Martin Amis’s Money chronicles the hedonistic exploits of
John Self, a wealthy British advertising executive who spends his time between
New York City and London. He’s a wealthy man, and he puts his cash to good use;
in the sense that there’s always a new form of pleasure being offered by
society that he can fit the bill for. He drinks and smokes constantly; even
saying at one point “Unless I say otherwise, I am always smoking a cigarette.”.
He’s a self admitted fatty who likes to get into drunken bar fights with
strangers, and more often than not he wins. He has a penchant for violence of
pretty much all kinds, and admits to the occasional violent act towards his
female sexual partners, which compounds of course with his general lack of
respect for the female sex.
The interesting thing about Self is, that unlike
other wealthy transgressive characters (like our infamous Patrick Bateman, for
example), he doesn’t seem to draw any dividing lines between high and low
quality excess. He gorges himself on cheap fast food, and spends tokens at
Porn-Palaces, when it’s clear he could easily afford an expensive meal, or an
escort. Relating to John Self as a character is made somewhat more difficult
because of this, at least for me. The one thing I found the most fascinating
about Self, is that all of his existing relationships with other people depend
on money. Whether with the fastidious bellhop Felix, or with the beautiful
Selina, an exchange of money is always involved. Originally, this made me feel
a level of pity for Self, but as I continued to read further into his character
I began to see that it would be extremely unlikely for anyone to choose to have
this guy around, if it weren’t for money.
He’s extremely witty, and seemingly
because of his jaunts into the moral underground, he knows exactly what to say
and do to please and exasperate people. At first I saw him as just another
gleeful explorer into the excesses of modern society, but now I see he’s quite
a powerful figure. It’s interesting to see how Amis has placed himself in the
novel, in the form of that “creepy writer” who lives on John Selfs block in
London; which is very different than Ballards method of placing himself in the
novel. It’s a pretty funny idea for an author to imagine a character seeing
them as a creepy neighbor with stalkerish tendencies.
“I weepily gathered my street clothes and crammed them into
the duty free bag. I hit Sixty Sixth street in a sweat-looped tank top, knee
length Bermudas, black socks and squelchy gyms. Come to think of it, I must
have looked exactly like everyone else. My body craved darkness and silence but
the suns controls were all turned up full blast as I screamed for cabs in the
yellow riot of Broadway.”
This passage stood out to me because of the very powerful
yet bizarre imagery. The manner in which he describes his appearance sounds
gross, and generally just strange; then he goes on to say, he must have looked
like everyone else, which gives the scene a strange, somewhat alien tone. The
most unique use of language in this passage is definitely in reference to the
“yellow riot” of Broadway. By use of such words like “weepily” and “craving
darkness”, we get a powerful image of a defeated, somewhat emasculated Self after
an embarrassing tennis match.
This image is unique in that it not only makes us
pity this otherwise non-pitiable character, but that it juxtaposes this with an
idea of him struggling in the chaos of same-ness; wearing sweaty clothes that
make him look just as everyone else does, and fighting to get a single taxi
within an entire ‘yellow riot’.
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