Headmaster+EB

Evan Bower The Headmaster

I read //The Headmaster// immediately after reading //A Sense of Where You Are.// Both are profiles, and together I think they help illuminate what McPhee is attempting to do by writing a profile, at least in these two cases. In both articles, he presents a near flawless man. Both have accomplished such perfection through being meticulously concerned with their careers that they border on neurosis. It is for this determination that McPhee appears to be writing about them, since their work ethic covers about three quarters of the articles. Since I have never met someone so perfectly focused on their craft, let alone two, this means that either I’m hanging around with the wrong crowd, or that McPhee speaks only of their virtues for a reason. This lead to thinking that through the profiles, McPhee is trying to tell us something about heroism, not just about the particular people (but that too).

In //The Headmaster,// McPhee is explicit in describing that Mr. Boyden’s capacity for forgiveness is perfect. He writes that, “People often wonder what on earth could make him actually drop a boy, and the five cases in which he has done so are therefore of particular interest. All have a common factor: the offender was unremorseful.” While this trait of his may be perfect, there certainly must be a negative aspect of his personality which can counter it, but McPhee doesn’t tell us. His reason for this must simply be that he doesn’t want to, because it isn’t relevant to what he is trying to say in the article. Ultimately, the article must be speaking about what is in Boyden that is heroic. McPhee is writing about a school, but is speaking about what can be good and admirable in us.

Since reading //The Headmaster,// I’ve read William Howarth’s introduction to the //McPhee Reader,// in which he offers an antithesis to my take on McPhee’s characters as heroes. He states that although the characters have admirable qualities, the qualities are always counterbalanced by manifesting equal amounts negativity in the person’s life. He maintains that while Bradley benefits from his dedication to basketball, it should be read in a way that we see he also misses other things in life from constantly being on the court. Similarly, in reading //The Headmaster,// we see Boyden as the hero of a school, but also a man who is easily forgotten and lost in a crowd. I fail to see what Howarth points out as negative. I leave the two articles with a sense that for McPhee, it is one person one art. The profile presented of McPhee by Howarth in the introduction of the book only adds to this view, as McPhee is equally caught up in his art as Bradley and Boyden. On top of this, I don’t believe that the skill with which Boyden runs his school is the end to which McPhee is leading us. Although his dedication is certainly meant to come off admirable, as is Bradley’s, I believe it is only a virtue in the eyes of McPhee if it comes with the virtue of charity.

When McPhee says that the only boys lost to the grace of Boyden were those that were “unremorseful,” his description could very well be for Christ rather than Boyden. If that is the parallel he is making, (and whether he intends to or not, I believe it is made), what appears to be just a profile is really an ode to the good which human beings can exhibit.

I think the quote above is particularly interesting in that Boyden’s noble actions seem to all branch from the virtue of charity, and that is strongly alluded to in McPhee’s discussion of forgiveness. In using this language, McPhee is addressing the idea of the “hero,” and writes in admiration of how well people can treat each other. The profiles focus on Bradley and Boyden, as they are two individuals who so greatly represent how above and beyond a person can go in the treatment of others. Both stories set up a sense of community, whether it is a basketball team or a school of boys. What is remarkable about both individuals is that they strive not only for greatness in their community, but they do so with the end in mind of improving the community by means of themselves. Bradley passes the ball so perfectly, to give his teammates open shots and make them better players. Boyden has his desk in the schools hallway to be there if one of the kids would need him. The characters offer the reader hope because they signify that not only can humans tolerate each other, but they can genuinely care about one another. The importance of this message comes in the fact that it shows us a sense of community that is so often not the case.