Two men face off in a contest of strength and tenacity. It is an archetypal clash
between hero and villain—or at least Norman Mailer would have the reader believe so. The
match between Benny Paret and his rival Griffith reads more like an epic turned upside
down—the hero falls, the villain triumphs—than a boxing match between two sportsmen.
In spite of the essay’s title, from the beginning the reader roots for Paret as a result
of Mailer’s influence through strategic diction. The article opens with laudatory
description of Paret deeming him a “proud club fighter” admired by Mailer for his
ability to take a beating and “still be bouncing.” Mailer’s word choice guides the reader
to see Paret as a resilient brawler whose fighting style is reflective of his admirable
characteristics. At times the diction’s affect on the reader is subtle, at other times overt,
but it always moves the reader toward drawing Mailer’s same conclusions about Paret.
Even when describing how Paret began to lose significant ground in what would be his
final fight, it is as if Mailer cannot quite bring himself to say it. Instead, he offers the
euphemistic acknowledgment that Paret “began to wilt;” his life seemingly seeping
away even before the final round. His “wilt[ing]” evokes an image of subtle
deterioration that almost softens the blow of a moment that marks the turning point
leading to his collapse. When it comes to the author’s word choice, this euphemistic
description of Paret’s final moments continues as Mailer describes how he began to
“pass away” finally slipping to the floor like a ship sinking beneath the waves.
Whether cushioning the blow of Paret’s final moments for the reader or for himself,
Mailer’s diction allows the reader see the respect he had for the boxer. What the reader
is given is not an objective account of a tragic sporting event, but a description of the
event with an emotional agenda. The author’s word choice leads the reader to mourn
the loss of Paret and recognize Mailer’s esteem for the former champion.
If Paret was meant to be the fallen hero, then there must be an ignoble villain;
Mailer wastes no time in identifying this antagonist through the detail and imagery in
which he relays the fight. From beginning to end, Griffith is portrayed as a wild animal
whose inhuman fury leads to Paret’s death. Mailer describes Griffith’s siege on Paret
with vivid detail accounting how “he hit him eighteen right hands in a row, an act which
took perhaps three or four seconds, Griffith making a pent-up whimpering sound all the
while he attacked.” C.M.: Mailer’s detail relays the intensity of the onslaught Griffith
unleashed and the reader cannot help but be struck by the violence because of the sheer
volume and nature of the details. C.M. With a style both brilliant and grotesque,
Mailer’s imagery captures Griffith’s savagery and leads the reader to see him as Paret’s
attacker rather than just his opponent. C.D. : The reader is assaulted with images of
brutality that create an effect where one cannot help but “hear” and visualize the impact
of the blows when Griffith’s “right hand whip[s] like a piston rod which has broken
through the crankcase, or like a baseball bat demolishing a pumpkin.” These are
images that Mailer wants the reader to experience in an effort to create horror and
sorrow within the reader that mirrors his own sentiment. The more detail that Mailer
provides the more brutal and one-sided the fight seems and the less human Griffith
Commented [G1]: “The Hook” Set up the topic/issue,
provide background, be creative, but avoid cliché, don’t
“fabricate” importance for effect.
Commented [G2]: Topic Sentence: Always have one,
establish paragraph focus, ALL COMMENTARY
Commented [G3]: CM should demonstrate thoughtful
REFLECTION, logical ANALYSIS, and a deep UNDERSTANDING of the
text.
Commented [G4]: There should be roughly twice as much CM
as CD. All of the CM should be working toward explaining how the
evidence supports the thesis.
Commented [G5]: Use specific examples
Commented [G6]: The CM should connect the
evidence/examples to your thesis/purpose.
becomes.. The detail and imagery of the piece further propel Mailer’s image of the epic
battle and leads the reader to conclude the Griffith was a man out of control.
During the most significant portions of Mailer’s article, the syntax tends to
mirror the emotional effect that the author wishes to create. C.D. : In the midst of the
vicious fight the variation of sentence structure is sharp and the movement between
clauses and sentences is deliberately disjointed and abrupt:
Over the referee’s face came a look of woe as if some spasm had passed its
way through him, and then he leaped on Griffith to pull him away. It was the
act of a brave man. Griffith was uncontrollable. His trainer leaped into the
ring, his manager, his cut man, there were four people holding Griffith, but
he was off on an orgy, he had left the Garden, he was back on a hoodlum’s
street.
The syntax forces the reader to move quickly from line to line and clause to clause. This
mirrors the speed of the events in the ring and emphasizes the almost out-of-control
feeling that Mailer has while watching the fight unfold. In contrast, as the author
describes Paret’s final moment and decent to the mat the syntax too slows and mirrors
this surreal quality of the moment when “something happened to everyone who was in
psychic range of the event. Some part of his death reached out to us….” This slowed
pace is evident as Paret “passed, so his limbs descended beneath him, and he sank
slowly to the floor. He went down more slowly than any fighter had ever gone down, he
went down like a large ship which turns on end and slides second by second into its
grave.” As Mailer manipulates the pace of the descriptions he controls the emotional
impact on the reader. The speed of the fight catches the reader off-guard and the surreal
slowing of the fighter’s death brings the reader’s attention to focus. The juxtaposition
of the turning points in the fight and the syntax used to share them has just as much
effect on the reader as the content of the description.
For better or worse, Norman Mailer’s article allows the reader to experience the violent
end of Benny Paret. The author’s style and control of rhetoric influences the reader’s
perception of the two men as well as the ferocity and emotional impact of the fight on those
who watched. The effect of the language ultimately creates the tone of the essay and leaves
the reader to mourn the loss of Paret right along with Mailer.
Commented [g7]: When analyzing syntax, there should be a
reasonable connection between the text and your claimed
function/affect.
Commented [G8]: Because of the length of the quotation, it has
been set off as a block quotation.