In the AM Homes novel Music for Torching, married couple Paul and Elaine find their relationship as static and boring as the Westchester County suburbs in which they live. Dissatisfied with their marriages and fearing a lifeless future, they vent their frustration with suburbia through ill-advised sexual encounters, insulting verbal squabbles, and bouts of jealousy directed at their seemingly perfect friends and neighbors. Desperate for a change in their lives, Paul and Elaine intentionally set fire to their house, but it does not burn completely as they had planned. Instead, their house remains dirty and damaged while they are forced to reconcile their actions. With no money or resources to move, their family continues to live in a soot-filled house while selling much of their clothing and possessions. Paul and Elaine spend a few nights with their friends Pat and George Neilson, whose house is always immaculate and everything is in perfect condition. The idyllic nature of the Neilsons' home seems to exacerbate the problems between Paul and Elaine, as they frequently fight and view each other as frauds and inferiors. Through these charged narrative turns, Homes dissects the concept of the ideal white-picket fence American lifestyle while highlighting the shortcomings of traditional gender and family roles within the home. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayWhen we consider gender roles, one of the most well-known is the role of the mother as cook and housekeeper. Stereotypes would have you believe that a woman's job is to have children and take care of the house; cleaning, doing laundry and preparing meals. Elaine's music from Torching exemplifies this lifestyle, as the book opens with her husband Paul chastising her for the amount of fat in their dinner. As the novel continues, Paul berates his wife who is "standing at the sink, in an apron, with Playtex gloves, trying to protect herself" (Homes 1). Elaine embodies the trope of the helpless woman. She is a troubled mother who cannot satisfy her husband and who attempts to “put everything back in order” (Homes 1) by keeping a nice house, an effort in which she repeatedly fails. It becomes apparent throughout the story that Elaine was not born to be a stay-at-home mom. She is a bad cook, she doesn't like cleaning and she finds no satisfaction in existing at home. Because she is forced to fill this role that she has no desire to play, she comes to resent her house and everything it represents. Driven by a need to escape and motivated by her inability to cook dinner, she encourages Paul when he pours lighter fluid on their house, and she herself kicks the grill, marking finality of his decision to leave all the problems of their life in there. the ashes. However, when the house doesn't burn down, Elaine is distraught. Homes says: “Elaine is sitting in the car, thinking she's back to zero, zero, back to square one. She's back to where she started, but now it's worse. From now on she will have to take care of the house, take care of it like a madwoman. She imagines running away; where would she go? Into the woods to live like a wild woman, fed on berries and nuts? In town to sleep on a steam grill? She thinks about running. She undoes her seat belt. She is about to unlock the door when she sees Paul coming back. She sees Paul coming and imagines running away into the street – the streetlights like searchlights, constantly catching up with her. She sees Paul therepursue, without knowing why she is running, why he is chasing her, except that it is his instinct to catch her, to drag her back” (Homes 29). By burning down the house, Elaine was trying to escape her role as caretaker of the house. But now that the house is destroyed, it's just another thing she'll have to take care of. Not only does she care for the needs of her children, but her husband and parents, but now she has to do all of this while rebuilding the house she hates so much. Additionally, the burned house now reflects Elaine's feelings about her marriage to Paul. She knows he uses her for food and sex, she knows he has multiple affairs with other women, and she knows he does not value her as a partner or wife. However, their marriage still stubbornly holds together, as does their house, although full of holes and dirt. Elaine imagines what it would be like to run away, but she has only known one role in life; wife and mother. She has no idea what she would do if she left her home and her marriage, because as bad as they are, they are the only things she has a strong connection to. In this passage, Elaine wonders why she and Paul continue to promote the facade of their love. She imagines running away from him but doesn't know why, and he pursues her for no reason other than it must be the right thing to do. Paul's instinct is to take her home despite the fact that they both feel unhappy with their situation. However, they both strive to be the ideal couple and know that divorce would damage their reputation among their wealthy friends. Their reason for staying together seems to be based entirely on the idea that they have familial roles to play as parents and lovers, and that breaking away from that would make them ostracized from society. While Elaine struggles to fulfill her role as wife and mother, just as Paul struggles to act like the ideal man; strong, protective and stoic. Paul proves to be weak in character, as he cheats on his wife, lies to his children, and acts immorally in numerous ways without any remorse. Even though Paul knows his actions are wrong, he does not want to present himself as a flawed person because that would damage his reputation as a man. Paul continually needs to prove that he is smarter and stronger than Elaine, and although she makes him understand that she is aware of his misdeeds, he claims that he can get away with anything. What. However, after the house burns down, Paul realizes that he can no longer pretend that there are no problems in their lives. Homes states that "the house is not something with which Paul can make a virile, manly demonstration of Mr. Fix-it." There's no hands-on ability to unscrew a loose screw, saving them a home visit from a handyman and seventy-five dollars. The house isn't even like a radio that he can take apart with the excitement of learning how things work, of course he'll be able to put each diode back together. Paul never fixed anything. And he remembers that he did it, that he provoked it; without pausing for a moment to consider whether or not it could be rebuilt, he destroyed it. Worse still – and this is the part he didn't admit to anyone – he was amused by it. It was invigorating, it was fucking fantastic” (Homes 90). Paul is used to being the man of the house, the person capable of performing physical tasks and acting as the quintessential masculine figure. In this case, however, Paul realizes that his actions are not something he can fix using any type of manhood. Whereas before his family relied on him to solve simple problems—tightening screws, repairing radios

Essay / In the AM Homes novel Music for Torching, married couple Paul and Elaine find their relationship as static and boring as the Westchester County suburbs in which they live. Dissatisfied with their marriages and fearing a lifeless future, they vent their frustration with suburbia through ill-advised sexual encounters, insulting verbal squabbles, and bouts of jealousy directed at their seemingly perfect friends and neighbors. Desperate for a change in their lives, Paul and Elaine intentionally set fire to their house, but it does not burn completely as they had planned. Instead, their house remains dirty and damaged while they are forced to reconcile their actions. With no money or resources to move, their family continues to live in a soot-filled house while selling much of their clothing and possessions. Paul and Elaine spend a few nights with their friends Pat and George Neilson, whose house is always immaculate and everything is in perfect condition. The idyllic nature of the Neilsons' home seems to exacerbate the problems between Paul and Elaine, as they frequently fight and view each other as frauds and inferiors. Through these charged narrative turns, Homes dissects the concept of the ideal white-picket fence American lifestyle while highlighting the shortcomings of traditional gender and family roles within the home. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayWhen we consider gender roles, one of the most well-known is the role of the mother as cook and housekeeper. Stereotypes would have you believe that a woman's job is to have children and take care of the house; cleaning, doing laundry and preparing meals. Elaine's music from Torching exemplifies this lifestyle, as the book opens with her husband Paul chastising her for the amount of fat in their dinner. As the novel continues, Paul berates his wife who is "standing at the sink, in an apron, with Playtex gloves, trying to protect herself" (Homes 1). Elaine embodies the trope of the helpless woman. She is a troubled mother who cannot satisfy her husband and who attempts to “put everything back in order” (Homes 1) by keeping a nice house, an effort in which she repeatedly fails. It becomes apparent throughout the story that Elaine was not born to be a stay-at-home mom. She is a bad cook, she doesn't like cleaning and she finds no satisfaction in existing at home. Because she is forced to fill this role that she has no desire to play, she comes to resent her house and everything it represents. Driven by a need to escape and motivated by her inability to cook dinner, she encourages Paul when he pours lighter fluid on their house, and she herself kicks the grill, marking finality of his decision to leave all the problems of their life in there. the ashes. However, when the house doesn't burn down, Elaine is distraught. Homes says: “Elaine is sitting in the car, thinking she's back to zero, zero, back to square one. She's back to where she started, but now it's worse. From now on she will have to take care of the house, take care of it like a madwoman. She imagines running away; where would she go? Into the woods to live like a wild woman, fed on berries and nuts? In town to sleep on a steam grill? She thinks about running. She undoes her seat belt. She is about to unlock the door when she sees Paul coming back. She sees Paul coming and imagines running away into the street – the streetlights like searchlights, constantly catching up with her. She sees Paul therepursue, without knowing why she is running, why he is chasing her, except that it is his instinct to catch her, to drag her back” (Homes 29). By burning down the house, Elaine was trying to escape her role as caretaker of the house. But now that the house is destroyed, it's just another thing she'll have to take care of. Not only does she care for the needs of her children, but her husband and parents, but now she has to do all of this while rebuilding the house she hates so much. Additionally, the burned house now reflects Elaine's feelings about her marriage to Paul. She knows he uses her for food and sex, she knows he has multiple affairs with other women, and she knows he does not value her as a partner or wife. However, their marriage still stubbornly holds together, as does their house, although full of holes and dirt. Elaine imagines what it would be like to run away, but she has only known one role in life; wife and mother. She has no idea what she would do if she left her home and her marriage, because as bad as they are, they are the only things she has a strong connection to. In this passage, Elaine wonders why she and Paul continue to promote the facade of their love. She imagines running away from him but doesn't know why, and he pursues her for no reason other than it must be the right thing to do. Paul's instinct is to take her home despite the fact that they both feel unhappy with their situation. However, they both strive to be the ideal couple and know that divorce would damage their reputation among their wealthy friends. Their reason for staying together seems to be based entirely on the idea that they have familial roles to play as parents and lovers, and that breaking away from that would make them ostracized from society. While Elaine struggles to fulfill her role as wife and mother, just as Paul struggles to act like the ideal man; strong, protective and stoic. Paul proves to be weak in character, as he cheats on his wife, lies to his children, and acts immorally in numerous ways without any remorse. Even though Paul knows his actions are wrong, he does not want to present himself as a flawed person because that would damage his reputation as a man. Paul continually needs to prove that he is smarter and stronger than Elaine, and although she makes him understand that she is aware of his misdeeds, he claims that he can get away with anything. What. However, after the house burns down, Paul realizes that he can no longer pretend that there are no problems in their lives. Homes states that "the house is not something with which Paul can make a virile, manly demonstration of Mr. Fix-it." There's no hands-on ability to unscrew a loose screw, saving them a home visit from a handyman and seventy-five dollars. The house isn't even like a radio that he can take apart with the excitement of learning how things work, of course he'll be able to put each diode back together. Paul never fixed anything. And he remembers that he did it, that he provoked it; without pausing for a moment to consider whether or not it could be rebuilt, he destroyed it. Worse still – and this is the part he didn't admit to anyone – he was amused by it. It was invigorating, it was fucking fantastic” (Homes 90). Paul is used to being the man of the house, the person capable of performing physical tasks and acting as the quintessential masculine figure. In this case, however, Paul realizes that his actions are not something he can fix using any type of manhood. Whereas before his family relied on him to solve simple problems—tightening screws, repairing radios—he knows he can't.

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