Summary
We have read the book the wasp factory, which has been written by Iain Banks. The book is about a sixteen-year-old boy called Frank. He and his father live on an island. His mother has left them after he was born. The most people don’t now about the existence of him because his dad didn’t register the birth of Frank. Frank has placed sacrifice poles around the whole island. These are poles with skulls of several dead animals, like rabbits and mice, on them. These poles are meant to scare intruders, and they also mark the territory of Frank. To amuse himself he spends time using his catapult and inspecting the island for more items for his sacrifice poles. On a day Frank notices that the local policeman Diggs comes to the island to visit his dad. Once Diggs has gone Frank is informed by his father that Diggs brought news about his mad brother, Eric, having escaped from the high security institution where he was being kept. The people fear that Eric will return to the island and it’s surrounds. A long time ago, Eric was send to the high security institution because on a day he had run mad. From then on he started burning dogs of other people and beside this he started feeding the local village children worms. Now the people fear that Eric will start doing this again so he has to be found as soon as possible. Frank already knew that something was going to happen, because the wasp factory had already told him. Frank has made the wasp factory himself and he thinks that this box can tell him about things that will happen in future. He is quite sure that this was the news that the factory had been trying to tell him. Frank expects his brother to come home and for this he tries to strengthen the protection of the island. He checks his sacrifice poles every day, he makes and buys weapons and he does other things to make the island save. While he does this he thinks back to the past and he tells the reader about what he has done. So he tells about the three people who he has murdered. First he killed Blyth with a snake because he thought that this boy was an enemy of his older brother Eric. Two years later he kills his younger brother Paul with a bomb because he would like to kill another one and Paul was the right person for this. Finally he kills his cousin Esmeralda because this time he would kill a girl just for the balance. He kills this girl by fastening her on a very large kit, and letting her fly. Besides this he tells that he as young boy has been castrated by an accident. A dog has bitten off his balls. After this his father kills the dog and his father tells him that he has kept the testicles. Sometimes Frank receives phone calls from his brother Erik, who tells him that he is planning to return home, but not why he wants to come back home. A few days after Erik escaped Frank finds out that his brother isn’t far away, because he sees a burning dog running and screaming. When Frank sees the suffering dog he gets his catapult and he kills the dog. After this he buries the dog and he doesn’t tell anyone about what he has seen.
He’s eager to meet his brother, but a bit scared too. This is why he begins a vigil in the loft of his father’s house, keeping lookout for his brother with his binoculars. His father has left for town and hears here that Eric is close to the house. He tries to phone Frank to get him out of the house, but his son understands what his father is up to. So his father comes home, still fairly drunk, trying to get him to leave the house, but instead he ends up on top of the sofa. Frank too has fallen asleep and when he wakes up he finds that his father has left the study keys out. He enters the room to find out why his father always kept it locked. In the study he finds male genitals, hormones and tampons. In rage he runs to his father and pulls his pants of to find that his father is not a transvestite, as he suspected. Before he can understand all this Eric signals his much anticipated arrival by setting fire to and panicking a whole herd of sheep. In the meantime Eric is trying to break into the basement planning to ignite the ex-naval cordite that is stored down there. Eric fails in this attempt and runs off into the night. Franks repairs the door, as good as he can and asks his father why he stores the genitals and hormones and tampons. His father reveals to him that he isn’t Frank but rather Frances. He’s female. His father has fed him hormones to look like a male, and is able to use the other things as proof when Frank would start asking questions. Awaking the next morning Frances finds his brother still sleeping on the island and he has an epiphany about her life and the motivations behind it. He’s afraid of what his brother will say when he expects to greet his father and brother, to find a father and sister.
Opinions
1:
To my opinion this is a good book. What I liked most was that the story is told in a very funny way. Beside this I was very curious how the book would end when I had started reading the book. Beside this I found it a difficult book to read. There are a lot of difficult words in it and I was forced to read slowly because else I didn’t understand what I was reading.
2:
Many people won’t like the story because of the many animals that are tortured to death. But with a bit of macabre humour you’ll like the book a lot. The weird actions of the characters are described in a way that makes their deeds no more then logical conclusions on the events that take place. On the end it has you wondering which parts of the book you’re really laughing about.
Analyse:
Genre: The book is a psychological Novel, because the whole book is about the emotions and feelings of Frank, the headperson.
Theme: The theme is insanity, because the three main characters are a bit to a lot nuts.
Title: The title refers to a box that can tell Frank about what will happen in future.
Structure: The book is divided by 12 chapters, just like the clock that actually is the factory. In every chapter you’re being told bits about the history of the Cauldhame family.
Persons: The headperson is Frank. Other persons are his father, Erik, his crazy brother, Paul, Esmeralda and Blyth, who are the victims off the murderer Frank, Mrs Clamp, the housekeeper, Diggs, the police officer and Jamie who is an friend of Frank.
Time: Frank is born in 1964, the flashbacks occur from this year. The now of the book is in 1980, most of it takes place in 2 weeks time.
Special Assignment:
As a special assignment we have made a drawing of the factory, because we think it isn’t completely clear how the factory looks like. Originally the factory was the clock from the Royal Bank in Porteneil. Frank has made some adjustments to fit his needs. In the centre of the clock is a small hole. Through this a wasp enters the factory. He’s now in the centre of it and he can choose which room he wants. There are 12 rooms, each with its own way to kill the entering wasp. As soon as the wasp chooses a door closes behind him and he’s as good as dead. By the way the wasp gets himself killed Frank can tell what is going to happen in the future.
REACTIES
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