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Gheorghe Zaporojan

Professor Christophe Den Tandt

GERM-B425

11 January 2023

The Contrast Between Romance and Socialism in Jack London's The Iron Heel: Can the

Novel Still be Considered a Realist Novel?

This paper aims to show the contrast between elements of romance and socialism in

the dystopian novel The Iron Heel written by Jack London. I will first focus on highlighting

the contrast between the elements of romance and socialism. Indeed, the main task of

London's novel is to acquaint the American middle class with socialism which is portrayed in

the novel through devices of naturalism. In the second part of my paper, I will try to provide

an answer to the following question: Can the novel still be considered a realist novel? One

might be tempted to argue that by resorting to devices from the romance tradition, Jack

London might have displaced his novel out of the naturalist tradition.

The Iron Heel is considered a naturalist novel, which is a sub-genre of realism, as it

aims to portray social realities. Rooted in France with authors like Emile Zola and Gustave

Flaubert, the naturalist movement aims to analyze the behavior of individuals in society, in

Zola's words: "the naturalist movement aspired for novelists to become 'men of science'

capable of analyzing how individuals interacted with their social environment" (Zola quoted

in Den Tandt, et al. 96). Vernon Parrington considers naturalism as: "a pessimistic realism,

with a philosophy that sets man in a mechanical world and conceives of him as victimized by

that world". (Parrington quoted in Den Tandt, et al. 96). The Iron Heel abides by the rules of

naturalism as it portrays the lives of social activists and their struggle to install a socialist
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regime by causing the collapse of the Iron Heel, a group of rich oligarchs who rule early-

twentieth-century America.

Yet the novel comprises elements that diverge from the naturalist school. First, the

melodramatic plot with characters belonging to what Northrop Frye calls the "high mimetic

mode" (Den Tandt 12). Characters of the high mimetic mode exert superhuman-like features

namely, a very muscular physique, and a heroic persona who captivates the masses. Such

characters are usually found in romance novels; yet we have one in The Iron Heel, Ernest

Everhard.

From his first appearance in the story, Ernest seems like an unusual individual, he

impresses with his bodybuilder-like physique and his eloquence, and he truly is a larger-than-

life character. These features are made obvious to us through the narration of Avis

Cunningham whom Ernest managed to impress. In the following extracts we can see, in full

display, the extent to which Avis is fascinated with the man who would eventually become

her husband:

(…) he was afraid of nothing. (…) He was a superman, a blond beast such as

Nietzsche has described, and in addition he was aflame with democracy. (…) I need

scarcely say that I was deeply interested in Ernest Everhard. (…) I liked him; I had to

confess it to myself. And my like for him was founded on things beyond intellect and

argument. Regardless of his bulging muscles and prize-fighter's throat, he impressed

me as an ingenuous boy. I felt that under the guise of an intellectual swashbuckler was

a delicate and sensitive spirit. (…) He was so unlike the men of my own class, so alien

and so strong. His masterfulness delighted me and terrified me, for my fancies

wantonly roved until I found myself considering him as a lover, as a husband. I had

always heard that the strength of men was an irresistible attraction to women; but he

was too strong. (…) I wanted to see him mastering men in discussion, the war-note in
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his voice; to see him, in all his certitude and strength, shattering their complacency,

shaking them out of their ruts of thinking. (London 6, 23, 23, 25)

Ernest is no ordinary man, as shown in the previous extracts. He impresses, he

fascinates, and above all; he dominates those who engage in verbal sparring with him. Such

features represent the trademark of a leader, a character capable of deeds that ordinary men

deem impossible. Ernest Everhard is a character of romance and yet he is one of the

protagonists of a realist novel which proves the author used devices usually used in stories of

romance in The Iron Heel.

As mentioned above, the plot of the novel stands out due to the numerous aspects that

connect it to the romantic school: taking on fake identities; Ernest and Avis becoming spies

within the Iron Heel; arranging meetings in secret places; mysterious characters; "The Red

Virgin" a female assassin who murders for the account of the socialist cause. All the

melodramatic elements listed above make the plot of the novel seem very James Bondesque.

Indeed, these elements are borrowed from a specific literary genre popular at the turn of the

twentieth century, called "dime novels" (Den Tandt 106). Dime novels were long viewed as

an escapist literature targeting a relatively young readership with sensational stories usually

centered around drama, romance, or adventure.

The second important aspect of the novel which ties it to the romance tradition is the

presence of "grotesque" or "quasi-gothic" (Den Tandt 105) elements in the 23rd chapter of the

book entitled "The People of the Abyss". This chapter relates the insurrection that occurred in

the Chicago slums. The following quote illustrates the grotesque portrayal of the

underclassmen:

(…) the people of the abyss, mad with drink and wrong, up at last and roaring for the

blood of their masters. (…). It surged past my vision in concrete waves of wrath,
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snarling and growling, carnivorous, drunk with whiskey from pillaged warehouses,

drunk with hatred, drunk with lust for blood—men, women, and children, in rags and

tatters, dim ferocious intelligences with all the godlike blotted from their features and

all the fiendlike stamped in, apes and tigers, anaemic consumptives and great hairy

beasts of burden, wan faces from which vampire society had sucked the juice of life,

bloated forms swollen with physical grossness and corruption, withered hags and

death's-heads bearded like patriarchs, festering youth and festering age, faces of

fiends, crooked, twisted, misshapen monsters blasted with the ravages of disease and

all the horrors of chronic innutrition—the refuse and the scum of life, a raging,

screaming, screeching, demoniacal horde. (London 326, 327)

The author compares the people of the underclass to lifeless yet ferocious bloodthirsty

monsters ready to feast on their masters. Needless to say, such a description all but belongs to

the realist tradition.

By jumping a few lines in the same chapter, we can encounter yet another occurrence

of an aspect that does not belong to realism, which is the "hypnotic influence” (Den Tandt

106) Avis experiences in contact with the crowd. In her own words:

The next moment I knew not what was happening. I was overborne by the crowd. (…)

I felt that I was being torn to pieces. I was being borne down, suffocated. (…) I came

to in the midst of wild movement. All about me was the same movement. I had been

caught up in a monstrous flood that was sweeping me I knew not whither. (…) This

phenomenon fascinated me for a time, while my senses were coming back to me. (…)

My brain grew clearer, and I turned as I ran and looked at the man who was holding

me up. He was who had dragged me out and saved me. (London 328, 329, 330)
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The quote shows that for brief moments Avis lives a unique experience. She fails to

recognize what is happening to her as she is carried by the crowd, and it takes another person

coming to her rescue for her to regain her senses.

As seen previously, The Iron Heel is not an entirely naturalist novel. London borrowed

multiple elements from the romance tradition in order to construct his narrative. But these

elements of romance do not disqualify the novel from being viewed primarily as a naturalist

novel. Admittedly, romance in a naturalist text seems peculiar and out of place at first glance,

but some scholars argue that certain narratives require the use of devices that differ from the

naturalist school. London's incursion into the romance tradition echoes what Mikhail Bakhtin

calls the "polyphony" (Bakhtin quoted in Den Tandt, et al. 108) of the text meaning that a text

comprises multiple voices and genres, all essential to the structure and the purpose of the text.

Therefore, trying to define naturalism by excluding the previous literary idioms that defined

American literature would mean failing to recognize that a text is rarely composed of a single

literary idiom.

In this regard, Christophe Den Tandt writes that "naturalism's relation to romance" is

"more complex than a sheer rejection of illusion for the sake of truth" (100). Indeed, he argues

that the definition of realism and naturalism should be constructed in a manner that allows for

the "texts' polyphony without dismissing their ambition to map the social world" (109).

Furthermore, he writes that naturalist texts turn to romance "in their attempt to represent the

very objects realism cannot bring into focus" (110). In such texts, romance serves as

reinforcement for when the author needs to paint a picture that cannot be painted with

naturalism alone. In this logic, it would be wrong to interpret London's incursions into the

romantic field as an abandonment of his initial aim, which is familiarizing the reader with the

socialist movement in the United States.

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Naturalism has its limits, and the complex task of acquainting the middle-class reader

with the existence of a socialist movement in the United States cannot be accomplished with a

single literary idiom. Some events cannot be represented through realism alone, in which case

the author needs to tap into another literary idiom, thus the "grotesque" description of the

underclassmen or Avis’s "hypnotic" experience with the crowd during the insurrection in the

Chicago Slums.

In light of what we have said previously, can we still consider the novel a naturalist

novel? I would argue that yes, in my opinion, The Iron Heel aligns with the naturalist tradition

despite its usage of romance devices because, as we have seen previously, naturalism is not a

circumscribed genre with clear-cut boundaries that completely reject other literary genres.

The scholars and critics mentioned above contend that naturalism can at times borrow

elements from other literary idioms in order to fully express the complexity of social reality.

Jack London's aim with The Iron Heel is to familiarize the reader with the socialist

movement in the United States. In my opinion, he succeeded brilliantly. Furthermore, not only

did the intrusion of romance in the novel not harm its main purpose, but it did the exact

opposite. I would argue that using romance is necessary for a text of propaganda. Romance

allows the author to widen the readership of his novel; by borrowing elements usually used in

"dime novels" The Iron Heel appeals to a readership that would not usually be interested in a

text of socialist propaganda. London manages to use romance without sacrificing his primary

goal.

The introductory chapters are doing a great job of dispelling the illusion in which Avis

and her father are living. Ernest's implacable arguments expose a social reality that had been,

up until that point, concealed from John Cunningham and her daughter by their "sentimental"

view of social conditions (Den Tandt 103). Furthermore, the book remains credible through

what Alessandro Portelli calls "the stratification of voices" (181), meaning that the different
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voices that are in play in the text have a very specific purpose and each is contributing to the

text's credibility. Everhard, Portelli argues, is "the source of theoretical knowledge. Aside

from his crucial role as a leader in the Revolution, he is tasked with lifting the veil on the

social reality of America. Avis represents "direct experience"; the reader discovers the

socialist movement through her eyes. Moreover, the reader can identify with Avis, given that

they discover the same reality simultaneously. As for Anthony Meredith, Portelli contends

that his character brings "history and criticism" (181). Meredith plays an important role in the

novel; he greatly contributes to the text's credibility by laying down historical facts or by

critiquing Avis's tendency to exaggerate the role played by Ernest Everhard in the success of

the socialist movement. The following quote stresses the importance of the different voices at

play in the novel:

The attribution of three different and gradually ranked perspectives to the three

speakers allows London to offer the reader the choice of the perspective with which he

or she feels most at ease. Thus, the novel is able to function at different levels—a

quality which is anything but irrelevant to a work of "propaganda.” (181-182)

In conclusion, it is obvious The Iron Heel combines elements of both romance and

naturalism in its portrayal of the social realities and revolutionary struggles in the United

States. Nevertheless, I consider the use of both literary idioms useful to the novel’s credibility.

While naturalism is used to depict the harsh conditions faced by the underclass and

revolutionaries, romance is employed to describe phenomena that cannot be fully captured by

naturalism alone. The contrast between romance and socialism, which is portrayed through

naturalism, is, in my estimation, all but detrimental to the book’s credibility. We have seen

that many scholars consider naturalism as more complex than just plain rejection of romance

and sentimentalism. Scholars argue that naturalist authors must sometimes resort to different

literary idioms in pursuance of fully conveying the complexity of social reality.

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Works Cited

Den Tandt, Christophe. "American Literary Naturalism." A Companion to American Fiction

1865-1914, edited by Robert Paul Lamb and G. R. Thompson, Oxford: Blackwell,

2005, pp. 96-118. Print.

Den Tandt, Christophe. GERM-B-425 Littérature et civilisation des Etats-Unis d’Amérique,

"Realism and Naturalism in United States Fiction, 1865-1918; Vol. I: American

Literary Realism, Short Survey of 19th and 20th -Century Realism and Naturalism

[Course Notes]." pp. 94-111

Den Tandt, Christophe. GERM-B-425 Littérature et civilisation des Etats-Unis d’Amérique,

"Realism and Naturalism in United States Fiction, 1865-1918; Vol. II: American

Literary Naturalism: The First Generation (1890s-WWI [Course Notes]."

London, Jack. The Iron Heel. 1908. Norwood Press, J.S. Cushing & Co. Berwick & Smith,

Norwood Mass. U.S.A. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from

Duke University Libraries. Print.

https://ia600307.us.archive.org/27/items/ironhee00lond/ironhee00lond.pdf

Portelli, Alessandro. "Jack London's Missing Revolution: Notes on The Iron Heel." Science

Fiction Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 1982, pp. 180-194. Accessed January 9, 2023.