In 1926, Lewis refused the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith, because he believed it would compromise his artistic independence. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. This abridged version of Sinclair Lewiss novel of the same name focuses on Elmer Gantry, a con man expelled from seminary school, and Sister Sharon Falconer, a character loosely based on evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. In the following essay excerpt, Lundquist suggests that Lewis portrays religion as stifling, as a manifestation of the pioneer mentality that characterized the old American and has become a threat to the new American. 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! Elmer starts to detest her when he finds out that she is cold, sexually. The movie was not just a group of scenes depicting sex and violence. He becomes one of the first clergymen in the country to have his services broadcast by radio, and in 1924, he travels to Europe with Cleo. When hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer, a roadside revivalist, he feigns piousness to join her act as a passionate preacher. Ashley Daugherty is a senior majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. "Elmer Gantry" can be considered the quintessential exploration into the omnipresent duality existing between a person's religious faith and simultaneous character defects. In 1905, after two years study, he is ordained. Binch stopped gulping his fried pork chops and held out a flabby, white, holy hand.. James Benedict Moore, "The Sources of Elmer Gantry". They had a son, Michael, in 1930, the same year that Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. 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. WebThis count will explain the meaning of Macrons declaration that peace, security, and stability in Europe, and in the Ukraine, are for Europeans to agree with Russia. "Elmer Gantry Nelson Manfred Blake, "How to Learn History from Sinclair Lewis and Other Uncommon Sources". He is soon invited to preach at one of her meetings. Shallard is forced to resign. Gene Warren and Tim Baar, The Time Machine. The bell-boy is scarcely out of the room when Elmer grabs Cleo. And Tom Cruise, and the whole celebrity-studded cult of Scientology; Cruise jumping on Oprahs couch or in his fantastic role as the preacher of male supremacy in Magnolia. Lewiss first real success came with Main Street (1920), the book that made him famous. Already a member? WebA second-division British psychedelic band with a tangled history, Elmer Gantry & the Velvet Opera recorded a couple of albums in the Pink Floyd/Soft Machine/Tomorrow/Nice mold in the late '60s without coming close to establishing a solid identity of their own. They are encouraged by Dr. Zechlin, who tells him that no reasonable person can be a believing Christian; nevertheless, he ought to stay in the church to liberalize it from withinin effect, to destroy it. When a charismatic preacher comes to town for a revival meeting, he seeks out Gantry and tricks him into attending. With the characterization and strong personalities of these two characters, it is easy to assume a one-sided relationship between Gantry and Falconer and their congregants, but this is not the case. 4953. For several sessions of congress he had backed a bill for a federal censorship of all fiction, plays, and moving pictures, with a penitentiary sentence for any author mentioning adultery even by implication, ridiculing prohibition, or making light of any Christian sect or minister. The fundamentalists also have to deal with outright skeptics, like Jim Lefferts, and covert atheists like Dr. Zechlin. Elmer Gantry shows the necessity and sincerity involved in these functions, as well as the dangers of falling into the trap of hypocrisy and greed, through its highly humanized leads, Elmer Gantry and Sister Sharon Falconer. Reviews There are no There are several other minor characters who are introduced with no apparent purpose other than to serve as victims of the authors anti-religious inclination. Duke mentioned that he would love to play Puck, []. Over the next few years, he is appointed to larger and larger parishes, eventually to a church in Zenith. It is clear that the revivals rely on the approval and demand of the public and that the revivals certainly could not survive without the support of a large number of congregants; however, there are several points in the film in which it appears the congregants are being taken advantage of by town and religious leaders. Judson Roberts is an evangelist who is the state secretary of the Y.M.C.A. Once Gantry accuses the city government of protecting the brothels and drug dealers, he becomes one of the most powerful men in Zenith. He raises money to build a new church. [4] One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. , Sinclair Lewis: An American Life, McGraw Hill, 1961, pp. Happiness is the key to success. This is tantamount to an admission that the church is happy to receive money that is tainted by the very practices it denounces so vehemently. As Granty flashes with his silver smile but he has a dark past . In Lincoln, he persuades her to let him speak at the meeting about how he, a businessman, was converted. In 1903, Lewis went to Yale University, where he served as editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Fired from the Seminary, he is hired as a traveling salesman of farm implements. 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. Although it's difficult to know if Gantry's spiritual motivation is genuine or merely a ploy, throughout the film, one is kept guessing. During the service one man begins speaking in tongues. In the film, Gantry happens upon one of Falconers revivals being held in a country town. During the opening service, with a crowd of more than four thousand, fire breaks out. The supporting staff performed equally well. He is treasurer of the Congregational church, but Elmer succeeds in getting him to support the Methodists instead. After various forays into evangelism, he becomes a successful Methodist minister despite his hypocrisy and serial sexual indiscretions.[1]. Satire ridicules its subject, with the intention of arousing contempt or scorn in the reader. He was saturated with itthe sermons, hymns, Bible stories, funerals, weddings, Sunday schools. 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. Light examines what he sees as quixotic elements in the novel, especially in the characters Sharon Falconer and Frank Shallard. Robert J. Higgs. He behaves cruelly to Lulu, and when Floyd comforts her with a kiss, Elmer, who has planned the whole incident, bursts in on them with Lulus father. Webthe return nicholas sparks ending explained; Nach Altersklassen. She teaches classes in Concentration, Prosperity, Love, Metaphysics and Oriental Mysticism, and invites Elmer to join her. The affair threatens to destroy Gantry, but Rigg hires a detective to besmear Hettie, and she and her husband are forced to sign an affidavit declaring Gantrys innocence. Though it makes its position on for-profit religious functions clear from the very beginning of the film, it attempts its critique in a fair manner. Directed and written by Richard Brooks, based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis. His quest for God is a secular quest. One device after another is employed to introduce him to new denominations and round out the picture. In his ever lustful sights is a voluptuous female preacher. According to such people: A proper school should teach nothing but bookkeeping, agriculture, geometry, dead languages made deader by leaving out all the amusing literature, and the Hebrew Bible as interpreted by men superbly trained to ignore contradictions, men technically called Fundamentalists., Christian beliefs about the proper observance of Sundays also comes under heavy satirical fire in this passage: [T]he Maker of a universe with stars a hundred thousand light-years apart was interested, furious, and very personal about it if a small boy played baseball on Sunday afternoon.. I know its trueits in the Bible. McPherson was involved in a scandal in 1926. He is not a deep thinker and does not really care whether the Baptist doctrines he preaches are true or false. The new Wellspring Church has been built, and Elmer is awarded an honorary doctorate from Abernathy College. It was the best-selling work of fiction in America for the year 1927, according to Publishers Weekly.[6]. His ambition knows no bounds. date the date you are citing the material. Then his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) who is now a prostitute. He soon discovers he has a gift for preaching, and he loves the feeling of power he gets when his sermons move his congregation. The film isn't just about rural religion in the 1920s, or how media is exploited, or how sometimes clever hucksters can outwit themselves. You're all sinners. One famous evangelist was Gipsy Smith (18601947), an Englishman who made twenty-six trips to the United States. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. The ships captain who in the storm took counsel with the orphaned but righteous child of missionaries in Zomballa. On his first visit in 1889, he held campaigns in cities from Boston to San Francisco. So scandalous was Lewiss portrayal of religion that the novel was banned in several cities and denounced from pulpits across the nation. Close Alert. She cries out, Oh, dont! Kayfabe, or, Why a Scholar of Religion Might Be Interested in Pro Wrestling. The one completely positive character in the book, Frank Shallard, wants to make Christianity an active force for social good; as it is, it is a negative force, a threat to freedom. He is a social climber and a publicity seeker. Like Sharon, she drew huge crowds and practiced faith healing. WebElmer Gantry. WebIn the 1920s, Elmer Gantry entertains a group of fellow salesmen in a speakeasy with his ribald jokes and easy charm. There are glimmers of this in Sister Sharon Falconer, like when she admits that she knows Gantry is lying but allows him to continue preaching because she believes it is for the greater good. Elmer Gantry sets out to do just that in the world of evangelical revivalists, and an examination of the complicated relationship between the congregations and the religious leaders of the film may help illuminate the popularity of many religious movements, even those that appear to be a farce from the outside. eNotes.com, Inc. When he at last finds the courage, now that he is out of the church, to speak his mind, he is viciously attacked and blinded by fundamentalist fanatics. Simulation Theory: How is Religion Part of It? It's sophisticated script, complex characters, and wonderful acting opened a whole new world for me. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Consider the character of Jim Lefferts, as revealed in the first three chapters. He became known in the 1920s for his books that satirized the spartan materialism and intolerance that Novels for Students. Sharon is supposed to be a firebrand, based on evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, part Houdini, part Teddy Roosevelt, who preached a dramatic God. Meanwhile, Hettie turns out to be a married woman who, with her husband, tries to blackmail Elmer. Transforming the community and its residents is the main goal of Northside food system organizers, who are using food as a tool to aid in that transformation. On publication in 1927, Elmer Gantry created a public furor. Harry Zenz vehemently disagrees with Eddie. She is forced by her father to marry Lloyd Naylor. As in Babbitt and Arrowsmith, we are made aware that there are sinister forces combining to strike at the very foundations of American liberties. Whatever I may choose to do, though it might be sin in one unsanctified, with me God will turn it to his glory. Lynnell Mickelsen: Why all the conspiracy theories and pearl-clutching in this years school board race. Gantrys fame continues to grow, and he is soon preaching at churches across America. The church filled him with awe, frightened him, became the center of all his emotions. The two make a successful onstage pair, and their chemistry extends to romance. He is a gigantic, larger-than-life character. Higher criticism was a method of Biblical criticism that originated in Germany. 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. Reverend Jacob Trosper is the dean and chief executive of Mizpah Theological Seminary. They hypnotize themselves, says Jim Lefferts to Elmer, trying to persuade him not to go along with it. "You're all sinners! After his wedding to Cleo, he gasps to himself, Oh, good God, Ive gone and tied myself up, and I never can have any fun again! His treatment of her on the wedding night is reminiscent of Eddie Schwirtzs treatment of Una Golden. 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.. The sociological factor that works against Elmer is the entire small-town Protestant environment in which he was raised. Webdc.title: Elmer Gantry. He befriends Shallard and tries to answer Shallards doubts about the truth of the Christian faith. The debate between fundamentalists and liberals is conducted amongst the students at Mizpah. One admirable character, Frank Shallard, makes an essentially quixotic response to Elmer and his deceits. 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. Sharons real name is Katie Jonas; she picked out the name Sharon Falconer when she was working as a stenographer. Elmer Gantry, then, is notable as the book in which Lewis moved religion to the center of his critique of American values and declared it to have failed. Jim observes his defeat from his bed, laid ill with a bug no doubt divinely-sent. Later he was to learn that references to Dickens, Victor Hugo, James Whitcomb Riley, Josh Billings, and Michelangelo give a sermon a very toney Chicago air. Though he does not have quixotic benignity, helpfulness, or idealism, he does have visions of how the ministry can be useful to him; he sees thousands listening to himinvited to banquets and everything , and he dreams of hundreds of beautiful women [who weep] with conviction and rush down to clasp his hand., In addition to his hypocrisy and his ignorance, Elmer is a liar, a sinner, and a coward. As Elmer turns an attractive and charming preacher with a large audience . More information about the Trylons Lancastic! Contact UA. Besides being an effective satire targeted against religious hypocrisy, Elmer Gantry provides insight into the clash of cultural forces in America in the 1920s. Pengilly is an old Methodist pastor who is something of a saintly figure. But he did not achieve the heights of success he had enjoyed during the 1920s. Many of my neighbors and friends see the furious posts on Facebook, with all the hysterical warnings about the imminent destruction of public education as we know it, and are honestly confused. Thus, Schorer concludes, there is no pressure upon Elmer to be forced into a position of new self-awareness. The publication day of Elmer Gantry found him wandering through Europe with Ramon Guthrie; from Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, he commented in the most innocent tones on the stir he had caused: The violent Kansas City blokes have been asinine. In the Shadow of No Future: Justice Claims and the Israel-Palestine Conflict? He looks stern and Elmer is afraid of him. Under pressure from Elmer, Shallard resigns. The attack on the hypocrisy of Protestant ministers continues throughout the novel. In Elmer Gantry, the object of Lewiss satire is not only Elmer himselfwho after the tabernacle fire rescued at least thirty people who had already rescued themselves .but the entire clerical profession and the fundamentalist Protestant dogmas they represent.
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