In
“Homeland,” Sam Lipsyte presents us with a character who is stuck in the past
for the opposite reason that the typical American is. Lewis Miner cannot get passed his high school
years not because they were his “glory days,” but because he wasn’t accepted
and still cannot seem to understand why.
In the typical story of life after high school and the ever-important
high school reunion, it is the nerdy kids, like Lewis, who come back more
successful and happier than their classmates who were the “cool kids.” This is not only because the nerdy kids have
the talent to become successful, but also because they have ambition and want to
show everyone, including themselves, that they are in fact “winners.” Lewis clearly does not lack the talent, and
no matter what he tries to convince himself, he wants to be considered a
winner, but he goes about it in the wrong way.
Instead of leaving his high school town to go out into the world and try
to become successful, he stays obsessed with high school and constantly tries
to puts people down to help explain to himself why he was a loser and why his
classmates were wrong about him.
High school leaves
Lewis with diminished self-confidence and a lack of self worth. He is insecure, and responds by trying to
love himself to an extreme degree. He completely rejects the idea of self
improvement because he feels since there was nothing wrong with him in high
school, there is no reason for him to change. He rejects the idea of making
something of himself because it “implies I am both the raw material and the
artisan manipulating it.” He feels like if he goes out into the world and tries
to better himself, he is admitting that he was a loser in high school and this
is something he will not do. He spends the book trying to convince himself that
he is happy with where his life is, and since all he thinks about is high
school he is really trying to convince himself he is happy with his high school
status, but he clearly wishes he was more accepted and more part of the
community. This thinking is exemplified in his relationship with Gwendolyn. He
clearly loves her but can’t deal with the fact that she doesn’t love him back,
so instead of going out and finding another girl, he spends his time thinking
about it in order to justify it to himself.
He decides he is the world’s best masturbator, which is clearly an
attempt to convince himself he doesn’t need women because he loves himself. He tries to convince himself that he is so
much smarter and more independent than other people that all he needs to be
happy is himself. To Lewis, other people must not be as good as he is at
masturbating so they need a women, and other people must not be as happy with
themselves so they try to improve. With this view of masturbation, we see a lot
of Lewis’s view on life. He literally
and figuratively views himself as the best at loving himself, and he’s proud of
it.
Overall, Lewis is
too clever for his own good. He can’t
get anything done because he over analyses everything. He is honest with himself
about where he is, but not about what he wants. He wants much more out of life
but isn’t willing to put himself on the line to get it. He has an idealized
view of himself and he is afraid that if he really tries at something and fails
at it this view will be ruined and he will have to face his deep insecurities
head on. These are the fears that cause
him to ruin his relationship with Gwendolyn, hold him back from being more
successful in his career, and ultimately keep him from experiencing any
excitement in life. Lewis has his life views down, but he lets them get in the
way of his actual living of life.
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