The Collector Essay Example For Students

The Collector Essay John Fowles The CollectorThe Collector by John Fowles deals with a mans obsession with a woman that turns to kidnap and eventually death. What attracted me to this book was the unusual topic of obsession and intriguing title. In my review I intend to study how the writer, John Fowles, portrays an obsessive personality though Fredericks actions, dialogue, and his changing relationship with his obsession Miranda. The book is set around the two main characters of Frederick and the girl he is obsessed with Miranda and is mainly set in Sussex around the middle of the 20th century. His obsession with Miranda begins in his hometown where he merely watches her from afar but she then moves away to London to go to college so his obsession dies away. After winning the pools, however, his obsession takes a new turn. He moves to London, on the advice of the pools people, where he sees Miranda again and his obsession grows once more. Once in London he starts to develop a fantasy to capture Miranda but never really intends to act upon it until he come across a house that fits perfectly into his fantasy. The buying of this house then encourages him to carry out his fantasy and kidnap her. This book is arranged in an unusual way. The first chapter is told from the view point of Frederick of the capturing and after the capture of Miranda. The second chapter is in diary form; this is told from Mirandas point of view. In this she recounts people and events from before she was captured and also describes her escape attempts. This chapter is very good in letting us see how Miranda perceives the events that are happening to her and provides a contrast to Frederick. The third is back to Fredericks point of view and is about Mirandas illness, Fredericks attempt to help her and his reactions. The fourth chapter is very short and is about Frederick finding Mirandas diary, chapter two in the book, and realising that she never felt anything but resentment for him. It also introduces the idea that he may do it again for a comparison. Frederick, looking back on his experience with Miranda, tells the book in the form a dialogue with the reader. The writer, Fowles, demonstrates Freder icks obsessive personality through his actions. One of these is the way he marks down the viewing of Miranda in his diary. In the evening I marked it in my observations diary, at first with X, and when I knew her name with M. In this the writer is showing first that Frederick is organised to the point of obsession. He is also meticulous in his actions making sure that he never forgot a viewing of her. Another event where Fredericks obsessive and precise personality comes across to the reader very clearly is when Frederick is fitting the house out in preparation for Mirandas kidnapping. I worked for a month or more getting my plans ready. I was alone all the time; not having any real friend was lucky. Fowles shows here that Frederick has a forward thinking, precise mind in the phrase month or more getting the plans ready. This shows he worked out the details of the house making sure everything was right. He also shows that Frederick is someone who is determined by the phrase a month or more. This shows that although it took a long time he still carried it through. Fowles mentions here that Frederick was alone for this time, as before this Frederick has made sure that he wont be disturbed by people from the village by telling them, when they came to the door, to go away. An Introduction To Royal Dutch Shell EssayAt this point of the relationship they have a great deal of hatred towards each other. Fredericks hatred arose because of Mirandas disgust and constant abuse towards him but Mirandas hatred has always been with her. Youre not a human being. Youre just a dirty little masturbating worm. The relationship changes once more. Miranda becomes sick and Frederick then feels sorry for her and believes again that he can make her love him. However this obsession of wanting to make her love him stops him from helping her. This becomes a fatal mistake. I know I could have gone to the village and phoned or got a doctor but for obvious reasons I neverAlong with actions and the changing relationship between Frederick and Miranda, the writer also uses dialogue to show the obsessive personality too. One place where Fowles uses dialogue effectively to demonstrate Fredericks obsession is when he is comparing Miranda to the subject of his hobby, butterflies. Throughout the book he makes many references to this comparing her beauty and her situation to them. One of these takes place just after an escape attempt,It was like not having a net and catching a specimen you wanted in your first and second fingers it wasnt easy like it was with a killing-bottle. And it was twice as difficult with her, because I didnt want to kill her, that was the last thing I wanted. Fowles here is suggesting that Fredericks obsession spawned from his love of his hobby, collecting butterflies. The significance of this to me is that Fowles may be using this to hint about the ending that Miranda will end up dead the same as his prize butterflies he is comparing her to. This is made clear in piece of dialogue that took place just before the escape attempt. Arent you going to show me my fellow-victims?I pulled out one or two of the most attractive drawers. Did you buy them?Of course not, I (Frederick) said. All caught or bred by me and set and arranged by me. Theyre beautifully done,The tone of the Mirandas dialogue is sarcastic and joking. The fellow-victims are the butterflies that he collects and is very proud of. This is shown by the repetition of the word and. Suggesting he spent a lot time on them. The joking use of fellow-victims is ironic because at this point Miranda is still confident of escaping. However in fact she does end up like the butterflies. Another important piece of dialogue showing Fredericks obsessive personality was when Frederick is showing Miranda around the house. The reason why it is important is because it once again refers back to his hobby, butterflies. She saw some old pictures of butterflies I bought in an antique shop. I chose them, I (Frederick) said. Theyre the only decent things here. Fowles is once again comparing Miranda to the butterflies suggested by the only decent things talking about the butterflies that in fact he is talking about Miranda in her surroundings of the cottage and in the company of Frederick. In this book Fowles sets out to show the character of Frederick to have an obsessive personality and I think that he has succeeded in doing this. He manages to do this in the way that Frederick acts, what he says and though his relationship with his obsession, Miranda. Word Count 1880Words/ Pages : 1,833 / 24