Criticism
In his contemporary commentary on The 42nd Parallel and Nineteen Nineteen, Michael Gold noted their qualities as extensions of Dos Passos' techniques in his earlier novel Manhattan Transfer, and described these novels as "one of the first collective novels".[1] Stanley Corkin has specifically expostulated The 42nd Parallel in the context of readings of Hegelian Marxism with respect to the particular historical time of the novel.[2] Arnold Goldman has commented on the "progressive disenfranchisement" of Dos Passos from 20th century America in the trilogy.[3] Justin Edwards has discussed the use of cinematic techniques in The Big Money.[4] Donald Pizer has discoursed in detail on the passage 'only words against POWER SUPERPOWER' in The Big Money.[5]
Janet Galligani Casey has analysed Dos Passos' treatment and development of the growth of his female characters in the trilogy.[6] Stephen Lock has examined the cinematic ideas behind Dos Passos' use of the 'Camera Eye' sections.[7]
Narrative modes
- In the fictional narrative sections, the U.S.A. trilogy relates the lives of twelve characters as they struggle to find a place in American society during the early part of the 20th century. Each character is presented to the reader from his/her childhood on and in free indirect speech. While their lives are separate, characters occasionally meet. Some minor characters whose point of view is never given crop up in the background, forming a kind of bridge between the characters.
- "The Camera Eye" sections are written in stream of consciousness and are an autobiographical Künstlerroman of Dos Passos, tracing the author's development from a child to a politically committed writer. Camera Eye 50 arguably contains the most famous line of the trilogy, when Dos Passos states upon the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti: "all right we are two nations."
- The "Newsreels" consist of front page headlines and article fragments from the Chicago Tribune for The 42nd Parallel, the New York World for Nineteen Nineteen and The Big Money, as well as lyrics from popular songs. Newsreel 66, preceding Camera Eye 50, announcing the Sacco and Vanzetti verdict, contains the lyrics of "The Internationale."
- The biographies are accounts of historical figures. The most often anthologized of these biographies is "The Body of an American", which tells the story of an unknown soldier who was killed in World War I which concludes Nineteen Nineteen.
Style
The separation between these narrative modes is rather a stylistic than a thematic one. Some critics have pointed out connections between the fictional character Mary French in The Big Money and journalist Mary Heaton Vorse, calling into question the strict separation between fictional characters and biographies. Coherent quotes from newspaper articles are often woven into the biographies as well, calling into question the strict separation between them and the "Newsreel" sections.
The fragmented narrative style of the trilogy later influenced the work of British science-fiction novelist John Brunner. It also influenced Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy The Roads to Freedom.
Political context
The trilogy was written in the period when Dos Passos placed himself unequivocally on the political Left, before the major political shift which characterized his later career. Dos Passos portrays the everyday situations of the characters before, during, and after World War I, with special attention to the social and economic forces that drive them. Those characters who pursue "the big money" without scruple succeed, but are dehumanized by success. Others are destroyed, crushed by capitalism, and ground underfoot. Dos Passos does not show much sympathy for upwardly mobile characters who succeed, but is always sympathetic to the down and out victims of capitalist society. He explores the difficulty faced by winners and losers alike when trying to make a stable living for themselves as well as wanting to settle down in some means. The book depicts with considerable sympathy the activists of the Industrial Workers of the World. It is more reserved with regard to the American Communist Party which took the fore in the American Radical Left after the First World War; though some Communists are depicted sympathetically, there are seen caught up in the increasing bureaucratization of the party. The book expresses an obvious animosity to President Woodrow Wilson, depicting in detail his suppression of internal dissent during and immediately after WWI.
