A Hall of Mirrors by Robert Stone
"A Hall of Mirrors," a debut novel by Robert Stone, explores the complexities of American society during the tumultuous 1960s. Through the experiences of three main characters—Rheinhardt, a failed clarinetist turned right-wing radio disc jockey; Geraldine, a lonely and scarred country girl; and Morgan Rainey, an idealistic social worker—the narrative delves into themes of disillusionment and societal exploitation. The title references a poem by Robert Lowell, suggesting a world where reality is distorted and corrupted, akin to a hall of mirrors.
Set against the backdrop of a politically charged environment, the novel critiques the rise of right-wing ideologies and the exploitation of media to propagate racist sentiments. The plot culminates in a violent rally, serving as a grim commentary on fanaticism and the tragic outcomes of misguided intentions. Stone's work ultimately reflects an American nightmare, where innocence is lost and characters grapple with the consequences of their choices in a fractured society. The novel's satirical elements underscore its critique of the political landscape of the time, portraying a haunting examination of identity, morality, and the human condition.
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A Hall of Mirrors by Robert Stone
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1967
Type of work: Novel
The Work
Winner of the William Faulkner Award for best first novel and filmed as WUSA in 1970, A Hall of Mirrors, as Stone says, takes the United States as its subject and has built into it “all . . . [Stone’s] quarrels with America,” but most particularly right-wing “exploitation of the electronic media.” Some have called it a story of the dark night of the American soul, or more particularly a distillation of the disparate elements that made up the 1960’s. Its title comes from Robert Lowell’s poem “Children of Light,” in which the puritan children of light become the corrupted, evil children of night, “the Serpent’s seeds,” and the whole world is inverted into a hideous hall of mirrors where “candles glitter,” a reflected image of “might-have-beens.” Thus, the children of the night in this novel, three rootless drifters seduced by illusions, must face a perverted potential, distorted and tainted. One of them, Rheinhardt, even turns the reference into a play on vampires and a bloodsucking world where all is not as it seems.
Once a brilliant classical clarinetist, now a failure and an alcoholic, Rheinhardt is down-and-out in New Orleans and happy to espouse any cause in order to be taken on as the rock disc jockey of a right-wing radio station, WUSA, whose motto, “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” is perverted by the reality of its racist message. Rheinhardt’s refrain is “I am not dead . . . I am—but hurt. Defend me friends, I am but hurt.” Stone calls him his “scapegoat” and “alter ego.” The second child of the night is a lonely, abused, and scarred country girl from West Virginia. Geraldine, who seeks love but finds only bitter alienation (“they’re about to lay me low” becomes her refrain and later, to Rheinhardt, “you done undermined me, love”). She is ignorant and down-and-out, but decent, and her affair with Rheinhardt only brings her more pain and disillusionment. The third child of the night is Morgan Rainey, an idealistic but ineffectual social worker, pursued by childhood nightmares of black people tarred and feathered. He takes a room in the same rundown building as Rheinhardt and Geraldine, as he helps conduct a supposed “welfare” census, but he finds that every positive act results in pain and injury and leaves him “feeling broken” (though it is those affected by his misguided attempts to help who are truly broken).
The novel captures the conflicts and obsessions of the South in the 1960’s. M. T. Bingamon, a power-hungry, right-wing demagogue, exploits the racist fears of poor white people, aided by Brother Jensen, a con man, philosopher, and supposed missionary, head of the Living Grace Mission. The comic strategies Stone develops herein to satirize the political right have served him well throughout his canon. Rheinhardt and Rainey become pawns in Bingamon’s power plot. The final third of the novel is an apocalyptic Armageddon, a nightmarish description of the violent, fanatical, racist, “patriotic” rally that the radio station sponsors and of the ensuing riot, which leaves nineteen dead. Rainey is grievously wounded, and Geraldine, picked up for vagrancy, finds herself unable to face the cold, metallic solitude of her jail cell. At the end, Rheinhardt, a misfit and a drifter, is on his way out of town, a survivor who finds the battle and its losses endless. Rheinhardt, Geraldine, and Rainey’s hall of mirrors reflects an American nightmare in which civilization proves a false image, actions produce unintended results, and humanity wanders confusedly without direction.
Rheinhardt’s ironic, drug-inspired speech about American innocence sums up the illusions that Stone’s novel negates:
The American way is innocence. In all situations we must and shall display an innocence so vast and awesome that the entire world will be reduced by it. American innocence shall rise in mighty clouds of vapor to the scent of heaven and confound the nations!
Stone’s characters have lost their innocence and their Garden of Eden, and instead blindly and mistakenly pursue their self-interests.
Bibliography
Bell, Millicent. “Fiction Chronicle.” Partisan Review 66, no. 3 (1999): 417-430.
Finn, James. “The Moral Vision of Robert Stone: The Transcendent in the Muck of History.” Commonweal 120, no. 19 (November 5, 1993): 9-14.
Fredrickson, Robert S. “Robert Stone’s Decadent Leftists.” Papers on Language and Literature 32, no. 3 (Summer, 1996): 315-334.
Fredrickson, Robert S. “Robert Stone’s Opium of the People: Religious Ambivalence in Damascus Gate.” Papers on Language and Literature 36, no. 1 (Winter, 2000): 42-57.
Halkin, Hillel. “The Jerusalem Syndrome.” The New Republic 218, no. 21 (May 25, 1998): 29-32.
Leonard, John. “Blame It on Jerusalem.” Tikkun 13, no. 5 (September/October, 1998): 71-73.
Pritchard, William H. “Actual Fiction.” Hudson Review 50, no. 4 (Winter, 1998): 656-664.
Solotaroff, Robert. Robert Stone. New York: Twayne, 1994.
Stone, Robert. “An Interview with Robert Stone.” Interview by David Pink and Chuck Lewis. Salmagundi 108 (Fall, 1995): 117-139.
Weber, Bruce. “An Eye for Danger.” The New York Times Magazine, January 19, 1992, 6, 19-24.