The Ginger Man definitely fits the category of comedy in the classical sense, with the main character beginning in dire straits and ending with an uncertain but optimistic future. Uncertain here is a key word, because Dangerfield only thrives in uncertain, chaotic circumstances. When he is able to contemplate, he usually tends toward melancholy. This melancholy provides some of the novel's best writing, but is a mood the hero escapes whenever possible, by getting drunk or otherwise stirring things up. It is in this latter mood that the most hilarious episodes occur, but there is entertaining wordplay as well in the most casual observations. Dangerfield has no ambition, only dreams. Real life can only sporadically supply what he requires, so he is constantly moving from one uncertainty to the next. He experiences rare moments of true joy; boisterous camaraderie, sanctuary after a violent episode, forgetfulness in a woman's arms (to put it in a cliched form quite at odds with the tone of the book itself), an occasional epiphany of the poetry of Ireland that led him there in the first place. He reacts with violence to violations of his sovereign right to do what he pleases, or when he feels personally slighted - there is a feeling that he considers himself a keeper of the flame, with a necessary cross to bear in order to tend it, which sometimes manifests itself as an elitist belief in his own righteous passion, at other times as base snobbery, or again as maudlin self-pity. This is one of the endearing aspects of his character. The women in his life generally want something from him that he is unable and unwilling to provide; constancy. The men he relates to don't demand this, so many of the best moments in this book and in Dangerfield's life consist of banter with these men wherein his wit is revealed and distant vistas of unconquered territory momentarily glisten. In these conversations the commodities he provides become clear - raw energy and the feeling that one can act on his impulses and realize his dreams. His saving grace from a reader's point of view is his being true to his own inconstant, selfish self. He's his worst enemy, and woe to those who are attracted to him - but many are.
