Compare the Ways in Which the Theme of Insanity Is Presented in the Novels “the Wasp Factory” and “the Collector”
Compare the ways in which the theme of insanity is presented in the novels “the Wasp Factory” and “the Collector”.
Miles Cooper
Iain Banks and John Fowles have successfully written books portraying insanity, with the effective use of many techniques. Language, in the books, “The Collector” and “The Wasp Factory” has been used to great effect as well as enthralling plots and the development of characters exhibiting strange behaviour to achieve realistically insane characters.
Misogyny is an apparent issue in each novel, and the cruelty shown to women is a large part of the narrative. Both main characters Frank and Frederick Clegg have different reasons for their actions, however both of their stories are dark and thrilling. It can be argued, that the absence of women in Frank’s life, has fundamentally scarred his conscience and he shows his extreme contempt for women regularly and often in disturbing ways. For example, Frank murders his younger cousin, whom he believed to be ‘perfectly likeable’, just to remove the ‘statistical favour’ he had given women by killing his younger brother. Esmerelda is described by Frank as a purely innocent child, and the fact that he can see this, worries the reader further as you begin to see how twisted his mind is.
“The wind blew her blond hair in front of her face as she walked, squatted, crawled and talked,” Page 116
To the reader, Esmerelda is an innocent girl, who has no reason to be hurt, however to Frank she is just the ‘easiest and most obvious target’. The questionable state of Frank’s mind is exposed here, we see frank witness the childlike actions that Esmerelda performs, particularly ‘crawled’, but due to his insanity and hatred of women he still carries out his malicious and rehearsed plan.
Frederick Clegg’s actions, on the other hand are too complex to be defined solely as misogynistic, but they are just as terrifying. Clegg carefully develops every step of his plan, in a cold and mathematical
Miles Cooper
Iain Banks and John Fowles have successfully written books portraying insanity, with the effective use of many techniques. Language, in the books, “The Collector” and “The Wasp Factory” has been used to great effect as well as enthralling plots and the development of characters exhibiting strange behaviour to achieve realistically insane characters.
Misogyny is an apparent issue in each novel, and the cruelty shown to women is a large part of the narrative. Both main characters Frank and Frederick Clegg have different reasons for their actions, however both of their stories are dark and thrilling. It can be argued, that the absence of women in Frank’s life, has fundamentally scarred his conscience and he shows his extreme contempt for women regularly and often in disturbing ways. For example, Frank murders his younger cousin, whom he believed to be ‘perfectly likeable’, just to remove the ‘statistical favour’ he had given women by killing his younger brother. Esmerelda is described by Frank as a purely innocent child, and the fact that he can see this, worries the reader further as you begin to see how twisted his mind is.
“The wind blew her blond hair in front of her face as she walked, squatted, crawled and talked,” Page 116
To the reader, Esmerelda is an innocent girl, who has no reason to be hurt, however to Frank she is just the ‘easiest and most obvious target’. The questionable state of Frank’s mind is exposed here, we see frank witness the childlike actions that Esmerelda performs, particularly ‘crawled’, but due to his insanity and hatred of women he still carries out his malicious and rehearsed plan.
Frederick Clegg’s actions, on the other hand are too complex to be defined solely as misogynistic, but they are just as terrifying. Clegg carefully develops every step of his plan, in a cold and mathematical
Bibliography: The Wasp Factory The Collector Postmodernist narrative strategies in the novels of John Fowles (Prof. Dr. Manfred Smuda) (http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=978606957&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=978606957.pdf) California Literary Review Hamish Hamilton - Literary Consequences