English A Literature
Mr. Wu
11G
Benny Paret’s last fight
On the night of the clashing between two worthy fighers, Norman Mailer sits in the audience and to witness it. On that night, Mailer witnesses pure rage that consumed one to destroy the other. Through the use of various figures of speech Mailer able recapture the fight, Benny Paret’s last.
Mailer uses the word “death in both camps” in the beginning of his work to indicate the tense atmosphere leading up to the fight. The usage of this metaphor describes the anger that was bottling up between the two fighters. The anger stemmed from a mere gossip column that questioned Griffith’s sexuality, which prompted Paret’s relentless provocation of Griffith. This contributed to the rage that led to Paret’s downfall that night.
During the night of the fight, in order to provide construction that gives readers a sense of how it felt being ringside: Mailer uses the parallel construction. By using the balanced structure, the rhythm of the battle can be captured. “Griffith had trouble getting up, but made it, came alive and was dominating Paret again before the round was over.” The use of the appositive after the first independent clause in the example has the effect of a short cliffhanger. The dependent clause that follows the appositive continues the pace introduced by the first clause. The rhythm of the first part of the fight is constant, it is not until the twelfth round that Mailer changes the rhythm of the prose.
The first sign of the change of pace is the use of separating two clauses with one serving as the explanation of the other,“In the twelfth, Griffith caught him.” Here Mailer disrupts the flow of the previous account of the fight; as Mailer recounts the massacre of Benny Paret in the twelfth. The reader at this point anticipates the downfall of Benny Paret. Following the use of the apposition, Mailer then illustrates Griffith’s outwardly brutal pounding of Paret. The severity of the pounding is compared to, “a baseball bat demolishing a pumpkin.” Mailer uses this metaphor as pumpkins are hard, and Mailer describes Paret’s ability to take a punch near the beginning. Although a pumpkin can take a beating, it is no match for a baseball bat. It is the same with Griffith’s pounding of Paret. This ultimately results in Paret’s demise.
After Mailer describes the horrific beating, he then momentarily places readers in his mind. This is evident due to the break in Mailer’s narration, “I was sitting in the second row of that corner—they were not ten feet away from me,…” as readers get a glimpse inside Mailer’s train of thougth it places further emphasis on the brutality Mailer witnessed. It also serves to freeze the prose for a moment, placing readers in a trance. Placing readers at the verge between virtuality and reality. Comparable to what Mailer felt witnessing the pounding. Then Mailer snaps out of the trance by speeding up the pace of the passage, greatly. A series of clauses are used next to describe the set of events that follow, “His trainer leaped into the ring, his manager, his cut-man,…” The conjunctions are delibrately omitted between them to provide a fast pacing.
Finally, Mailer turns the reader’s attention back to the fallen welterweight champion; Benny Paret. Mailer does this simply by using the rhetorical question, “And Paret?” This single sentence witholds the aftermath of the beating, before it is revealed, “Paret died on his feet.” As outcome of the battle settles into the mind of the reader, Mailer uses personification to describe Paret’s death as “his death came to breathe about him.” The significance of this figure of speech is it contrasts death to life. As if Paret’s death served as a gateway to his new life. It is ironic as it is almost always life that breathes about someone. This suggests Paret’s tragic death to be somewhat of a relief due to the transition.
In conclusion, Norman Mailer uses an artful prose that places readers ringside during the night. His uses varied figures of speech to keep readers in tow, to keep readers with sharing a piece of his thought. Mailer’s usage of prose and diction allows him to captivate readers with the battle between the two fighters, with the last fight of Benny Paret.