Our Gang (novel)
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Our Gang (1971) is Philip Roth's fifth novel. A marked departure from his previous book, the extremely popular Portnoy's Complaint, Our Gang is a political satire written in the form of a closet drama. Centered around the character of "Trick E. Dixon," a caricature of then-President Richard Nixon, the book takes its cue from a real quote by Nixon:
| “ | "From personal and religious beliefs I consider abortions an unacceptable form of population control. Furthermore, unrestricted abortion policies, or abortion on demand, I cannot square with my personal belief in the sanctity of human life--including the life of the yet unborn. For, surely, the unborn have rights also, recognized in law, recognized even in principles expounded by the United Nations." | ” |
The book uses "stage directions", such as "endearing smile", when Dixon is talking.
[edit] Chapter one
The book is five chapters long. Chapter one is entitled "Tricky comforts a troubled citizen". In the chapter, the citizen in question is concerned with William Calley's killing of twenty two vietnamese villagers at My Lai. But he is "seriously troubled by the possibility that Lieutenant Calley may have committed an abortion". Throughout the chapter, Trick E. Dixon defends the notion that Calley may have killed a pregnant woman, covering many factors- If the pregnant woman was showing or not, if Calley could have communicated with her, if he really did know she was pregnant, whether the woman asked Calley to give her an abortion or not etc. In true Nixon style, Trick E. Dixon manages to defend Calley well until the citizen asks if Calley could have given her an abortion against her will, as "an outright form of murder", and Dixon gives the following answer, which is suppossed to reflect his lawyer background and his hard-to-pin-down nature: "Well, of course, that is a very iffy question, isn't it? What we lawyers call a hypothetical instance-isn't it? If you will remember, we are only supposing there to have been a pregnant woman in the ditch at My Lai to begin with. Suppose there wasn't a pregnant woman in that ditch- which, in fact, seems from all evidence to have been the case. We are then involved in a totally academic discussion". The chapter is supposed to incorporate Nixon's pardoning of Calley and his anti-abortion belief.
[edit] Chapter two
Chapter two is entitled "Tricky holds a press conference". In this chapter, Dixon takes questions from reporters with names to suit their respective personalities. The reporters are called Mr. Asslick (Who, as his name suggests, "sucks up" to the President), Mr. Daring (Who poses, as suggested, the more daring suggestions in the style of investigative journlism), Mr. Respectful (Who acts rather meekly compared to some of his compatriots), Mr. Shrewd(Who, being slightly more daring than Mr. Daring, suggests President Dixon may be giving voting rights to the unborn for purely political reports), Miss Charming (the typical female reporter often stereotyped in media as 'charming' indeed), Mr. Practical (Concerned not with politics of the situation, but the when and the how much of the situation), From this starting point, Roth satirized Nixon and his cabinet--particularly Henry Kissinger ("Highbrow coach") and Spiro Agnew ("Vice President-what's-his-name")--as "Tricky" tries to deny that he supports sexual intercourse, provoking a group of Boy Scouts to riot in Washington D.C. in which three are shot. Tricky tries to pin the blame on baseball player Curt Flood and the nation of Denmark, managing to obliterate the city of Copenhagen in the process. After an operation to remove his upper lip sweat gland, he is eventually assassinated by being drowned in a giant baggie filled with water, his corpse in the fetal position. Tricky ends the novel in Hell, campaigning against Satan for the position of Devil.
