The Themes According to Garp

Throughout the World According to Garp, I‘ve picked up on many reoccurring ideas and themes that Irving has spread into the story.

Women’s Roles in Society

One of the most obvious appearances of this theme is in Garp’s mother, Jenny. Jenny is a feminist, and quickly becomes the leader of an entire revolutionary movement of independence for women. She’s so independent and fact, that she goes through the drastic measure of raping a hospital patient, just so she can have a child without dealing with any men. Women are constantly mistreated in both Garp’s stories, and his real life. Multiple characters in the story are taken advantage of by their husbands or boyfriends, and while they hate it, they don’t seem to have the motivation to break free from the abuse. At the point in American history when the story takes place, women are yet to have full rights, and still serve as second-class citizens to men. Jenny and many of the people Garp meets in the story, serve as leaders of a rebellion against the oppression of men.

Parenting

Garp’s fears as a parent surface several times throughout the book.

“There was so much to worry about, when worrying about children, and Garp worried so much about everything; at times, especially in the throes of insomnia, Garp thought himself to be psychologically unfit for parenthood. Then he worried about that, too, and felt all the more anxious for his children, What if their most dangerous enemy turned out to be him?” Pg. 275

Garp shares the fear that every loving parent in the world does, a fear for the protection of his or her children. With all the violence, sex, and destruction in the world, how can a parent possibly ensure that their child grows up in the right environment and in the right way? Garp’s fears seem to reflect the author’s, John Irving, fears, but also the fears of Americans. People want to take comfort in the knowledge that the next generation of humans will live well, based on the way they raised them.

Lust

Among the most prominent themes in the novel, is lust. Every human being on earth has lust in some shape or form. It drives humans to commit atrocious acts, many of which are evident in Garp’s life. Garp damages his relationship with Helen by repeatedly cheating and sleeping with other women, and even when Helen confronts him about it, he is still tempted each and every day. Even Helen herself lusts when she gets involved with Michael Milton. Had it not been for this horrible selfish need, the car accident would not have occurred, and the Garp’s son, Walt, would still be alive. Lust is the subject of many of Garp’s novels he writes. His most successful book, The World According to Bensenhaver, focuses its entire plot on it. But the awful happenings in the book don’t even begin to compare to the lust Garp faces in every day life.

“’I think it’s shabby,’ Helen said. ‘It’s really beneath me; it’s beneath you. I hope you’ve outgrown it.’

‘Yes, I have,’ Garp said. He meant he had outgrown baby-sitters. But lust itself? Ah, well. Jenny Fields had fingered a problem at the heart of her son’s heart” Pg. 217

Garp’s mother, Jenny, had not only found a problem within her son’s heart, not only found a problem within men’s heart, but within every human being on the planet.