Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah Plain and Tall - Comparing Book and Movie
The beginning of the movie begins with the exact same scene between Anna and Caleb that appears in the book. However, the movie, Sarah Plain and Tall has a variety of differences from Patricia MacLachlan’s children’s novel Sarah Plain and Tall. Essentially the movie had to go to a deeper level in order to attract adults to the story. Every event that is in the book happens in the movie. However, the movie adds scenes and complicates the relationships between the characters.
The complication between characters is especially shown in Anna and Sarah’s relationship. In the movie Anna is mad about Sarah coming to stay for a month. However, in the book she says “I wished everything was as perfect as the stone. I wished that Papa and Caleb and I were perfect for Sarah” (21). In the book Anna has no trouble liking Sarah, but in the movie Anna has a hard time letting go of her real mother and will not let Sarah get close to her. It is not until Sarah comforts Anna after a bad dream and tells her “when I was ten my mamma died” (which was not told in the book) that Sarah and Anna have a close relationship. After Sarah and Anna reach an understanding, Sarah tries to help Anna remember her mother by putting her mother’s candlesticks, quilt, a painting, and her picture back into the house. They also put flowers on her grave together. However, Anna and Sarah’s relationship is not the only one that takes a while to develop.
With the exception of some small problems with Sarah’s strong will, MacLachlan makes the relationship between Sarah and Jacob seem easy. However in the movie, Jacob also has a hard time letting Sarah get close to him because of his love for his dead wife, Katherine. For example, in the movie when they fight about putting Katherine’s possessions in the house and going to visit the grave Sarah says “I cannot make a difference until you make peace with Katherine’s death”. Jacob does not make that peace until Sarah goes to help Maggie deliver her baby. The delivery brings back memories of Katherine’s death since she died giving birth to Caleb. It is here that Jacob realizes “I never stopped long enough to tell her that I missed her”. Once Jacob realizes this he has room to love Sarah.
The characters make a big difference in the movie and the book. One thing they both have in common is that Otis Amber and Berthe Erica Crow get married. And that Edgar Jennings Plum and Angela Wexler get engaged instead of Doctor Denton Deere. Also Jake Wexler is a gambler instead of being a bookie.
Furthermore, unlike the novel, the film will start with Elizabeth Hurley (i.e. Mary) getting seduced by this mysterious man and then giving birth to our main character, David. Then the film will progress as it does in the book, but the ending of the film will be the beginning of the novel. The movie would have not much differences from the novel, but I figure that a heated scene in the beginning of the movie will open many eyes immediately,and naturally viewers would be interested to keep their eyes open throughout the film to see what's next.
Throughout the book, Gruen portrays that Jacob and Marlena have a deep affection towards each another, for which they act with courage. Initially, Jacob loves Marlena immensely but has yet to admit it. However, Marlena’s husband, August, is starting to have doubts about the relationship that his wife and Jacob share. Due to this reason August is overwhelmed with anger and abuses both, Marlena and Jacob. As much as he can, Jacob tries to fight back and protect Marlena. As he struggles to pull himself away from the two men holding him back, he pleads, “For Christ’s sake, let me go! He’s nuts! He’ll kill her!” (Gruen.247). At this point Jacob does not care for his own well being. He knows that August is crazy and may even kill Marlena for just a simple misunderstanding. He courageously puts his life at stake despite knowing the fact that his actions are going to cost him. Through his behaviour it is easy to see Jacob’s love for Marlena. This evidently shows how Jacob has to act with bravery to fight for the love of his life. Next, after being abused by August, M...
O’Brien, Tim. “How To Tell a True War Story.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2003. p. 420-429.
The decision of the screenwriter and director to cut out what I felt were several story arcs and scenes from the novel was very disappointing. For example, in the movie there is no mention of Beth's shyness, or of her overcoming that shyness to become friends with Mr. Lawrence. The scene in the novel where she gathers her courage to walk over to his house and thank him for giving her his piano is one of the most defining moments for Beth. Overall I found Beth and Mr. Lawrence to both be sadly underdeveloped in the movie. Mr. Lawrence appears in only three scenes, while many of Beth's key moments also vanished. Jo's wonderful tomboyish nature is also severely tone-down for this version. She does not say "Christopher Columbus"; nor any of her other slang words. We never see the scene where she longs to go be a soldier fighting in the war and wishes she were a man. They transformed the character of Meg from someone who longs for finer things and tends to be snobbish into the wise older sister who does not care about such things. Lacking is the wonderful moment when she realizes that she does not care about Mr. Brook's poverty as she staunchly defends her love of him against Aunt March. While Amy's quest for a perfect nose is mentioned twice, there is never a scene showing some of her efforts such as her wearing the clothespin on it at night to make is straight, nor do we get enjoy watching her artistic endeavors such as her attempts to make a plaster cast of her foot.
The plot in the film is very similar to the book but in parts, especially towards the end, the plot is slightly different to the film. The plot is varied in the film to show
The impressions of Jacob are from many different types of characters in the book. There are random people that we don’t even get the name of, Jacob’s own mother, those that love Jacob and even those whom Jacob love. All these impressions are woven on a common thread, that all human being’s have a need to break isolation and cherish attention, love and concreteness.
...cts of the mother and the descriptions, which are presented to us from her, are very conclusive and need to be further examined to draw out any further conclusions on how she ?really? felt. The mother-daughter relationship between the narrator and her daughter bring up many questions as to their exact connection. At times it seems strong, as when the narrator is relating her childhood and recounting the good times. Other times it is very strained. All in all the connection between the two seems to be a very real and lifelike account of an actual mother-daughter relationship.
“Telling a True war story”, according author to Tim O`Brien, isn’t a simple telling of any tale as it takes a lot for anyone to believe a true war story. It’s more than any person who hasn’t been a war can tell you. O`Brien’s The Things They Carried, tells of a story where during the communist war between newly involved America and Korea’s Ho Chi Mien, these soldiers or young boys are drafted into the Vietnamese war and experience horrible atrocities that can only be defined by a “true war story” in which involves these soldiers carrying more than just literal objects, but as well figurative weight as in friends deaths, stories of enemies, morals, sins and much more. O’Brien’s idea of
O’Brien, Tim. “How To Tell a True War Story.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2003. p. 420-429.
Several stories into the novel, in the section, “How to tell a true war story”, O’Brien begins to warn readers of the lies and exaggerations that may occur when veterans tell war stories.
Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried challenges the reader to question what they are reading. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story”, O’Brien claims that the story is true, and then continues to tell the story of Curt’s death and Rat Kiley’s struggle to cope with the loss of his best friend. As O’Brien is telling the story, he breaks up the story and adds in fragments about how the reader should challenge the validity of every war story. For example, O’Brien writes “you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil” (69), “in many cases a true war story cannot be believed” (71), “almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true” (81), and “a thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth (83). All of those examples are ways in which O’Brien hinted that his novel is a work of fiction, and even though the events never actually happened – their effects are much more meaningful. When O’Brien says that true war stories are never about war, he means that true war stories are about all the factors that contribute to the life of the soldiers like “love and memory” (85) rather than the actual war. Happening truth is the current time in which the story was being told, when O’Brien’s daughter asked him if he ever killed anyone, he answered no in happening truth because it has been 22 years since he was in war and he is a different person when his daughter asked him. Story truth
However one of the most significant differences is that in the movie, Bianca’s mother took legal care of her, while in the book, her dad took legal care of her. First of all, the storyline for the book and film are completely different. The novel has a more complex, in-depth plot, which focuses on Bianca Piper’s insecurities with the word, “duff,” and her family problems. For example in the novel,” I hate Wesley for calling me the duff...I saw the divorce papers… there were empty beer bottles on the table… my dad was on the couch drunk… he slams the whiskey bottle on the floor, ‘WHY DID YOU COME HOME SO LATE!... before I even notice it, a sharp pain struck my cheeks…’Are you alright’ Wesley asked… ‘Did you just punched my dad..’Yes’...I’d never expected to find in Wesley Rush… For the first time I actually felt like he cared about me”(150-170). In the movie, however, Bianca’s mom encourage her to go to homecoming while she felt like staying home. She told Bianca that “Maybe, stop caring about what others think, and care about what you truly think. Have fun tonight” When Bianca was upset about being called the duff, her mom would always support, and tells her to be herself. This shows that in the book, her friends mainly helped Bianca deal with her family problems and her being upset about being the duff, and in the movie, it was about her mom and friends comforting her. So, why is this important? Bianca’s mom is an emotional speaker and helped Bianca through some of her worst time in life. She even helped Bianca become more confident. On the other hand, Bianca’s dad is similar but different. Her dad used to be an alcoholic. Who relapses. Even though her dad is the complete opposite, him acting this way made Bianca and Wesley’s stronger. It made Bianca think differently about Wesley. Something she would never find in Wesley if it wasn’t for her dad. Therefore In the movie, Bianca’s mom made her more
The movie, unlike the book, starts in chronological order. The book starts from Susie’s death and then flashbacks to what happened before. Another difference is that the bracelet charm in the movie is not the Pennsylvania keystone, but a house. Also, even though some things happen in both, book and movie, not every time the reasons are the same. For example
“Dance, the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing developed as a natural expression of united feeling and action.”