> on 7/9/03 7:52 AM, Bill Bowers at
BBowers@one.net wrote:
>
> But my personal favorite Willeford novel is
"Cockfighter".
>
> It is not, particularly, a mystery. But if your
definition of "noir"
> hinges on the protagonist getting royally screwed in
the end ... I can
> think of no better example that I've ever
read.
>
I just finished reading
"Cockfighter," which I liked, and pardon me for acting dumb,
but ... in what way has Willeford written a "noir" ending or
has he shown his protagonist to have been "royally
screwed"?
(SPOILERS)
Frank Mansfield has taken
an oath that he won't use his voice again until he wins the
Cockfighter of the Year Award. He refrains from speaking, and
he wins the award.
He does lose Dody, the
teenage concubine, and Mary Elizabeth, the all-too-patient
fiancee who has been waiting for Frank all these years. But
is either one very much of a loss? Dody is shown to be a
termagant, one for ehom Frank has nothing but contempt, and
Mary Elizabeth -- when she finally shows up at the big
tournament -- demonstrates that she has absolutely no
understanding of or taste for the sport. She proves to be an
archetypal Woman Who Doesn't 'Get It.' (Parallel cinematic
example: Rita Hayworth in
"...Only Angels Have Wings.")
One could say that Frank's
relationship with Omar, the former ad-man with the
magnificent beard with whom he sets up a partnership and with
whom Frank begins to accumulate lots of money, is a more
rewarding relationship than the ones with either Dody or Mary
Elizabeth. Or, at least, *I'd* say it -- but what do I know?
I'm an avowed-and-practicing "Henry James"-lover and would
rather read Proust than Faulkner any day.
Icky, the prize bird,
does die at the end of "Cockfighter" ... but Willeford shows
that this is the sort of thing that happens in the sport.
Birds are injured or they die. Mansfield, the man who's
willing to set a fighting bird on fire, would be the last
person to deny that.
Icky does die, but he's
judged the winner (by mutual attrition) and Frank-plus-Omar
get a cerificate as well as a pot o' money.
On top of that, Frank
seems most likely to spend spend a lush vacation in Puerto
Rico with a wealthy and physically-ample widow.
Where exacly is the
"royally screwed" in all of that? Please explain.
Chris
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