Lesson from Literature: Election Edition, Part 2
by Victoria Fortune
When my writing group started this blog four years ago, my thoughts, much like now, were on the upcoming election. In my first couple of posts, I focused on Trump through the lens of literature. Since then I’ve avoided politics, but in my last post before the next election, I feel compelled as a writer to revisit the topic. After all, this election, more than any other in my lifetime, is about character. And writers, being keen observers of character, are uniquely situated to offer insight about the choice we face.
In my post from Nov 7, 2016, I pointed out how Trump supporters reminded me of Helen, from Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Helen falls for the charismatic Arthur Huntingdon and marries him despite friends’ and relatives’ warnings that he is not who he presents himself to be. Only after committing to him does she realize he is narcissistic and cruel, lacking in any ethical or moral boundaries. Shackled to a tyrant, her life becomes a living hell. The comparison, I’m sad to say, has proved true.
I was not the only one to use literature to highlight Trump’s character flaws. In 2016, writer Pola Lem of Electric Lit, gathered a collection of literary comparisons to Trump. The literary characters referenced were created by writers renowned for their astute perceptions of human nature—Shakespeare, Dickens, Fitzgerald—and the comparisons are striking.
Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, thought Trump most resembled the monster from Frankenstein. “The Republican party’s failure to disavow bigotry in its ranks is responsible for Trump’s rise,” he claimed. “Trump is the GOP’s Frankenstein monster. Now he’s strong enough to destroy the party,” read the headline of Kagan’s op-ed piece in The Washington Post. Current polling data suggests that Kagan’s prediction may well prove true. Trump’s refusal to disavow white supremacy, and Republicans’ refusal to call out Trump on this matter, appear to be an albatross around the party’s neck.
Garrett Stewart, an English Professor at Iowa State University, compared Trump to Mr. Merdle from Dickens’ Little Dorrit. As Dickens’ narrator tells us:
The famous name of Merdle became, every day, more famous in the land. Nobody knew that the Merdle of such high renown had ever done any good to any one, alive or dead, or to any earthly thing. All people knew (or thought they knew) was that he had made himself immensely rich; and, for that reason alone, prostrated themselves before him.
Now that Trump’s tax information has come out, we know that 1) he is not as rich as he claims and 2) whatever wealth he does have is not a result of good business sense—the very reason so many claimed to support him.
Peter Holland, a professor in Shakespeare studies at the University of Notre Dame, said Trump is like Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in terms of his unfaltering belief in himself. “Even when he is transfigured by the prankster, Puck, who turns Bottom’s head into that of a donkey, Bottom fails to notice. Instead, he shifts blame to those who point it out.” Trump’s constant haranguing of the media for pointing out his shortcomings is an obvious parallel. Holland added, “there is not even in Shakespeare anybody of quite the extravagant madness of Trump.”
Daniel Torday, professor of creative writing at Bryn Mawr College, thought Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby was the most apt comparison. “What he ultimately does over the course of that novel is manipulate people in the goal of his self-interest.” He even resembles Trump in appearance:
He was a sturdy straw haired man,” the book tells us, “with rather a hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face, and he gave the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward…it was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body.
Torday points out that “Buchanan is the villain of the Great American Novel.” Trump will undoubtedly go down as one of the great villains of American history.
These comparisons were made before the 2016 election, when the ramifications of electing Trump were hypothetical. In a December, 2018 column “When Fiction Most Becomes Trump,” Bret Stephens notes that before Trump was elected, comparisons were more likely to be drawn from Shakespearean comedy, such as Falstaff, that “huge hill of flesh.” Since Trump won, the comparisons have moved from comedy to tragedy. Stephens quotes political novelist Richard North Patterson comparing Trump to Richard III:
As the bodies pile up one upon the other — Rex Tillerson, John Kelly — Trump/Richard is gripped by lethal paranoia. Tragedy looms over the realm until, at last, the insane tyrant is unhorsed by America’s savior, the Earl of Richmond in the form of . . . Mike Pence?
I imagine Patterson would update the savior role to Biden, now.
Stephens also quotes The New School’s Nina Khrushcheva referring to Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 play “The Government Inspector”:
There is no direct comparison between Russian autocracy and American democracy,” Khrushcheva acknowledges. “And yet there is some resemblance to the Russian reality — the idiot is sitting on top of you, spouting orders and tweets, and you have to tolerate his presence and even call the moron your president.
If we do not choose wisely in this election, it’s likely that American democracy will begin to look a lot more like Russian autocracy.
The most unexpected comparison—surprising not for its content but its source—came from Jared Kushner, who claimed that Trump is like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, paraphrasing: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will get you there.” It’s hard to fathom how it’s a positive thing that the President of the United States doesn’t know where he’s going, or that he most resembles a character known for “distorting reality around him and subsequently driving other characters in the story to madness,” as counselor Maria Giulia Marini put it in this essay. But I have to give Kushner credit for a fitting comparison.
If these striking comparisons from literature do not hit home, consider the warnings of respected Republican officials and military leaders who oppose Trump. Consider how many highly respected Americans who served in Trump’s administration and observed him in action, are actively opposing him. Never before in American history have so many prominent leaders denounced a president of their own party.
The story of America has reached a major turning point: whether we choose a leader who embraces democracy and seeks to unite and inspire us to work together to solve our problems; or a leader who admires dictators, disregards the constitution, and stokes fear and division to advance his own agenda, will determine the character of the country going forward.
This is a choose-your-own-ending story, but only those who vote get a say. So vote! Vote your conscience. Vote early. If you vote by mail, be sure to read the directions carefully and follow them exactly. Mail your ballot early. Encourage others to vote. Vote like democracy depends on it.
Looking for ways to get involved? Check out #WritersAgainstTrump, #VotePlanPledge
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