Conformity and Survival: Deception in Tobias Wolff's Novel

Oscar Wilde once said “The first duty in life is to assume a pose. What the second is, no one has yet discovered.” What must one do in order to fit into their society? The answer is quite simple, if not sure of his or hers true identity, one must conform themselves in the environment in which they live in order to survive or maintain a modest life. This is what the main character Jack (Tobias Wolff) and other characters in the novel must do in order to create decent lives for themselves. To maintain a modest lifestyle, the main characters must transform their ideologies and behaviors with lies and deceit, change themselves with conflict, or use their “imagination” to create their own kind of perfect lifestyle. These tactics used throughout

Jack and the other characters struggle to cope with these changes, which in turn causes internal and external conflicts as the story develops. In the beginning of the story, Rosemary and Jack move from their home in Florida to Utah to capitalize on the mining of Uranium, which they believe will give them unimaginable fortunes. While they are never able to get their hands on Uranium, the move to Utah changes both Rosemary and Jack’s life. They go through a complete lifestyle change, and to add to their struggles, Roy follows them to keep his control on them. A need for a new environment where they can start fresh is believed to be with the Uranium, which leads Rosemary with no choice but to go after the fortune. Jack’s Winchester .22 Rifle is an instrument used in this novel to show how Jack’s behavior and identity changes when he feels that he has a sliver of power, which the gun gives him. The gun, which was given to him by Roy, gives Jack this overwhelming feeling of capability, which he seldom has. The white paint in Dwight’s home is a unique symbol used in the book to conceal Dwight’s imperfections. He oddly paints his whole house white so that there are no abnormalities for Rosemary to sight which would cause another conflict with the characters. This white paint is a mask used to hide Dwight’s