My
Essay
Discuss the main similarities in themes and ideas that are common
to John Marden’s books.
John
Marsden is a popular author for teenagers.
He has written many books, including novels and picture books, and has
won a number of awards for his work.
His novels range widely in topic and subject matter, from war to school
life. However, a
number of similarities can be noticed in many of John Marsden’s books, which
help to make his novels different from other authors.
The
first of these similarities is the recurrent theme of being confined.
In many of his novels, especially ones for older readers, this occurs.
For example, Letters From The
Inside dealt with a person in jail, Checkers
was set inside a psychiatric hospital, and both So Much To Tell You and The
Great Gatenby were set inside a boarding school.
Perhaps one of the reasons why John Marsden uses this theme of being
confined so often is that it allows for greater emotional insight into the
characters. It would be perfectly natural for someone in a condition similar to
that of those in John Marsden’s novels, to spend a lot of time reflecting on
themselves personally, and analysing their behaviour and the behaviour of the
people around them.
John
Marsden also writes from the viewpoint of females very often, and always writes
in the first person. Books
such as Letters From The Inside, The
“Tomorrow” Series, Winter, So Much To Tell You and it’s sequel Take
My Word For It are all written through the eyes of a female.
This is unusual considering the fact that John Marsden is a male author.
This may be because it would seem more natural for a female to be
discussing their emotions, as it is the books written from a female viewpoint
that deal with emotions more.
Books written by John Marsden from the viewpoint of a male often do not
have the same depth and degree of emotional insight in them.
Every
book written by John Marsden deals with personal change in some way.
Even in the books that are written for younger readers, such as Looking
For Trouble, the main characters are considerably different at the end than
at the beginning. This
helps to make the book more interesting, as the reader is intrigued by the
changes that occur to the reader.
In some books, such as So Much To
Tell You and The Journey, the
change is more obvious, where the story is based around the main characters
personal journey. In other books, however, such as The
“Tomorrow” Series, the change is more subtle, and John Marsden spends
more time concentrating on the suspense and action than in other novels,
allowing less time to concentrate on personal change.
However, even in these types of books, the main characters change
dramatically from the beginning to the end.
Another
common theme throughout many of John Marsden’s books, is that they are books
that concentrate mainly on emotion, without a great deal of action occurring in
them. Almost all of
his books are journals, or people writing, and the quality that makes these
books so interesting is hearing the main characters thoughts.
Even books such as Dear Miffy, where Tony writes letters recounting his past, there is
not a lot of action or exciting parts.
The book is interesting because of the emotions and feelings in what Tony
says. The “Tomorrow” Series are the novels by John Marsden that have
the most amount of action in them, and they also have a large amount of emotion
in them. Particularly
the last two books, where the main characters spend a lot of time reflecting on
their situation, and their feelings about it.
John
Marsden writes in a very simple language as well, and this style can be seen in
all of John Marsden’s books.
He refrains from using too many adjectives, and uses imagery to convey
the situations around him. John
Marsden also writes this in his book Everything
I Know About Writing, where the main point that he makes is not to use too
many adjectives, and to “Show, don’t tell.”
This style of writing is very different to that of many other authors.
John
Marsden deals with a wide range of issues in his novels.
These novels are often confronting, such as the theme of mental illness
in Checkers, or in Letters
From The Inside which deals with the theme of juvenile offenders.
These books are generally quite short in length, and can be read in one
or two sittings, but John Marsden manages to convey an impartial account of
these issues. For
example, in Letters From The Inside, he
suggests that Tracey is not a completely bad person, eliciting sympathy from the
reader. However, at
the same time, John Marsden reminds the reader that Tracey has committed a
crime. This is
reinforced by his constant references to the reason that Tracey is in jail, and
the occurrences that happen at the jail where Tracey lives.
Sometimes though, his manner of presenting the issues that he deals with
becomes controversial. A
good example of this is the book Dear
Miffy. In Dear
Miffy, the main character Tony is socio-economically deprived and lives with
his aunt and uncle. John
Marsden demonstrated very effectively the role of the ‘underdog’ in society,
and one of the ways that he did this was through the use of language in the
novel. This became
quite controversial, and many critics deemed it unsuitable.
In
general, John Marden writes powerfully and effectively.
He deals with many issues, and writes about a range of topics.
However his work has a very distinct style, and is quite different to
that by other authors. Some
of that is achieved by writing in a particular voice that is honest and
straightforward. Part
of that is the emotions his books deal with, and the importance that he places
on emotions and the role of them in a novel.
Although his books are so different, it is easy to see similarities
between them, and to see how they differ from other books by other authors.
Overall, John Marsden’s books are very enjoyable, and it is because of
all these reasons that his books have remained popular for over a decade.
Links
Links
Book Review (Checkers)
About John Marsden
About John Marsden's Books
