The Man with the Golden Arm (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Man with the Golden Arm is a novel by Nelson Algren
that details the trials and hardships of illicit card dealer
"Frankie Machine", along with an assortment of colorful characters, on Chicago
's Near Northwest Side. A veteran of World War II
, Frankie struggles to stabilize his personal life while trying to make ends meet and fight a growing addiction to morphine
. Much of the story takes place during the immediate postwar period along Division Street
and Milwaukee Avenue
in the old Polish Downtown
.
Published by Doubleday in November 1949, this dark novel won the very first National Book Award
in 1950. One of the seminal novels of post-World War II American letters, The Man with the Golden Arm is widely considered Algren's greatest and most enduring work.
. The title character is Francis Majcinek, known as "Frankie Machine", a young man who is a gifted card dealer and an amateur drummer. While serving in World War II
, Frankie is treated for shrapnel
in his liver and medicated with morphine
. He develops an addiction to the drug, although initially in the story he believes he can control his habit.
Frankie lives in a small apartment on Division Street
with his wife, Sophie (nicknamed "Zosh"). Sophie has been using a wheelchair since a drunk-driving accident caused by Frankie (although the novel implies that her paralysis is psychological in nature). She spends most of her time looking out the window and watching the nearby elevated rail line
. She takes out her frustrations by fighting with her husband, and she uses his guilt to keep him from leaving her. The turmoil in their relationship only spurs on his addiction.
He works nights dealing in backroom card games operated by "Zero" Schwiefka. He aspires to join the Musicians' Union
and work with jazz drummer Gene Krupa
, but this dream never materializes. His constant companion and protégé is "Sparrow" Saltskin, a feeble-minded thief who specializes in stealing and selling dogs; Frankie gets Sparrow a job as a "steerer", watching the door to the card games and drawing in gamblers.
Often referring to his drug habit as the "thirty-five-pound monkey on his back", Frankie initially tries to keep Sparrow and the others in the dark about it. He sends Sparrow away whenever he visits "Nifty Louie" Fomorowski, his supplier. One night, while fighting in a back stairwell, Frankie inadvertently kills Nifty Louie. He and Sparrow attempt to cover up his role in the murder.
Meanwhile, Frankie begins an affair with a childhood friend, "Molly-O" Novotny, after her abusive husband is arrested. Molly helps Frankie fight his addiction, but they soon become separated when Frankie is imprisoned for shoplifting and she moves out of the neighborhood. Without Molly, he begins using drugs again when he is released.
Nifty Louie owed money to politically connected men, and finding his killer becomes a priority for the police department. Sparrow is held for questioning by the police, and he is moved from station to station to circumvent Habeas corpus
requirements. Eventually he breaks down and reveals what he knows, and Frankie is forced to flee.
While on the run, Frankie manages to find Molly at a strip club near Lake Street
. He hides in her apartment and beats his addiction, but in the end the authorities learn where he is hiding. He barely manages to escape and gets shot in the foot, leaving Molly behind. He flees to a flophouse
, but without any hope of reuniting with Molly or staying free, he hangs himself in his room.
The novel ends with a transcript of the coroner's inquest
, as well as a poem for Frankie entitled "Epitaph
."
... I knew in the Army."
The first draft of the story did not include the topic of drug addiction. Algren later recalled, "I’d sent the book to the agent, and the agent said she liked it and all that, but it needed a peg, it didn’t seem to be hung on anything." While considering what to do, he went out for drinks with a friend who later revealed that he was an intravenous-drug user. This inspired Algren to incorporate drug use into the novel.
in 1950. The award was presented to author Nelson Algren by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt
.
Writing of Algren and the novel, Kurt Vonnegut
stated that "he was a pioneering ancestor of mine... He broke new ground by depicting persons said to be dehumanized by poverty and ignorance and injustice as being genuinely dehumanized, and dehumanized quite permanently." Poet Carl Sandburg
praised the novel's "strange midnight dignity."
In a 1949 letter to Algren, Ernest Hemingway
provided the following review of the novel (which Doubleday chose not include in its marketing):
In his 1981 obituary for Algren, Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko
, who grew up near Division Street, recalled first reading the book while serving in the Korean War
. "It was the first time I had read a novel that was set in a place I knew. And Algren, with The Man with the Golden Arm, had captured it. He had the people, the sounds, the alleys, the streets, the feel of the place."
The novel was controversial at the time, and it did receive some critical reviews. In a 1956 article for the The New Yorker
entitled "The Man with the Golden Beef," Norman Podhoretz
was critical of what he saw as the glorification of the underclass
at the expense of respectable society. This sentiment was shared by Leslie Fiedler
in an article on Algren's writings for The Reporter
entitled "The Noble Savages of Skid Row."
Like Algren's previous novel, Never Come Morning, The Man with the Golden Arm drew fire from leaders of Chicago's Polish community
, who criticized the portrayal of their community in the story. Royko wrote of these critics, "They believed that... Algren was presenting them in a poor light. I guess they would have preferred that he write a novel about a Polish dentist who changed his name and moved from the old neighborhood to a suburb as soon as he made enough money."
directed by Otto Preminger
and starring Frank Sinatra
. Though author Nelson Algren was initially brought to Hollywood to work on the screenplay, he was quickly replaced by Walter Newman
. Algren felt negatively about his experiences in Hollywood, the lack of compensation he received, and the liberties taken by the filmmakers (which included an entirely different ending from the novel). When photographer and friend Art Shay
asked Algren to pose below the film's marquee
, he is reported to have said "What does that movie have to do with me?"
Nelson Algren Committee
Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren was an American writer.-Early life:Algren was born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Goldie and Gerson Abraham. At the age of three he moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois where they lived in a working-class, immigrant neighborhood on the South Side...
that details the trials and hardships of illicit card dealer
Poker dealer
A poker dealer distributes cards to players and manages the action at a poker table.-Professional dealers:Any casino with a poker room must hire a staff of dealers. Casinos generally pay dealers minimum wage. However, a dealer's primary source of income is not salary, but tips from players*...
"Frankie Machine", along with an assortment of colorful characters, on Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's Near Northwest Side. A veteran of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Frankie struggles to stabilize his personal life while trying to make ends meet and fight a growing addiction to morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
. Much of the story takes place during the immediate postwar period along Division Street
Division Street (Chicago)
Division Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois, located at 1200 North . Division Street begins in the Gold Coast neighborhood near Lake Shore Drive, passes through Polonia Triangle at Milwaukee Avenue into Wicker Park and continues to Chicago's city limits and into the city's...
and Milwaukee Avenue
Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago)
Milwaukee Avenue is a major diagonal street in the city of Chicago and the northern suburbs. True to its name, it once led to the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Starting with a short section at N. Canal and W. Lake Streets, it begins in earnest at the corner of N Desplaines and W. Kinzie Streets...
in the old Polish Downtown
Polish Downtown (Chicago)
Polish Downtown was Chicago’s oldest and most prominent Polish settlement. Polish Downtown was the political, cultural and social capital of not only Poles in Chicago but Polish Americans throughout North America as well...
.
Published by Doubleday in November 1949, this dark novel won the very first National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 1950. One of the seminal novels of post-World War II American letters, The Man with the Golden Arm is widely considered Algren's greatest and most enduring work.
Plot summary
The events of the novel take place between 1946 and 1948, primarily on the Near Northwest Side of ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The title character is Francis Majcinek, known as "Frankie Machine", a young man who is a gifted card dealer and an amateur drummer. While serving in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Frankie is treated for shrapnel
Shrapnel
Shrapnel shells were anti-personnel artillery munitions which carried a large number of individual bullets close to the target and then ejected them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually. They relied almost entirely on the shell's velocity for...
in his liver and medicated with morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
. He develops an addiction to the drug, although initially in the story he believes he can control his habit.
Frankie lives in a small apartment on Division Street
Division Street (Chicago)
Division Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois, located at 1200 North . Division Street begins in the Gold Coast neighborhood near Lake Shore Drive, passes through Polonia Triangle at Milwaukee Avenue into Wicker Park and continues to Chicago's city limits and into the city's...
with his wife, Sophie (nicknamed "Zosh"). Sophie has been using a wheelchair since a drunk-driving accident caused by Frankie (although the novel implies that her paralysis is psychological in nature). She spends most of her time looking out the window and watching the nearby elevated rail line
Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad
The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad was the third elevated rapid transit line to be built in Chicago, Illinois and was the first of Chicago’s elevated lines to be electrically powered...
. She takes out her frustrations by fighting with her husband, and she uses his guilt to keep him from leaving her. The turmoil in their relationship only spurs on his addiction.
He works nights dealing in backroom card games operated by "Zero" Schwiefka. He aspires to join the Musicians' Union
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
and work with jazz drummer Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
, but this dream never materializes. His constant companion and protégé is "Sparrow" Saltskin, a feeble-minded thief who specializes in stealing and selling dogs; Frankie gets Sparrow a job as a "steerer", watching the door to the card games and drawing in gamblers.
Often referring to his drug habit as the "thirty-five-pound monkey on his back", Frankie initially tries to keep Sparrow and the others in the dark about it. He sends Sparrow away whenever he visits "Nifty Louie" Fomorowski, his supplier. One night, while fighting in a back stairwell, Frankie inadvertently kills Nifty Louie. He and Sparrow attempt to cover up his role in the murder.
Meanwhile, Frankie begins an affair with a childhood friend, "Molly-O" Novotny, after her abusive husband is arrested. Molly helps Frankie fight his addiction, but they soon become separated when Frankie is imprisoned for shoplifting and she moves out of the neighborhood. Without Molly, he begins using drugs again when he is released.
Nifty Louie owed money to politically connected men, and finding his killer becomes a priority for the police department. Sparrow is held for questioning by the police, and he is moved from station to station to circumvent Habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
requirements. Eventually he breaks down and reveals what he knows, and Frankie is forced to flee.
While on the run, Frankie manages to find Molly at a strip club near Lake Street
Lake Street (Chicago)
Lake Street is an east-west arterial road in Chicago and its suburbs. Part of Lake Street is designated as U.S. Route 20. Lake Street begins in the city of Chicago and travels west and slightly north to the Chicago suburbs. It ends at the eastern terminus of the Elgin Bypass around Elgin, where...
. He hides in her apartment and beats his addiction, but in the end the authorities learn where he is hiding. He barely manages to escape and gets shot in the foot, leaving Molly behind. He flees to a flophouse
Flophouse
A flophouse , doss-house or dosshouse is a place that offers very cheap lodging, generally by providing only minimal services.-Characteristics:...
, but without any hope of reuniting with Molly or staying free, he hangs himself in his room.
The novel ends with a transcript of the coroner's inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
, as well as a poem for Frankie entitled "Epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
."
Background
Algren began writing the novel after (much like his protagonist) returning from World War II, and he originally intended to write a war novel. The part of Chicago he lived in served as the backdrop for the story. He originally intended the title to be Night Without Mercy, but the publisher preferred a less ominous title. Algren stated that "golden arm" originated as a term frequently used by a "little Italian bookieBookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
... I knew in the Army."
The first draft of the story did not include the topic of drug addiction. Algren later recalled, "I’d sent the book to the agent, and the agent said she liked it and all that, but it needed a peg, it didn’t seem to be hung on anything." While considering what to do, he went out for drinks with a friend who later revealed that he was an intravenous-drug user. This inspired Algren to incorporate drug use into the novel.
Reception
The novel is considered by many to be a classic of twentieth-century American literature. The book was awarded the first National Book AwardNational Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 1950. The award was presented to author Nelson Algren by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
.
Writing of Algren and the novel, Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
stated that "he was a pioneering ancestor of mine... He broke new ground by depicting persons said to be dehumanized by poverty and ignorance and injustice as being genuinely dehumanized, and dehumanized quite permanently." Poet Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
praised the novel's "strange midnight dignity."
In a 1949 letter to Algren, Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
provided the following review of the novel (which Doubleday chose not include in its marketing):
Into a world of letters where we have the fading FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
and that overgrown Lil Abner Thomas WolfeThomas WolfeThomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
casts a shorter shadow every day, Algren comes like a corvette or even a big destroyer... Algren can hit with both hands and move around and he will kill you if you are not awfully careful... Mr. Algren, boy, you are good.
In his 1981 obituary for Algren, Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko
Mike Royko
Michael "Mike" Royko was a newspaper columnist in Chicago, who won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary...
, who grew up near Division Street, recalled first reading the book while serving in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. "It was the first time I had read a novel that was set in a place I knew. And Algren, with The Man with the Golden Arm, had captured it. He had the people, the sounds, the alleys, the streets, the feel of the place."
The novel was controversial at the time, and it did receive some critical reviews. In a 1956 article for the The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
entitled "The Man with the Golden Beef," Norman Podhoretz
Norman Podhoretz
Norman B. Podhoretz is an American neoconservative pundit and writer for Commentary magazine.-Early life:The son of Julius and Helen Podhoretz, Jewish immigrants from the Central European region of Galicia, Podhoretz was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn...
was critical of what he saw as the glorification of the underclass
Underclass
The term underclass refers to a segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences...
at the expense of respectable society. This sentiment was shared by Leslie Fiedler
Leslie Fiedler
Leslie Aaron Fiedler was a Jewish-American literary critic, known for his interest in mythography and his championing of genre fiction. His work also involves application of psychological theories to American literature. He was in practical terms one of the early postmodernist critics working...
in an article on Algren's writings for The Reporter
The Reporter
The Reporter is the local newspaper based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and owned by Gannett. It serves primarily Fond du Lac and northern Dodge County in East Central Wisconsin....
entitled "The Noble Savages of Skid Row."
Like Algren's previous novel, Never Come Morning, The Man with the Golden Arm drew fire from leaders of Chicago's Polish community
Poles in Chicago
Chicago Polonia, refers to both immigrant Poles and Americans of Polish heritage living in Chicago, Illinois. They are a part of worldwide Polonia, the proper term for the Polish Diaspora outside of Poland. Poles in Chicago have contributed to the economic, social and cultural well-being of Chicago...
, who criticized the portrayal of their community in the story. Royko wrote of these critics, "They believed that... Algren was presenting them in a poor light. I guess they would have preferred that he write a novel about a Polish dentist who changed his name and moved from the old neighborhood to a suburb as soon as he made enough money."
Film adaptation
In 1955, the book was made into a filmThe Man with the Golden Arm
The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a heroin addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. It stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold...
directed by Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
and starring Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Though author Nelson Algren was initially brought to Hollywood to work on the screenplay, he was quickly replaced by Walter Newman
Walter Newman (screenwriter)
Walter Newman was an American radio writer and screenwriter active from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. He was nominated three times for Academy Awards , but he may be best known for a work that never made it to the screen: his unproduced original script Harrow Alley.Newman's radio...
. Algren felt negatively about his experiences in Hollywood, the lack of compensation he received, and the liberties taken by the filmmakers (which included an entirely different ending from the novel). When photographer and friend Art Shay
Art Shay
Art Shay is an American photographer and writer. Born in 1922, he grew up in the Bronx and then served as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, during which he flew 52 bomber missions . Shay joined the staff of Life magazine, and quickly became a Chicago-based freelance...
asked Algren to pose below the film's marquee
Marquee (sign)
A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...
, he is reported to have said "What does that movie have to do with me?"