The Present and the Past Demonstrated in My Present Age by Guy Vanderhaeghe

Canadian Literature

February 26th, 2014

The Present and the Past Demonstrated in My Present Age by Guy Vanderhaeghe

     My Present Age by Guy Vanderhaeghe follows the life of a character named Ed who is going through a midlife crisis. Ed struggles with his past and how he has lived his life up to date. The title of the novel itself is a play on words stating the fact that Ed is getting older, but it also indicates a main theme throughout the book. Many of the characters are either stuck in the past like Ed and his neighbor McMurtry, while others are more focused on the present and what the future has in store like Tom Rollins, Benny and Marsha.  The comparison of past and present is shown through the character’s lives, their actions, and their speech.

     While Ed grew up in a more modern time, he craves the simpler times of the past.

“There they are two roads”- I lift a forefinger-“one choice. We can choose to simplify our lives, or we can choose to complicate them” 1

 Ed is constantly escaping to the world of novels that commonly took place in an earlier time. In fact, Ed wrote his own book in old western times.  His character Sam Waters, and Huck Finn from the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are both characters of the past, but live a simple and free life. These characters are both free to do whatever they please just as Ed wants to be. Ed thinks as the past as a way to be free and to escape all the responsibilities of his present life. Ed’s clothing is another indication that he lives in the past. For example, he owns a western suit and thinks that it is acceptable to wear it  While Ed may think he lives in the past he also dresses like he wants to be the characters of his book.

     McMurtry does not live in the past like Ed, but his speech and mannerisms indicate which time period he lived in. McMurtry has old-fashioned values and is very vocal about them. He disagrees with Ed’s laziness and unwillingness to work and agrees with people working for what they have and not getting handouts from the government. When talking to the beast he uses politically incorrect words such as simple, and he appears very racist and homophobic.

“What I want to know is,” said McMurtry, “Is there any way you can tell them hummasexuals from us normal?”2

 While this man does not accept the society norms of how people should be treated, he brings up a better part of the past that says that people should work hard in life.

     Tom Rollins, in other words “The Beast”, is not only more in tune with the present than the previous characters, but he also symbolizes modern society and present day media. The comparison between past and present is very apparent with his discussions with McMurtry. McMurtry’s old fashioned opinions were often corrected and put down by Rollins. Because Rollins was also used as a symbol for media, there is a very modern aspect given to him. Ed felt as if he was fighting the media and the way it exploited and treated people. The media, though in favour of some, can be harmful to certain groups or people’s opinions.  Through Rollins, Vanderhaeghe expresses how certain aspects in today’s present are not always as good as they seem.

     Benny is one of the novels’ more modern characters. He is also the most worldly and one who is strongly involved in society.

 First we have Benny’s fascination with facts, with information. Typical of the legal profession- of which he imagines himself a leading light- a shabby coven of complicators and obfuscators without parallel. Second, unlike the simplifier, Benny places his faith in the flesh. Look at his sexual habits. Women, women, women. Only one of whom, let me remind you, is he married. 3

Ed describes Benny as a complicator. He shows the materialistic view of the modern day where people are heavily concerned with their possessions and how they look to their peers. Benny’s profession as a lawyer not only makes a lot of money for him, but he also ensures that divorcees and people in disputes get money as a result of his work. While these traits exist in both the past and the present, greed for money and things are more commonly seen in the busy present.

     Marsha demonstrates the present in a personal and a sociological perspective. She is starting a new life recently divorced from her husband. Unlike Ed, Marsha is moving on and not looking back. She would rather live in the present and focus on herself. She tries to come off as independent with no need of a man in her life.