He rammed the fear of God into me so fast, Lulu says of her willing seduction behind the altar, I never heard my old mans footsteps.. The attack on the hypocrisy of Protestant ministers continues throughout the novel. Named himself in honour of the character in the Burt Lancaster movie Elmer Gantry. Elmer Gantry may have a rather unsavoury past but the one thing he can do better than anyone is sell himself, pots, pans, anything. Fire is mentioned throughout the film, and cinematographer John Alton sets the mood by casting dark red and brown shadows. He confesses his love for her and they begin an affair, peppering their lovemaking with religious imagery. Elmer reads Browning, Tennyson, Dickens. Webbest neighborhoods in san diego for young professionals. The new Wellspring Church has been built, and Elmer is awarded an honorary doctorate from Abernathy College. Four men and two women crawled about a pillar, barking like dogs, barking the devil out of the tree.. After two years as a salesman, Elmer meets Eddie Fislinger at his church in Kansas, and he decides he wants to be a preacher again. 12631. Sharons real name is Katie Jonas; she picked out the name Sharon Falconer when she was working as a stenographer. The novel is absorbing, and I should like to say a few words about it. Sharon soon fires her assistant, Cecil Alyston, and appoints Elmer as his replacement. ), Elmers friend Jim Lefferts, a freethinker, has a somewhat wider list than Elmer: an encyclopedia, Pickwick, Swinburne, Ingersoll, and Paine. Some day he would be a bishop, yes, but even that was nothing compared with the fact that he had won a victory over his lower nature. He kneels in prayer, but in that instant he sees Cleo and at once thinks of seducing her. Shallard is then attacked by religious fanatics and blinded. Nelson Manfred Blake, "How to Learn History from Sinclair Lewis and Other Uncommon Sources". He joins the staff of a metaphysical cult but is fired when he is caught stealing from the collection plate. In it he established ties with Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. 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. Overhead traveling cranes are used in industrial buildings to lift and transport heavy jobs, machines, and so on, from one place to another. I think she does a brilliant job but I wished that she had more speaking moments. 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. The Baptist influences to which Elmer is subjected in his youth, particularly at Terwillinger College and Mizpah Theological Seminary, are handled very roughly. The church provided all the music he ever heard, his only oratory except for campaign speeches by politicians, all his painting and sculpture, and all his philosophic ideas. He has an affair with female evangelist Sharon Falconer, which ends with her death in a flaming tabernacle. But a grand jury investigation found that McPherson had spent a pleasant month in Mexico with a married man from her church. They have better chemistry between them than Simmons and Lancaster did, but Elmer Gantry is the grandaddy of them all. Schorer also says that, while researching the book, Lewis attended two or three church services every Sunday while in Kansas City, and that: "He took advantage of every possible tangential experience in the religious community." The dean sends Gantry and classmate Frank Shallard to pastor a nearby church. They were intended to feed the American dream, but instead fashioned the nightmareout of books! WebElmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a slick traveling salesman who is a boozer and a dog hound. Source: James Lundquist, Moralities for a New Time, in Sinclair Lewis, Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1973, pp. The preacher tries to warn him off. Gantry is bored by school, but Shallard is drawn to a professor who eventually confesses his atheism to Shallard. His ambition knows no bounds. Elmer is the great man steadily making his way upward in the worldthe man of immoderate personal ambitionand the great man hasnt time for scruples. She tells Elmer that she has visions; God talks to her. He becomes the symbiotic antithesis to Sister Sharon: while he tells of heading toward the depths of hell for his many sins, she tells of being saved from that fate if repentance is forthcoming. He is immediately taken As he gains experience, Elmer attempts to broaden his mind. Metacritic Reviews. With Jim (who is more skeptical and quick-witted than Gantry) home sick in bed, Gantry attends the meeting with his mother and is converted. Afterward, he must resign himself to helplessness for the rest of his life. Within the Protestant church, a battle rages between the traditionalists, or fundamentalists, who believe in the literal truth of the Bible, and the liberals, who believe that some parts of the Bible may be understood in a symbolic sense. Encyclopedia.com. 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. Thus Rebecca West could write incisively about the religious and historical perspectives of Elmer Gantry: The passages in the book which present to one what Mr. Lewis regards as the proper attitude to religion are disconcertingly jejune. Miss West goes on to say that like Mark Twain, who in Connecticut Yankee looked at medieval Europe and said, My, werent they dumb? Lewis has no sense of the struggle of the human mind to evolve from chaos to the achievements of his age. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Lewis married Grace Livingston Hegger in 1914, and they had one son, Wells, in 1917. Gantry turns out to be the perfect publicity compliment to Sister Sharon, who, unlike him, is a true believer. Elmer Gantry and his roommate, Jim Lefferts, have traveled from their college in Kansas to Cato, Missouri, to see their girlfriends. Jones is too frothy, but when she appears halfway through, she adds bubbles to a long movie that was starting to go flat. But Elmer does have a program in Napap, which he hopes will make him something of a moral dictator. Mel Gibson aside, you don't expect to see a sympathetic portrayal of religion in the movies; from 'Night of the Hunter' onwards, the dodgy preacher has been a more common character than the saintly one, and there's another kicking for the born-again movement in 'Elmer Gantry'. She is of the occult; she is a witch. Jim tries to persuade Elmer not to go along with it, but when Elmer attends the Annual Prayer Week he cannot resist the emotionalism of the service. Over the next few years, he is appointed to larger and larger parishes, eventually to a church in Zenith. What has educated Elmer (a few books, oratory, sermons, tracts, hymns, and a smattering of a college education) must be ridiculed in order to purge it from the land. Ashley Daugherty is a senior majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. The tents are filled with people clamoring to see Sister Sharon Falconer. WebElmer Gantry. She brings a Native feminist lens to the contemporary dance world with her body of work, the latest of which is Weave, a collaborative dance project. When Lefferts asks Reverend Quarles, the college president, an awkward question about some passages in the Bible, Quarles tells him not to question the ways of the Lord. At times I wondered if he wasn't overacting, but his character called for a very animated salesman-type person. 98107. He returns to it in the context of Sharons revival meetings. Gantry was in the middle of trying to settle down and marry Sharon when she saw that shooting star at the end, and from that moment, she seemed to feel truly touched by God. Elmers next position is at a church in Monarch. He will begin as a preacher in a small town, will enliven it and lift it. WebSpecialties: Welcome to Garrison Brothers, home of the first and oldest legal whiskey distillery in Texas. Equity is one part of a broader vision for the Hiawatha network of schools. He is taken with Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) who runs revival meetings. Harry Zenz vehemently disagrees with Eddie. Before Falconer and Gantry set up their revival in Zenith, a large city which is described as a place where Falconer and Gantry can become famous, Falconers revivals were held in the country and in small towns. Grebstein, Sheldon Norman, Sinclair Lewis, Twayne United States Authors Series, No. During his career, Gantry contributes to the downfall, physical injury, and even death of key people around him, including a sincere minister, Frank Shallard, who is plagued by doubt. And he has involvements with several of his church secretaries. A charming conman pretends to be a preacher and romances a roadside revivalist. For all his wisdom, he speaks in platitudes, although Lewis does give him one searing moment of insight. She is a monstrous creation who seems to grow in size with each revelation of her craziness. He long ago lost his faith in the literal truth of the Bible and has become an atheist. One night, Hetties husband catches them together; blackmail threats follow, and Gantry realizes that Hettie is part of the plot. I am above sin! Institutionalized religion has attracted its fair share of satirical assaults in its time, but Elmer Gantry must surely rank as the most savage in American literature. On May 25, 2016, St. Paul School Resource Officer Bill Kraus forcibly arrested then 19-year-old Darion Bell outside of St. Paul Central High School. Tough pla takes the ease of use of regular pla and steps it up. He is known in his church for his piety, but in fact he is an atheist. As a boy, the Baptist church was all he knew. eNotes.com, Inc. After various forays into evangelism, he becomes a successful Methodist minister despite his hypocrisy and serial sexual indiscretions.[1]. He wears fine clothes, yet he rides the railways like a vagabond. It is Elmers Napoleonic ambition to combine all such organizations to the greater glory of himself: He would combine in one association all the moral organizations in Americaperhaps, later, in the entire world. Jim is the college freethinker and the only person who has any influence on Elmer. 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? A lady runs by Elmer in a blue jacket, and her jacket is on fire. 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. Religion is an aspect of culture that permeates all societies, and much of history is defined by religions in power at the time. North, who is in charge of the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Press, known as Napap. One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. If a satirist depicts the object of his satire as based on humbug, advocated by humbug, and defended by humbug, he must employ a great deal of wit and fantasy to prevent his attack from seeming cross-grained and peevish. McGarry accidentally reveals Shallards doubts to Gantry, so Gantry uses them to defame Shallard as part of a campaign to raise money for a new church building. What sort of a man is Jim? Source: Bryan Aubrey, Critical Essay on Elmer Gantry, in Novels for Students, Thomson Gale, 2006. Falconer gives of herself throughout the film to help her congregants, often going outside her comfort zone to preach to angry crowds and secure the donations she sees as a necessary evil for the continuance of her sermons. Nellie Benton is Jim Lefferts girlfriend when he is a student. No! Were in the temple of the Lord! Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Frank Shallard is a student at Mizpah Theological Seminary, but he doubts the literal truth of the Bible. Still the supporting cast is brilliant as well. J. E. North is the executive secretary of the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Press (Napap). Lewis preferred the liberal Birkhead to the conservative Stidger, and on his second visit to Kansas City, Lewis chose Birkhead as his guide. retrospective of Burt Lancaster films continues at the Trylon Microcinema through November, the month marking the 100th anniversary of Lancaster birth (Nov. 2, 1913), withElmer Gantryon November 11 and 12. But shifting moods again, she can acknowledge that she is just an ignorant young woman with a lot of misdirected energyand even an evil one: Oh, I hate the little vicessmoking, swearing, scandal, drinking just enough to be silly. Their satisfaction comes from functioning healthily, from physical and mental exercise, whether it be playing tennis or tackling an astronomical problem. While this notion of religious rites on the tennis court is rather curious, Lewis seems nevertheless to acknowledge a religious impulse, even if he would eliminate God and organized churches. 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. He fell in love with Sharon when he first met her, and is devoted to her. Yet at the fire, it is Sharon who is heroic. He uses the church to further his own ambitions for power and fame. He also analyzes the characterization and structure of the novel and Lewiss occasional failure to integrate his story-telling with the social facts he presents. Binch is also a snob who has contempt for other preachers. He had been a solitary in college, generous but fastidious, jarred by his classmates belching and sudden laughter. Like Carol Kennicott, he suffers a betrayal by books, for his reasoning had been turned from an examination of men as mammals to the mystic theories of souls and their salvation. Elmer cheats, he boasts, he lies, he deceives. You have every right to an explanation. because Joness Lulu is a silly, air-spun girl. Based on the muckraker Sinclair Lewis' novel, and superbly translated to the screen by Richard Brooks (In Cold Blood , The Professionals, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), this story of huckster-ism by religion is a masterpiece. Eddie Fislinger is a student at Terwillinger College and the president of the Y.M.C.A. Elmer loathes him but Frank Shallard regards him as a friend. Elmer tries but fails to continue as an independent evangelist. Elmer Gantry the novel came out in 1925 and it took 35 years to get it to the screen. Elmer loves to preach against immorality but feels no need to be moral himself. The evangelist Sharon Falconer, although she is not attached to any particular church, is no exception to the anti-religion theme. WebLove is the voice of music. Shortly after the publication of Elmer Gantry, H. G. Wells published a widely syndicated newspaper article called "The New American People", in which he largely based his observations of American culture on Lewis' novels. Life opened before him, clean, joyous, full of the superb chances of a Christian knighthood. Source: David J. Dooley, Aspiration and Enslavement, in The Art of Sinclair Lewis, University of Nebraska Press, 1967, pp. To revisit this article, select My Account, then View saved stories. He is ordained despite the examiners doubts about his orthodoxy, and he takes charge of a small church in Catawba. Gantrys descendants stretch from Neil Diamonds 1969 song Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show to the 2012 film The Master, by Paul Thomas Anderson (who also made Magnolia). Elmer works diligently and is rewarded at the Methodists Annual Conference by being sent to a bigger church, at Rudd Center. That night she seduces him. When she overhears Gantry seducing their pianist, she fires them, but Gantry convinces her to reconsider. The speech is a roaring success. Happiness is the key to success. Even Gantry wouldnt have been such a bad fellow if hed been, say, a salesman. Only a very curious moral outlook could have permitted the creator of such a monster as Elmer Gantry to say that his characters lack of a sense of decency would not have been objectionable if he had changed his profession . Like Sharon, she drew huge crowds and practiced faith healing. Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear. She is also a pious churchgoer who has always wanted Elmer to become a preacher. Source: Martin Light, Mantrap and Elmer Gantry, in The Quixotic Vision of Sinclair Lewis, Purdue University Press, 1975, pp. Excerpt from Babbitt WebMake Your Picks. In another service a couple comes forward to ask that Falconer cure the husbands deafness. He soon discovers he has a gift for preaching, and he loves the feeling of power he gets when his sermons move his congregation. Richard Brooks spent years trying to bring ELMER GANTRY to the screen. When a Salvation Army worker enters, Gantry shocks and moves the crowd with an impromptu, impassioned sermon equating God with love. Lewiss attack upon the villagesnowhere so embittered as in Elmer Gantry occurs through exposure of the cultural opportunities which the village provides, and these are thin indeed, Most literary materials found in the village are reflections of American popular culture before the turn of the century. Of course, turmoil closes in on them as their inherent instincts of love overpower their adherence to the Christian principles they attempt to profess. The second date is today's Reverend Dr. Willoughby Quarles is president of Terwillinger College. Laws, the number of times youve explained! Did he come to bring peace or more war? Mrs. Gantry is Elmers mother. As the music dies, Gantry picks up where they left off and continues the hymn. James Benedict Moore, "The Sources of Elmer Gantry". He is an opportunist, a rogue, a charlatan. 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. It is a fairly narrow assault, since Lewiss targets are confined to Protestant churches and revival campaigns, but within that range, Lewiss fire is deadly and continuous. In fact, the question of whether Elmer is a human being or an ogre in the novel is a relevant one. He marries Cleo but gets bored with her and resents her lack of sexual passion. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "Elmer Gantry" can be considered the quintessential exploration into the omnipresent duality existing between a person's religious faith and simultaneous character defects. Then his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) who is now a prostitute. 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. In another scene, Falconer exhibits pride and materialism when she admits that she always wanted her own church with a giant glowing cross. 2023
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