iron john and robert bly

Bly's thesis is that men of the 1980s/90s (and probably today) have become "soft," have lost their connection to their fathers, have lost the sense that there needs to be a male-driven initiation from boyhood to manhood, and therefore live with grief, anger and a haunting sense of emptiness in their lives. He is careful not to criticize women or the women's movement, but he insists that only men can teach each other the lore of how to become men. Women, as it were, become women "naturally," through their bodily development, while men need to be taught to be men. That we have no culture including this kind of instruction in America is tragic. Indeed, while earlier generations of males might have learned how to become a man just by watching and sharing dad's work on the farm, now the father and the son are separated in work, too. It is this problem of separation that Bly wants to explore. And, in addition, he is interested in trying to create stories by which boys can, as it were, become men. The story of Iron John, as told by the Grimm Brothers, is the one that anchors his book.

Bly will tell the story of Iron John in bits and pieces, commenting as he goes along. Two comments are relevant at this point. On the one hand, Bly skips many sections of the myth, some of which are very fruitful to examine. Had Bly tried to examine them, by asking for example, who the hunter might be, his examination might have been even richer. On the other hand, Bly begins the distracting practice, beginning about the second chapter, of introducing several other myths in piecemeal fashion to make his points. The result is a book that is a bit of a mishmash, but it has so many highly suggestive ideas that it is good fodder for lots of good thoughts.

The Myth

Iron John is actually a lake dweller, who is full of red matted hair (hence his name), and who has been responsible for the deaths of many animals and hunters in the King's forest. But another hunter visits the King and Queen and, after learning about the disappearance of his predecessors, resolves to discover the problem. He loses his dog, but realizes what the problem is--some kind of marine creature has killed his animal. So, the hunter returns with others who can help him dredge the pond until Iron John is discovered and captured. Iron John then lives in a cage at the King's castle. The eight year-old son of the King and Queen is intrigued by him, and decides to let him out when the royal couple is away. However, the child had to get the key to the cage from under his mother's pillow, and while he was freeing Iron John, he injured his finger. Iron John then carried him on his shoulders back to his lair and plunked the boy by a stream which he told him not to touch. The boy disobeys, as one can imagine, and his finger, then a lock of hair, then all his hair, becomes covered with gold. The son eventually goes to the home of a second King, where he works in very humble circumstances. To make a long myth short, eventually the son takes part in a war to help this second King and, with a steed and strength provided by Iron John, is able to help his King to victory. However, the young man tries to hide his identity and is largely succesful in this. Finally, the King's men discover that the great deliverer is, in fact, the lowly gardener or worker in the kitchen, and eventually he gets the hand of the King's daughter in marriage.

A Few Comments

Even with my brief re-telling of the story, one sees how it pullulates with suggestive information about life and men. There is the hunter and the boy. The boy is curious about the creature Iron John who appears to be a sort of Jungian "collective unconscious" or "archetype" of maleness, and lets him out of the cage. But he can only liberate this male by finding the key under the female's pillow. He can't ask for permission to get the key--it must be stolen. Hence, there is something about stealing something from the mother, of rejecting her in no uncertain terms, that is essential in the process of becoming a man. Then, he goes and lives with Iron John, the one who can make him a man (how does this fit in with Bly's approach that boys lose their manhood or it becomes difficult to become a because they are separate from their fathers?). In any case, the fact that Iron John is there to help, that the boy suffers injury, that the injury is followed by humiliation (working in a low position), that he tried to heal the injury unsuccessfully but, nevertheless, carries gold on himself, and that, ultimately, he is "discovered" for who he is (the King's son) and gets to marry the princess--all of these things are crucial for Bly in explaining the process of separation from parents, soaring in hope, facing our own trials and resolving them in love. I think the myth would make a wonderful text for discussion on growing and learning, and Bly has helped us to do so.

Conclusion

One could pick out almost any part of the myth to reflect on, but what will be my focus in the next essay will be the process of failure and humiliation which the son faces after he leaves Iron John and lives with the second King. The son will work in lowly positions even though he is of royal descent and his hair (i.e., his whole person) is covered with gold (i.e., he is one special guy).

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