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Home Middelbare School EN Uittreksels Uittreksel Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden

Uittreksel Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden

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Extracts English Literature
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Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden

Cape, London (1978).

Title:

This book is called The cement garden because the father of the children in this book covers their little garden with cement, but before he is finished he dies of a heart attack, and eventually their mother dies too. They want to keep her death a secret otherwise they will have to go to a orphanage. The children bury her in a trunk with some of the cement their father used during his project.

Author:

Ian McEwan was born in England in 1948 and started his writing career in 1970. He wrote short stories such as First Love, Last Rites and Between the Sheets, which were published in well known magazines. The Cement Garden was his first novel. It is said to be a typical McEwan novel, having ingredients like frustration, fear, sex and violence.

Other novels written by McEwan are Comfort Strangers and A child in Time.

The literary period:

Twentieth century-second part.

The genre:

The Cement Garden

Summary:

Four children, Julie, Jack , Sue and Tom live in a big but very old house. Their home is isolated from the world because the area is being demolished, because it has to make room for a motorway. The family has no friends or relatives. The children are ashamed about this situation and are discouraged to bring friends home.

The father, who is very fond of gardening, decides that his work in the garden is too much of a strain for him, especially after he has a heart attack. He decides to cover the whole garden with cement, but this turns out to be even harder work than the gardening itself, and while he is working he has a second, fatal heart attack. On top of this the children's mother also becomes ill. She doesn't want to see a doctor. Three days after Jack's birthday she also dies.

Now the children are left completely on their own. They are afraid they will be separated because they now have no parents. They decide to tell no one about their mother's death and put her in a trunk filled with cement in the basement.

After they bury her Tom starts to say that he wants to be a girl, because he gets teased at school and girls don't get teased. His two sisters dress him up like a girl. Julie brings along her boyfriend, whose name is Derek.

He discovers a strange smell coming from a crack in the cement. The children tell him that their dog is buried in there. Derek is very suspicious and asks a lot of questions about the dog as he helps to fill in the crack again. After he has left Julie tells Jack that she is tired of Derek, they have a long talk and suddenly they are making love. Derek walks in. He is shocked by what is going on and leaves the room, goes into the cellar to find out what is really in the trunk. He smashes the cement. When he is finished he leaves in his car. The children don't know what to do.They start talking quietly about their mother until police cars are driving up to the house.

Time:

The story takes place during a long hot summer. The actual time isn't clear.

Setting:

The children's house is in a street in which almost all the other houses are abandoned or half ruined. The family lives in a dreamworld, totally isolated from society. This explains the close relationship between the children.

Characters and relationships:

Jack:

He is the narrator of this novel. During this story he turns fifteen. He is going through puberty. He discovers pimples on his skin and refuses to wash himself anymore. He really cares about his brother and sisters, they are all he has. The relationship gets even stronger after their mother dies. It ends in a sexual relationship with his older sister Julie.

Julie:

She is eighteen years old and very attractive. She finds herself in a difficult situation. As the oldest sister she is responsible for the management of the household, but isn't able to cope with this. She can't cook for instance.

She has a boyfriend named Derek, and is unsure her relationship with him.

Sue:

This girl is twelve years old. After the mother die she keeps a diary which means a lot to her. It helps her to get through the difficult situations.

Tom:

He is six years old and the youngest child in the family. After his parents' death he starts to act strangely. It's all very hard to understand for him. At first he wants to be a girl and really he acts like a baby to get more attention.

Derek:

He is Julie's boyfriend, a professional snooker player. He is very suspicious about the whole situation and eventually discovers where his girlfriend's mother is buried, and decides to inform the police.

Credibility:

….

Theme:

The social and emotional development of four children after their parents have died. The world around them seems to have completely vanished. They only see each other and feel their emotional bonds become stronger. They are no longer willing or able to realise that there is also a world outside.

Motto:

"It was not all clear to me now, why we had put her in the trunk in the first place. At the time it had obviously to keep the family together. Was that a good reason? It might been more interesting to be apart. Nor could I think, whether what we had done was an ordinary thing to do, understandable even if it had been a mistake."

This shows the strange way of thinking the children built up. They didn't realise what they were doing when they buried their own mother.

Linguistic usage:

McEwan uses a normal style of writing and short sentences. The book is easy to read.

Dedication:

for Penny.

Perspective:

This whole story and all the situations and events in it are seen through the eyes of Jack. You can say he's the main character of the book.

Construction:

The story consists of two different parts.

The first part describes the situation before the parents die. The second part describes what happens when the children are left completely by themselves.

Own opinion on the book:

Your opinion!

is a psychological novel. The characters in this story have to deal with a lot of difficulties and changes. This book shows the way in which they handle this situation

 

Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.

Soms worden dingen mogelijk als we het graag genoeg willen.

T.S. Eliot