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.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Joanna-
When these characters act on their lustful feelings is the outcome always negative? Why/why not?