60 pages • 2-hour read
Buckeye
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, antigay bias, mental illness, addiction, and substance use.
The Impact of War on Individual and Cultural Identity
Buckeye features American soldiers in three wars: World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. It depicts the difficulties that soldiers endured while also painting a portrait of life on the home front, showing the impact of war on soldiers’ families, their communities, and society writ large.
Soldiers in both World Wars experience trauma in this novel and return home bearing not only physical but also emotional scars. Everett’s drinking, hoarding, and difficulty re-entering society are evidence of PTSD. Felix, too, returns from war a changed man, and his trauma is partially rooted in his horrific experiences after his ship was torpedoed but also in Augie’s death. The novel highlights how, in each case, there is little psychiatric or societal help available: Men in Everett’s generation are provided with no assistance, and Felix’s psychiatric care comes with social stigma. However, with its depiction of Skip’s reaction to war, the novel emphasizes that in the next generation, awareness will grow about the complex trauma of war: In a letter home, he notes how little men in previous generations said about their experiences and wonders how their lives might have improved if they did: He sees little utility in being one of the “guys who won’t talk about it” (229), and he wonders if US foreign policy would have been different if there were a better understanding of wartime trauma.
War shapes lives back in the United States, too, offering social cohesion, especially for women and families. For the first time, Margaret finds herself part of a social group, “war wives, they call[] themselves” (144-45). Particularly during the World Wars, there is a general sense in the US that the cause itself is noble and that the soldiers sent to battle are fighting to defend their country, their way of living, and Western civilization itself. This phenomenon proves particularly difficult for Cal: Forced to stay home, he observes the men of his generation working toward the same goal and having the opportunity to define themselves as protectors and defenders. He can see the pride that their families take in their service and the extent to which war re-shapes their identities. He feels left out of the central experience of his generation and struggles with identity issues as a result.
The Vietnam War proves to be an entirely different kind of war, and its depiction in the novel differs accordingly. Ryan takes particular care to illustrate the repercussions of the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre, both notorious for what they revealed about US involvement in Vietnam and their depiction in the media. Skip dies in Vietnam, cementing the war’s traumatic nature for the world of Buckeye, but the narrative also depicts Tom’s participation in the large, anti-war movement that would itself come to define a generation. Its depiction also highlights the contrast between public responses to WWII and the Vietnam War: While WWII was a source of pride for the US, Vietnam was increasingly a source of strife and, for many, shame. However, despite the differences between the conflicts depicted in the novel, Ryan shows that they all, regardless of origins or public reception, shape the individuals involved and the societies that they return to.
Individualism Versus Conformity in Small Communities
Felix, Margaret, Cal, and Becky all struggle with the tension between conformity and individualism. The novel’s exploration of this topic, however, is nuanced, and each character approaches the balance between individualism and conformity in their own way. Felix and Cal would rather conform and wish that their identities aligned better with societal norms, while Margaret and Becky are much more comfortable with stepping outside of those boundaries and accepting their own difference. Through their contrasting choices and experiences, the narrative examines this tension and how it affects different members of society.
Felix is well-mannered, hardworking, and physically attractive, but he hides a secret for much of his adult life: He is gay. More than any other character, he fears being labeled different because, for him, that difference is completely unacceptable to society. His father realizes that Felix is gay early on and steers Felix toward marriage (to a woman) and a reputable career, hoping that marriage and a white-collar job will shield him from judgment and danger. He does so not because he loves and accepts Felix but because he fears society’s condemnation. Felix behaves accordingly, keeping his secret, even after Margaret discovers the truth. It is not until old age that he feels comfortable being semi-openly in a relationship with a man. For Felix, social acceptability is a matter of safety, and it matters more than anything, even happiness.
Cal also wants desperately to fit in, but because he was born with one leg shorter than the other, he is deemed unfit for military service. As young men around him come to define themselves as defenders of Western civilization, Cal casts about for how to define himself. He joins a civilian defense brigade with the hopes of gaining a sense of belonging. However, when he marries Becky, he feels cast out of society once again because of the attention her séances bring to their family. He judges Becky because he feels that the social stigma attached to her occupation adds to his own inferior status. Cal values social acceptability, so much so that his marriage suffers because of Becky’s contrasting lack of interest in conformity.
Margaret’s comfort with her own difference contrasts markedly with Felix’s. As a young woman in Columbus, she actively explores her sexuality even though premarital sex is still taboo. She enjoys work and hopes to continue even after she is married. She takes a job as a dance instructor, even though the pay is low, because it allows her to express her creativity and define herself as something other than a wife and a mother. Margaret is passionate about art in a town that views such pursuits as snobbery, and she contends with the loneliness that comes from being labeled as different. Her greatest rejection of conformity, however, is her attitude toward motherhood. Margaret does not want to be a mother even though she recognizes that, according to society, “[e]veryone wants children” (180). She struggles to love Tom and finds motherhood just as confining as life in small-town Bonhomie. Even before she leaves, she bitterly notes the double standard that allows men to leave their families but not women to leave their children: “Women didn’t have the option of just walking away from their children and leaving it up to the world to figure out who was going to raise them” (236). Learning Felix’s secret finally gives her the courage to return, alone, to Columbus. Although her decision adversely impacts Tom, it is ultimately the best for her and for Felix, as her determination to live an authentic life opens up the possibility of Felix doing the same.
Like Margaret, Becky rejects conformity from an early age. She is comfortable being labeled eccentric even as a young person and is secure in her spiritualism. She does not doubt her abilities and has a positive self-image because of her séances: She is able to help grieving people in their times of need. While Cal and her father level criticism at her, she views her spiritualism as an asset rather than a source of shame. As with Margaret’s nonconformity offering Felix the space to break away from societal norms, Becky’s insistence on being herself and not being ashamed of her talents becomes a source of inspiration for Cal, and he is able to accept both himself and her. The novel uses these characters to explore the variety of ways in which people can resolve the tension between individualism and conformity, ultimately suggesting that those who are willing to push the boundaries of societal norms show others how doing so leads to a more fulfilling life.
The Impact of Secrets on Marriage and Family
Buckeye is deeply invested in exploring the complexities of family life, and the secret at the core of its narrative helps Ryan to explore familial relationships in a nuanced way. Although Cal and Margaret’s affair and the secret of Tom’s parentage devastate both families, this novel lacks a true antagonist, underscoring Ryan’s broader point that the revelation of secrets provides opportunities for growth and has the power to reveal an individual’s true nature.
Although Margaret and Cal’s affair (and Tom’s parentage) is the novel’s central secret, Felix’s sexuality is another carefully guarded truth that is accidentally revealed. However, the narrative remains focused more on the way that Margaret and Felix respond to the revelations: Margaret responds by revealing the truth and leaving her family, while Felix wishes for his secret to remain so. These reactions reveal the fundamental truth that they also want entirely different lives: Felix hopes to safeguard his secret behind the veneer of a small-town, middle-class identity. He hopes to achieve the American dream and doesn’t mind the idea of being “settled.” Meanwhile, Margaret’s interest in art, her wild taste in home decorating, and her work as a dance instructor illustrate that she finds that same life stifling. She feels more “lonely lying beside” Felix than she does when she is actually alone (133). For Margaret, leaving Felix and Tom isn’t an act of abandonment but one of bravery. She has also identified Felix as the better parent and believes that she is leaving Tom in good hands, instead of saddling him with the burden of an unloving parent. These secrets, once revealed, have shown each character the truth about what they value and how they want to live their lives.
Felix responds to the revelation of both his and Margaret’s secrets with the same well-mannered, calm temperament that has gotten him through life thus far. He throws himself into parenting Tom, chooses to keep the secret of his birth father until he is older, and treats Cal with respect and dignity. When he reveals the truth to Tom, he approaches the fraught conversation with characteristic care, even when Tom stops speaking to him. When they reconcile, he focuses on helping Tom rather than his own hurts. The secret reveals how committed Felix is to his family’s well-being through how he navigates its revelation.
Secrets impact Cal and Becky differently than they do Felix and Margaret. After the revelation of Cal’s affair, Becky struggles to forgive him, and they separate. Cal agrees to the separation rather than fight it because he is unused to directing the course of his own life: His leg kept him out of the war, the excitement of romance propelled him toward marriage, Roman gave him a career when he was floundering, and Margaret initiated the kiss that began their relationship. Becky and Cal’s reconciliation comes about in part because of the wisdom of the previous generation: Ida and Roman’s early comments about how hard marriage can be foreshadow their conflict. During Becky and Cal’s time of difficulty, Ida and Roman return to these words of wisdom, illustrating their point that marriage is a long road and that its utility lies in its ability to provide stability over a lifetime. In order to do that, spouses must be able to forgive, if not forget, and stay open-minded. The revelation of Cal’s secret gives both Becky and Cal the opportunity to discover that they are capable of forgiveness: Becky forgives Cal for the affair, and Cal “forgives” Becky for not being the spouse he thought she was.
The importance of forgiveness is one of Buckeye’s key points about marriage and families, but forgiveness is not possible without an initial offense to forgive. The broader point of the novel is not that happy marriages are the ones without conflict but that happy marriages are only possible when the revelation of deep and hurtful secrets is handled with empathy and forgiveness.
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