Novel: "The Average American Male" by Chad Kultgen (America)

Beyond the surface of social sensibility, there lies within us all an interior monologue of thoughts that are so genuine and unfiltered that to utter them into words would be social suicide.

Chad Kultgen, in his novel The Average American Male, takes these monologues and dares to transcribe them through the perspective of (yes, you’ve guessed it) a nameless average American male with an average job in an average relationship.  Although this late twenty-something man’s life teeters tediously on the fence of mediocrity, there is nothing quite average about this novel.

The structure and narration takes the form of scattered, incomplete, and sometimes incoherent thoughts and ideas, anything from compulsive masturbation habits to pornography, to how much he detests his “fat ass girlfriend.” The chapters, short and abrupt, are at times not even numbered, but referred to as “some chapter,” reflecting the narrator’s utter apathy, so much so that he can’t even bother to place an appropriate number. The narrative centralizes on the relationship between the narrator and his girlfriend among a whirlpool of sexual fantasy and perversion. Even a whole chapter is dedicated to a graphic description of intercourse while his girlfriend is menstruating. All the while, the impending doom of marriage lurks in a future the man will do anything to avoid. He eventually dumps his girlfriend, breaking her heart and disapointing her parents, but is barely empathetic or hurt himself, except perhaps at the possibility of losing regular sex.

"The Average American Male" promotional video as part the novel's viral marketing campaign.

Kultgen is making a statement about the average American male (and by extension, I would say, the "Western" male in general) as a selfish, sex-obsessed, borderline sociopathic egoist whose main concern is to avoid commitment at all costs. According to the novel, the average male is apathetic, unbecoming, and uncultured. In between gaming XBox and jerking off to internet pornography, he sheepishly goes to his job thinking of only the next moment he can go home to screw his girlfriend.

This statement is a bold one, but is Kultgen altogether incorrect? Men, take a look around at other men and even at yourself, and ask if deep down at your most primitive you are that much different. Granted, Kultgen exaggerates for comedic effect and to really hit the message home, but under the exaggeration lies a few very real nuggets of truth about the inner psyches of men. Sex, freedom, immediate pleasure, they're etched into our sometimes feeble minds by the forces of evolution, and there they will stay no matter how modern we may consider ourselves. Kultgen only brings it to the surface, dangles it in our faces, and laughs.