Amis' Antiheroes
Books and fairy tales often contain heroes that do heroic acts such as slaying dragons or saving other's lives, but Kingsley Amis' novels are about the opposite. Kingsley Amis, the author of Lucky Jim and One Fat Englishman, is one of the best comic novelists. Amis' first novel, Lucky Jim, is about Jim Dixon, who is a preposterous professor dealing with his troubled society. He wants to gain love from the fiancee of his boss's son. Later, with the same theme of social satire as his first novel, Amis wrote One Fat Englishman. This novel portrays Roger Micheldene who is a monstrous English publisher in America. This man is full of gluttony, lust, sloth, and anger but ironically he also is in love with a woman married to a colleague. Along with social satire, Amis also presents his ideas of antihero. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, antihero is a "main character... who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism or courage" (American Heritage Dictionary). In other words, antihero is the exact opposite of hero. Their unremarkable actions, abhorrent personalities, and the lack of character developments are the characteristics of antiheroes.
Usually heroes go through a series of character developments to show their courage and confidence; however, antiheroes are the opposite. He is not able to gather his courage and tells Professor Welch his vexations but instead he tells "himself that what mattered was that this man had decisive power over his future" (Lucky Jim 8). Roger deceives his friend and what he does is not very agreeable. In the beginning of the novel, he leaves the "arty get-together" in the middle and then comes back and jumps through the window. Not only does this show Jim's irresponsibility but also his insincerity toward his friends. Everyone can be heroes or antiheroes because they can sometimes have tremendous courage that gave them the strength to face their fear or they can have fears that they do not wish to face. Heroes often consist of having courage and the will to overcome every obstacle but Roger's ways of overcoming obstacles are by eating, drinking, and smoking his way out and being extremely lazy. Not only that the woman is married, but she is also the wife of his friend, Ernst Bang. One would agree with Caplan for saying that Roger is someone without "a single redeeming quality, the most disagreeable character Amis ever imagined" (Caplan 11). Because Jim doesn't meet this idealism, he is not a hero but an antihero. For example, Jim Dixon is invited to his boss's, Professor Welch, house for an "arty get-together," but he dislikes the guests therefore goes out for a drink (Lucky Jim 23). In term of hating their environment, Gardner states that "Jim is essentially a rebel against the society in which he is forced to live" (Gardner 83). They are still the same horrible characters as they were before; therefore they are antiheroes. Even though they are horrible characters, they are still characters that everyone can all relate to. Instead of confessing, Jim hides the bed sheet and arranges a getaway.
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Acceptance Essays
