The Fat Man in History by Peter Carey
"The Fat Man in History" by Peter Carey is a satirical exploration of post-revolutionary society through the lens of six overweight men living together in an unconventional household. Central to the narrative is Alexander Finch, who undergoes a transformation from a once-beloved political cartoonist to a member of the underground group "Fat Men Against the Revolution." The story critiques societal perceptions of body image and morality, illustrating how fatness has become synonymous with vice in a changed political landscape.
The household features a diverse cast of characters, including a cab driver, a vegetarian gardener, and a melancholic husband yearning for his wife. Their mundane lives are disrupted by absurd events, including a planned cannibalism of a member of their group, blurring the lines between survival and satire. As the characters grapple with their identities and societal roles, they reveal deeper themes surrounding leadership, sacrifice, and the cyclical nature of power dynamics. The narrative culminates with a reflective memo that highlights the transient nature of leadership within their peculiar society, emphasizing the continuous cycle of replacing fallen leaders. This unique blend of absurdity and social commentary invites readers to reflect on the complexities of human behavior and societal norms.
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The Fat Man in History by Peter Carey
First published: 1974
Type of plot: Absurdist
Time of work: A vague post-revolution future
Locale: Unspecified English-speaking country
Principal Characters:
Alexander Finch , the central consciousness of the storyMilligan , a taxi driver and the only one of the group employedGlino , an emotional vegetarianMay , the sole married man of the sixFantoni , a talented thief, and the house leaderThe-man-who-won't-give-his-name , the original tenantNancy Bowlby , the rent collector called Florence Nightingale
The Story
Alexander Finch, gross and obese, walks out of a department store with bed sheets he has stolen, as well as with several cans of smoked oysters that fill the large pockets of his floppy trousers. Struggling through the revolving door, he reflects on the irony that, since the revolution, to be fat is to be an oppressor. Before the revolution, "most fat men were either Americans, stooges for the Americans, or wealthy supporters of the Americans." However, with the collapse of the "old Danko regime," everything has changed. Finch had once been a lovable blimp, a political cartoonist known as "Teddy," but gradually after the revolution, the influence of the Central Committee of Seventy-five had turned the word "fat" into "a synonym for greedy, ugly, sleazy, lazy, obscene, evil, dirty, dishonest, untrustworthy." So Finch, once the secretary of the Thirty-second District, has shifted sides to become the secretary of the underground organization "Fat Men Against the Revolution."
Finch's five housemates are an irregular lot. Milligan, who drives a taxi with iridescent blue and yellow stripes, is the only one of the six with a job. Glino is a vegetarian who plants radishes in the front yard. May, the only married man in the group, plays a scratched Sibelius record constantly while moping for "Dear Iris," the wife to whom he writes many letters. Fantoni, at twenty-eight the youngest of the householders and an accomplished thief, is a menacing figure, the "leader and driving force" that holds the conspirators together. The sixth man, first to occupy the house, is known only as "the-man-who-won't-give-his-name," and it was to provide him agreeable company that Florence Nightingale, as they call their rent collector, invited Fantoni to take a room. The others soon followed.
The daily lives of the fat men are banal, as they endure tedious conversations and drink Glino's homemade beer, a routine punctuated only by visits from Florence Nightingale to collect the rent money. She slips into Finch's room early one night, he calls her by her real name, Nancy, and they enjoy a brief "sexual/asexual flirtation" while joking about the military leaders of the revolution. One evening, Glino plays the "Blue Danube" on his mouth organ while Florence Nightingale dances with the-man-who-won't-give-his-name. When Finch comes up short with rent money, Fantoni pays him to dig a pit in the backyard, ostensibly to barbecue Florence Nightingale so that he can eat her. Finch explains that "by bodily consuming a senior member of the revolution," then "the bodies of Fat Men will purify the revolution."
One night Florence Nightingale is discovered in bed with the-man-who-won't-give-his-name, discussing Fantoni's planned cannibalism. The scene jumps to the next evening with the vegetarian Glino vomiting in the backyard after being forced to eat a bit of the human barbecue—not of Florence Nightingale but of Fantoni. The-man-who-won't-give-his-name then assumes Fantoni's name and takes his room. A new nameless man arrives to fill the role of anonymous. These odd events conclude with an epilogue in the form of a memo on "Revolution in a Closed Society—A Study of Leadership Among the Fat" by Nancy Bowlby. It seems that the leader—the "Fantoni"—invariably becomes the subject of a "crisis" that leads to his death in a "revolution" in which the "'Fantoni' was always disposed of effectively and the new 'Fantoni' took control of the group." The experiment has so far produced "twenty-three successive 'Fantonis'" and will continue.