undermined just like the

VII.

Sheriffs credibility.
The dam incarnates a constant threat. Its an area of

imminent apocalypse.
No psychological impact is produced by this accident on

the flat charaters.

Its the temporal reference in relation to which the

characters conceive of their lives as its a decisive date.

The Setting

The borderline location is conventionally a symbol of two opposing worlds:

the wilderness and civilization. It is an illustration of one of the earliest
forms of the imperialist ideology that associates the natives with chaos
and savagery. In parody, this implicit message is made explicit. Mistletoe is
an apocalyptic area that reinforces the apocalyptic image of the frontier

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space. The only area that incarnates a form of life is the jail. This is to be
interpreted as an ironic denial of the very possibility of progress.
VIII.

Mulge

Mulge is the very center of significance according to the characters

perception. It is thanks to his death that Mistletoe has become a tourist
attraction. He is magnified by the whole community of Mistletoe without
providing the reader with clues clarifying the reasons why he should
become so omnipresent. This is also part of the game of myth-making .His
wedding and his death constitute two decisive moments or events in the
life of Mistletoe. This mythical quality remains highly absurd. In his case,
the accidental death of an ordinary worker has been turned into a mythical
event. He emerges as a heroic figure without a logical reason or
explanation. This is used to highlight the arbitrary nature of myths
reminding us thus that fiction is always artificial. The absurdity of the
fetish ( Mulges razor that has been transformed into a touristic
attraction) is meant to remind the reader of the fetishism in the American
culture that invented the myth of the frontier and turned it into a
commodity. Mulge is associated with the heroic god-like figures of the past.
IX.

Luke Lampson: The Anti-hero:

Lukes ritualistic action does not produce any constructive result. He

attempts to commemorate his brothers pseudo-epic death by sowing

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seeds on a regular basis while the brothers corpse couldnt even be

retrieved. The futility of his actions is stressed. He is depicted as a flat
character whose actions are meaningless and futile. He is a comic
character. His clownish qualities are meant to undermine his epic quality. It
subverts the essential effect of the archetype. Luke assumes a pseudomysterious quality when entering the saloon for instance as he seems to
despise the crowd and nobody manages to see his face. There is a false
sense of mystery.
X.

Cap Leech:
He incarnates the native practice of witchcraft. He is characterized
by his ambiguous ethnic identity. The concept of identity does not
hold anymore as its not stable or even reliable. He is focused upon
in section 9.His ambiguous ethnic origins only suggest his deformity.
The fact that he is associated with witchcraft symbolizes his
creativity as he functions as the ironic double of the author.
Authorship is mocked and the process of writing is reconsidered
within the frame of irony. This is meant to challenge the belief in the
authors mastery of the act of writing. Just like witchcraft, art is
transformative and creative. Cap Leech echoes Hawthornes analogy

XI.

between artistic creativity and the practice of witchcraft.

Camper:

Campers arrival corresponds to the conventional element of the arrival of

an intruder from the civilized east. His arrival is part of parody as the
narrator suggests that it was accidental. The comic dimension is reinforced

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by the way he and his wife react when their childs life is seriously
threatened after being bitten by a snake. They dont adopt the expected
rational reaction which reinforced the dream-like quality. The readers
expectations of the typical western plotline are encouraged only to be
defeated.
XII.
XIII.

Harry Bohn
He is the ironic double of Frankstein
The Theme of the Wasteland:

This theme contributes to the subversion of the conventional frontier

space. It not only includes the human world but also the cultural world
since even nature is a cultural artifact. It highlights the apocalyptic image
of the world. The fact that insects are a predominant source of imagery
plays a major role in announcing the image of the frontier space as a
wasteland. The repeated reference to mosquitoes suggests this state of
decomposition. The fact that mosquitoes keep moving in and out
contributes to the comic effect and subverts the ideal of mobility that the
traditional western novel celebrates. We get the impression that they are
invading the town and victimizing the characters. The characters remain
blind both to the apocalyptic and to the comic dimension which reinforces
their clownish nature. There is also an association between the apocalyptic
nature of the setting and the dam as Camper perceives nothing but
nothingness and the absolute absence of any form of life.
XIV.

Deformity

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Deformity is used to reinforce the surreal effect and to further undermine

any life-like quality in the characters portraits. It also contributes to the
subversion of the archetypal western narrative. Deformity is associated
with the characters physical portrait. Cap Leech for instance symbolizes
this idea. Lukes lady-size boots reinforce this impression of deformity and
undermine the heroic figure of the cowboy. Deformity reinforces the effect
of an overwhelming ruin. Hawkes also uses bodily parts throughout the
novel as a symbol of deformity that reinforces the dream-like quality.
XV.

Characterization

All the characters are flat and not meant to be life-like. They are denied
any psychic complexity as they are meant to convey the postmodern
critical questioning of all the previous novelistic convention. Their
deformity is meant to serve the anti-realistic effect in matters related to
characterization. The characters rather emerge as death-like as part of an
apocalyptic space of total decay. The flatness of the characters implies a
critique of the convention of character portrayal.
XVI.

Mobility:

When we keep in mind that the thematic center of the conventional

western narrative is the idea of mobility and progress of civilization
through the actual physical progress of the characters, the repeated
reference to the characters feet in a metonymic way echoes that symbolic
structure but only in an ironic way. The jail reinforces this idea as the
prisoners cannot possibly move anywhere.

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XVII.

Myth-making:

This is one of the tools through which the convention of the plot is
challenged. Indians who are associated with a potential threat for example
do not show any threatening attitude. The conventional western was not
received by readers as fiction but rather as an attempt at historicizing that
particular phase of American history. The Beetle Leg constantly challenges
the frontier myth. It totally destroys the epic quality of the frontier story.
The fictional world is governed by a dream-like logic that the historical
reader cannot share. There is an insistence on the fact that the myth of
the white mans civilizing mission tends to be confused or mistaken for
history by the audience who usually take it for the actual history of the
westward expansion.
XVIII.

The Dam:

The idea of movement is perversely attributed to the ambitious project

that has become a source of destruction and potential ruin. The
construction of the dam is associated with an apocalyptic dimension.
There is an ironic comment on the major ideological messages of the
traditional western story. It consists of perceiving in the progress of white
American culture, a symbol of the progress of civilization.

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