als, The Dogs of March would be anrather typical antipastoral creation detailingnthe struggles of a man who livesnby instinct and the feel of things againstnthe civilized mentality and its passionnfor abstractions, rules of law and powerngames. Hebert’s experience of the worldnis an insightful and convincing journeynthrough the consciousness of a characternin the process of a redefinition ofnthe self.nCentral to the novel is the sense ofnloss experienced by Howard Elman, thennovel’s protagonist, as he finds himselfndisplaced from the reality and the valuesnhe used to know by forces he only dimlynunderstands. Edmund Husserl’s “capacitynof a single moment of experiencento unfold itself into endless perspectivesnof reality” is, in this case, an accidentnat the mill in which Howard loses anfinger. The lost finger serves as a presagenof what Howard himself senses:nlittle by little, by painful degrees, realitynis chopping away at him, carrying offnpieces of himself and of the world henvalues.nAt fifty, Howard has lost his job asnmill foreman to the political ambitionsnof the company president who sells thenmill to run for Congress. The loss ofnhis job brings him into closer contactnwith his family, whom he discovers hendoesn’t know and cannot communicatenwith despite his nostalgic longings tonreturn to the simpler times when hisnchildren admired him and his wife andnhe had not drifted into the separatenrealities of different convictions, differingnneeds. Especially painful to him isnthe loss of his son Freddy, whom he hadnenvisioned as a younger and betternversion of himself, but who now,nthrough the filter of an educated mind,nlooks at Howard with contempt. Furthernisolation occurs. His old friends atnthe mill drop away to suicide, insanity,neconomic displacement. Alcohol andninfidelity do little to assuage Howard’sngrowing realization that he is alone andnthat he has failed in his personal relationshipsnwith his wife and children.nHoward’s refuge in his isolation isnhis private fortress of junked cars. Thenautomobile parts he can manipulate atnwill into new creations and the fiftynacres of land he owns command Howard’snentire allegiance. Toward eachnhe feels “a priestly duty”~land and anstockpile of material goods to be worshiped,nministered to and protectednfrom attack. His adversary for his citadelnis an unexpected one—Zoe Cutter,nan affluent New Yorker who sees “thatnthe country would thrive if only the citynwere brought to it . . .” Mrs. Cutter isnintent upon developing Howard’s landncommercially and ridding the countrysidenof the eyesore of his junked cars.nShe introduces a petition for a junkedcarnordinance, narrowly defeated at antown-hall meeting. Through her realestatenagent, Bert Reason, she offersnElman an extravagant price for his land,nat a time when Elman’s unemploymentnand his wife’s illness make the offernessential to accept. She wins his sonnFreddy through seduction and alienatesnHoward from the affections of hisndaughter Heather through the enticementnof material offerings and opportunitiesnthat Howard cannot provide.nHoward’s rage at Mrs. Cutter andnBert Reason is direct, immediate andnphysical; he recognizes that his adversariesnfight differently: “He wishednsomehow that he could arm them, makena fight of it. But that was not possible.nThey fought with words, with law, withnpsychology, not with guns or knives ornfists or anything else he understood.nThey were part of a vast, evil, nameless,nincomprehensible conspiracy to reducenhim to dust.” When an attempt to murdernMrs. Cutter and Reason fallsnthrough because they fail to keep annappointment with him, Howard fleesnthe city and takes to the woods, wherenhe encounters “the dogs of March”—npacks of well-cared-for, fattened, domesticndogs turned savage by instinctnand chasing winter-worn, starving deernthrough spring snows to their dismembermentnand death. When Howard confrontsnthe dogs, hoping to even thenunfair odds, he realizes that the grimnnnand bloody conflict is a symbol of hisnown plight. He, too, is being hunted,npursued, ripped to pieces by a pack ofncity dogs intent only upon the savagenbrutality of conquest and destruction.nThe realization leaves Howard “freenand sad with knowledge.”nWhat exactly the knowledge is whichnHoward derives from his violent encounternwith “the dogs of March,”nHebert does not delineate in full detail,nbut the novel moves swiftly to a conclusionnin which Howard is seen as a proponentnof the philosophical positionnthat all victories, even Pyrrhic ones,nmust be self-defined. Thus, Howardnenters into a compromise with Mrs.nCutter from which he feels he emergesnthe victor: he will sell her all but anquarter-acre of his land and allow hernto remove from his property the junkedncars she so vehemently despises. Onenweek later, however, he moves in antwelve-by-seventy-foot trailer and setsnit up on concrete blocks. “He hatednit, but it satisfied his purpose, whichnwas to wound Mrs. Cutter. He wouldnhave given anything to see the look onnher face when she pulled the drapes tongaze at her hard-won view and there,nconspicuous as a pig, was a trailer.” Hensurrenders Freddy to his new life ofnwriting books in California, and Heathernto her alteration into the world of Mrs.nCutter’s values and ideals. The cuttingnof the ties to the past is complete: “Henhad his land, such as it was, and he hadnhis revenge, such as it was, and he hadnsome wisdom about the world, such asnit was, and he had paid the price.”nThe encounter in the woods withn”the dogs of March” has left Howardn”somehow rich for new growth, like anburned-over woodland.” He begins thenprocess of a new relationship with hisnwife, based upon gentle acceptance andna forgiveness of past sins and failures.nHe forms a trucking business, enrollsnin GED courses, and agrees to a newnstart for his life. His understanding isnrich and full. “He didn’t care anymorenhow old he was. Fifty, forty-eight, fifty-nMarch April 1980n
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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