Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

128. Forces Within and Without: Butler's The Way of All Flesh

                                          Genetics and Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh

          "Surely it was the tower of Siloam that was naught rather than those who stood under it: it was the system rather than the people that was at fault" (377). In this passage from Butler's The Way of All Flesh, the author sadly alludes to the tragic nature of mankind, and wonders why all men are destined to suffer and repeat the sins of their fathers. Like the Old Testament admonition that God "will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation to them that hate Him," the title itself suggests a genetic determinism as a given. Employing the bildungsroman as his theme, the author begins by describing the characteristics of the hero's parents and grandparents through four generations to show how their behavior manifests itself in the protagonist's personality. In this sense, Butler suggests a genetic predisposition which tragically influences the main character physically and emotionally. Just as Darwin, Marx, and Freud, the author explores the impact of determinism, only in this case on the moral life of young Pontifax. As the protagonist confronts various obstacles in his quest for fulfillment, the author demonstrates the overwhelmingly pervasive influence of inheritance upon human choice. Thus, man serves as an innocent victim of a recurrent genetic cycle or pattern. In his coming of age, the subject must initially accept that much of his behavior derives from these inherent forces from his past, and with this awareness, commence his psychological journey forward. Butler carefully warns us, however, that we, like Oedipus, must always live under this cloud of unknowing. This awareness, in essence, becomes man's sword of Damocles, for sadly we learn when we are old.

             In The Way of All Flesh, Butler uses humor, allusion, irony, and satire to trace the social and moral development in the life of Ernest Pontifax. In his quest, the hero must understand and overcome the hypocrisy and the harmful influences of parents, teachers, theology, friends, family, and public opinion. Pontifax must learn to discern appearance from reality in each case to determine their underlying motives. Initially, Ernest must distinguish the appearance of piety from its true nature, even in the life of his father, a respected clergyman. In his quest for understanding, the youth sadly discovers that materialism in British society commands far greater weight than the sacrificial life devoted to Christ. In Butler's own words, "For most men, and most circumstances, pleasure—tangible material prosperity in this world—is the safest test of virtue" (116). The author uses the metaphor of the cross as an expression of the behavioral influences in men's lives: "for all these things cross a man; whatever a man comes in contact with in any way forms a cross with him which will leave him better or worse, and the better things he is crossed with the more likely he is to live long and happily. All things must be crossed a little or they would cease to live—but holy things, such for example as Giovanni Bellini's saints, have been crossed with nothing but what is good of its kind" (138-139). Each new cross or phase of awareness denotes the character's emotional or spiritual death-and-rebirth. Consequently, genetic and behavioral factors alike limit individual achievement, and as result, it is the person's motives that constitute the measure of his morality. It is the person's heart that determines his worth, not his attainments. Early in the story, the author maintains that "we must judge men not so much by what they do, as by what they make us feel that they have it in them to do. If a man has done enough, either in painting, music or the affairs of life, to make me feel that I might trust him in an emergency, he has done enough. It is not by what a man has actually put upon a canvas, nor yet by the acts which he has set down, so to speak, upon the canvas of his life that I will judge him, but by what he makes me feel that he felt and aimed at" (8). This passage, like many others, contains his personal definitions and standards on morals and ethics. For instance, in one portion of the narrative, the author presents a measure upon which men should judge one another, and in a subsequent portion, he provides a definition of greatness. According to the author, all men should know that "true greatness wears an invisible cloak, under cover of which it goes in and out among men without being suspected;[ however], if its cloak does not conceal it from itself always, and from all others for many years, its greatness will ere long shrink to very ordinary dimensions." From this definition, Butler then proceeds to discuss the advantages of greatness. In the author's perspective, "The answer is that you may understand greatness better in others, whether alive or dead, and choose better company from these and enjoy and understand that company better when you have chosen it—also that you may be able to give pleasure to the best people and live in the lives of those who are yet unborn" (130).Here, Butler's definition is clearly superior to the will- to-fame, wealth, and power of modern society.