Truth and Self-Deception in Condon and Hawthorne

The pursuit of truth is invariably complicated by the Emersonian assertion that we not only possess "colored and distorting lenses," (Emerson 269) but we are those distortions. In other words, personal context and resultant biases are always going to play a role in one's perception of truth. For this reason, both Ellie Iselin of The Manchurian Candidate and Miles Coverdale of The Blithedale Romance internalize and subsequently present skewed versions of reality. However, Coverdale's deception is born from a lack of self-awareness. While Iselin also operates under self-delusions, her deception is more calculating and intentional.

By virtue of their professions, Coverdale and Iselin are intimately concerned with vocalizing and sharing truth with the masses. As a poet, Coverdale's artistic goal is to produce something "true, strong, natural, and sweet" (Hawthorne 14). This aligns with the idealized notion of the poet as one who sheds light on the human condition and speaks to those universal truths. Iselin, while not a politician herself, is obviously the one controlling her political husband (Condon 75). The idealized notion of the politician's job is to speak to truths, operate under their principles, and apply them to public policy. Therefore, on the professional front, both Coverdale and Iselin deal with the esoteric notion of truth while the public expects those notions to be implemented in a practical way.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the idealized notions and the actual practices turn out to be widely disparate. Neither Coverdale nor Iselin lives up to these lofty professional demands, because they are humans before they are professionals. Being human means they are subject to the same self-deceptions and self-delusions as everyone else. When Coverdale says, "a man cannot always decide for himself whether his own heart is cold or warm...if I erred at all...it was through too much sympathy, rather than too little" (Hawthorne 154) the reader is presented with an argument from an authoritative narrative voice. But as this passage illustrates, the narrative voice is not always entirely reliable. This picture of Coverdale is an assessment from and through Coverdale himself, and as such may explain the rather generous portrayal. The reader must be equally as wary when Coverdale asserts, "I loved Hollingsworth...But it impressed me, more and more, that there was a stern and dreadful peculiarity in this man" (Hawthorne 70). This rather unflattering portrayal of Hollingsworth can be understood then, not as a proclamation of truth as it might be perceived, but rather as a product of one man's personal biases and perceptions. Iselin's self-delusions are equally as evident. When Raymond decries her as a fraud, she responds, "I have to be a fraud...And I have to be the truth, too...There is so much fraud in the world and it needs to be turned away with fraud" (Condon 159). The reader is presented with a simultaneous acknowledgement and denial of Iselin's artificiality. She is aware her actions make her "a fraud"; where self-delusion plays a role is in the subsequent rationalization. She argues she has to be the way she is and continues to promote herself explicitly as a purveyor of truth. Her self-deception is even clearer when she extols herself as "a mother before everything else...
Where Iselin and Coverdale diverge is intent. Coverdale uses his language to communicate with the world, and while he is not always "correct," he does communicate what he believes to be the truth. At the very concluding line of The Blithedale Romance, Coverdale proclaims, "I-I myself-was in love-with-Priscilla!" (Hawthorne 247). After this confession, the reader questions whether Coverdale has changed over the course of the novel, or if he is the same self-delusional character he was in the beginning. The reader does not, however, doubt Coverdale thinks he loves Priscilla. He is being truthful in that he is reporting what he believes. Iselin, on the other hand, uses her language (almost exclusively through the figurehead of Johnny Iselin) to intentionally mislead people. Iselin's desire for power is best expressed by Raymond when he states, "if the folks would pay one or more votes for a sandwich she would be happy to send for her liddul boy's body and barbecue him" (Condon 9). Iselin ruthlessly seeks political power, and (according to Raymond) she will even compromise her status as a mother to achieve that. With her political clout secured, Iselin assumes her right to disseminate whatever truth she sees fit. She appoints herself this role, because she believes "that thinking made Americans' heads hurt and therefore was to be avoided" (Condon 147). She becomes the bearer of truth in light of other's perceived apathy. However, her overarching mentality of "it wasn't the issue itself so much as the way he could sell it" (Condon 145) reveals she does not concern herself with the substance of her speech but rather the superficial presentation.

The truth of any situation (or indeed even the notion of truth itself) is difficult to assess, because the problem is necessarily approached from a biased, human perspective. There is incredible risk involved, therefore, in believing certain professions or specific people have special access to truth. There is even greater risk involved in believing they possess this access simply by virtue of having a public outlet for speech (as seen with politicians, for example). In this way, Hawthorne and Condon's novels can be read, at least in part, as an extension of that warning.

Works Cited

Condon, Richard. The Manchurian Candidate. United States of America: Pocket Star Books, 1959

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. 21-56

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Blithedale Romance. United States of America: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1964