An Analysis of The Man Chapter 1

The reaction to “The Man” chapter 1 has been interesting and immediate. I have fielded a number of calls from friends who rang to discuss it. So I thought it might be worthwhile for our readers if we discuss some of the issues here on the web site.

I am a firm believer that the writer of a story is not necessarily the best interpreter of that story and certainly their view has no more credence than that of the reader. I think writers often enter a zone where the story pretty much writes itself. I know when I was writing this one, I was sometimes surprised to see where it went. For that reason I hope you will share your views about what you get out of the story because you may see things completely different to me.

I don’t mind telling you, when I was writing chapter three I cried like a baby which was quite embarrassing because I was at work. To make matters worse, I had a visitor who thought I had just received some devastating news.

But we will get to chapter three soon enough. I look forward to hearing your reaction to it. I know, you already think I am just a big sop. A baby. Well I admit it! Interestingly the visitor who caught me crying over a silly piece of fiction told me that as we get older we are more able to cry because we have experienced so much and we feel things more.

So there is our first piece of philosophy. Don’t put all the oldies out to pasture too quickly as the young turks may not have the emotional maturity to feel the situation. They may not be able to cry, for example over the injustice we see all around us, over the refugees who get thrown into detention camps sometimes for years or for the millions of indigenous people that live in squalor usually on the very edge of our rich cities.

Some of the people that have read all three chapters think that chapter one is the least interesting of the three, but I don’t agree with that. I have tried to make each chapter a stand alone story but also a part of the whole. It was not my intention to reveal everything about the man; I want him to unfold before us. I want to get to know him as you do a friend, slowly and I want us to discover what he learns as he learns it.

I say us because as I said above, I think the story is to some degree writing itself and I am just as interested to see where it goes as I hope, you are.

The Man is not a true story but of course there are elements in it that are based on true life experience and it includes incidents that will help us understand philosophy or the meaning of life. I think a good story can explain philosophy much better than an academic treatise (I am not claiming that this is a good story that is for you to decide). I have read some great novels that have had a major impact on me, for example;

• The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
• Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence
• The Great Women of China by Xinran (Not fiction but very powerful)
• Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

In chapter 1, we find out that the man has driven for a long time almost in a dream because he doesn’t know himself, how long he has been driving.

Is he on the run? If so what from?

In the chemist shop he buys the woman’s drugs but I didn’t feel that he did it with passion or from any altruistic belief. It was almost mechanical. A sort of “Look, here is the money, can we get on to me now!”

I found the Pharmacist interesting (We call them a chemist in Australia). He is Mr Average. He is the archetypical man next door who is not a loser but he is not a winner either. The interesting thing was that he lives in a town where Aboriginals are most likely looked down on yet he has obviously been paying for the drugs the woman needed for her daughter. And I got the feeling she was not the only one.

But he is not the type to want a park named after him, he is not a public philanthropist like the ones that sit on the stage and pretend to be shy and retiring.  He is a good hearted quite man that does not think in terms of good deeds only in terms of what needs to be done. He probably doesn’t think of himself as a do gooder, in fact I think if you asked him to describe himself, he would say he was a soft touch, a fool who has his vices. We know he likes to smoke and to bet, I know many fundamentalist religious people that would scorn him for that and yet he is in many ways more honest, more genuine than they are.

It is through the chemist that we first see that the man has a redeeming side to him. I trust the chemist and he saw something in the man that I don’t think the man sees in himself.

I was shocked when he went to the supermarket and his card was declined. My first thought was, so how was he going to pay for the drugs? I felt he was going to let the chemist down and I was sorry for the chemist because I think it happens to him a lot.

But I also saw it as part of the chaos of the man’s life. I felt that he did not intend to let the chemist down on purpose. He genuinely meant to pay for them.

So does that count or do you only get kudos when you perform an act of kindness? Even if for example, you pay for them because you have the money but you don’t really care about the person or their situation. What I’m saying is, what is more important, that I feel your pain and want to help you or that I help you because it is easy for me to do so but I don’t care a damn for your situation?

How many times have you given money to a beggar just to get rid of them not because you want to make their life better? Who is the real philanthropist, the person who gives thousands of dollars because they have millions or the one who shares their last fifty cents with a beggar?

Well I hope these notes help you get more out of the story. I’ll be back on Monday with chapter two.

Ric Vatner

The Chapters So Far:

The Man Chapter 1

The Man Chapter 2

The Man Chapter 3

Read an Analysis of Each Chapter – The Philosophy and Ideas behind the Story

Analysis of The Man Chapter 1

Analysis of The Man Chapter 2

A Readers Analysis of The Man Chapter 2

Pre Analysis Background Information for The Man Chapter 3

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