| Revision as of 01:27, 4 July 2005 edit205.188.117.72 (talk) →Criticism from Religious Pro-Life Groups← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 05:28, 29 April 2024 edit undo216.228.196.177 (talk) →Plot | ||
| (310 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{short description|1985 novel by John Irving}} | |||
| ] | |||
| {{for|the film adapted from the novel|The Cider House Rules (film)}} | |||
| '''''The Cider House Rules''''' is a ] by ] and was later made into a ] movie directed by ].. | |||
| {{Infobox book | | |||
| | name = The Cider House Rules | |||
| | image = CiderHouseRules.jpg | |||
| | caption = First edition cover | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | illustrator = | |||
| | cover_artist = | |||
| | country = United States | |||
| | language = English | |||
| | genre = ] | |||
| | publisher = ] | |||
| | release_date = June 1985 | |||
| | media_type = Print (]) | |||
| | pages = 560 | |||
| | isbn = 0-688-03036-X | |||
| | dewey = 813/.54 | |||
| | congress = PS3559.R8 C5 1985 | |||
| | oclc = 1003368413 | |||
| | preceded_by = ] | |||
| | followed_by = ] | |||
| }} | |||
| '''''The Cider House Rules''''' (1985) is a novel by American writer ], a '']'' that was later adapted into ] and a stage play by ]. The story, set in the pre– and post–World War II era, tells of a young man, Homer Wells, growing up under the guidance of Dr. Wilbur Larch, an obstetrician and abortion provider. The story relates his early life at Larch's orphanage in Maine and follows Homer as he eventually leaves the nest and ]. | |||
| ⚫ | == |
||
| ⚫ | ==Plot== | ||
| The Cider House Rules, a film released by subsidiary ] World War II-era abortionist Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), offers salvation to women by delivering them from the supposed curse of pregnancy. "I give them what they want — either an orphan or an abortion," Larch explains. Women seek him out at his state-run orphanage in the fictional town of St. Cloud’s, Maine, where — according to their preference — their children are either delivered at term and deposited in the orphanage, or terminated in the womb and their remains carted away to the incinerator. | |||
| Homer Wells is shown growing up in an ]age where he spends his childhood trying to be "of use" as a medical assistant to director Dr. Wilbur Larch, whose history is told in ]: After a traumatic misadventure with a ] as a young man, Wilbur turns his back on sex and love, choosing instead to help women with unwanted pregnancies give birth and then keeping the babies in an orphanage. | |||
| He makes a point of maintaining an emotional distance from the orphans, so that they can more easily make the transition into an adoptive family, but when it becomes clear that Homer is going to spend his childhood at the orphanage, Wilbur trains the orphan as an ] and comes to love him like a son. | |||
| Larch operates his orphanage with a gentle touch and a kindly heart, tending to the sick and reading to his boys every night. He leaves the children every night with the movie's best-known line: "Goodnight, you princes of ], you kings of ]." | |||
| Wilbur's and Homer's lives are complicated by the abortions Wilbur provides. Wilbur came to this work reluctantly, but is driven by having seen the horrors of back-alley operations. Homer, upon learning Wilbur's secret, considers it morally wrong. | |||
| Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), a college-age orphan who couldn’t find an adoptive home, has been trained by the abortionist to carry on what he calls "the Lord’s work." However, Homer — sensible of the fact that he "could have ended up in the incinerator," initially resists the destiny Larch has chosen for him. | |||
| As a young man, Homer befriends a young couple, Candy Kendall and Wally Worthington, who come to St. Cloud's for an abortion. Homer leaves the orphanage, and returns with them to Wally's family's orchard in Heart's Rock, near the Maine coast. Wally and Homer become best friends and Homer develops a secret love for Candy. Wally goes off to serve in the ] and his plane is shot down over ]. He is declared missing by the military, but Homer and Candy both believe he is dead and move on with their lives, which includes beginning a romantic relationship. When Candy becomes pregnant, they go back to St. Cloud's Orphanage, where their son is born and named Angel. | |||
| After a glamorous young couple — Lieutenant Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd) and his inamorata, Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron) — arrive at St. Cloud’s for an abortion, Homer decides to join them in search of a life of his own. He winds up working with Candy at the Worthington family’s apple orchard. All the other migrant workers are black, but Homer's honesty and open-mindedness win them over. He bunks with them in the barn under the watchful eye of their strict foreman, who has an attractive daughter named Rose. After Wally, an Army Air Corps bomber pilot, is called to duty in Burma, Candy seeks consolation in an affair with Homer. | |||
| Subsequently, Wally is found in Burma and returns home, paralyzed from the waist down. He is still able to have sexual intercourse but is sterile due to an infection caught in Burma. Homer and Candy lie to the family about Angel's parentage, claiming that Homer had adopted him. Wally and Candy marry shortly afterward, but Candy and Homer maintain a secret affair that lasts some 15 years. | |||
| Late in the film it is revealed that Rose (Erykah Badu), the daughter of the crew chief, has become pregnant by her father. Candy, who is aware of Homer’s background, implores the reluctant young man to take the girl to St. Cloud’s, but her father refuses to let her go. By this time, Larch had sent to Homer a medical kit equipped with the tools of the abortionist’s trade, which Homer has kept concealed under his bed. Still hesitant to commit an abortion on Rose, Homer urges her not to "do anything" to herself. Eventually he relents and tells Rose and her father that he can help them dispose of the unwanted child. | |||
| Many years later, teenaged Angel falls in love with Rose, the daughter of the head ] at the apple orchard. Rose becomes pregnant by her father, and Homer aborts her fetus. Homer decides to return to the orphanage after Wilbur's death, to work as the new director. Though he maintains his distaste for abortions, he continues Dr. Larch's legacy of performing the procedure for those in need, and he dreams of the day when abortions are legal. | |||
| The title refers to the rules to be obeyed by apple-pickers living in the cider house. For years they have never even read, let alone observed the rules. When they are read out loud, their arbitrary and paternalistic nature offends the workers. They complain: "Somebody who don't live here made them rules. Them rules ain't for us. They think we're dumb niggers so we need dumb rules". | |||
| The name "The Cider House Rules" refers to the list of rules that migrant workers are supposed to follow at the Ocean View Orchards. However, none of them can read, and they are completely unaware of the rules – which have been posted for years. | |||
| == Criticism from Religious Pro-Life Groups== | |||
| A subplot follows the character Melony, who grew up alongside Homer in the orphanage. She was Homer's first girlfriend. After Homer leaves the orphanage, so does she in an effort to find him. She eventually becomes an electrician and takes a female lover, Lorna. Melony is stoic, who refuses to press charges against a man who brutally broke her nose and arm. She intends to later take revenge. She is the catalyst that transforms Homer from his comfortable, but not entirely admirable position, at the apple orchard into Dr. Larch's replacement. | |||
| Religious ] groups have criticised the movie as essentially being pro-choice propoganda. They argue that in a series of short discussions between Homer and his father-figure, Larch, present the pro-choice position, allowing Larch to make a well thought-out argument. Meanwhile, Homer's defenses for the pro-life side are vague. He opposes the procedure only because it's messy and illegal. He seems unaware of the belief that the lives of unborn children are at stake. | |||
| ==Background== | |||
| The orphanage board wants Larch to name his successor. But the doctor resists hiring anyone who's properly qualified. He fears any sort of interference with his unorthodox operation, which includes abortions. He wants Homer to take his place and manufactures phony credentials to fool the board. The filmmakers treat this subterfuge with good humor, believing that the institution is a citadel of goodness which should be preserved by any means necessary. | |||
| Wally's experience getting shot down over ] was based in part on that of Irving's biological father (whom he never met), who was shot down over Burma and survived.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/28/books/novelist-builds-fact-reach-truth-john-irving-begins-with-his-memories.html?scp=28&sq=&st=nyt&pagewanted=all|title=A Novelist Builds Out From Fact To Reach The Truth; John Irving Begins With His Memories|date=1998-04-28|author=Mel Gussow|work=The New York Times|access-date=2009-11-07}}</ref> | |||
| ==Film adaptation== | |||
| Rose becomes pregnant and threatens to abort herself, using dangerous methods. The filmmakers present this situation as the most important moment in Homer's moral journey. Will he intervene and perform an abortion on the young woman, utilizing the so-called safe procedures he learned from Larch? Or, will he allow her to attempt it on her own and risk her life? | |||
| {{Main|The Cider House Rules (film)}} | |||
| The novel was adapted into a ] released in 1999 directed by ]. It starred ] as Homer Wells. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| The movie is constructed so that the audience will root for Homer to abort Rose's unborn child. We're meant to see this as the final step in his coming-of-age. The assumption is that he will grow up to be a moral man only if he agrees to become an abortionist. Furthermore, we're supposed to hope he returns to the orphanage and makes these procedures a permanent part of his professional repertoire. | |||
| <references></references> | |||
| {{John Irving}} | |||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Cider House Rules}} | |||
| The pro-life groups contend that the usage of an uncommon occurance of a father raping a daughter is sufficient reasoning and logic to justify all abortions. | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| == Primary cast: == | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| *] : Homer Wells | |||
| ] | |||
| *] : Candy Kendall | |||
| ] | |||
| *] : Mr. Rose | |||
| ] | |||
| *] : Wally Worthington | |||
| ] | |||
| *] : Dr. Wilbur Larch | |||
| *] : Nurse Edna | |||
| *] : Nurse Angela | |||
| *] : Rose Rose | |||
| *] : Buster | |||
| *] : Olive Worthington | |||
| The composer of the musical score was ]. | |||
| John Irving also wrote the screenplay and won the ]. For his performance in the film, Michael Caine won the ]. Irving himself appears briefly in the film, twice, as the disapproving stationmaster. | |||
| It was also made into a two part play by ]. | |||
| {{lit-stub}} | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] <!-- Michael Caine --> | |||
| ] | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 05:28, 29 April 2024
1985 novel by John Irving For the film adapted from the novel, see The Cider House Rules (film). First edition cover | |
| Author | John Irving |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Bildungsromane |
| Publisher | William Morrow |
| Publication date | June 1985 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 560 |
| ISBN | 0-688-03036-X |
| OCLC | 1003368413 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 |
| LC Class | PS3559.R8 C5 1985 |
| Preceded by | The Hotel New Hampshire |
| Followed by | A Prayer for Owen Meany |
The Cider House Rules (1985) is a novel by American writer John Irving, a Bildungsroman that was later adapted into a 1999 film and a stage play by Peter Parnell. The story, set in the pre– and post–World War II era, tells of a young man, Homer Wells, growing up under the guidance of Dr. Wilbur Larch, an obstetrician and abortion provider. The story relates his early life at Larch's orphanage in Maine and follows Homer as he eventually leaves the nest and comes of age.
Plot
Homer Wells is shown growing up in an orphanage where he spends his childhood trying to be "of use" as a medical assistant to director Dr. Wilbur Larch, whose history is told in flashbacks: After a traumatic misadventure with a prostitute as a young man, Wilbur turns his back on sex and love, choosing instead to help women with unwanted pregnancies give birth and then keeping the babies in an orphanage.
He makes a point of maintaining an emotional distance from the orphans, so that they can more easily make the transition into an adoptive family, but when it becomes clear that Homer is going to spend his childhood at the orphanage, Wilbur trains the orphan as an obstetrician and comes to love him like a son.
Wilbur's and Homer's lives are complicated by the abortions Wilbur provides. Wilbur came to this work reluctantly, but is driven by having seen the horrors of back-alley operations. Homer, upon learning Wilbur's secret, considers it morally wrong.
As a young man, Homer befriends a young couple, Candy Kendall and Wally Worthington, who come to St. Cloud's for an abortion. Homer leaves the orphanage, and returns with them to Wally's family's orchard in Heart's Rock, near the Maine coast. Wally and Homer become best friends and Homer develops a secret love for Candy. Wally goes off to serve in the Second World War and his plane is shot down over Burma. He is declared missing by the military, but Homer and Candy both believe he is dead and move on with their lives, which includes beginning a romantic relationship. When Candy becomes pregnant, they go back to St. Cloud's Orphanage, where their son is born and named Angel.
Subsequently, Wally is found in Burma and returns home, paralyzed from the waist down. He is still able to have sexual intercourse but is sterile due to an infection caught in Burma. Homer and Candy lie to the family about Angel's parentage, claiming that Homer had adopted him. Wally and Candy marry shortly afterward, but Candy and Homer maintain a secret affair that lasts some 15 years.
Many years later, teenaged Angel falls in love with Rose, the daughter of the head migrant worker at the apple orchard. Rose becomes pregnant by her father, and Homer aborts her fetus. Homer decides to return to the orphanage after Wilbur's death, to work as the new director. Though he maintains his distaste for abortions, he continues Dr. Larch's legacy of performing the procedure for those in need, and he dreams of the day when abortions are legal.
The name "The Cider House Rules" refers to the list of rules that migrant workers are supposed to follow at the Ocean View Orchards. However, none of them can read, and they are completely unaware of the rules – which have been posted for years.
A subplot follows the character Melony, who grew up alongside Homer in the orphanage. She was Homer's first girlfriend. After Homer leaves the orphanage, so does she in an effort to find him. She eventually becomes an electrician and takes a female lover, Lorna. Melony is stoic, who refuses to press charges against a man who brutally broke her nose and arm. She intends to later take revenge. She is the catalyst that transforms Homer from his comfortable, but not entirely admirable position, at the apple orchard into Dr. Larch's replacement.
Background
Wally's experience getting shot down over Burma was based in part on that of Irving's biological father (whom he never met), who was shot down over Burma and survived.
Film adaptation
Main article: The Cider House Rules (film)The novel was adapted into a film of the same name released in 1999 directed by Lasse Hallström. It starred Tobey Maguire as Homer Wells.
References
- Mel Gussow (1998-04-28). "A Novelist Builds Out From Fact To Reach The Truth; John Irving Begins With His Memories". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-07.