Examine the portrayal of cultural poverty in 'Saved' and 'The Wasp Factory'; how is it shown to effect the characters?

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Examine the portrayal of cultural poverty in ‘Saved’ and ‘The Wasp Factory’; how is it shown to effect the characters?

In ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Saved’ one obviously apparent theme is the lack of community spirit in the societies. In ‘The Wasp Factory’ there is no mention of a character who wonders why Frank isn’t in school or doing things that other young men do. In ‘Saved’ there is no mention of anybody making any sort of judgement when Pam goes to meet Fred, somebody who has been jailed for the murder of her baby. Therefore it is important to look into the issue of cultural poverty, as it will make clearer why the characters are who they are and behave as they do.

Obviously, ‘Saved’ is a play and ‘The Wasp Factory’ is a novel. As ‘Saved’ is a play the audience physically see characters’ actions and emotions whereas Iain Banks has to use imagery. The effect of this is that the disturbing images in ‘Saved’ are there for the audience to see, initially making ‘Saved’ even more sickening. The setting for ‘Saved’ is on a bare stage so the plot seems extreme as the setting doesn’t dilute the harsh actions and language used in the play but reinforces them. Although harsh actions and emotions are in ‘The Wasp Factory’ the setting of “empty beaches” softens these actions, contrasting them with the natural splendour in which they take place. Perhaps Bond is suggesting that his characters have been formed by the environment and uses the setting to illustrate this whereas Banks makes it clear that ugly actions are not dependant on ugly surroundings.

‘The Wasp Factory’ is written in the first person narrative therefore the reader sees things from Frank’s viewpoint. The whole book is based on Frank’s thoughts and actions so the reader’s perceptions are based on those of Frank. When Frank says that he has killed people he says it casually; the reader isn’t as shocked as they should be. Frank says on page 42, “That’s my score to date” and “It was just a stage I was going through” when talking about his murders which gives the impression he has no remorse. ‘Saved’, as a play on the other hand, actually shows the audience the murder of the baby. Stage directions such as “He starts to throw burning matches in the pram” and “He takes a stone from the pram and throws it at point blank range” are actually shown to the audience. Unlike ‘The Wasp Factory’ there is no escape from, nor sympathy with, the murder of the baby.

In both texts the reader feels very close to the main characters and this is due to the language. ‘The Wasp Factory’ is written in a Scottish dialect e.g. the girl who Jamie meets in the pub says to Jamie “Dud he say sumhin er?” referring to Frank who is drunk at the time, which makes the novel seem more realistic. This language seems strange to the reader but by using this dialect the language links the book with the time and the setting and this realism involves the reader in the book. In ‘Saved’ the cockney accent makes the reader feel more involved in the story. In a conversation between Len and Pam on page 82 Pam says “None a that ‘ld a ‘appened if yer ain’ bin ‘ere.” Without this accent it would be harder to picture the London setting and characters.

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Violence pervades in both texts. The extreme details of violence in the texts are sickening to any audience. Even the description of the battle between Frank and a rabbit contains violent images as Frank says how he feared the rabbit “tearing the flesh” off his finger and how he feared the rabbit “biting” his nose off. The instances of violence on living things are quite sickening but they pale in comparison to the murder of the baby in ‘Saved’ and the murders in ‘The Wasp Factory’. In ‘Saved’ when the men are trying to get the baby to sleep ...

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