Structural Analysis (Chapters 10-12)

Structural Analysis:

Chapters 10 and 11 are connected to one another. Though both are formed around separate subjects, they both are a part of the same issue.

For whatever reason in chapter 10, after telling a story to Walt about not running into the street, Garp has a nightmare about Duncan. Garp's story for Walt was a complete ficticious tale that he made up on the spot. Though he told it as though he were there and had seen the plot of the tale take place, none of the story was true expect for the fact that it was about a dog. He fabricated an entire tale about a dog and its goal to kill a cat that kept teasing it, just so that Walt would not run into the street. He could have made up any story but he chose one where the ending did not seem to fit how the reader would have expected it to end. One would have expected the cat to be eaten and the moral of he story to be that teasing gets you nowhere. But the cat gets away from the dog only to be hit by a truck. After hearing the story, Walt has a nightmare about being hit by a truck after running into the street. Therefore indicating that his father's story worked and he is now afraid to run into the street. Garp, as well, has a nightmare, but his nightmare seems to come from nowhere. His nightmare is about his elder son (who did not hear the story) getting sucked out of the door of an airplane after his fathering yelling at him to figure out for himself which of the doors on the plane was the men's room.

Though the nightmare is about an incident on an airplane and Duncan is sleeping at a friend's house, Garp feels it necessary to check on the boy. Garp's desire to check on his son and make sure he was safe turned into an odd episode involving Duncan's friend's mother. After throwing out a man the woman slept with and cleaning up after her, he finally makes his way home with his son and is pulled over by cops who believe he is a molester. One of which was a cop that helped Garp years ago when he stopped a child molester in the park.

These two chapters, though connected by the same issue, have very different plots and stories going on within the chapters. If not for one paragraph at the end of chapter 10, these two chapters would seem to have no connection whatsoever.

This holds true in chapter 12. Chapter 12 seems to have no relationship to chapters 10 and 11, other than they are part of the same story and have the same characters.

In chapter 12, Garp tries to comfort a friend whose boyfriend left her when she calls in the middle of the night. After numerous phone calls, Helen can no longer sleep and begins to grade papers, one of a young man who is attracted to her. She starts to grade one that belongs to a graduate who is attracted to her. This chapter seems all over the place. It begins with a phone call, then it goes to Helen grading papers, then a flashback, then it is interrupted with a story written by Garp, and then it ends in a fight between Helen and Garp over love and his story.

--Kerianne