“In the novel as a whole, McEwan presents Joe Rose as a successful male figure.” How do you respond to this view?

Throughout McEwan’s 1997 novel Enduring Love, the protagonist, Joe Rose, is portrayed as a failed male figure who is completely unsuccessful in his endeavours. Rose consistently behaves in an irrational and ill-considered manner in response to Parry’s extreme harassment. He fails to sustain his healthy relationship with Clarissa, while also allowing Parry’s obsession to escalate out of control. However, McEwan also presents this male figure as successful and triumphant towards the end of the novel. He appears to have learnt from his irrational behaviour as he helps Jean Logan to find the truth about the scarf in her husband’s car, and eventually discovers how to demonstrate his love for Clarissa and save their relationship. Despite his many failings, it could be argued that Joe Rose is indeed portrayed as a successful male figure.

Initially, it appears that Joe Rose is a successful male figure who maintains control over Parry’s obsessive behaviour. Parry, in contrast, is portrayed as a vulnerable and “defenceless” young man who is reliant on the authority of his ‘lover’, Rose. He lacks control over his relationship with Rose, stating how he is “dependent on” him. This connotes how Rose has been able to sustain a level of dominance over Parry, and that he has successfully constrained the threat and damage of Parry’s harassment. Every time Rose ignores one of Parry’s letters or calls, Parry steadily realises that this “gives you a power over me”- effectively, this power subdues Parry. It could be argued that Rose’s authority over the obsessive Parry makes him successful at preventing Parry’s harassment from intensifying. However,to a much greater extent, McEwan presents this protagonist as a failure whose control over Parry dissipates. Structurally, Parry is initially kept outside of Rose’s home- the only way he can contact Rose is by phoning from outside. Paralleling the isolation of Frankenstein’s Creature feels when he is refused entry to the De Lacey household in Frankenstein, Parry is portrayed as an outsider who is “denied everything” by the man he loves. This alienated character considers himself to be “like a beggar” who is unworthy of entry into Rose’s home. This changes by the novel’s climax, as this “pathetic and harmless crank” breaks into their home and holds a knife to Clarissa’s neck. As the novel progresses, he becomes consumed by “hatred” and “resentment”, and Rose is left powerless as he fails to prevent this. Clarissa even says in her letter that “there might have been a less frightening outcome” if Rose behaved differently, which suggests that he is not successful at all. In fact, it is clear that Rose is portrayed as someone whose actions exacerbate the situation to dangerous levels. He appears to be a failed male figure who inadvertently kindles a violent passion in Parry, rather than preventing the escalation of his obsessive behaviour.

 
Furthermore, it could be argued that he is also a failure at protecting the interests of his relationship with Clarissa. Rose’s fear of Parry becomes so strong this the “intensity” of his behaviour “is inhibiting her”. He is portrayed as selfish when he fails to “look after” his partner and ignores her problems in favour of his own. When she challenges this selfishness, he insults and verbally abuses her to such an extent that she “was scared by your anger”. This cruel behaviour completely juxtaposes with the “loving” protagonist we are portrayed with at the beginning of the narrative. It could be argued that Rose is not successful at maintaining a strong relationship with his partner. Ironically, it appears that their love is not “enduring” as he fails to put “my [Clarissa’s] needs first”. However, a much greater reading suggests that he is successful because he remains loyal and loving towards to her, despite the collapse of their relationship. When Clarissa is held at knifepoint, and Rose hears her “frightened” voice, his immediate response is to return home and save her life. This is despite being told that their loving relationship is “over”, which suggests how his loyalty is utterly triumphant and enduring. This is evidenced to a much stronger extent in the first appendix, when it is revealed that he has reconciled with her and adopted a child. It is clear Rose is indeed loyal and victorious at protecting Clarissa’s needs. He successfully rebuilds their relationship, and even helps her “deep sadness” over infertility by adopting a child with her. Despite the problems with their relationship that his behaviour causes, the protagonist proves successful at remaining loyal and loving to his partner. Rose’s character puts her needs first when he saves her life and helps her adopt a child, and this ultimately proves to be his great success as a partner, rather than his failure.

Nevertheless, it could be argued that Joe Rose is presented as a male figure who is at his least successful in how he consistently makes ill-thought and misjudged decisions. In Clarissa’s letter at the end of the novel, Rose is presented as completely irrational and unreasonable: “agitated and obsessed”. He is described as being utterly “manic” in his response to Parry’s harassment, which connotes a wild madness and lunacy about his character. McEwan emphasises this unstable thinking about Rose’s character by having him constantly make questionable decisions, such as the fact he did not tell Clarissa about Parry’s first phone call for two days, as well as the fact he did not save any of the twenty plus calls on the answering machine. Many readers may struggle to follow the logic of these repeated mistakes, which thus emphasises his behaviour as illogical and irrational. Thus, some may argue that he is not a successful male figure because he is not a champion of logic or reason; rather, he makes many ill-considered mistakes that have disastrous consequences on the other characters in the novel. However, a much stronger interpretation suggests that he does eventually become a successful male figure because he uses his experiences to help Jean Logan making the same irrational mistakes. Before Rose’s intervention, Jean had developed a “powerful fantasy” that her husband committed adultery. The scarf in her husband’s car “pained” this bereaved character as she misreads it as a symbol of betrayal and disloyalty. After learning from his own “obsession” and misreading of the signs, Rose introduces Bonnie and James Reid to vindicate Jean’s husband. Structurally, McEwan uses the novel’s ending to redeem Joe Rose as a protagonist. He appears to have learned from his own “terrible betrayal” of logic and reason as he helps this bereaved character find the full truth about her husband’s death. Thus, McEwan closes the novel with a protagonist who is successful, as he learns from his own mistakes to help heal the pain of another character who lost her husband in the balloon accident.
 
It is clear that Rose is a protagonist with flaws, who fails in many of his endeavours. His own illogical and miscalculated decisions in response to Parry’s harassment leads to the collapse of his relationship and serves to exacerbate Parry’s fixation and delusions. However, to a greater extent, McEwan highlights the successes and victories of this male figure. He manages to save Clarissa, allows his relationship with her to endure and helps Jean Logan to process her husband’s death. Like all of us, Rose is portrayed as a character who is capable of successes and failings. By the end of the novel though, it is clear Joe Rose is a much more successful male figure who triumphs in many of his endeavours, rather than a failed one who completely collapses under his own mistakes.