Post #8 Thesis Proposal

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.