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| {{short description|1985 novel by John Irving}} | |||
| {{NPOV}} | |||
| {{for|the film adapted from the novel|The Cider House Rules (film)}} | |||
| {{Infobox book | | |||
| {{cleanup-date|July 2005}} | |||
| | name = The Cider House Rules | |||
| '''''The Cider House Rules''''' is a ] by ] and was later made into a ] movie directed by ].. | |||
| | 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 ]. | |||
| ⚫ | == |
||
| {{Spoiler}} | |||
| ⚫ | ==Plot== | ||
| The Cider House Rules is about a young man, Homer Wells (Tobye Maguire) who leaves his home at an orphanage in search of a life of his own. Wells was raised in a World War II-era orphanage by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine)in the fictional town of St. Cloud’s, Maine. | |||
| 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 doctorto carry on what he calls "the Lord’s work": abortion 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 provide an abortion. | |||
| 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. | |||
| == Primary cast: == | |||
| *] : Homer Wells | |||
| *] : Candy Kendall | |||
| *] : Mr. Rose | |||
| *] : Wally Worthington | |||
| *] : Dr. Wilbur Larch | |||
| *] : Nurse Edna | |||
| *] : Nurse Angela | |||
| *] : Rose Rose | |||
| *] : Buster | |||
| *] : Olive Worthington | |||
| 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. | |||
| The composer of the musical score was ]. | |||
| ==Background== | |||
| 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. | |||
| 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== | |||
| It was also made into a two part play by ]. | |||
| {{Main|The Cider House Rules (film)}} | |||
| The novel was adapted into a ] released in 1999 directed by ]. It starred ] as Homer Wells. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| <references></references> | |||
| ] | |||
| {{John Irving}} | |||
| ] | |||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] <!-- Michael Caine --> | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Cider House Rules}} | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| {{lit-stub}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
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.