Literary Analysis "the Graduate"

Literary analysis “The graduate”The graduate is a book written by Charles Webb. It was first published in the United States in 1963. The Novel is not based on a specific real person but most likely inspired by a very real situation, that kids come home from university and doesn't really know what to do.We first meet Benjamin at his homecoming “party”. “party” cause its with his dads and moms friends and Benjamin does not really want to see them. He sees an escape by driving Mrs R home. Then she tries to seduce Benjamin. However the affair doesn't start before some time later when Benjamin takes the initiative and calls. They meet and go to bed together ove ...view middle of the document...

She is the one that takes full advantage of Ben's tricky situation. Sometimes she acts really evil for instance when she tells her daughter that Ben raped her instead of the truth which could harm her self.She is also a bit of a mystery since she never give good reasons for what she says. Like when she tells Ben that he cant see Elaine, both Ben and the reader wonder why she is so strict on this. Maybe she wants Ben for her self, but she doesn't show that much appreciation in having him. Ben's parents are loving and caring, they are like most parents a bit naive about their son and think always the best of him.Elaine is also young like Ben they are both in their twenties. She is very different from her other and is a more honest person, she tells thing as it is even tho she know it will hurt Benjamin's feelings. Why she likes Benjamin is hard to guess but it seems she does since she escapes away with him instead of marrying that other guy.We get to know a lot about the characters in the long dialogs witch goes page up and page down in the book. What they think inside their heads is never written directly but the reader must find out what the characters think by looking at the dialog and the actions.The story takes place in modern America. The characteristics for modern USA that we should be aware of as a reader is that it's very high prestige in getting good gradesin university etc. Also the family life in USA at that time was supposed to be very “standard” you might say. Divorces and such things was not normal at that time and the parents had more power over their kids then they have now. At that time you normally did what your parents thought what would be best for you. Due to this you can say that for the happening its important that it takes place in a “civilized society” or else the actions by the characters that takes place would t have been so wrong.The book take up several subjects. The one that i find the most interesting is that trough the whole book the author shows us that humans ain't rational. Often they go for the choice that seems to be the best right there without thinking about what might happen later. For instance when Ben decides to call a female friend of his dad. One of the themes is also about young people and the choices they have to take. Young people in modern times have so many choices to make that's it hard to make any. LikeBen he has no idea what kind of job he is going to live of instead he takes those problems later and just follow his heart. That could also be something the writer is trying to show us follow your hearth not what everyone else tels you...