The result would be the fascist state against which Babbitt, in anticipation of 1984, warns. For Sheldon Norman Grebstein, writing in 1962, the novel has snap, flavor, a strong narrative line, a good deal of authenticity But it is distorted, even too much for satire; it lacks conflict and contrast. In a generally favorable assessment, James Lundquist, in Sinclair Lewis, brings attention to Lewiss mastery of irony, but he also comments on a weakness in the plot, arguing that the final crisis Elmer faces is unconvincing in its details. Elmer is forced to agree, but promises himself he will find a way out of the engagement. He is friendly but self-important; everyone thinks he is popular, but in fact he has almost no friends. But for my money it is Jean Simmonds, surely robbed of her own Oscar here, who has the most impressive part. The two make a successful onstage pair, and their chemistry extends to romance. | And yet Lewiss attitude to his character is a little more complex than this long list of his faults might suggest. Elmer Gantry was drunk, the novel opens, and Lancaster is terrific as the boozing, womanizing traveling salesman.Gantry is a believer, of a sort. On publication, Elmer Gantry had a sensational reception. Having ridiculed the unfortunate Dr. Binch, Lewis removes him from the scene and never mentions him again. Sharon is supposed to be a firebrand, based on evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, part Houdini, part Teddy Roosevelt, who preached a dramatic God. He is a born salesman well versed with the bible. Elmer gets converted to Christianity only because he cannot resist the pressures put on him to do so. Excellent recounting based on the controversial Sinclair Lewis novel that got three Academy Awards . Elmer Gantry was first published in the United States by Harcourt Trade Publishers in March 1927, dedicated by Lewis to the American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken. But in the house of Elmers mistress, Lulu Bains, they sing and read Seeing Nelly Home, Old Black Joe, Beulah Land, Farm and Fireside, and Modern Priscilla. The fundamentalists also have to deal with outright skeptics, like Jim Lefferts, and covert atheists like Dr. Zechlin. ", Jesus was a simple virtuous teacher, . In Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis uses the character of Elmer Gantry to represent, without nuance or ambiguity, what he viewed as the prototypical evangelical minister of his day: ambitious and charismatic; driven by his lust for women, money, and power; and completely unrepentant in his scorn for those who believe in the faith he deceptively proclaims. Then read chapter 30, section 5, where Jim reappears. It is a pity that Lewis did not choose to develop more fully the few exceptions to the prevailing mendacity, including the lightly sketched figure of Reverend Andrew Pengilly. She sinks into Elmers arms. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 The University of Alabama Elmer Gantry may have a rather unsavoury past but the one thing he can do better than anyone is sell himself, pots, pans, anything. WebHow does the novel Elmer Gantry end? Still the supporting cast is brilliant as well. When Elmer is converted, Jim moves out of his room in disgust. Elmer Gantry appears as a minor character in two later, lesser-known Lewis novels: The Man Who Knew Coolidge and Gideon Planish. Elmer wants to marry her but she says she is too old for marriage (she is thirty-two, three or four years older than Elmer) and she must also remain free to devote herself to her missionary work. He feels little desire to practice what he preaches. Infuriating and erratic, but brilliantly creative, the Canadian-born British artist and writer Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) was an always, Elman, Ziggy (originally, Finkelman, Harry), Elman, Mischa (actually, Mikhail Saulovich), Elmira Business Institute: Narrative Description, https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/elmer-gantry, Lewis, Sinclair (7 February 1885 - 10 January 1951). She appears to Elmer as a saint, arms outstretched, stately, slender and tall, passionate. Over the next few years, he is appointed to larger and larger parishes, eventually to a church in Zenith. As Lewis so devastatingly wrote, Elmer got everything from the church and Sunday School, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason. The implication is that those three qualities were not present in the Baptist church of Paris, Kansas. Early in his preaching career he jilts a country girl who loves him and whom he has seduced. I just spend two days at my best friends' home for his father's funerals, and during the obligatory moments of life contemplation, we were wondering what was awaiting us all. I am really and truly sanctified! WebElmer Gantry, novel by Sinclair Lewis, a satiric indictment of fundamentalist religion that caused an uproar upon its publication in 1927. But throughout his career he wonders whether there is any value in his work. cheyenne mountain resort presidential suite; spartanburg county building setbacks If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original Addeddate 2017-01-24 22:02:04 Identifier in.ernet.dli.2015.184871 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t87h71c67 Ocr ABBYY FineReader 11.0 Ppi 600 Scanner Internet Archive Python library 1.2.0.dev4. But it all comes to an end one night in Clontar, on the New Jersey coast, where Sharon has purchased a pier. I guess it's hard to imagine that your beloved one has faded into nothingness, so religion brings you a certain psychological comfort in knowing that there's such a thing as a soul and that, depending on a man's life, it gets the treatment it deserves. He joins up with Mrs. Evans Riddle, who teaches New Thought, a Westernized version of Indian religion. He is ordained despite the examiners doubts about his orthodoxy, and he takes charge of a small church in Catawba. There have been five adaptations of the novel. Then his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) who is now a prostitute. He became known in the 1920s for his books that satirized the spartan materialism and intolerance that He says both. Most distressing of all, says Frank, the sermons of the preachers are agonizingly dull. So Frank leaves the church temporarily to enter the army where he learns to be common with common men; he schools himself further with Ethan Frome, Pre Goriot, Tono-Bungay, and Renans Jesus. It comes when Elmer regales Pengilly with a self-congratulatory story about the success of Elmers ministry in Zenith. And she does look sexy in a slip. A fast-talking traveling salesman with a charming, loquacious manner convinces a sincere evangelist that he can be an effective preacher for her cause. Fired from the ministry after going drinking rather than contacting his new church, he works for two years as a traveling salesman. WebMemorable Moments. After dinner, the drunken Elmer picks a fight with a man who is heckling Eddie Fislinger, a fellow Terwillinger College student, as he preaches to an outdoor crowd. The novel is absorbing, and I should like to say a few words about it. Gantry, why dont you believe in God?. Elmers lawyer outwits Hetties lawyer, and she is forced to withdraw the charges she made against him and state that she was part of a plot by the liquor interests to ensnare him. But what did he know of the forces which cause wars, personal or class or national; what of drugs, passion, criminal desire; of capitalism, banking, labor, wages, taxes; international struggles for trade, munition trusts, ambitious soldiers? Everyone congratulates him on his conversion. You have every right to an explanation. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. publication online or last modification online. Wallace Umstead is a student Mizpah Theological Seminary who becomes the secretary of the Zenith Y.M.C.A. We see Gantry the narcissistic conman, Gantry the philanthropist, Gantry the flamboyant showman. Its hero makes his way, with the help of native cunning and oratorical ability, through almost the whole domain of religion in the United States. We are back in the land of wizards and ogres once more. Dr. Howard Bancock Binch is a prominent Baptist who defends the literal interpretation of the Bible in his writings. Known as the enfant terrible of the Methodist church, he is ruthlessly critical of others. He uses the church to further his own ambitions for power and fame. Elmer's presence is against the wishes of Sister Sharon's manager, William Morgan, who sees through Elmer's smooth-talking veneer, although he can't argue with the bottom line that Elmer brings to the meetings. At Mizpah Theological Seminary, Elmer and his fellow students all smoke in their dormitory, even though smoking is practically forbidden. The fledgling work even had legs, if short ones. It applied the methods of historical and literary analysis in order to determine the authorship, date and place of composition of the books of the Bible. For some reason Richard Brooks seemed to think of himself as the man best suited to turning great novels and plays into films, but if the results were at best entertaining ("The Brothers Karamazov", "Cat on a hot tin roof") they tended to fall far short of the originals. He enters the ministry because he cannot think of anything else to do in life. Duke mentioned that he would love to play Puck, []. The title character of Elmer Gantry starts His dissatisfaction with his life, as well as his drinking, lying, and philandering give the audience a portrait of an unsavory man. In 1926, Lewis refused the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith, because he believed it would compromise his artistic independence. In this essay, Aubrey discusses how Lewiss characterization in Elmer Gantry serves his satiric purpose. B. Novels for Students. This is a film that has outlasted its time. A charming conman pretends to be a preacher and romances a roadside revivalist. Excerpt from Babbitt The film leaves the realities of these mystical happenings up to interpretation, and so gives the congregants active, if small, roles in the narrative. At the church, Elmer tries to seduce Lulu Bains, the daughter of one of the deacons, while Shallard warns him against even the appearance of evil. I can kiss you like this Quickly she touches his cheek, Yes, or passionately, terribly passionately, and it would only symbolize my complete union with Jesus! 10 Video Games That Need a Live Action Adaptation, 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs. In 1903, Lewis went to Yale University, where he served as editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Web1. Blessed Virgin, Mother Hera, Mother Frigga, Mother Ishtar, Mother Isis, dread Mother Astarte of the weaving arms, it is thy priestess . They read from the Song of Solomon. Bill Morgan sees thru Elmer and tells Sharon that in 1917 he was expelled from the seminary for seducing the deacon's daughter. As Granty flashes with his silver smile but he has a dark past . British actress Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon, the evangelist Elmer falls for is similarly too airy. Weave will make its debut on Jan. 12 at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, a co-commissioner in [], It was kind of a whimsical artistic impulse, recalled Antonio Duke, as he reminisced on this past spring when Ashawnti Sakina Ford drove him home each night after their rehearsals for a production of Imaginary Invalid, a play by 17th-century French actor and playwright, Molire. eNotes.com, Inc. Light examines what he sees as quixotic elements in the novel, especially in the characters Sharon Falconer and Frank Shallard. Pengilly sees through him with the spiritual eye of an eagle, and asks, Mr. Lundquist, James, Sinclair Lewis, Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1973, pp. The attendants give her their money, she leaves after a short period of time, and then the attendants are no better off and short on money. Sharon Falconer is an equally striking example of his satiric power. She is volatile, self-dramatizing, self-deceiving, self-promoting, cunning, playful, cynical, ambitious, and ruthlessa Cleopatra of the revivalist circuit. Source: David J. Dooley, Aspiration and Enslavement, in The Art of Sinclair Lewis, University of Nebraska Press, 1967, pp. He sees her as a conquest. Elmer Gantry is a fast-talking, hard-drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqu story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. Gantry introduces savvy business practices to Sharons ministry and manipulative psychology to the services themselves, and Sharon becomes wealthy as a result. Jim Lefferts is Elmers roommate and his only friend at Terwillinger College. Driven by ambition to become a bishop, he is hugely successful, and is given bigger and bigger churches. He meets Elmer on a steamer home from Europe and invites him to lecture on behalf of Napap. Lulu Bains is the daughter of Barney Bains. A more elaborate kind of fantasy arises out of Lewiss belief that formal religion is based on the self-interest of its leaders. Floyd Naylor is a large and rather stupid farmer in Schoenheim who is in love with Lulu Bains, whom he eventually marries. He looked back and saw her, quite alone, holding up the white wooden cross which had stood by the pulpit, marching steadily forward, a tall figure pale against the screen of flames.. Still, her character of a betrayed woman who continues to care for Elmer illuminates the paradox of his power: he doesnt mean to hurt anyone, but he does. Horace Carp is a student at Mizpah Theological Seminary. The public has the power to end the careers of Falconer and Gantry; however, Gantry and Falconer sell the revivals, and eventually Falconers church, in a way that pleases the public. They also name Billy Sunday. Binch stopped gulping his fried pork chops and held out a flabby, white, holy hand.. Then from 1918 to 1920 he is in Sparta, where the population is 129,000. She wore expensive clothes and jewelry and put on a spectacular show. He wonders whether he might have become a great chemist, which would surely have been better (and more profitable) than year after year again of standing in the pulpit and knowing your congregation dont remember what youve said seven minutes after youve said it. From discontented dean, who never appears again, the narrative moves immediately to the aged parents of the deans wife. When Gantry is framed as a philanderer, both Falconer and Gantry endure the wrath of an angry public in Zenith, but are quickly restored to their pedestals upon a retraction. Thus equipped, Elmer advances to conquer the world. McPherson was involved in a scandal in 1926. Of the other characters, Frank Shallard and Dr. Philip McGarry are examples of the liberal tendency in the church. Schorer, Mark, Introduction, in Sinclair Lewis: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Mark Schorer, Prentice-Hall, 1962, p. 4. Garrison Elmer, like other Lewis protagonists, fears marriage. His portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist who rises to power within his church-a saver of souls who lives a life Elmer works diligently and is rewarded at the Methodists Annual Conference by being sent to a bigger church, at Rudd Center. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). The story of a womanizing con man and an evangelist selling religion all across America was an When Deacon Bains discovers Gantrys affair with Lulu and forces him to propose, Gantry tricks another man into an entanglement with Lulu and is released from the engagement. A modernist movement, led by such preachers as Harry Emerson Fosdick and reinforced by the essays that appeared in The Christian Century, was concerned with making the church more of a live option for the intellectual and the sophisticated city dweller. Was a member of the of the bogus Fleetwood Mac band, that the then manager Clifford Davis send on a US tour in 1974 when the real Fleetwood Mac rejected the tour. He relents and the dark fabric of the preachers suit is draped over a body that is full of blind, yet healthy and normal impulses. The speech is a roaring success. Elmer Gantry subtitles. As the film progresses, we learned of Elmer Gantry's past especially his own previous desire to be a minister/preacher. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Burt Lancaster is bold and provocative as the title character who is preaching to you one moment and drunk and surly the other. Schorer discusses Lewiss research for the novel, including the clergyman he met in Kansas City. The novel's protagonist, the Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry, is initially attracted by booze and easy money (though he eventually renounces tobacco and alcohol) and chasing women. The impact of religion on Elmer Gantry symbolizes what it has done to the American spirit. "Religion and Sports: Three Muscular Christians in American Literature". Watching it today, it is hard to be surprised by any such suggestion since my cynical generation is much more accepting that nothing is what it seems and everyone has an agenda. In Nebraska, he attends a meeting of the evangelist Sharon Falconer. (540) 7.7 2 h 26 min 1960 13+. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Good drama that had the potential to be one of the greats. That night he has doubts, but he is persuaded to speak the following night at the Y.M.C.A. A popular singer with a voice like French silk pie, Page is most famous for her hit song Tennessee Waltz. When she first appears onscreen, shes got such presence you might think she was the main heroine. He is so good that it is hard to I give this movie a 10 only because there is nothing above that. Encyclopedia.com. Shirley Jones won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her role as the woman who can bring Gantry down. He befriends local reporters in hopes of getting his name in the papers, and eventually he leads a raid on Zeniths red-light district. Prayings the cheapest first-rate medicine I know, he says. Napap would bring about nationwide censorship of novels, plays, paintings, and movies. However as the pressure builds to tear him down, can Gantry prevent his past from returning to haunt him? In it he established ties with Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. Elmer Gantry is a picaresque novel. If "Elmer Gantry" worked better than most was largely due to Brooks ability to tell a rattling good yarn at a cracking pace and to the performances of a superb cast. Elizabeth Taylor, Best Actress winner for Butterfield 8. Nevertheless, it is soon apparent that he has gone too far; to him, Christianity is not only untrue, but inconceivable. William Donninger Styles is a rich businessman in Zenith. Bess Needham marries Frank Shallard and bears him three children. publication in traditional print. While working for the Daily Courier in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1908, he wrote an editorial about fraudulent evangelists, which suggests that the seeds of Elmer Gantry were already being sown. One such incident (chapter 2, section 3) is when the pious but not very bright Eddie Fislinger is outwitted by Jim Leffertss atheist father for the amusement of Jim and Elmer. Harry Zenz is a student at the Mizpah Theological Seminary. She is a widow who owns a millinery and dressmaking shop. The movie provided Burt Lancaster, Shirley Jones, and Richard Brooks all with Oscars and it has become a classic. Nathaniel Benham is a trustee of the Methodist church in Banjo Crossing and the father of Cleo. One Sunday, he is surprised to see Lulu in church, and the next day he begins an affair with her. Elmer is beset on all sides; his mother, the YMCA, the president of the college, even a visiting evangelistall single him out in their prayers and exhortations.
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