Frank's Identity in Revolutionary Road Kal O'Reilly 12th Grade

The novel Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates has been recognized as one of the great stories of the modern era. One facet of this complex story is the character of Frank, and how his own inner struggles translate into his life, and other’s lives. Frank feels his identity is being taken from him, and tries to overcompensate.

Frank tries to present his masculine identity by providing he is capable of having children, and coerces April into being a mother. The most clear example of this is April’s first pregnancy. April becomes pregnant on accident, and neither her nor Frank want a child, so she proposes that she should get an abortion. Frank strongly opposes the idea and talks her out of it. The next morning, he reflects on the argument and thinks to himself “And it seemed to him now that no single moment of his life had ever contained a better proof of manhood than that… holding that tamed, submissive girl and saying, “Oh my lovely; oh, my lovely,” while she promised she would bear his child” (52). Frank admits to himself that their first child was not born out of love or even an accident, it was a calculated decision to prove his masculinity to the world. Even further, he drags April into his act, ruining their marriage in the...