Summer Reading Response -Kate Pamplin 802 Book - The World According to Garp by John Irving

The book The World According to Garp, by John Irving, is about a man named T.S Garp. The book takes us through his entire life. It tells us his stories and adventures as a writer, father, husband, and hard-headed person.

Garp is surrounded by feminism. Garp’s mother, Jenny Fields, is a famous feminist writer, and a dedicated feminist herself. Therefore, there are lots of portrayals of feminism in this book. I think Garp is a bit of a feminist himself. He definitely supports it. There are many ways he reacts to and supports the women’s rights movement.

Garp is a writer. He writes many novels, but his third novel really shows his feminist side. In all of his books he demonstrates that he is an extreme feminist, because he is obviously influenced by the work and writing of his mother, who was such an extreme feminist she barely had anything to do with men. The World According to Bensenhaver was Garp’s third and most popular novel. This book has an underlying tone of feminism (you are given excerpts from the “book” so this is how you can see the writing styles of Garp).

For example, Garp explains his novel by saying that the main character, Dorsey does not make the important decisions in his marriage. Hope, his wife, makes all the decisions in their marriage. This contradicts the traditions of  the 1950s and 1960s, because men typically made all the decisions in marriages. Garp’s character Hope demonstrates feminist values because she shows that  women are just as capable to make smart, responsible decisions as men are.  In the book, Garp’s readers really notice all the feminist aspects of Garp’s writing, that's one of the reasons it was so popular.  

Garp also supports all sexuality, which is related to feminism because it’s not just equality for women but for all. One of Garp’s best friends is Roberta Muldoon, a transgendered person. She was a big supporter of Garps mother, Jenny Fields, and her writing. When Jenny dies, and all of her feminist and fans plan her “feminist funeral”, so no men are allowed, including her own son Garp. So Roberta helps Garp dress up in drag so he can attend the funeral of his mother. “‘It’s a funeral for women. Roberta says, “Women loved her, women will mourn her.’” This shows how much Jenny really cared about the equality to women. But since Roberta, is transgender, she helped Garp dress up in drag to respect his mother's wishes. Garp has a lot of respect for Roberta and was grateful for her help. This shows he respects and accepts all, which we can look at as a feminist action and way of thinking and feeling.

In the end I feel Garp demonstrates feminists’ ideas, and expresses his acceptance for all because of the people he is influenced by. In the day and age of the book, it shows lots of new ideas. Since there was lots of judgment, and a lack of acceptance of the unconventional at the time, this book brings up new modern ideas that are important for people to understand and realize. Garp’s feminist ways make him the person and writer he is, and helps him in his daily life.