Stereotypes: Differences and Change in David Lodge’s Changing Places
Changing Places (1975) was Lodge’s first book in a trilogy of campus novels, where he introduced the main story line. The second book in the trilogy is Small World (1984) World (1984) where the author further develops the story of two university professors, Work (1988) completes the trilogy. In his satire about Phillip Swallow and while Nice while Nice Work (1988) Morris Zapp, Lodge attempted to create a magnificent picture of the mutual relationship between the man and the society in which he lives. It is said that Changing Places was inspired by Lodge’s teaching experience in California, USA; some even claim that his novel has strong autobiographical features but the author firmly opposes. Changing places can also be seen as a critique addressed to the poorly qualified and motivated English lecturers given a thorough pasting, along with student’s generally lazy attitudes and also to the American system, which seems to place a huge emphasis on how many articles a lecturer has published, rather than how good a teacher he is. Lodge’s two protagonists are ‘built’ in such a way that they personify the stereotypical Englishman type, more of an Apollonian, afraid of offending people, polite and staid, and the American, somewhat of a Dionysian character, loud, brash, ambitious and confident. Phillip Swallow has a solid family; he is devoted to his wife, Hillary (a mother who has given up her studies and even her job to take care of her family) who is, in her turn, devoted to him. Professionally speaking he lacks great accomplishments; he is a professor at Rummidge University where he has, what some might call, a dead-end job since there is no prospect of a promotion. On the other hand there is Morris Zapp, a swaggering womanizer who, on a personal level, has some problems; his wife Desiree (a convinced feminist who feels ‘trapped’ by her relationship with Morris) is planning to divorce him. On a professional level he has it all, being a world-wide known professor (an expert in the writings of Jane Austen). Therefore the two characters seem to be perfectly contrasted, clearly portraying, what some see as the difference between the American and British stereotypes. The reasons for which the professors leave are also opposed. If the Englishman leaves because he is bored (he wants to revisit America, that wonderful place where him and Hillary had spent their honeymoon) and he wants a change, the American undergoes the trip in order to try and save his second marriage (Desiree only agrees to postpone the divorce if he moves out of the house for 6 months). So while the former is excited about the prospect of his future journey and can’t wait to experience the American way of living, the other is taking an imposed ‘vacation’ which, he believes, will not be far from a nightmare. The difference between them can even be seen in the way they experience the flight; while Phillip is not accustomed to travelling by plane and drinks juice, Morris has no problem with flying plane and he relaxes with an alcoholic drink.
The gap between them is deepened by the very educational system they ‘originate’ from. On the Eastern side of the Atlantic there is Rummidge University (a fictionalised version of Birmingham University), an institution of lesser importance in England, let alone in the world; Rummidge is presented as a calm and quiet city. On the Western side there is Euphoria (modelled on Berkeley in California; its name “Euphoria State” is suggestive for the “exotic” place that it turns out to be, full of emotions and freedom); it is situated between Northern and Southern California near the glamorous city of Esseph (small but highly populated). Thus, coming from totally different situations proves to be a shock for the two professors who cannot believe what the ‘other side’ is like (although Phillip Swallow had a previous experience, he never got to discover the educational system) and who will try to fit in their new home. Of course being in one place for too long, where the climate, people’s behaviour and opinions are different, has an effect on Phillip and Morris alike. The former is metamorphosed from a shy person to a swinger (he cheats on his wife with two women). The latter changes in the sense that he is no longer the ‘adventurous’ type but he starts considering settling with Hillary in England. So I guess it is fair to say that the two shift perspectives in the sense that Phillip has become the ‘conqueror’ while Morris has become the ‘conquered’. Both characters act differently under the influence of the new environment and do things they would have never done at home, the best example being the strip-bar. They would have never gone to such a place where they came from but, in their new position, among strangers, they don’t waste any time. Again differences between the American and the British way are emphasised. Phillip (who never dared to visit such a place in England) enjoys this new experience but the same thing cannot be said about Morris (he did not partake in such an activity before because of his reputation back home) who goes to the strip-bar only to find Mary Makepeace. This leads us to another change that takes place. After spending some time in the house of Dr. O’Shea (a good, conservative character), Morris starts behaving as if he was a new person; he begins to make “acts of goodness” which seems strange even to him (the perfect example being that of him helping Marry Makepeace). A different change can be observed in Phillip’s behaviour and it occurs during the party with Melanie and her roommates. He feels embarrassed and wants to find the best solution but doesn’t know what to do – either remain the ‘old’ Phillip, staid and conservative, or embrace the ‘new’ Phillip, the professor visiting Euphoria. In drawing this parallel between his two main characters “ Lodge manages to create a feeling of verisimilitude by recurrent references to the state of affairs in the wide world ” (On modernism, postmodernism and the novel-Michaela Praisler, p.81) of the 60’s: the feminist movement (represented especially by Mary Makepeace and Desiree), the Black Power movement (Wily Smith – this is a special situation since the character is actually white-coloured and has nothing to do with the movement, irony being implicit), the hippie movement (Charles Boon), the Vietnam War, etc. Also the author heavily uses the comic in various forms like comic of language (like the names
of some characters: Duck , Zapp) or comic of situation (the scene in which Morris is chased by professor Masters). When reaching the end of the novel we may observe that these characters feel they have changed, they realise that they are no longer the men they used to be. Phillip begins to have a feeling of no longer being an Englishman, but still not being an American, he is somewhat at the border between the two. The fact that he has lived in a different society has influenced him so much that he has almost forgotten his British roots: “But I don’t feel British any more. Not as much as I used to, anyway. Nor American, for that matter. Wandering between two worlds, one lost, the other powerless to be born”. In one of the letters to his wife Hillary he realizes this and confesses it. But his change seems to be convenient to him because he does not have any regrets. A change has happened on the other side of the Atlantic too. But this situation is a little bit different from the previous one. Now the object of the change is not only Morris, but Rummidge too. Morris has been ‘reshaped’ under the influence of the environment (and this can be observed by Desiree, his wife, in one of her letters: “I’ve head about the hypocrisy of the English, but I didn’t know it was contagious” ); however, the ‘setting’ has changed as well under the Morris’ influence. Here we can see something like a mutual influence. It looks as if Morris had brought with him the wilderness of Euphoria but maybe it is all for the best, as Rummidge seems to have evolved. The more the novel progresses the more it resembles naturalism and to support this I refer to the fact that social conditions and the environment shape the human character. From the changes that occur it seems that if Morris Zapp would have been born in Phillip Swallow’s place maybe the latter would have been the one worldwide known and vice-versa. Now speaking about the way in which the two protagonists evolve. In my opinion, Phillip Swallow evolves in the sense that he has changed for the better while being at Euphoria. Some may say that is incorrect since he cheated on his wife, ended up in jail, etc. but we should think at the fact that his parental duties come as a natural thing to him because he takes care of Desiree’s twins and he enjoys it as compared to when he was back home and when he was only doing those things because he had to; so, maybe, this has made him a better father and therefore a better person. Regarding Morris Zapp’s evolution I consider it has something to do with the fact that he realises what he really wants, that is, a stable relationship not fugitive adventures and in order to get that he even considers remaining in England, which would have been impossible to think of when the novel began and he was flying toward his ‘nightmare’. The two also evolve in the sense that they now seems to have fully integrated into a system to which 6 months ago they were total strangers; moreover, they have done so to such a degree that they both take into consideration the option of remaining there for good (although this comes more because of their personal experiences rather than anything else).
In the end remains the fact that the two professors have not only exchanged jobs but also lives, friends even families and up to a point even personal features. The last chapter presents them flying into the opposite direction compared to the beginning which comes as a sign of the changes that occurred. Fate seems to have been at work giving both protagonists similar experiences (for example the difficult situations at both campuses – the University Garden and the student sit-in in which both Phillip and Morris play a part, by accident or by choice). Nonetheless all of this seems to have a greater purpose if we are to believe what Lodge himself states: “I think any good story should surprise the reader. If its development is totally predictable, there’s not much point in reading it (unless it’s a true story) ” (Lidia Vianu- Desperado Essay Interviews).
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Stanciu, Virgil. Schimb de dame (David Lodge), Ed. Polirom. Iaşi. 2001 Stanciu, Virgil. Un capitalist al imaginaţiei . Ed. Polirom. Iaşi. 2001 Praisler, Michaela. On modernism, postmodernism and the novel . Ed. Didactică şi Pedagogică. Bucureşti. 2005 Vianu, Lidia. Desperado Essay-Interviews. Ed. Universităţii din Bucureşti.2006 Downing, George. A critical paper . 2004 (http://thenovelclub.org/papers/changingplaces0400.doc) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_Places
Bocăneală Bogdan An III, R-E, Gr. 3
