1. “The characters of successful novels must possess qualities with which readers can easily identify.”
To what extent do you agree with this view?
In Ronald Hugh Morrieson’s novel ‘The Scarecrow’ readers delve into the world of Klynham, modeled after Morrieson’s hometown Hawera, not far from New Plymouth in the shadow of Mount Taranki. Moriesson’s work is considered by many to be one of New Zealand’s literary treasures. Characters referenced in Morrieson’s work, which are based on real life people living in Hawera, think otherwise. As Morrieson’s novels were written for adult audiences, many incidents can be easily identified and relatable.
Neddy Pointdexter is the main character and hero of the novel, being a typical teenager; he has to deal with his journey through puberty and adolescence. Apart from his new found urges, he has alcoholic family members to deal with and try to make sense of the happenings that are going on in the sleepy town of Klynham. Neddy lives with his family and his uncle Athol Cudby. “The problem with the Pointdexters was ready cash and Athol Cudby”. Despite the family’s financial problems, Neddy gets along fine.
Neddy possesses many traits one of which is perseverance and hard work. He is very innovative and clever despite claiming “We were so dumb in those days”. At the start of the novel, Neddy and Les had their fowls stolen; their plan was to sell the eggs laid by their fowls. This shows entrepreneurship and a sign of intelligence. Wanting revenge, they stole the fowls of whom they thought was the culprit, The Lynch Gang. The eggs that were laid by their new fowls were sold to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Neddy was eventually caught by the Lynches and had to find other means of making extra cash. Neddy and Les would spend their free time thinking of how they could make money and indulge in personal delights such as having a “milkshake at the Confectionary store”. “We went collecting cones from pine plantations weekend after weekend, tore our pants on barbed wire fences, fell in creeks and fell out of trees and braved all manners of hazards, including being bitten by dogs, when we hawked the pine cones from door to door.” Some readers eventually see a bit of their entrepreneur side in Neddy and how they struggled trying to get that extra cash to party on the weekends, growing up.
As he progresses through maturity and begins his journey through adolescence. Newfound desires are experienced and he starts to develop an urge to have “yuh-know”. Unable to having sexual intercourse with anyone, he explores his sexual fantasies with women through dreams and magazines. Eventually he reaches the point where he starts to masturbate. His sources of imagination ranges from magazines of film stars to simply staring at Angela. He lies in bed thinking about women, his blood is “simmering like an Irish stew”. This is typical of all young progressing teens, we eventually reach a point where we start to experiment with ourselves in order to satisfy our crave. Afraid of his obsession with spending long periods of time masturbating, he confides in his brother “I told him all about what I was up to and how, no matter how hard I tried, I could not help myself. “ “I’ll go blind. I’ll die”. Unaware that it is perfectly fine to masturbate, Neddy’s innocence is shown, as he is scared. Another example of how readers can relate and identify themselves with. Overall Neddy is a perfect example of what most of us went through during puberty and helps us to easily identify with the character making it an interesting tale to read. I too myself have done exactly what he did and ended up being afraid in some way.
However, in order for a novel to come across as realistic and possess a sense of change to it, not all characters can be easily identified with. An example in this novel is ‘Hubert Salter, also known as, ‘Salter the Sensational’. He is essentially the bad guy in the story and plays a significant and important role in the mishaps that happen in Klynham. Salter is the epitome of all that is evil and represents the negative side of a human being. His image as told in the story is hideous and resembles the likes of a Scarecrow. “Tall, gaunt man… like a scarecrow strayed from the cloud shadowed field… wearing dirty clothes… his suit of some dark cloth was old, crumpled and streaked with dust.” Readers instantly identify the character as one that is negative and not pleasant. Most readers instantly dislike him.
Salter is a certified “sex-oh” and is sick in the mind. He is into Necrophilia and a mastermind murderer, making him hard to relate to. He “conks and roots” his victims. Despite being an old man, he still has the desire for sexual urges and is unable to get it the traditional way of courting or paying for prostitutes. Salter also preys on very young women, his attempts to go for Prudence is often futile. Salter’s bad quality here may not be relatable for most if not all readers but people like him do exist around us. Readers may have read about them in an article on the papers or on the news, they are uncommon but they do exist. They serve as examples to show us the evil side of humanity and that there has to be a contrast to good and innocence. It is all part and parcel of life just as the Chinese would believe in “Yin and Yang”
There is however potential for people to turn into Salters. Hidden within us is a suppressed desire for violence and rage. More often than not, we do sometimes have that temptation and urge to commit an act of unpleasant circumstances. This is evident in times of rage, when someone constantly harasses you and you end up wanting to stab him. However due to our intellectual capacity and our maturity we stop ourselves from committing this act. We know right from wrong and we have self-control.
Qualities in characters do help to form a sense of identification in one’s self and aids in the development of curiosity in reading a book. They don’t often have to be relatable with the individual but relatable to events that we see happening day to day. Having known someone such as a Salter and a Neddy before is essential in bringing about the urge to know more about the book. A successful novel is one that is able to satisfy its readers by helping them achieve a sense of identification in the occurrences that happen around them, not necessarily with themselves as an individual.
Mohamed Sahdique Caubang
Words: 1126
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