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Literature

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Cardiff Metropolitan University

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2013, Jade

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Karina D. ©
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Content: Der Down­load der Inter­pre­ta­tion von "About a Boy" ermög­licht ein tiefes Verständnis der Charak­ter­dar­stel­lung durch Nick Hornby. Leser erhalten Einblicke in die Tech­ni­ken, mit denen Hornby die Figuren Marcus, Fiona und Will in den ersten neun Kapi­teln präsen­tiert. Die Analyse beleuchtet die unter­schied­li­chen Perspek­tiven und Hinter­gründe der Charak­tere, ihre Bezie­hungen zuein­ander sowie ihre indi­vi­du­ellen Entwick­lungen im Kontext der 1990er Jahre. Dieses Wissen kann für Lite­ra­tur­stu­dien oder persön­liche Berei­che­rung wert­voll sein.

About a boy – Nick Hornby

How does Nick Hornby present the characters of
Marcus, Fiona and Will in chapters 1-9

A novel ‘About a boy’ by Nick Hornby was published in 1998, but set in 1993. The title was an inspiration from Nirvana’s song ‘About a girl’. 1990’s was the ‘yuppie’ period, which represented the impressive signs of success, for instance, flashy cars, penthouse apartments etc. However, this period came to an end in 1987 when stock market crashed.

Novel is written in 3rd person narrator, known as omniscient. The narration moves mainly from Marcus to Will, but Fiona is mentioned throughout the novel as well. The changing narration allows readers to see the events of the novel through the eyes of each of the main characters; therefore we have more sympathy for them than for Fiona.

Author presents characters through various techniques, for instance their appearance and clothing; their values and views; also the way they speak. In the novel, Will has got everything without working due to the famous song that his father wrote. He reflects the “yuppie” which brings a negative opinion of him to readers.

Will is introduced to readers by a magazine questionnaire and it is very unusual technique. His voice is mostly arrogant and manipulative. Fiona is set as contrast to Will. She is an “old hippy” who doesn’t care about her looks. She has a strong voice even though she is depressed and there is no humour in her voice.

Marcus is represented as “odd”, but very honest and directed person.

Marcus is a twelve years old boy, but is very mature for his age, “some hard things became softer after a while”. This gives the impression that Marcus has experienced hard times during his childhood. In the beginning of the novel, Marcus suggests to “pick the  pepperoni off the pizza”, showing that he is sensible and pro-active.

Marcus has to adapt his mother’s hippy taste and beliefs. “She didn’t want him to watch rubbish television, or listen to rubbish music, or play rubbish computer games”, “mum, did you always know I was going to be a vegetarian?”, also listening to John Mitchell. Marcus wants to be close with his mother, but he was bullied in the school for being different.

Also he is very curious young boy, ‘have you split up now?’, ‘is he gone?’ as he asks a lot of questions. ‘He wasn’t right for the parties because he was too shy’, suggests that Marcus is shy and is aware of it.

People around Marcus don’t know how to take him, “Marcus felt he had been left out deliberately …what was he supposed to have done?”, “are you being funny?” suggests that he was being misunderstood. He is very caring of his mother; he puts on the TV programme instead of DVD to avoid his mother getting upset, he was worried that the trouble in the soaps would remind his mum of the trouble she had in her own life.

This shows the emotional intelligence that he has. However, he gets fed up with his mother for not looking after him, “‘if you can’t look after me properly then you’ll have to find someone who can”. This suggests that in his relationship with mother is the role reversal; he feels that he has too many responsibilities with her.

He does not feel like a kid, but he wants to be one “He didn’t think he’d ever get used to this business”, suggests that Marcus’ life is very chaotic and dysfunctional ‘All you do is make my meals and I can do that’, shows that Marcus is being very honest and direct with his mother.  Marcus tries to stay positive and optimistic, ‘more happened, and that had to be a good thing’, ‘all f.....[read full text]

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Mother shouldn’t say this to a child as it is her job to look after him. She does not understand the emotions Marcus goes through, ‘You’ll get used to it’, ‘Marcus would have told his mum where the trainers had come from if she’d asked, but she didn’t even notice he was wearing them‘ suggests that she has lack of empathy for him.

Also after her split with Marcus’ father she took him to the Glastonbury, suggests that she sees Marcus more as a friend. Fiona alienates Marcus by imposing her lifestyle choices, ’mum had said that modern films were too commercial’, ‘she was always telling him that only shallow people make judgements on the basis of clothes or hair’.

He knew he was weird because of his mum, ‘a long time ago, when she was a real hippy’. Her suicide attempt was the lowest point in the novel. However, it seems that in the past she treated Marcus equally, they’d had lots of talks about London, and the changes that were happening to them’, suggests that she used to be sympathetic. ‘How’s your lovely mum, Marcus?’, seems that she is an attractive woman.

From the beginning Marcus seemed to be very mature through the chapters, but later he seems to break down. ‘He was having a shit time at school and a shit time at home’. He is more a man than a boy, but at the end it turns around – he becomes more a child.

Fiona doesn’t really engage with Marcus, she wants to talk to him, but she wouldn’t listen. She has mental vulnerability, for instance Marcus found her watching cartoons, which she previously said were rubbish. Through the novel, she sees herself as a perfect parent, but later on she realizes that she’s isn’t always right.

Towards the end, she has totally change her mind about forcing Marcus to be a vegetarian, even suggesting that they should go eat at McDonald’s.

When we are first introduced to Will he seems to be shallow, manipulative liar. However, later on he reveals his softer side and he even helps Marcus out. He seemed to be more a boy in this novel but at the end he turned more into a man.

In my opinion, the central idea of the novel is the importance of proper family structure. Marcus has to take care of himself and his mother, because she doesn’t know how to deal with life. Very often he takes the upper hand and tries to solve problems himself. In the end, Will becomes a .....

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