The World According To Garp

John Wolf hates the first chapter, but Garp insists that he sell it to a magazine. Helen gives birth to a daughter named Jenny. Wolf sells the chapter to a magazine called Crotch Shots. Jenny actually approves of the novel since it shows the ramifications of lust.

In the novel, Dorsey is paranoid and hires Bensenhaver to protect his family. The family completely falls apart as Dorsey struggles to maintain control: Their second child dies, Hope has an affair, and Dorsey resents his wife. He tells Bensenhaver that there is a prowler in their neighborhood, hoping that Bensenhaver will catch Hope’s lover. Dorsey hides in his wife’s closet, and Bensenhaver, mistaking him for the intruder, shoots him. Bensenhaver is sent to an “old-age home for the criminally insane” (383). Hope and her children find happiness.

John Wolf still thinks the novel is terrible, but he is determined to see if he can make it a success. His secret litmus test is the publishing office’s cleaner, Jillsy, who dislikes reading. He pays her to read the novels that he’s unsure about, and he immediately regrets giving her The World According to Bensenhaver. To his surprise, Jillsy is completely engrossed in it. Wolf tells Garp that the book should be dedicated to Jillsy, and he sends it off to be published. Wolf takes advantage of Garp’s tragic backstory to market the novel, which he knows Garp will despise. Helen is suspicious about Jillsy’s real identity, assuming that she is a lover of Garp’s. Garp is convinced that he will die by suicide, believing it to be a proper writerly death.

Wolf advises the family to wait out the book’s release in Vienna, and as he drops them off at the airport, he gives Garp a copy of the book jacket hidden in multiple layers of envelopes to prevent him from seeing it immediately. Both Garp and Helen are deeply hurt by Wolf’s sensationalist tactic, especially since he chose a photo of Garp, Walt, and Duncan for the back cover. The family discusses a beach trip with young Walt, who called the undertow “the Under Toad” (408). Garp and Helen immediately seized this phrase to refer to anxiety.

In Vienna, the Under Toad is everywhere. Garp feels sad and nostalgic to see how the city has changed. John Wolf tries to filter the reviews of The World According to Bensenhaver that reach Garp. Some reviewers praise it as a feminist tract that shows the ramifications of “the peculiarly male neurotic pressure many women are made to suffer,” while others view the novel as a sensationalist celebration of violence against women (409).

Jenny is becoming involved with the New Hampshire gubernatorial race; the incumbent is a sexist man, and his opponent advocates for women’s rights. Garp panics when Duncan does not come home on time.

Roberta calls Garp very late at night, and he assumes it is about her love life. He is devastated to hear that his mother has been assassinated. Garp watches the murder on television. The family flies home.

Garp wants to go to his mother’s funeral, but Roberta tells him that no men are allowed at “the first feminist funeral” (419). Garp is angry because his mother did like being called a feminist. Helen worries because she is unable to reach her father. Roberta tells Garp that if he wants to go to the funeral, he’ll need to go in drag. Helen decides that she and the kids will go to Steering instead to try to find her father. Garp finally meets Jillsy, who tells him that his mother was worth “two or three of [him]” (424).

Many of the funeral attendees, inspired by Jenny’s trademark uniform, are wearing nurses’ uniforms with red hearts sewn on. Garp feels very conspicuous in the outfit that Roberta has chosen for him. Sally Devlin, the candidate at whose rally Jenny was murdered, gives a heartfelt speech that ends in tears. Garp pretends to be an Ellen Jamesian to avoid having to speak, but he is recognized by Pooh Percy, Cushie’s sister. Pooh is adamant that Garp killed her sister by “fuck[ing] [her] to death” and loudly outs him to the crowd (431). Even with Roberta trying to help him escape, the funeral attendees tackle and hurt Garp. A nurse named Dotty helps him into a cab. The cab driver makes fun of Sally’s speeches and Garp threatens him. At the airport, Garp has trouble checking in because he is still in drag.

On the plane, Garp is hit on by his male seatmate, and Garp feels “a peculiar kind of unfairness overwhelm him” (435). Garp threatens the man, who retreats. A young woman takes his seat. She hands him a note, and he immediately assumes she is an Ellen Jamesian. However, she is the actual Ellen James. She tells him that she is a huge fan of The World According to Bensenhaver. After her parents’ deaths, she set off to meet Jenny. Now that Jenny is dead too, she does not know where to go. Garp invites her to come home with him and stay with his family.

When he arrives home, Garp is surprised to see Dean Bodger in his living room. Ernie had a heart attack while reading Crotch Shots; upon finding his friend’s body, Dean hid the magazine so that Helen would not know what her father was doing when he died. Ellen James quickly ingratiates herself with the family.

Fat Stew died the same day as Ernie, and their funerals take place in the school chapel on the same day. Garp heads to the chapel early to check on the arrangements, but because there are so few people in attendance, he is asked to be a pallbearer. Conscious of Pooh’s new hatred of him, he pretends to be someone else. Garp decides that he wants to buy the Steering house.

Helen is invited to teach English at Steering but still resents that they did not allow her to attend as a student. Garp volunteers to coach wrestling for free. Helen knows that he is avoiding writing because it makes him reflect on his own life too much.

Garp and Helen adjust to their new life at Steering. Duncan joins the swim team. Ellen becomes like an older sister to him, and they write screenplays and make movies together. Jenny left Garp in charge of her estate, and he starts planning the Fields Foundation, an organization devoted to helping women find sanctuary and education. Roberta becomes the in-residence administrator of the foundation. Garp and Roberta review the applications from women who have applied for grants. One of the applications is submitted by Mrs. Truckenmiller, the widow of the man who assassinated Jenny. Her husband was physically abusive to her and her children, and after she read A Sexual Suspect and felt empowered to leave him, he blamed feminism for the end of his marriage. John Wolf wants to approve her application. Roberta thinks she is a sex worker. Garp decides to go meet Mrs. Truckenmiller and evaluate her character for himself.

More Ellen Jamesians show up to Dog’s Head Harbor, annoying Garp. He wants to ban them from the house since he views them as the product of the same extremism that killed his mother. Garp and the Ellen Jamesians continue to loathe each other.

Garp is enthusiastic about Ellen’s writing, especially her autobiographical work. He encourages John Wolf to publish it. Garp travels to New Hampshire to meet Mrs. Truckenmiller. He gets a haircut from Harriet and meets her brother Dickie. Dickie confesses that he shot Kenny Truckenmiller because “[h]e just got sick about women. He got sick for good. You could tell he wasn’t ever going to get over it” (473).

Ellen’s essay is published and invites considerable controversy. Garp writes an essay in her defense and then publishes a poem about condoms, “man’s device to spare himself and others the consequences of his lust” (476). Garp finds solace in his friendship with Roberta.

One morning, Garp is jogging alone when a car attempts to hit him. The car crashes, killing the driver, an Ellen Jamesian. The Society distances itself from the driver but suggests that Garp had it coming to him. Despite this scare, Garp goes to his public reading and is touched when Duncan presents his illustrations for “The Pension Grillparzer.” He feels motivated to start writing again. Garp starts a novel called My Father’s Illusions.

One day in February, Garp invites Roberta to wrestling practice and then spends the morning writing. He has lunch with Donald Whitcomb, who becomes Garp’s biographer. Helen joins him at wrestling practice. Garp is surprised to see a nurse enter the wrestling room and then realizes that she’s wearing a Jenny Fields costume, not a real nursing outfit. Pooh Percy shoots Garp, who dies in Helen’s arms. He is 33 years old.

After his death, his books become more popular. Helen considers that his death ended up being a kind of suicide after all. The Fletchers stay married but die in a plane crash. Helen has many lovers but never remarries. Ellen James becomes a poet and drowns while swimming. Dean Bodger dies while watching wrestling. Mrs. Ralph becomes a tenured English professor and befriends Helen. Pooh Percy is institutionalized. Duncan becomes an artist. John Wolf and Roberta have a romantic relationship. Duncan loses his arm in an accident, and his sister and Roberta take care of him. Roberta enlists a trans friend to take care of Duncan’s apartment, and soon the two are exchanging romantic letters. Roberta dies suddenly. Duncan dies by choking on an olive. Michael Milton tries to write a biography of Garp. Jenny Garp becomes a brilliant nurse and is determined to keep her father’s and grandmother’s literary legacies alive.