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CHAPTER 2 Jf %ind of Ttouble "Life Every bo y i s two or three boys , or twenty o r thirty differen t kind s of boy s i n one ; h e i s al l th e tim e livin g man y live s an d formin g many characters ; bu t i t i s a good thin g i f he ca n kee p on e lif e an d one character when he gets to be a man. H e may turn out to be like an onion whe n h e is grown up , an d b e nothing bu t hulls , tha t yo u keep peeling off, on e after another , till you think you have got down to the heart, a t last, and then you have got down to nothing. HOWELLS, 189 0 When h e faltere d i n hi s late r effort s t o realiz e hi s father' s idea l o f usefulness, Howell s ofte n expresse d hi s despai r i n Swedenborgia n imagery. Rememberin g hi s earlies t literar y experiment s i n hi s au tobiography A Boy's Town (1890) , h e contraste d hi s elde r brothe r Joseph's "idea l o f usefulness " wit h hi s ow n "idea l o f glory. " Refer ring t o himsel f a s "m y boy, " Howell s asserte d tha t "hi s brothe r was a cal m ligh t o f common-sense , o f justice , o f truth , whil e [m y boy] wa s a fantasti c flicke r o f gaud y purpose s whic h h e wishe d t o make shin e befor e me n i n thei r fulfilment . Hi s brothe r wa s alway s doing fo r hi m an d fo r th e younge r children ; whil e m y bo y onl y did fo r himself." 1 Th e experience s o f Howells' s late r childhoo d encouraged thi s dee p ambivalenc e towar d hi s literar y aspirations . As hi s famil y struggle d t o secur e an d maintai n middle-clas s status , 2 7 28 CHILDHOOD Howells had frequent occasio n to feel that his literary desires were "selfish," that they faile d t o serve his family's bes t interests. Historians o f antebellu m Americ a hav e detecte d a n emergen t family styl e tha t focuse d o n vocationa l choic e a s th e mean s o f ascent t o th e middl e class . A s lan d acquisitio n becam e mor e an d more difficult, parent s typicall y directe d son s toward th e expand ing clerical an d professiona l occupations . Parent s of narrower mean s sometimes foun d i t necessar y t o concentrate resource s o n a single son, revivin g the traditional practic e of maintaining the patrimon y intact. Parent s expecte d thei r othe r children—an d almos t alway s their daughters—t o accep t thi s preferment . Th e singl e so n se lected fo r advancemen t becam e th e famil y hope , th e embodimen t in material an d symboli c terms of his family's desir e for a prosperous and secure future. 2 This middlin g styl e o f developin g th e famil y hop e contraste d with anothe r adaptatio n o f traditional famil y life . I n earlier times , parents ha d typicall y subordinate d th e desire s o f individua l chil dren t o th e immediat e materia l need s o f th e family . Everyda y working responsibilities tha t supporte d th e whole family overrod e individual expectation s o f independen t futures , whic h wer e en tirely the prerogative of parents. Children' s moral duties were tied to the ethic of mutual aid rather than to self-development. 3 Families without resource s to cultivate even a single child a s the family hop e continued t o rely o n mutual ai d a s a necessary mean s of survival . Bu t familie s...

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