Joseph Heller’s Attitude towards Women in God Knows

王春艷

Abstract： Joseph Heller is one of the most important novelists of twentieth-century. Most readers are familiar with his Catch-22， however， God knows， his another important book， has gained little attention in the world. This paper aims to implore Hellers attitude towards women by analyzing those female characters.

Key words： female characters； God knows； Joseph Heller

I. Introduction

Joseph Heller is one of the greatest and the most outstanding of twentieth- century American novelists. God knows， written in 1984， is “Hellers return to the top of his form： a novel， which is a very funny look at the Old Testament， as told by King David”（ Wang 2）. God Knows is about King David， who， killing Goliath， is the king of Israel and the father of the wise ruler Solomon. Since it was published， scholarship on God Knows have analyzed it from different perspectives： language， matters of social satire， and narrative strategies. However， this paper intends to explore Joseph Hellers attitude towards women by analyzing those female characters. In patriarchal society， women are divided into two kinds of women， namely， angel and monster. In God Knows， David， the narrator of the book， describes those women as the two kinds.

II. Angels in God Knows

“women are defined as wholly passive， completely void of generative power that they become numinous to male artists”（Gilbert and Gubar 21）. As for male writers， women are subordinated to men. Women are powerless， so they intend to depict women as angel in the house. “Angel in the house” refers to those women who， as mothers and wives， devoted themselves to their children and submissive to their husbands. After a close reading of God Knows， it is not difficult to find that Heller is one of those writers who depict the ideal woman as angel， as follows are reasons.

Obedient Abishag

Abishag the Shunammite is a servant of David. However， in palace， she is not only a servant， but also plays the role of Davids wife. The first sentence of God Knows simply describes how Abishag tries to please his king David. However， what she does is no good. The women he has loved most in his life were married when he met them and had learned how to please him through living with their first husbands. David praises them for their obedience. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar once said in The Madwoman in the Attic “The ideal woman that makes authors dream of generating is always an angel”（20）.

In David eyes， “Abishag the Shunammite is a comely， tidy girl of yielding and obedient nature”（ Heller 7）. When David is old， only Abishag is willing to do what he said， so he can only rely on Abishag to relief himself. Whenever David confronts problems， he would call “ Abishag， Abishag”， and then Abishag would sooth him with touches and sweet kiss. With the development of the plot， Abishag seems more like an instrument to David. As for David， if one wants to marry a woman， what he needs to do is “ simply paid the price of the woman to her father and took her home as a wife” （128）. What disappointment us most is that Abishag is not even a wife of David， but she behaves like an obedient wife， thus gaining Davids attention and love. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar also say that “ If Women owes her Being to the Comfort and Profit of man， this highly reasonable that she should be careful and diligent to content and please him”（30）. The author is talking about the relationship between wife and husband， but Abishag is not Davids wife， and she can still play the wifes role. “Man must be pleased； but him to please/Is womans pleasure”（Patmore 73）， obviously， Abishag is an epigone of this rule. Being a beautiful virgin， she can have more choices. She is not his wife and she is not really his concubine. She can be outside and enjoying herself. She is not only beautiful， but also a good cook. Now and then ， she would do some cooking to please David. Just like she said to Bathsheba “ I enjoy cooking and cleaning for him. I like to see him with his hair combed. I had enjoyed doing housework”（109）. It seems the only thing Abishag wants to do is pleasing David. However， it can see that Abishag is a traditional woman， David is her whole world. Although she can have a better life， nonetheless， she is willing to accompany the old David， so it is no wonder that she plays an important role in the final stage of David， which also indicates that Heller is one of the traditional patriarchal writer.

III.Monsters in God Knows

Unlike angels whose behaviors are confined to the Patriarchal societys conduct， monster is indomitable and somehow supernatural. Put it simply， she doesnt do what those men want her to do， nevertheless， she has her own thought and pursues what she wants to get.

Resistant Bathsheba

David compares his angelic servant Abishag to his wife， Bathsheba. Unlike Abishags obedient， Bathsheba is defiant. She thinks she will be the queen， so her stare is not friendly to other people. What is the most important difference is that Bathsheba has her own dream， let Solomon be the would-be king. By analyzing the whole book， for me， the book can be divided into two story lines. The first is about how David to be the king of Israel； another is about how Solomon become the heir of David. After a careful reading of the book， it shows that Bathsheba is the one who helps him to be the king.

David falls in love with Bathsheba when he first sees Bathsheba， who is taking a bath. Knowing Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah， David confronts a dilemma. On the one hand， he wants to have sex with Bathsheba； on the other hand， the law doesnt allow him to do this. Nevertheless， the law subordinates to his avid lust， and he sends messengers to take her into a room， thus he lies with her that first day. Nonetheless， Bathsheba is not like those women who just can use their body to please men， Bathsheba knows what she wants and is unashamed to ask for it. To Davids surprise， his meeting with Bathsheba is not a happen-chance， Bathsheba prepares for this meeting for a long time. The first time Bathsheba sees David is the day that he becomes the king of Israel， he plays before the God and shows himself before the world， from that day， she makes up her mind to meet him. Unlike other women in patriarchal society， she argues that women have the same right as men， and men should be punished when they against the law. Finally， Bathsheba is pregnant， so David calls Uriah back. What he wants is that Uriah can lay with his wife， so people can not find that the baby is his. However， the faithful Uriah doesnt willing to go home. No matter what David says to him， he declines.

After the death of Uriah， David marries Bathshaeba， but as punishment， their first baby dies after a week. Later， they have another son， they named him Solomon. Bathsheba loves her son very much， and according to her， the lord loves him also. What she did to David before the birth of Solomon lays a solid foundation for the realization of her dream. After the death of Amnon and Absalom， Adonijah is Solomons only adversary to become the future king. To help her son， Bathsheba keeps an eye on Adonijahs action， whenever he wants to do something to lay foundation for his inheritance of the king， Bathsheba will go to David to impede it. Throughout the whole book， she informs that Adonijah is saying that he will be the king， and he is planing to make important announcements from David to hold a luncheon feast. So she requests of David “ I want you to pass over Adonijah and name Solomon your heir. And I want you to do it before Adonijahs feast， while people still pay some attention to you”（398）. Until the last moment， Bathsheba still doesnt give up. Actually， Adonijah wants to use this feast to help him to be king. If Bathsheba doesnt tell David what is happening， Adonijah will succeed. Finally， David determines to let Solomon be the king， thus Bathsheba realizes her dream. Nevertheless， the thing David wants to do from the beginning is not completed. After Solomon becomes the king， David requires that “ Lie here with me tonight”（430）， she simply replies that “Use Abishag for that”（430）. At last， she still refuses Davids request. After a careful interpretation of Bathsheba， it is reasonable to say that she is a brilliant and brave woman， and the most impressive impression is that she is ambitious and full of the spirit of defiance. Relying on her own ability， she acquires achievement. Although she always refused Davids request， David still loves her and makes her son the king. In David eyes， Bathsheba is beautiful and sexy， more important， she can give him the greatest fucking， so David is willing to make Solomon king. However， in the book， David always says that he wants to lie with her one more time， but she refused， as a king， David wants to conquer her， so he is willing to use this as a condition， which， in the meantime， reveals his power. To sum up， what David is doing is to show his male manipulation. No matter how clever those women are， they finally must subordinate to him.

IV.Conclusion

Women are characterized into two kinds of images in patriarchal society， namely， angels and monsters. Angels are those women who are pure， kind docile and submissive as males expected. However， monster-women disobey the standard rules set by patriarchal societies. From what I have mentioned above， it is reasonable to say that Abishag is an angelic image in the novel； Bathsheba is a monster image for her defiance and arrogance. As the narrator of the book， David speaks highly of Abishags obedience， which shows that he is a member of the patriarchal society. On top of that， facing defiant woman， what he wants to do is conquering her， which also reveals his power. However， David is simply the incarnation of Heller， the real narrator is Heller， so from the comprehensive analysis of these women characters， it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that Heller is one of the members of traditional patriarchal writers， who thinks women should subordinate to men.

Works cited：

[1]Gilbert，M. Sandra and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. London： Yale University Press，2000.

[2]Heller， Joseph. God Knows. New York： Alfred A. Knopf， 1984.

[3]Patmore， Coventry. The Angel in the House. London： George Bell & Son， 1885.

[4]Reilly， Charlie， and Joseph Heller. “ An Interview with Joseph Heller” . Contemporary Literature. Vol. 39. No.4 （winter 1998）： 507-522.

[5]Ruskin， John. “ Of Queens Gardens，” Sesame and Lilies. New York： Charles E. Merrill， 1899.

[6]Wang Zuyou. Postmodern Grotesqueness： A Study on Hellers Fiction. Xiamen： Xia Men University Press， 2009.