216
PARTISAN REVIEW
ments in which it was difficult even to find some one
to
give old
clothes to."
Parks becomes a partisan of the suspected student because Rudy
comes from a poor family and there is reason to believe the girl's rich
parents were discouraging his suit. Mrs. Mitchell, an extravagant
Jungian, looks upon Rudy as a scapegoat about to
be
sacrificed to so–
ciety's collective guilt. Both ache happily at the prospect of a conviction
which will give them a grievance against society and are thoroughly
discomposed when a jury of undistinguished Iowa citizens acquits him.
"It seems," Mrs. Mitchell complains, "that even farmers, women and
typical citizens have all sorts of modern ideas without even knowing
they have them ..."
Put together shrewdly and logically, Parks and Mrs. Mitchell never
grow much fictional flesh on their skeletons primarily because Miss
Hardwick's sense of social pressures, weights and norms seems markedly
inferior to her knowledge of social trends and the movement of ideas.
Thus, it is obvious, I think, that as great a departure from the norm
as is involved in their obsession with Rudy, can only be justified if the
two are shown to be much more unusual than they are, driven by
specific internal forces great enough to offset the pressure to display
exactly the same interest as every other member of the group.
But this is not done. Indeed,
if
it were, the narrative could not be
as badly split as it is, for we are actually given two distinct subjects,
neither subordinated, and with only a superficial relation.
If
the central
interest of the novel is the trial, then no such extensive treatment of
the minds of the Parks-Mitchell circle is necessary or relevant and vice
versa. The trial itself is described in a lackadaisical, uncertain manner
that is only partially redeemed by a sudden flare of insight or a brilliant
impression.
Harvey Swados' first novel is a well-written, ambitious auscultation
of the body of a Jewish family that consists of Herman Felton, a domi–
neering, war-rich industrialist, his part-German wife, a blonde, ad–
venturous daughter and a dour, tough-minded son. All the well-known,
portentous sounds of family life are heard in booming, muffled con–
cert as the narrative wanders from Englewood, New Jersey, to New
York, Washington, London, Italy, Africa, Florida and the island of
Cura~ao.
Mother is a bonbon-eating nonentity. Betsy admires her fa–
ther excessively and incestuously while Morrow hates him because he
tries to dominate him and buy his affection. After Betsy has been
in
and out of numerous colleges, love affairs and marriages and Morrow
has been wounded, decorated, and saved from two court martials by
