Garp

I started reading The World According to Garp, and I love it! It's interesting, thought-provoking, and exciting, so obviously just a great book. I also noticed a lot of interesting patterns and points in the novel to this point.

First of all, I am not sure I completely understand why Jenny completely rejects her family and wealth. I understand her desire to break free of society's expectations and what not, but I feel liker her aversion goes even deeper than that. Why does she want to "unknow" her family as is occurring on page 6. I noticed how she never opens the package her parents give her, although it is interesting that the packages reveal her mother's lack of trust in Jenny. I think that is another reason Jenny estranges her family--to escape distrust and misconception.

Furthermore, I think it is very interesting that Jenny desires almost an immaculate birth, without a mate or a "peter" as she calls him. At the same time, the original Garp (her son's father) consistently masturbates, which is in a sense, intercourse without a partner. Thus, it seems that both desire the product of sex without a partner, and thus come together. It's hard to put into words, but it is an interesting connection between them which may be another reason she chose him as the father of her child. However, I am confused in that she rejected many men for their physical deformities when they originally offered to help her make a child. And yet, in this case, she consummated with a fetal, dyeing man--one of the most physically deformed creatures on the planet. Why did she lose her original superficial restrictions for Garp? What made him different? Was it their no-partner sexual drives?

Quotation to consider: “A baby with no strings attached, thought Jenny Fields. An almost virgin birth,” (page 14). Consider Mary, mother of Jesus. Does this make her son Garp a Christ figure?

Moreover, Garp is born in an almost incestuous setting. On page 22, she says about his father Garp, “She knew he was only a baby—he needed some distraction.” Her emotions were both “maternal and sexual,” (page 24). Thus, as she saw father Garp as a child, Jenny wanted to care for him and breast feed him. At the same time, thought, Jenny desires a real child, and this desire overpowers anything else. As a result, she ends up having the child of a man she originally viewed as a child, her own child. The incestuous beginnings of life T.S. Garp suggest that he will suffer from some genetic defect that results from such activities. Furthermore, it is interesting that he is never really given a first name. Why would the author do such a thing? Does it take away the boy’s identity or strengthen it?

Such questions must be considered when reviewing this section of the novel. It is interesting to analyze Garp’s relationship with his mother as well as her opinions which are dispersed throughout the section.