What do certain stories tell us about American culture? Stories: Jeremy Rodock, My father, The secret life of Walter Mitty & A couple of Hamburgers

Graeme Bingham 11MN 02/05/07

What do certain stories tell us about American culture?

Stories: Jeremy Rodock, My father, The secret life of Walter Mitty & A couple of Hamburgers.

These four short stories are all set in America and show the diversity of Culture in the United States compared to the UK and other countries. I will illustrate the main cultural features shown in these four stories.

‘Jeremy Rodock’, by Jack Shaefer

This story is about a pioneer who owns a ranch in the uncharted Wild West of the United States in the mid nineteenth century. He is extremely fond of his horses, which are the main feature in his life. One day, he goes to see his mares and foals in his pasture, but discovers they have been stolen. He and the author of the story track the horses and locate them in a valley, but ‘they had been roped and thrown and their front hooves rasped almost to the quick, so that they could barely put their weight on them.’ Rodock leaves the horses in the valley, planning to return to try and capture the thieves and make them pay. He does this and manages to capture the thieves, but instead of hanging them, which is his usual practice, he makes them walk fifty miles over rocky land without shoes, but then he decided to let them go.

This story features a pioneer, a man who explored and settled in unknown territory in the Wild West of America in the mid nineteenth century. Pioneers are a very important feature of American culture, and are not featured in many other countries’ cultures, except other New World countries like Australia. Pioneers rode on their horse into the unknown, founding settlements. In this story, Jeremy Rodock, the pioneer, has started up a ranch in some unknown territory. Pioneers were very important to American culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth century as they expanded American territory from the East to the far Wild West. Without them, the western areas of the USA would not be part of the country. Jeremy Rodock was a typical pioneer of his time, a tough strong man.

The story is set in the Wild West, which is also very important to American culture. The Wild West is an informal term for the unexplored southwestern states of the USA, where law did not exist. Pioneers, or settlers who followed them inhabited the Wild West. As there was no law; people took the law into their own hands, as shown in ‘Jeremy Rodock’. He has a reputation (which he deserves) of hanging rustlers who stole his horses, ‘Jeremy Rodock was a hanging man when it came to horse thieves’ (page 1). Modern America appears to be intrigued by the Wild West, as they have made a countless number of films and series set in the Wild West, as have many other countries showing that it is not just the Americans who are fascinated with the Wild West.

The main culture demonstrated in ‘Jeremy Rodock’ is the horse culture. The story is set in a horse ranch. There is nothing else at the ranch but horses and ranch hands to look after the horses. The whole story is about horses, tracking down horse thieves who have stolen and harmed Jeremy Rodock’s horses, and getting revenge for this. The Horse culture was very important to the pioneers, as back then this was their only mode of transport. In the barren land, where this story are set, there are no women, no nearby settlements, nothing but open landscape. This ‘horse culture’ could be described as primitive or restricted. The horse culture is so important as the ranch is isolated, and no settlers have followed Rodock into this area.

The language used in the culture shown above is different to modern English. They have many slang words, and correct American vocabulary. The slang that they use is commonly associated with America; some was absorbed into the American language as correct vocabulary at a later date. Examples: ‘critters’ (pg5), ‘mosey’ (pg5), ‘look see’ (pg5), ‘hobbles’ (pg4) and ‘hitching’ (pg4). These are but few of the many slang examples in this story. They give an insight to the language used in the mid nineteenth century, which is a very important part of the culture.

Words in this story that are part of the American language but not the English are: ‘hustling’, (pg6) and ‘rustling’ (pg2). There are many more examples of correct American words in the story. The difference in language illustrates the difference between the American culture and the English culture at the time.

‘Jeremy Rodock’ sheds light on the life of a pioneer in the mid nineteenth century.

‘My father’ by Damon Runyon

This story is about a man whose father used to be a pioneer and who has a pioneer’s reunion in the same town where his wife is to ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

‘Jeremy Rodock’ sheds light on the life of a pioneer in the mid nineteenth century.

‘My father’ by Damon Runyon

This story is about a man whose father used to be a pioneer and who has a pioneer’s reunion in the same town where his wife is to give a speech for her society in dedication to a new museum for Spanish explorers. But his father tries to re-enact his earlier years and starts running riots in the town with his gun and violent ways. This stops the museum celebration dedication, and Ellen, his wife is annoyed with this so marches into the saloon where the father was causing problems, and drags him out of the saloon, ending his rampages, and allowing the dedication and celebration to continue.

This story, like ‘Jeremy Rodock’ features pioneers, this story has the pioneer as an old man as it is set in the early twentieth century, not the mid nineteenth. As already mentioned, the pioneers explored unknown territories in the west. On the first page of this story, there is a good description of what a pioneer is from Webster’s dictionary: ‘Pioneer. One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow.’ The author also describes (ironically) how he pictures his father as a pioneer: ‘ cleaving a path towards the setting sun as he hotly pursued the elusive maverick and furrowed the pine bars of the red light and the Pink Dog Cafés with his hard-earned dollars.’

This second quotation tells us that the pioneer did not just travel out west and not return to settlements that already existed, as his father appears to have frequently returned to the ‘pine bar’ towns. The father does not appear to be a settling pioneer like in ‘Jeremy Rodock.’ The father also appears to be reckless, and always was when he was a pioneer according to his friends who spoke to his son. One said ‘When Still Bill (the father) gits a goin’ you jest go to give him a clean track and keep well under kivver.’ It is apparent that the father has always been violent and reckless, and maybe were other pioneers of his time. The pioneers did what they wanted, holding up banks etc (as the father does in the story) as there were no laws in the Wild West; the setting for this story. If there were laws in the Wild West, then the pioneer’s culture would have been completely different. On the first page, Wild Bill Hickock, a pioneer well known for being ‘untamed’ is mentioned on the first page after the initial description of what a pioneer was. He deserved his nickname of ‘Wild’.

The story briefly mentions the way of life in American towns in the Wild West, e.g. Trinity. Here, the settlers would not have travelled far out of the town after they had moved there as they were surrounded by barren land. Therefore the main culture in the town would have likely to have been the saloon culture, where all of the men would go to have a good time, as there was no other form of entertainment.

The author’s father is a hero from the battle of ‘Dobe walls; this is presumably Adobe walls and this shows that pioneers did not just go exploring and settling. The story mentions that the father had a cap and ball gun at this battle, and is shooting it off in the town where he is, until Ellen confiscates it. This shows that the gun culture present in America today originated way back with the pioneers. The father is probably always with his gun, not for defence probably, but more for ambushing and going on rampages, which he does in Trinity.

The author’s wife, Ellen is in Trinity to dedicate a museum to the Spanish explorers. The Spanish explorers are a very important part of American culture as it was the Spanish who first colonised north America, and were the first pioneers. Many cities on the West coast of America have Spanish names, e.g. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento etc. Without the Spanish explorers, many of America’s greatest cities would not exist today. When the Spanish made settlements, the settlers spoke Spanish, and their descendants today do also. Many Americans speak Spanish as their first language, not English. The Spanish influence in the United States is still clear today.

Another clear feature about American culture in ‘My Father’ is the dominance of women. The author’s wife, Ellen is the one who stops the author’s father from ruining the celebration. When she and her husband check into the hotel, and her husband starts having a conversation that she doesn’t like, she simply tells him that they are going to their room. In the story, it says ‘When my father announced his intention of attending the reunion, my wife offered no objection.’ It says ‘announced’, not told, which implies that he had to get permission to go. The author may have written ‘she had no objection’ as she usually does to other events that his father wishes to attend. All of this points to the fact that Ellen, and probably many other women out west, is very dominant. The reason that the majority of all the women out in settlements in the Western areas of the United States is that they originally migrated fro the East coast of the USA (after migrating there). To get to the Western states they would need to ride a horse for hundreds of miles (trains and cars did not yet exist). Only a very strong woman could do this. Therefore, all of the settlers in the western areas of the USA were strong and dominant, so their descendants would also be strong and dominant. These women are strong in society; they are leaders. Many dominant women are members of the society ‘Daughters of the Revolution’, which is run by daughters of those who fought in the Battle of Independence. This is the society that Ellen is a member of and is making a speech to about the Spanish explorer’s museum.

The language used in ‘My father’ is typical of the time that the story is set. Language is a very important part of culture. Many words used in the story are words that are pronounced incorrectly, e.g. ‘Kivver’ (cover), ‘goin’,’ ‘rec’leck’ (recollect), ‘pop’lation’ etc. Many words that they say have had an ‘a’ added in front, e.g. ‘a-many’, ‘a-ring-tailed’ etc. There are words that are part of the American language but not the English that are used in this story, e.g. ‘buckskin’, ‘bunting’, ‘Daughters of the Revolution’, etc. There is not much slang used in this story, as most of the story is what the narrator is saying, and he appears to speak proper English without any slang or mispronunciations. When he talks to locals about his father, they use slang such as ‘grey wolf’ to him.

‘My father’ sheds light on the life of a pioneer in the early twentieth century, the towns in the Western areas of the USA and the role of women in society.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

This story is set around the time of the Second World War (as it has references to Germany ruling the world, President Roosevelt and many other small hints) in the United States. It is about a man called Walter Mitty who has daydreams when he is bored. He is shopping in town while his wife is at the hairdressers. He has five daydreams during the story; he imagines that he is the commander of a warship (while driving), he imagines he is a surgeon who saves a millionaire’s life (while driving), a defendant in a courtroom who is accused of shooting someone (after reading a newspaper report on a similar trial), he imagines he is a pilot in the Second World War (whilst reading a ‘Liberty’ magazine), and he imagines he is in front of a firing squad (whilst he is waiting for his wife).

This story mentions the armed forces on more than one occasion, as an important part of American culture is the military. Americans are proud of their technological advances in the sea, in the air and on land. This story has reference to a US navy vessel, an ‘eight-engined Navy hydroplane’. Walter Mitty is the captain of this until his wife informs him that he is going too fast. Navy vessels are an important part of American culture as they rely on them heavily, they helped them to win both world wars, and are important in reminding the world who the most powerful country in the world currently is. In conclusion, the Americans like weapons to be mentioned, as they show Yankee genius.

This story, like ‘My Father,’ illustrates dominant women, although both are set in completely different periods. Walter Mitty’s wife keeps ordering him about, and complains to him whenever he does anything wrong, e.g. ‘Why don’t you wear gloves?’ ‘I’ve been looking all over the hotel for you. Why do you have to hide in this old chair?’

There are many other similar quotations in this story that demonstrate that Mrs. Mitty keeps bossing Walter Mitty around. This shows the fact that in American society, the women are often generally strong characters (as they are descended from women who were pioneers and had to spent a lot of the time travelling across unknown territory)

Walter Mitty’s third daydream is in a courtroom, after he read a headline about the Waterbury trial. In his daydream, Walter Mitty is accused of murder by shooting them. This illustrates the gun culture that is and was present in the United States. Many people in America have the opportunities to get a gun, and many have done this and used it to result in deaths. This is what the trial is about. The author is illustrating the gun culture operating in America.

Walter Mitty’s fourth daydream is about a heroic captain in the air force who is brave enough to try and fly an aircraft that needs two pilots in order to destroy a German ammunition dump. The heroes of any war that America fought in are still important in American culture today, as they are proud of what they achieved. They are so proud of their fellow countryman who have fought for their country, they have made numerous films on the subject, most of which are based on true stories. In many cases, they often change the nationality of the heroes in the film to American.

‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ shows us culture in the Second World War in America and how it has affected the modern American culture.

A couple of Hamburgers, by James Thurber

This story is about a man and his wife who are travelling by car over a long distance, and the wife wants to stop at a diner. The man finds a few diners, but she does not approve of them, and a disagreement breaks out. Throughout the whole journey they have been annoying each other. They find a suitable diner, but then the wife discovers that this is not suitable, and her husband becomes even more annoyed at her for this. He refuses to leave this diner, so orders ‘a couple of Hamburgers’, while she smokes in the car. To annoy her further he starts singing to her in the car as they continue their journey and the story ends.

This story again illustrates strong women, although to a less extent than in ‘The secret life of Walter Mitty’ and ‘My father’. The wife in this story (who is nameless) firstly says that she is hungry, implying that she wants him to stop, which he agrees to do. Any of the places that he finds are not suitable, for various reasons, e.g. because the diners have nicknames, or if they are owned by Greeks. They do not stop here, as she does not want to, as she is a strong woman.

The couple in this story do not get on particularly well. They argue about many things, e.g. she keeps hearing ‘a funny sound’ in the car, which they argue over, they argue over where to stop to eat, he starts singing to her songs that she detests. This illustrates that perhaps many married couples in the USA are not happy with their life, and the hint of perhaps divorce lurks in the air. Divorce in America has now become very common, in fact nine out of ten marriages in the USA end in divorce, so it is very important. Divorce probably started to become more popular in the period that this story is set (post Second World War).

This story, like ‘Jeremy Rodock’ and ‘My Father’ has references to pioneers, both the husband and the wife have ancestors who are pioneers, and the husband likes to use pioneer expressions that she thinks are crude, such as ‘sow belly’, ‘sticking to your rib’, ‘dog wagons’, and ‘stay our stomachs’. He likes to use these expressions, as he is very proud of his ancestry, and likes to remind people of this fact. She is too, although to a less extent.

The car is very important part of American culture, as it is to most countries, but the USA especially. The United States is a very large country, and many people need to travel from one part of the country to another. Before aircraft were commercialised, and even afterwards, the car was the main way to travel interstate. In this story, the couple are on a long journey and are travelling by car, without the invention of the motorcar; this journey would not have been possible. The interstate roads are also very important, unlike many European countries, the roads are mostly straight and direct as the towns grew up on the roads, then mainly used by horses.

This story does exemplify that America grew with immigration, people from all over the word migrated to the USA to lead a better life. As a result, the diversity of culture in the USA is enormous. This story mentions Greeks particularly; the wife will not stop at a Greek diner. The hamburger, mentioned in the title of this story is not of American heritage, it is, as the name suggests, from the German city of Hamburg. People from Hamburg migrated to the US and spread their Hamburgers around, and the idea spread, and the Americans developed it to a national food. People from most countries in the world have immigrated to the USA, creating a unique country with unique cultures.

The story is about Hamburgers. Hamburgers are fast food, which has become a major part of American culture, and a massive industry in the USA and worldwide, due to chains such as ‘MacDonald’s’, etc. Fast food is such an important part of US culture as the Americans like food very quickly, and they like the taste of the food, and as many do not have much time to spare, they need food quickly, and as fat food satisfies all of these requirements, it has become very popular.

There is not much slang or difference in language to the English language in this story, as the wife speaks quite good English, as well as the husband, but he does use pioneer expressions already mentioned. There is the use of American terms in this story that are presumably not of Pioneer origin, e.g. ‘diner’, ‘tumbler’, ‘slosh’, ‘folks’, etc. The only slang used in this story are: ‘ain’t’, and ‘swell’, (which is used in a different context to its proper meaning). The language difference in this story illustrates the difference in culture between the USA and the UK

In conclusion, ‘A couple of Hamburgers’ sheds light on culture in post war America.

By reading these four stories, we have discovered the diversity of culture in the United States of America, in the periods between 1850-1960; we have seen cultures from pioneers to fast food and the difference of the role of women in society, among many other important factors.