Materiality and the Modern Cosmopolitan Novel

(Romina) #1

180 Materiality and the Modern Cosmopolitan Novel


aggressive side to which other characters allude but do not fully
describe.
Yet perhaps the form of silence that plays the most instrumental
role in Ringold’s tragic fall is not the character’s forced reticence
about his political convictions or violent past but, rather, his inability
to fully express his emotions, particularly toward those to whom he
is closest: Eve and her daughter, Sylphid. During the many instances
of fierce marital and domestic conflict, Ringold often fails to convey
his feelings or desires. A scene that exemplifies this with particular
force involves Sylphid physically attacking her mother and shouting
anti-Semitic insults, prompting a peculiar reaction from Ringold.
While he apparently tries to intervene, leaping up out of his seat,
on hearing the words “kike bitch,” he “sinks back into his chair”
and appears strangely unable to engage with the situation (p. 111).
Instead, he simply utters the rather ineffectual words: “No. That
won’t do,” and instructs her: “Never. Never in my hearing. Never
use that filthy word again!” (p. 111). But even these rather tenuous,
stuttered words of objection are further denuded of interpersonal
effect when Ringold simply proceeds to leave the house. As Murray
informs the narrator, Ringold then returns some hours later, having
meditated on the issue in isolation.
The solution Ringold arrives at is to try to understand the psy-
chological and historical reasons for Sylphid’s contempt, which he
reasons is fundamentally directed toward Eve rather than himself.
He therefore resolves to employ empathy and patience to estab-
lish a sense of trust. Although the strategy appears fairly sensible,
Ringold sabotages his own efforts by allowing his discourse to be
overtaken by the influences of his Marxian ideology. In a rather
farcical sequence between the two characters, his bonding exercise
degenerates into a politically motivated invective against the preda-
tory banking practices and the dangerously speculative nature of the
American free-market model (p. 113). As Murray observes, Ringold
has fallen into the habit of positioning himself as “the educator, the
Marxist economist” at the most inappropriate moment (p. 113).
This is a “failure” on a number of counts. In the most obvious sense,
Ringold’s myopic adherence to his Communist ideology impedes
his ability to connect on an individual, personal level with Sylphid.

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