The Changeling’ by Robin Jenkins is a powerful and harrowing novel which ends unexpectedly: with the death of its’ central character. This character, Tom Curdie, the titular ‘changeling’, is a brilliantly intelligent and perceptive young boy living in a horrible slum home with a disgusting family who show him no love or genuine affection. As such, Tom has set up a defence mechanism: he refuses to love or show emotion to anyone around him. However, when Tom is taken on holiday by his pompous English teacher, Charles Forbes, he begins to unravel, and starts to love Forbes and his family. When this love is realised to be unrequited, Tom, unable to stop the flow of emotion, takes his own life, which is made all the more surprising when compared to the strong individual he was at the beginning of the novel. In his exploration of characterisation, setting and symbolism, Jenkins highlights to the reader the central theme of the novel: the failure of the privileged to alleviate the suffering of those less fortunate, and the devastating consequences that this may have.
The setting of the hut in which Tom kills himself, and its’ stark contrast to the beauty of Towellan is appropriate in conveying to the reader the novel’s central themes. When the family and Tom first arrive in the holiday destination of Towellan, it is described as a place of ‘liberating, revitalising beauty’. These words connote rejuvenation, and hope for the future, and so it seems that Forbes’ plan to ‘redeem’ Tom is going well. However, freedom and regeneration turn out to represent the complete opposite to what does happen to Tom: he dies in a cramped hut, alone.
The description of this hut is very effective in representing the themes of the novel. Forbes’ daugh...
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...lian’s failure to help has affected him: it has led him to make the ultimate sacrifice and kill himself, which is a truly horrific representation of the tragic consequences of this failure. It is also certainly surprising, given Tom’s initial character.
To conclude, through his masterful use of setting, symbolism and characterisation, Robin Jenkins portrays the horrific consequences of people’s failure to alleviate the suffering of those less fortunate. This horrific consequence is represented as Tom’s suicide at the end of the novel, which is definitely unexpected when the reader compares his initial character to the needy, despairing character he became towards the end. This results in a powerful and harrowing novel which certainly leaves a bitter taste in the reader’s mouth, forcing them to think about their own lives and what they may be doing to help others.
...es with contradictory messages about service, not being wholly dedicated to helping David and then realizing in the end that he is more crucial than Harvard. Katie struggled with deciding whether to please her parents and teacher by putting all her effort into getting into Harvard, or to put all her effort into pleasing herself by bringing David to America. Katie was finally able to come to the conclusion that getting into Harvard wasn’t as important as saving someone’s life. Even though it took Katie a few weeks to come to the understanding that helping others is more important than helping yourself in life, she gained a wonderful gift in the end. She gained the gift of a brighter day and the gift of a new brother.
...ll he can do is suppress his urge to cry. The protagonist?s realization of his own maturity is ironic. Once so eager to appear ?bad,? but lacking the true essence of this word, the narrator has achieved this status at the price of his naivete, and wishes that he could return.
Consequently, Andy’s soul withered further into hopelessness as each and every person who came to his rescue, turned their backs on him. Through a final desperate ambition, Andy broke free of the bonds that were pinning him down: “If it had not been for the jacket, he wouldn’t have been stabbed. The knife had not been plunged in hatred of Andy. The knife only hated the purple jacket. The jacket was a stupid, meaningless thing that was robbing him of his life. He lay struggling with the shiny wet jacket. Pain ripped fire across his body whenever he moved. But he squirmed and fought and twisted until one arm was free and the other. He rolled away from the jacket and layed quite still, breathing heavily, listening to the sound of his breathing and the sounds of rain and thinking: Rain is sweet, I’m Andy”. In these moments, Andy finally overcame his situation, only in a way not expected by most. Such depicted scenes are prime examples of human nature at it’s worst, as well as the horrors that lay within us. However, these events, although previously incomprehensible by his limited subconscious, led to a gradual enlightenment of the mind and heart. Furthermore, the experiences taught him
The ending of the novel was inspiring. The author suggests the reader to look into great novels, and even supplies a list of novels a personally suggests. He ended with a very ...
Before the move to Coghill, Tom wanted his old life back. He sees the accident as the end of his life, though this he seems to have lost connection to his family and his sense of identity. Tom feels guilty and ashamed about the irrevocable consequences of Daniel’s irresponsibility and the impact this had on other people and their families. Retreats into a depressed state which feels empty and black. After the accident, Tom’s life was changed forever.
Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.
This extract emphasises the lonely, outworld feeling that would have been felt living in such settings. This puts into perspective the feeling that will be felt during the coarse of the plot development.
Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, where she is locked into an upstairs room. This environment serves not as an inspiration for mental health, but as an element of repression. The locked door and barred windows serve to physically restrain her: “the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.” The narrator is affected not only by the physical restraints but also by being exposed to the room’s yellow wallpaper which is dreadful and fosters only negative creativity. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.”
Apart from the novel's thematic development, McCarthy's setting and his detailed description of the ornate beauty of the desert southwest is deserving of praise. A lyrical quality and refined beauty are apparent in the novel's description. McCarthy's extended accounts of the pristine beauty of the desert can be seen as an artistic and visually appealing piece work apart from the plot of the novel. Such memorable accounts seem to be a lone highlight in a shockingly disturbing book (Moran 37).
Later approaching the tragedy of of the book, Tom displays another act of sub-human behavior, nonchalantly brushing off his affairs, “And what’s more I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.”(201). Tom in a sense...
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
In this book review I represent and analyze the three themes I found the most significant in the novel.
Tom is a character many people in this generation can relate to. Although the play was written many years ago Tom is just like any other millennial from this day and age. He basically hates his job because it’s not fun. He can’t cope with the fact that he has to pick up all the slack his father left behind. He even seems to think that running away will fix everything. All of these things are very common in society today.
Michael Henchard’s constant exercise of jealousy, pride, immature actions and overwhelming emotions bring him to his tragic end. Although Henchard might have you think he is a victim, the reader can see that his personality leads to the conclusion of his downfall and that Henchard’s inability to learn from his first mistakes takes him down a path no one wants to face. He might have been able to survive his mistakes had he not been so self-destructive. But because of the combination of his personality traits and the complexity of his character’s mind, he is eventually led to the nothingness that engulfs him.
It is not the tragic subject matter of the text that is of primary interest - but rather the manner in which the plot is developed. The story line progresses as if the reader is "unpeeling an onion."