Connections

As I watched a movie tonight, The Cider House Rules directed by Lasse Hallström, I came to realize there is a clear relationship with the book we are reading, Invisible Man. As an orphan, Homer Wells was raised by a doctor, he lives his entire life with them so he has some medical experience. Homer gets tired of the medical practices that are being done by the doctor (abortions), so he decides to leave. 


As he will work picking up apples, he will live in a house of black people, they all work with apples, however when it is out of season all of them except Homer leave for vacations. After some time they come back and Homer figures out Rose, the only female that lives in the house is pregnant. Eventually Homer tells a female friend of his and she comes to him saying that Rose (the father of female Rose) is the father of the baby. This directly relates to Trueblood´s relationship with his daughter. Both of the men got their daughter pregnant. At the start, Mr. Rose denies it but when he is told Rose is pregnant Homer does an abortion on Rose.  

Are you satisfied?

After all the incidents Mr. Norton went through, he finally arrives to the campus of the school.The driver has lots of things in his mind to say but he keeps them to himself. Thinking about his possible consequences for all the bad things that happened to Mr. Norton he is freaking out. He just wants to apologize and tell Mr. Norton how he hates the people they had seen before, even if they were also black  He is trying to be the perfect driver, the perfect student the perfect human, waiting for approval on behalf of the white race. This reminds me of Edna Pontellier and how she is constantly trying to be the perfect wife. Just like the driver, she is willing to hide her real feelings and thoughts to seem perfect. The old Edna would follow every command made by Mr. Pontellier without doubt. Her life is being directed by a male, just like the invisible man´s life is being directed by the white.

Everyone tries to impress others, but eventually they start to realize how it doesn´t make sense. Once Edna gets tired of being the perfect wife she revels, and it all ends with her suicide. With the invisible man, he decides to be invisible, please no one, he turns aggressive and defensive.

Pretending

After his conversation with Trueblood, Mr. Norton is in shock. He feels very weak once he gets in the car and asks his driver to get some whiskey. The nearest place is the Golden Day and there are lots of veterans visiting. The invisible man tries to get the drink and take it outside but it is denied by the owner of the bar. With no other option, Mr. Norton is brought into the bar.

Through out the entire "adventure" the driver is always thinking of white men. First of all, he is really scared of being responsible for the health of a white man, if Mr. Norton died, it would be the drivers fault. Always trieng to be like the white men, the driver takes whatever is given to him by them. Trying to impress them to be one of them.

So Mr. Norton´s condition gets worse before it gets better, although, once in the bar with a little of whiskey in his mouth, his body reacts and is no longer unconscious. As he begins to improve, there is a fight in the bar that makes him worse again. He ends up being pushed under the stairs and the driver tries to find him. Once it happens, the invisible man is scared and is screaming without even realizing it. A patient that used to be a doctor comes and helps him carry Mr. Norton to a room where he can be cured.

The doctor acts like a normal person, he talks to the driver and tells him what to do. He makes Mr. Norton better and they continue to talk. Everything is fine when suddenly the doctor starts to seem a little crazy. Telling Mr. Norton how the driver is "invisible, a walking personification of the Negative, the most perfect achievement of [his] dreams, sir! The mechanical man!" The man starts to ask Mr. Norton questions about his interest in the school and laughs because of his answers, then he suddenly stops and starts talking about the drivers admiration towards the white, how they consider the white men to be gods. Finally allowing them to leave, they hurry out of the room.

The connection that appears to be in this part of the book, is that the crazy men try to seem normal, to be like normal men, just like the black race tries to be like the white race, always following whatever they order.

Protection is everything

The not yet invisible man is asked to drive a white man called Mr. Norton. While driving through an unknown street they encounter a log cabin. Jim Trueblood and his family live in here. Once Mr. Norton is told that the daughter is pregnant by her father, he is anxious to talk to Trueblood.

This man tells Mr.Norton how it was all because of a dream. He explains how the wife attacked him once she woke up and realized what he was doing. With surprise, the mother reacts aggressively and with reasons she reaches for his double-barrel shotgun. The man tried to stop her but she was so angry, she was protecting her little girl. Nothing could stop her. She throws things at him and finally, she gets an ax. With the recent sharpened, Kate cuts Jim Trueblood´s face.

This fight of protection, brings to mind a book we read in the past, The Road. The father has been fighting along with his little boy to survive. They don´t have food and the situation is very dangerous. Everyone wants to eat them. In a part of the book, the little boy and the father are in trouble because they are being attacked by a hungry human. The goal of this carnivore is to kill the boy and eat him. The father, just like Kate, protects his little child and kills the threat.

Both of this parents, are willing to go to any extreme just to protect their children. From hurting the husband or killing a stranger, the important thing is both of these children will be safe thanks to the strength of their parents.