Book Title: The Cider House Rules
Author: John Irving
The setting of this book is between the late 1890s into the early 1900s around World War 1 and post World War 1. I read the first two chapters which was pages 1 to 78. Although this seems short, the book's dialect is a little difficult to comprehend when you first read it. There are many terms and phrases that are difficult to depict and the events at times are hard to follow. The book is evidently about a man named Wilbur Larch who has grown up in a world of abortion, orphans, prostitution, and neglect. The first chapter introduces this doctor and his orphanage institution in the town of St. Clouds. Then it introduces an orphan named Homer Wells who has lived in four foster homes which have all failed and is now a permanent orphan in the institution. After revealing this child's early life, chapter two reveals Wilbur Larch's life and how he has become the man he is today. He grew up with a love for medicine and bacteria, and kept running into events in his life that tied to him back to the world of sexually transmitted diseases and the "devil's work" of abortionists. The book explains his slow acceptance of proceeding with abortions as well as births at the orphanage and explains events that led to his actions. Although confusing, the book is slowly developing a story line but I am still unsure of the plot.
The context is early 1900s where abortion is just becoming legal in some areas of the united states, the Boston area and Maine, and during a time where people performing abortions were not necessarily doctors, but people who came up with their own detrimental ways of removing the fetuses. Although the plot or conflict is not necessarily evident yet, it is implied that it will be the upcoming adventures of Homer Wells life and his growing up, and the final years of his beloved doctor Wilbur Larch. I am also unsure as to why the title of the book is "The Cider House Rules"... but from the information I have already read of the book it might be the case the the orphan house in St. Cloud's is this "cider house" and the "rules" it is referring to is the act of Wilbur Larch delivering babies as well as performing abortions to which rules could be inflicted upon and brought up. The Lord's Work and the Devil's Work and the rules that go alone with both. However there were evident rhetorical devices that helped John Irving create the story that is still finding a hold in my mind...
Anecdotes: Anecdotes are most evident because of their importance in the story. Throughout the entire first two chapters anecdotes from the past are brought up to explain the present situations in the orphan house. Anecdotes of Homer Wells' foster homes and Wilbur Larch's past aggressions and struggles show the reader why things are the way they are in the present tense of the book. They are explained with absolute validity and explanation to thoroughly lead the reader into what emotions the author wants them to achieve. In this way the author is linking to the reader's inner voice to paint a picture in their mind what exactly the author wants them to see.
Repetition of Phrases: In the book this phrase is repeated: "he would force himself to remember: he had slept with someone's mother and dressed himself in the light of her daughter's cigar. He could quite comfortably abstain from having sex for the rest of his life, but how could he ever condemn another person for having sex?" This is repeated at least two or three times in light of the doctor remembering his one encounter with a prostitute that gave him an STD and he later ended up giving his first abortion to this woman and neglecting to give one to her daughter several years later. Sex has become his enemy because his one encounter brought hims so much pain, and memories that will forever be with him. Or perhaps he abstains from sex in order to not be the father of an aborted child or the father of a child who ends up an orphan. After viewing so many women going through the tortures of child birth and abortion and often dying in the process, his views on sex have moved him to becoming abstinent. This quote is very important in order to show the exact view point of the doctor and where he stands when it comes to what he has done and what he will do in his future.
Intense descriptions of Imagery: Imagery is used very frequently in the book because every description and event is very different from the last. Without imagery the reader would be lost and would not know the difference between the characters (which are abundant) and the events that each one took place in. The imagery is able to give readers the proper tone to which is appropriate and to show the mood of each event in the lives of the characters. And eventually the images will tell the whole story, and the words will mean nothing.. meaning the pictures we see when we read this book will become more important then the words used to describe each event. The story will develop a plot and the resolution will be solved with the use of the amazing imagery produced in the story.
- Ali Mason
No comments:
Post a Comment