The function of food representation and eating in John Irving's "The Cider House Rules"

1.  Introduction  3

2.  Social structure  4

2.1.  Maine  4

2.2.  Theories on food  4

2.2.1  Claude Levi-Strauss  5

2.2.2  Levi-Strauss and Irving s Cider House Rules  5

2.2.2.1  Apple cider  5

2.2.2.2  Apple blossom honey  6

2.2.2.3  Apple jelly  6

2.2.2.4  Apple Pies  6

2.2.2.5  Results  7

2.2.3.  Roland Barthes  7

2.2.4  Roland Barthes and Irving s Cider House Rules  8

2.2.4.1  The Worthington s  8

2.2.4.2  The apple farmers  8

2.2.5.3  The migrants  9

2.2.5.4.  Results  9

3  Homer Wells  10

3.1  The influence other characters have on Homer  10

3.1.1  Homer Wells Dr Larch  11

3.1.2  Homer Wells Melony  12

3.1.3  Homer Wells Candy and Wally  13

3.1.4  Homer Wells pickers  14

3.2  Symbolic meaning of apples  14

3.2.1.  Apples and the novel  14

3.3.  Formative moments on the apple orchard for Homer Wells  15

3.4  Connection of apple farming and Homer s personal development  17

4.  The connection of the title and the novel  18

5.  Conclusion  19

6.  Bibliography  20

6.1  Internet sources  20

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1. Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the question of the function of food representation and eating in the novel “The Cider House Rules” by John Irving, first published in 1985 by William Morrow.

The relevance of this question can already be found in the title of the novel. Since the title “The Cider House Rules” combines food, or better drink with rules and housing, there must be some deeper connection between them. What exactly is meant by these rules? These rules must be social agreements, which again are connected to food and drink. The novel also relates to a local and regional culture, the culture of apple growing, to Maine, and to certain social structures.

It would be of interest to analyze the influence food has on the novel’s main characters. All these questions lead to the main question and are going to focus on the function that food and drink have in the novel.

In the first part, this paper gives background information on the novel’s settings in Maine and gives theoretical reference to the cultural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss and the social and literary critic Roland Barthes.

The second part will then focusing on Homer Wells, one of the main characters in the novel. It concentrates on the influences the other characters have on Homer Wells, especially Dr. Larch, Melony, Candy, Wally, and the migrants. Then the symbolic meaning of apples will be discussed. Homer Wells’ most forming moments on the orchard will be explained and also how his life is connected with apple farming.

In the third part the relation of the title and the novel will be analyzed. This includes also the reasons for the cider house. The results will be summarized in the end.

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2. Social structure

Social structure includes the background of a person, how this person was raised and in what kind of surrounding this person grew up and the influences it had in his life. The apple growing as it is shown in the novel has a socially structuring function. It is also connected to a special setting, and it divides people into groups according to their class, age, gender, and race.

2.1. Maine

The special setting of the novel is Maine. The three towns St. Cloud’s, Heart’s Rock, and Heart’s Haven play an important role. John Irving creates a landscape with dark and light images, which are dominant for these towns.

St. Cloud’s is only described as a dark, old town which was founded by the Ramses Paper Company, and when the company closed, they left the small village behind.

“St. Clouds dark, brooding, and melancholic atmosphere isolated the orphanage in which Dr. Larch delivers or aborts babies.“ (Edward C. Reilly 1991: 103) In contrast to this stands the description of Heart’s Haven and Heart’s Rock with their light images.

“East of Cape Kenneth, the tourist trap, lies Heart’s Haven; inland from the small, pretty harbor town that’s called a haven squats the town of Heart’s Rock.” (John Irving 1986: 155)

“Heart’s Rock and Heart’s Haven are bathed in sunshine, refreshed by ocean breezes, and thickly populated.” (Edward C. Reilly 1991: 103)

2.2. Theories on food

The novel deals with many aspects of food. How food is used and what kind of influence food can have on people and their lives. Levi-Strauss and Barthes have both concentrated on food theories especially how food influences people and how food serves as a sign.

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2.2.1 Claude Levi-Strauss

In his essay “The Culinary Triangle” which appeared in 1968 Levi Strauss analyses the similarities between languages and cooking. He starts out with the thesis that every society has a language and that every society cooks its food in one sort or another. He first divides the food into three categories of different stages. The raw, the cooked, and the rotted stage. Then he differentiates these categories into natural and cultural transformations. For him cooked food is a cultural transformation and rotted food is a natural one. The cooked is not simply cooked, it must be cooked in a certain fashion. He divides these kinds of cooking into roasted, boiled, smoked food. He finds a variety of differences between the roasted and the boiled and transforms these differences into other cultures, and proves them.

Boiled food is mostly cooked within a receptacle by woman, for small groups (endo-cuisine) and since the meat and its juices are cooked together, there is a complete enclosure of the substances. In contrast to this, the roasted is usually cooked by men without a receptacle, for guests (exo-cuisine) and since the meat is separated from its juice, roasting stands for destruction, loss and death.

Claude Levi-Strauss then differentiated the boiling and roasting into a third form, the smoking. On one hand it is an unmediated operation, this means it is cooked without water and without a receptacle, but it is like boiling a slow from of cooking. Now it will be interesting to see in which different stages the apples on the orchard are transformed in and if similarities to Levi-Strauss’ theory can be found.

2.2.2 Levi-Strauss and Irving’s Cider House Rules

Levi Strauss discussed the different stages food can be in. In order to analyze if his theory can be applied to the cooking on the Ocean View Orchard, it will be best to analyze the main products made out of apples separately.

2.2.2.1 Apple cider

The production of apple cider plays a very important role in the novel. In order to understand it, it seems necessary to explain the process. The process will be explained, as it is usual on the Ocean View Apple Orchard in the novel. A variety of apples are used in each batch of cider to get a better taste. The apples used for cider are usually drops. First all the apples are inspected and after that the apples are washed and carried into the grinder. There the apples are pulverized into a mash. The mash is pumped into the cider press. The cider press consists

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of pressboards that are stacked together into racks. The mash is now pushed between the cider pressboards and the cider is flowing into a big tub under the press. There the cider is whirred through a rotary screen, which strains it into a big vat. The apples are not mixed with any other kind of food or drink. All apple cider is, are plain apples, actually only their juice. When analyzing the process of making apple cider it comes clear, that it is neither one of the categories Levi-Strauss has set up. The food is made within a receptacle, but apple cider is not made by women, nor is it for small groups, since it is sold in the store, and it is also not an enclosure of all substances since only the juice is kept and the seeds, skins, and peels are left out when the mash is pressed trough the pressing boards. Regarding Levi-Strauss theory it is only a cultural transformation of the food.

2.2.2.2 Apple blossom honey

The apple blossom honey is totally a natural process, which is controlled by the human. The bees are set out especially close to the apple trees, so that they get their nectar from the apple blossoms. The bees transform the nectar with enzymes into honey that is stored on their honeycomb. The beekeeper then collects these honeycombs and with a special procedure the honey can be taken out. There are different methods but they are not really relevant for the question concerning Levi-Strauss and so they will not be discussed further. The result is, that the honey is a natural product, which is not manipulated by humans, because it is eaten raw.

2.2.2.3 Apple jelly

In order to make apple jelly, one has to cook the apples first. The whole apple can be cooked until it has become a mash. This mash is sifted through a strainer and only the juice is kept. The juice is then cooked with sugar and a gelatinizing agent until it jells. Even tough some substances are separated from each other it comes closest to boiling as it is in Levi-Strauss’ theory in the novel. Mostly woman boil the jelly within a receptacle and it is important that the whole apple is cooked, to create a better flavor. Since it is cooked, it is of course a cultural transformation of the food.

2.2.2.4 Apple Pies

The last variety of apples, which are described in the novel, are apple pies. The apple pie is a cultural transformation of the apples. The food is baked. Raw apples cut in slices without the seeds and are put on dough and then the whole pie is baked in the oven. Levi-Strauss has

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