The Solid Mandala
The Solid Mandala: The Solid Mandala, the seventh published novel by Australian
author Patrick White, Nobel Prize winner of 1973, first published in 1966. The Solid Mandala It
details the story of two brothers, Waldo and Arthur Brown, with a focus on the
facets of their symbiotic relationship. It is set in White's fictional suburb
of Sarsaparilla, a setting he often employed in his other books, such as with
Riders in the Chariot. The Solid Mandala The book is typical of White's writing style, and is
slow-paced, with little considerable action, instead focusing upon the inner
turmoils of the aforementioned characters.
The Solid Mandala: In Patrick White‘s novel twin brothers, Arthur and Waldo
Brown, cannot seem to reconcile the fact that they once shared a womb, the two
of them being so different in temperament and personality. The Solid Mandala And yet, there’s a
strange kind of reliance on one another, especially in old age, when the two
share a bed and often walk about town holding hands. The Solid Mandala Even their lack-lustre
love lives (neither of them get married) are remarkably similar, when, as
teenagers, they both fall for Dulcie Feinstein and then, as adults, when they
strike up a close friendship with their neighbour, Mrs Poulter. But despite
their differences and their tendency to secretly loathe one another, they
cannot escape their lifelong familial bond. The Solid Mandala It is their ongoing struggle to
find a balance between intimacy and independence that marks the lives of these
two very different men. Arthur, the older of the two, is good-natured, if a
little simple, and is content with his lot in life, working as an assistant to
Mr Allwright, the grocer. But Waldo, the bookish one who works in a library,
has literary aspirations and thinks himself superior to most people but lacks
the confidence to chase his dreams. The Solid Mandala First published in 1966, The Solid Mandala
is Patrick White’s seventh novel (he wrote 12 in total, along with two short
story collections, a memoir and a bunch of plays) and is set in Sydney,
Australia, in the early part of the 20th century. The Solid Mandala The Browns are recently
arrived immigrants from England and the twins are already marked out as
different by the mere fact that the family refuses to go to church like every
other good Australian citizen. The Solid Mandala This effectively sets a pattern for the rest of
their lives, because neither Waldo or Arthur ever really fit in.
The Solid Mandala: The Solid Mandala follows the day-to-day lives — from
cradle to grave — of these seemingly unremarkable men. Both twins have a
chapter each in which to narrate the story. The Solid Mandala This makes the relatively drab
subject matter come alive by showing how alternative perspectives on the same
events and incidences can be vastly different from one person to another and
how those said perspectives are coloured by individual prejudices,
personalities and beliefs.
Ruthless and brutal in places, the prose is also illuminated
by White’s distinctive literary flourishes — the tendency to drop punctuation
when he wants to convey a character’s excitement, for example — and wonderfully
descriptive passages about Australian life and landscapes:
The Solid Mandala: It was really the grass that had control at Sarsaparilla,
deep and steaming masses of it, lolling yellow and enervated by the end of
summer. The Solid Mandala As for the roads, with the exception of the highway, they almost all
petered out, first in dust, then in paddock, with dollops of brown cow manure —
or grey spinners — and the brittle spires of seeded thistles.
There is much grace and beauty here and plenty of laughs,
but in places I felt overwhelmed by the sadness that effuses the story, the
sense of loss and regret and the inability to escape the past and to truly
grasp life by the horns. And the near-perfect ending, I have to say, came as
somewhat of a shock, so much so it’s taken me a month to write this review,
because I wanted to think about this book before I put pen to paper.
The Solid Mandala: In the broad area of Gender Studies, Men’s study is quite a
new concept which deals with the men’s role and activity in society. In this
area of studies, the male characters seem to be normal in public life but they
want to prove their masculinity in all possible ways. The Solid Mandala Furthermore,
‘Performativity of Gender’ can be critically applied to the male characters in
the literary context. In this aspect, Judith Butler’s concept can be considered
in which she unveils the relationship between gender identity and
performativity in her book “Gender Trouble” (1990).
“There is no gender identity behind the expressions of
gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’
that are said to be its results”. (Butler, GT 33)
According to the author, gender identity does not depend
merely on the expressions of a person in his social life. In addition to this,
Performativity is a referential word which implies the activity of persons as a
social norm. Moreover, Judith Butler had written about ‘Performativity’ even in
her another critically acclaimed book “Bodies that matter”:
The Solid Mandala: “Performativity is thus not a singular ‘act’, for it is
always a reiteration of a norm or set of norms, and to the extent that it
acquires an act-like status in the present, it conceals or dissimulates the
conventions of which it is a repetition” (Butler, BM 12). In this statement,
the author did not imply any confined meaning to the word ‘performativity’ and
she regards it as a repetitive practice of a society.
When it comes to the topic of Men’s studies, the main factor
is nothing but the job or designation of men. Everyman’s work doesn’t remain
the same in every society as it varies from person to person and the mode of
work represents the gender roles in society. The Solid Mandala Therefore, men are preferentially
hired for Industrial works which require physical strength to work effectively.
The Solid Mandala: Even though all kinds of jobs require both physical and
mental strength, men’s jobs are complicated than that of women as the former’s
work demands much more physical strength to do strenuous works than the latter.
But the male characters of ‘The Solid Mandala’ seem to be different in terms of
physical ability as they inclined to stay in their house rather than going to
work outside. It clearly shows their homesickness in which normally women
possess. It is a novel that depicts the life of two unmarried brothers with
opposite nature and behaviour. Both of them reside in the same parental house
from their birth age to senility but they lack brotherly affection and family
concern.
Reflection of
‘Effeminacy’ in the male characters :
The Solid Mandala: The author has written this novel in four chapters. Among
them, second chapter is the biggest which is related to the personal
confessions and judgemental opinions of Waldo brown. It has Waldo’s perspective
which is the longest section whereas the third chapter has been narrated from
Arthur’s point of view. In these sections, Brown brothers defend themselves for
their actions and accuse each other. For readers, their confession seems to be
correct in many aspects. Hence, it is important to critically examine the
characters of twin brothers. Waldo brown is physically challenged and intends
to stay at his house most of the time due to his inability to work efficiently.
But Arthur brown maintains amicable relationship with his friends and
relatives, unlike his brother. This fact has deeply hurt Waldo who considers
his brother as his foe in his social life.
“He hated his brother Arthur, although, or perhaps because,
Arthur was the thread of continuity, and might even be the core of truth”.( The
Solid Mandala 187)
The Solid Mandala: Waldo feels that he has been continuously cornered not only
because of his physical disability but also Arthur’s influence on others. Two
brothers though born to same parents possess different interests and wishes. In
sociological context, Arthur as a gregarious person earns social respect and
becomes a respectful person whereas Waldo maintains reticence and stays out of
the company of his friends, acquaintance and his relatives as well. Apart from
this, Waldo’s character is portrayed as an effeminate person due to his
transvestic disorder as he aspires to wear women’s garments in solitude. Though
he was a librarian, he did not like his job of sitting for a long time without
motion in the library. His inferiority complex has increased day by day due to
his motionless activity and loneliness. In brief, his homesickness and dressing
nature unveil the effeminacy in his personality. In his childhood, he was
instructed by his mother to pray. She also had advised him to be strong which
was not possible to him.
“Waldo had been taught to pray, because, said mother,
everything depends on your own will, it would be foolishness to expect anything
else, we can achieve what we want if we are determined if we confident that we
are strong”. ( The Solid Mandala 77)
The Solid Mandala: Similarly, Arthur’s character is no more different than Waldo in the aspect of masculinity as he wishes to stay with the women’s company instead of men’s. As proof, he always works for the two ladies in which one among them is his love interest. Dulcie Feinstein and MrsPoulter are the two ladies in which he has been associated with them for a long time. In his entire lifetime, the two women are prominent to him and he has no male friends at all. Normally, every person will have many friends of a respective gender. But it is not seen in Arthur’s social contacts and his female affinity shows his womanish nature which can be observed in his unconditional support to them. Meanwhile, Arthur’s friendly relationship with Dulcie turns into love for which she denies and gets married to another person. In spite of having a passionate love for her, Arthur fails to impress and loses her permanently. The same thing happens in the case of Waldo who aspired her to be his wife but gets rejected by her. Therefore, Brown brothers determine to remain lifelong bachelors instead of opting for any martial plans. Dulcie’s stern denial to their love plea depicts the human relationship and the woman’s expectation on her suitors which mainly depends on sexuality as well.
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