In a couple of the novels I have read for this project, John Irving has an Author’s Note at the end, in which he discusses the main themes of the books. His themes, as do many of his characters, focus around sex or the sexes, in his attempt to make statements about our world.
With the above thesis, I would discuss how many of the main characters of John Irving’s books focuses on sex. T.S. Garp of The World According to Garp lusts for for women throughout the book, even after he’s married to Helen. Patrick Wallingford of The Fourth Hand begins as a complete playboy until he loses his left hand.
A Widow For One Year’s Ruth Cole is not very sex-obsessed, but she allows her father’s obsession with sex to influence her enough to the point that she has sex with a (there’s no better word for it) jerk, who nearly rapes her and punches her. Homer Wells of The Cider House Rules also avoids being sex obsessed, but he grows up in an orphanage which illegally perform abortions for women who don’t want to have a baby for any reason. Homer Wells also falls in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, Candy (both of whom he met when Candy needed), and keeps some of her pubic hair in his wallet.
Even Jenny Fields, Garp’s mother, who is completely and totally uninterested in sex for pleasure, focuses around sex, even if it’s in total disinterest. In fact, she does focus around having sex for a good portion of the beginning, but unlike many of the other characters, it’s because she wants a baby with no commitments to a man.
And then, of course, I will have to discuss the consequences John Irving writes for acting upon lust. In Garp, Garp’s casual affairs drive his wife, Helen to participate in an affair of her own. This affair leads to the accident which kills their youngest son Walt, and leaves their other son with only one eye. Patrick’s affairs leaves his wife a bitter crone, and later, after he falls in love with Doris Clausen, he decides for some reason impregnating one of his coworkers is a good idea, and nearly messes up his chances with Mrs. Clausen.
This is a very short summary of some the evidence I will have of the messages John Irving is trying to make. I will go on to his opinion on prostitution (which is tied to the lust motivated actions I have shown above), which appears in A Widow For One Year, which he shows in a rather positive light, the differences between the sexes (which is in every book). I will pull quotes from John Irving’s end notes in my essay, but the books I have don’t have them, which I hadn’t noticed before, so I still need to get them. In my paper, I will probably discuss each book one by one, in full detail, then discuss what John Irving said about the events, the message he’s trying to get out to the world, and my own opinion on it.
I’m hesitant and undecided to include connections to John Irving’s life, as he states in one of his end notes, and one of his books have a theme with it, about how very little the author’s life matters if the book is a good story. (I’m also uncertain if he even has a biography or not, for this very reason.) But this describes some of my evidence, the points I’m going to make, and the basic structure I have in mind for my project.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Post #7
I have finished reading "The Cider House Rules" over the break, thus completing my AA readings. It was a total of 552 pages. The book followed the life of Homer Wells, an orphan who grew up in St. Cloud's orphanage. He learns more about medical procedures than most do because he is raised by the doctor at St. Cloud's, who takes him on as an apprentice. Homer leaves in his early twenties to live with a young couple in a small nearby town in order to broaden his world. He falls love with the female of the couple, Candy, and they become lovers when they hear her boyfriend's, Wally, plane was shot down (this took place during WWII). They have a baby and then learn Wally is alive, but they all live together as one whole family, both Homer and Candy taking care of Wally who is a cripple due to his injuries.
Then it follows Homer's and Candy's son, Angel Wells, for a short time. The book ends with Homer taking St. Cloud's doctor's, Wilbur Larch, place as the doctor of St. Cloud's.
John Irving loves to show the consequences on acting on lust. There are so many examples of that in his books, it's ridiculous. Garp, in the World According to Garp, pursues lust which convinces his wife that her own affair would just teach him a lesson, and the follow events leads to their youngest son's death, and their oldest son's loss of one of his eyes.
Ruth's father's in "A Widow for One Year" ruins the lives of many women, from his wife, to Ruth, to random girls he has sex with. Too many examples to count for that. There is one where he has affairs with a woman's daughter and the woman, destroying the two's relationships, thus scarring the daughter emotionally forever after her mother dies with no closure.
Patrick Wallingford, in "The Fourth Hand", is a promiscuous playboy, who has a change in heart after falling in love, only to ruin it all because he's not that smart. It's only due to the insanity of love that prevents the love of his life from abandoning him after he tried to impregnate a coworker.
And of course, in "The Cider House Rules," St. Cloud's orphanage performs illegal but safe abortions for women who don't want a baby but are pregnant through mistakes on their part or on the part of others. Homer Wells and Candy muck up their lives by Candy getting pregnant, but this is shortly after Wally 'died', so they don't want Wally's mother to know, in fear of infuriating her. Then Wally comes back after the baby is born, thus creating a muck of lies.
If I expounded the above, that could be my paper.
I'm quite interested in how Irving creates characters that your could meet on the street, but are still crazy as sin. Any character is an example of this. I might be able to work with this thesis, but I'd need to think about it.
Then it follows Homer's and Candy's son, Angel Wells, for a short time. The book ends with Homer taking St. Cloud's doctor's, Wilbur Larch, place as the doctor of St. Cloud's.
John Irving loves to show the consequences on acting on lust. There are so many examples of that in his books, it's ridiculous. Garp, in the World According to Garp, pursues lust which convinces his wife that her own affair would just teach him a lesson, and the follow events leads to their youngest son's death, and their oldest son's loss of one of his eyes.
Ruth's father's in "A Widow for One Year" ruins the lives of many women, from his wife, to Ruth, to random girls he has sex with. Too many examples to count for that. There is one where he has affairs with a woman's daughter and the woman, destroying the two's relationships, thus scarring the daughter emotionally forever after her mother dies with no closure.
Patrick Wallingford, in "The Fourth Hand", is a promiscuous playboy, who has a change in heart after falling in love, only to ruin it all because he's not that smart. It's only due to the insanity of love that prevents the love of his life from abandoning him after he tried to impregnate a coworker.
And of course, in "The Cider House Rules," St. Cloud's orphanage performs illegal but safe abortions for women who don't want a baby but are pregnant through mistakes on their part or on the part of others. Homer Wells and Candy muck up their lives by Candy getting pregnant, but this is shortly after Wally 'died', so they don't want Wally's mother to know, in fear of infuriating her. Then Wally comes back after the baby is born, thus creating a muck of lies.
If I expounded the above, that could be my paper.
I'm quite interested in how Irving creates characters that your could meet on the street, but are still crazy as sin. Any character is an example of this. I might be able to work with this thesis, but I'd need to think about it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Post #6
Book: The Fourth Hand
Pages: 191-238
Not yet done with my second book, so I've got to do a lot more reading. I've been slacking.
But in the bit I did read, Patrick Wallingford has slept with Mary, a coworker, because she wants to get pregnant with HIS child. She turns out to have been promoted to be the news editor and has been manipulating him by telling him half-truths and omitting rather important details.
He then acts on his attraction for Angie, the makeup girl, and sleeps with her, upsetting Mary. (And he is not sorry at all.) I stopped reading at the point where he travels to Winconsin to visit Mrs. Clausen, the wife of the man whose hand he had for a year before his body rejected it.
I am definitely going to write about the way Irving depicts the attitudes on sex. Mary's reaction of Wallingford sleeping with Angie would be one of my prime example, as she seemed to think it meant more than it was supposed to.
Pages: 191-238
Not yet done with my second book, so I've got to do a lot more reading. I've been slacking.
But in the bit I did read, Patrick Wallingford has slept with Mary, a coworker, because she wants to get pregnant with HIS child. She turns out to have been promoted to be the news editor and has been manipulating him by telling him half-truths and omitting rather important details.
He then acts on his attraction for Angie, the makeup girl, and sleeps with her, upsetting Mary. (And he is not sorry at all.) I stopped reading at the point where he travels to Winconsin to visit Mrs. Clausen, the wife of the man whose hand he had for a year before his body rejected it.
I am definitely going to write about the way Irving depicts the attitudes on sex. Mary's reaction of Wallingford sleeping with Angie would be one of my prime example, as she seemed to think it meant more than it was supposed to.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Post #5
Book: The Fourth Hand
Pages: 182-191
Chapter: 9
I think I mentioned in a previous post that John Irving likes to reel in the reader by dropping a line of what will happen, and then spend pages explaining what led up to that event. I'm sure there's a name for this technique, but I can't recall it. It's not exactly foreshadowing... I've always thought of foreshadowing as subtler.
I haven't read much recently, but in the pages I did read, the main character, Patrick Wallingford met a woman who called herself Sarah Williams, and befriended her, despite the fact she publicly and verbally attacks Wallingford's work as an news anchor. When she leaves, Wallingford discovers no one in the hotel they both were staying at had the name of Sarah Williams, and wonders if anything she said was true. He thinks it was, as she only hesitated giving her name.
Pages: 182-191
Chapter: 9
I think I mentioned in a previous post that John Irving likes to reel in the reader by dropping a line of what will happen, and then spend pages explaining what led up to that event. I'm sure there's a name for this technique, but I can't recall it. It's not exactly foreshadowing... I've always thought of foreshadowing as subtler.
I haven't read much recently, but in the pages I did read, the main character, Patrick Wallingford met a woman who called herself Sarah Williams, and befriended her, despite the fact she publicly and verbally attacks Wallingford's work as an news anchor. When she leaves, Wallingford discovers no one in the hotel they both were staying at had the name of Sarah Williams, and wonders if anything she said was true. He thinks it was, as she only hesitated giving her name.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Post #4
Book: The Fourth Hand by John Irving
Pages: 120 - 182
In the recent turn of events, the main character, Patrick Wallingford gained a soul by loving widow Doris Clausen and her not loving him back. There's a dramatic change of character- he's no longer a ladies' man, he's far more sympathetic to the world, and in general, he's a much more decent human being.
As far as symbolism goes, I can't say I'm really good at picking it out unless if it's throw into my face. So no, I can't say I have noticed any symbolism in John Irving's works. Chances are, he is using a character or a character trait to symbolise something, but I'm not good at picking those out. He does use a lot of foreshadowing, leading the reader to know what will happen (like how he stated right off how a man would lose his hand) but keeping it ineresting enough to hold the reader's attention.
A big theme of Irving's is the view on sex from the different genders. It'd be a good paper topic. The thesis would probably be: In all of his books, John Irving's explicitly uses sex as a way to eccentuate the differences between genders.
Something like that, maybe.
Pages: 120 - 182
In the recent turn of events, the main character, Patrick Wallingford gained a soul by loving widow Doris Clausen and her not loving him back. There's a dramatic change of character- he's no longer a ladies' man, he's far more sympathetic to the world, and in general, he's a much more decent human being.
As far as symbolism goes, I can't say I'm really good at picking it out unless if it's throw into my face. So no, I can't say I have noticed any symbolism in John Irving's works. Chances are, he is using a character or a character trait to symbolise something, but I'm not good at picking those out. He does use a lot of foreshadowing, leading the reader to know what will happen (like how he stated right off how a man would lose his hand) but keeping it ineresting enough to hold the reader's attention.
A big theme of Irving's is the view on sex from the different genders. It'd be a good paper topic. The thesis would probably be: In all of his books, John Irving's explicitly uses sex as a way to eccentuate the differences between genders.
Something like that, maybe.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Post #3
I began reading The Fourth Hand by John Irving. I started on page 0 and now I'm on page 120. The book focuses mainly on Patrick Wallingford, a journalist reporter who's quite proud of his title as a journalist, and how he lost his left hand when he places it too close to a lion's cage in India. Then the focuses shift to Dr. Zajac, a hand surgeon, and his determination to give Wallingford a hand replacement. Then it describes the Doris and Otto Clausen, a married couple who vary on their sympathy for Wallingford's missing hand. Doris immediately begins talking about giving up Otto's left hand for the poor man, saying that she would. Otto has nightmares because of this, dreaming of Patrick (who has his left hand attached to himself) making love to his wife. Unfortunately, a drunken Otto dies when his own gun fires while it's pointed towards him. Doris immediately has his left hand preserved so it can be given to Wallingford.
Doris is obviously insane. It's very obvious, after only a few pages after she's introduced. The theme of craziness is abundant in Irving's books. Zajac, for example, has many oddities, including but not limited to scooping up dog shit with a lacrosse stick and disposing of it, or flinging it at people/things. But mostly people. A thesis of their craziness and how they do seem like people one could meet on the street is a very disturbing factor which merits some exploring.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Post #2
"When Ruth Cole entered her parents' bedroom, she saw the naked young man who had mounted her mother from behind; he was holding her mother's breast in his hands and humping her on all fours, like a dog, but it was neither the violence nor the repugnance of the sexual act that caused Ruth to scream. The four-year-old didn't know that she was witnessing a sexual act- nor did the young man and her mother's activity strike Ruth as entirely unpleasant. In fact, Ruth was relieved to see that her mother was not throwing up.
And it wasn't the young man's nakedness that caused Ruth to scream;she had seen her father and her mother naked- nakedness was not hidden among the Coles. It was the young man himself who made Ruth scream, because she was certain he was one of her dead brothers; he looked so much like Thomas, the confident one, that Ruth Cole believed she had seen a ghost" (4, A Widow for One Year).
Despite the slight uneasiness I have typing that passage, it captures an aspect of John Irving's writing. His style is purely blunt, despite the sexual or violent content, and thoroughly describes the characters motives, giving all of his characters depth. I thought of this passage because it was near the beginning and stuck out to me. I've already finished A Widow for One Year so I haven't read anything more. I have other books, but I haven't started them yet. And I haven't given any thought to a thesis.
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