The Graduate by Charles Webb 10 out of 10
The Graduate by Charles Webb
10 out of 10
Love conquers all!
Is this the message of this fantastic, magnificent novel?
On some level it certainly is, although the book is much more complex than a fairy tale, where the knight in shining armor is deceived by the witch - aka Mrs. Robinson in a simplistic, fatally flawed interpretation- but he eventually finds true love, overcoming all the obstacles, defeating the opposition and snatching his belle, the other half just as she is about to be taken by the dragon.
Underneath its apparent simplicity, minimalist dialogue, analysts and descriptions, The Graduate appears to present a good number of facets, some of them apparently contradicting each other, as happens in a dialogue between Elaine and Benjamin, where she proposes a version in which she is just an ordinary girl, in fact her self portrait looks like she is less than that, without appeal, remarkable qualities and she wonders what the man can see in her.
This is one of the main aspects that make this narrative so compelling, provocative, intriguing, for we are never sure if the affair is a sign of alienation, it is representative of these bizarre families, or these are just Ordinary People - although if we think of the Robert Redford film, the characters in there were anything but ordinary.
Benjamin Braddock is the hero of the novel who, helped by the classic adaptation, has joined the ranks of famous literary and cinematic figures, like Raskolnikov, Stella, Don Corleone and others and he has just graduated from college, where he has won a special teaching prize, when his parents give a party to honor The Graduate.
The hero is showing from the very beginning signs of feeling excluded, not belonging to this circle of wealthy, for him boring, self sufficient intellectuals- as a matter of fact, he would soon depart from his home, on a road trip of discovery in which he claims to be unwilling to meet any educated folks, but after communing with farmers for five, maybe ten years, he will be satisfied and accomplished...he would eventually come back after a few disappointing weeks.
The night of his graduation party, the wife of his father's partner in the law firm enters his room, pretending she wants to get to the bathroom, only after the young man tells her where it is, she doesn't give any sign that she is going there, on the contrary, it is evident she deliberately came to this room, knowing what she is doing.
Despite the fact that Ben wants to be alone, he is concerned about his future, blaise and depressed to a certain extent, uninterested in communicating with Mrs. Robinson or any other guest, the woman insists that she wants a drive home.
The hero tries to evade this, offering the keys to the sports car he had received as a gift for the same graduation and asking if she can operate a foreign shift - Americans tend to have only automatic gears, while European and other models have for the most part manual operations.
In the end, he has to drive the determined woman home - with hindsight, it is both amusing and infuriating to read about this mature character and the striking, preposterous, insulting, outrageous claims she would make later - where he tries at every step to escape and return to his house and the host using a clever strategy to determine the visitor to abandon all his plans and to catch him in a trap...this last part could very well be a hyperbole, he is not a child anymore.
She pretends she is afraid of the dark so he needs to be there and switch all the lights, then she invites him to see the portrait of her daughter, Elaine, with all her moves making it plain that she wants to have sex with him.
This is made plain in actions, for she comes naked into the room, after asking Ben to help her unzip the dress, and then in words, explaining that she is available, if he desires her and this encounter, that is straining the young man and testing his limits, comes to an end when Mr. Robinson returns home.
After this challenging visit, the hero embarks on the aforementioned trip, which is supposed to offer the chance to meet interesting people, better than the intellectuals that bore him regularly, he has the chance to fight a fire in the north, meets with a few prostitutes - this is an aspect that escapes me, for he would later seem so ignorant in matters regarding coitus and either he exaggerates his report of the intimacy with the whores, or that was so different as to bring no knowledge to the fresh young Graduate.
A period of inactivity is then ended when he decides to call Mrs. Robinson, invite her for a drink and then be guided by the mature woman into meeting at the hotel...some of the scenes are familiar from the motion picture, with lines that have entered the History of Cinema:
"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me" and so much more...there is a line though, at the debut of the film, that is not in the book...
"Let me tell you just one word...Plastics"
The awkward, innocent Graduate is amusing in his gauche actions at the hotel, where he pretends he has luggage in the car, then it is reduced to a tooth paste, he is sure that the personnel are eying him, but only because he is so nervous, tense and excited.
This is an outre affair, and the attempt that Ben makes to have a conversation may help explain the difference in perspective and the ultimate incompatibility of the two sex partners, for The Graduate is a upset that they never say anything- he also feels guilty - and on this occasion, he insists that they talk before sex and the woman is more than reluctant, prompting the reader to conclude that this is just a matter of coitus for her and nothing else.
On the other hand, she becomes a Fury, when Ben is about to see her daughter- and encounter and approach that she strictly forbids - and she has a total breakdown when the meeting between Elaine and The Graduate leads to much more than was expected.
Was she just possessive and would not share her partner or was it more complicated than a base jealousy?
Evidently, it is one of the many reasons why this fabulous book is so alluring,fascinating, for it makes you think and you cannot be sure of the end game, the truth, the motive for various actions...the reader - this one anyway- is participating breathlessly, annoyed when Elaine rejects him, then pleased that she overturns one refusal, desperate again when some other obstacle seems to become insurmountable...
What a Glorious novel!
It is so rare to find an extraordinary film, but to have both the screen adaptation and the original material in the same select group of Absolute Masterpieces is overwhelming.
Love conquers all!
Is this the message of this fantastic, magnificent novel?
On some level it certainly is, although the book is much more complex than a fairy tale, where the knight in shining armor is deceived by the witch - aka Mrs. Robinson in a simplistic, fatally flawed interpretation- but he eventually finds true love, overcoming all the obstacles, defeating the opposition and snatching his belle, the other half just as she is about to be taken by the dragon.
Underneath its apparent simplicity, minimalist dialogue, analysts and descriptions, The Graduate appears to present a good number of facets, some of them apparently contradicting each other, as happens in a dialogue between Elaine and Benjamin, where she proposes a version in which she is just an ordinary girl, in fact her self portrait looks like she is less than that, without appeal, remarkable qualities and she wonders what the man can see in her.
This is one of the main aspects that make this narrative so compelling, provocative, intriguing, for we are never sure if the affair is a sign of alienation, it is representative of these bizarre families, or these are just Ordinary People - although if we think of the Robert Redford film, the characters in there were anything but ordinary.
Benjamin Braddock is the hero of the novel who, helped by the classic adaptation, has joined the ranks of famous literary and cinematic figures, like Raskolnikov, Stella, Don Corleone and others and he has just graduated from college, where he has won a special teaching prize, when his parents give a party to honor The Graduate.
The hero is showing from the very beginning signs of feeling excluded, not belonging to this circle of wealthy, for him boring, self sufficient intellectuals- as a matter of fact, he would soon depart from his home, on a road trip of discovery in which he claims to be unwilling to meet any educated folks, but after communing with farmers for five, maybe ten years, he will be satisfied and accomplished...he would eventually come back after a few disappointing weeks.
The night of his graduation party, the wife of his father's partner in the law firm enters his room, pretending she wants to get to the bathroom, only after the young man tells her where it is, she doesn't give any sign that she is going there, on the contrary, it is evident she deliberately came to this room, knowing what she is doing.
Despite the fact that Ben wants to be alone, he is concerned about his future, blaise and depressed to a certain extent, uninterested in communicating with Mrs. Robinson or any other guest, the woman insists that she wants a drive home.
The hero tries to evade this, offering the keys to the sports car he had received as a gift for the same graduation and asking if she can operate a foreign shift - Americans tend to have only automatic gears, while European and other models have for the most part manual operations.
In the end, he has to drive the determined woman home - with hindsight, it is both amusing and infuriating to read about this mature character and the striking, preposterous, insulting, outrageous claims she would make later - where he tries at every step to escape and return to his house and the host using a clever strategy to determine the visitor to abandon all his plans and to catch him in a trap...this last part could very well be a hyperbole, he is not a child anymore.
She pretends she is afraid of the dark so he needs to be there and switch all the lights, then she invites him to see the portrait of her daughter, Elaine, with all her moves making it plain that she wants to have sex with him.
This is made plain in actions, for she comes naked into the room, after asking Ben to help her unzip the dress, and then in words, explaining that she is available, if he desires her and this encounter, that is straining the young man and testing his limits, comes to an end when Mr. Robinson returns home.
After this challenging visit, the hero embarks on the aforementioned trip, which is supposed to offer the chance to meet interesting people, better than the intellectuals that bore him regularly, he has the chance to fight a fire in the north, meets with a few prostitutes - this is an aspect that escapes me, for he would later seem so ignorant in matters regarding coitus and either he exaggerates his report of the intimacy with the whores, or that was so different as to bring no knowledge to the fresh young Graduate.
A period of inactivity is then ended when he decides to call Mrs. Robinson, invite her for a drink and then be guided by the mature woman into meeting at the hotel...some of the scenes are familiar from the motion picture, with lines that have entered the History of Cinema:
"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me" and so much more...there is a line though, at the debut of the film, that is not in the book...
"Let me tell you just one word...Plastics"
The awkward, innocent Graduate is amusing in his gauche actions at the hotel, where he pretends he has luggage in the car, then it is reduced to a tooth paste, he is sure that the personnel are eying him, but only because he is so nervous, tense and excited.
This is an outre affair, and the attempt that Ben makes to have a conversation may help explain the difference in perspective and the ultimate incompatibility of the two sex partners, for The Graduate is a upset that they never say anything- he also feels guilty - and on this occasion, he insists that they talk before sex and the woman is more than reluctant, prompting the reader to conclude that this is just a matter of coitus for her and nothing else.
On the other hand, she becomes a Fury, when Ben is about to see her daughter- and encounter and approach that she strictly forbids - and she has a total breakdown when the meeting between Elaine and The Graduate leads to much more than was expected.
Was she just possessive and would not share her partner or was it more complicated than a base jealousy?
Evidently, it is one of the many reasons why this fabulous book is so alluring,fascinating, for it makes you think and you cannot be sure of the end game, the truth, the motive for various actions...the reader - this one anyway- is participating breathlessly, annoyed when Elaine rejects him, then pleased that she overturns one refusal, desperate again when some other obstacle seems to become insurmountable...
What a Glorious novel!
It is so rare to find an extraordinary film, but to have both the screen adaptation and the original material in the same select group of Absolute Masterpieces is overwhelming.
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