In John Irving’s THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, Garp writes a novel about rape, of which a reviewer says: “The women’s movement has at last exhibited a significant influence on a significant male writer.” Although written about his fictional alter ego, Garp, the statement is true about Irving himself.

In THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, Irving again tackles a central issue of the women’s movement--abortion--treating it with great sensitivity and insight. The novel is not a polemical essay but a typical Irving story of zany characters caught up in bizarre events. In the early 1900’s, Dr. Wilbur Larch founds an orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, but soon discovers that caring for unmarried pregnant women involves him in performing abortions. For Dr. Larch, abortion is not an abstract issue but an agonizing dilemma faced by real women in desperate situations. He respects their personal choice: “I’m just the doctor. I help them have what they want. An orphan or and abortion.”

The main character is Homer Wells, a orphan groomed by Dr. Larch as the heir-apparent, compassionate abortionist of St. Cloud’s. Homer, however, deciding that abortions are immoral, refuses to perform them and leaves the orphanage. He goes to a world of apple picking and cider making, which appears to be governed by a simple set of rules tacked to the cider house wall. Homer, however, discovers that his apple-orchard Eden is neither innocent nor simple and that all of his relationships to people--the woman he loves, his son, his best friend, the cider-house workers--are morally complex. He finds that he must make some difficult moral choices, including performing an abortion.

Homer finally returns to St. Cloud’s to carry on the work when he learns Dr. Larch’s truth: Abstract ethical principles--the cider-house rules--must be transcended by respect for individuals and their complex moral choices.

One of the novel’s epigraphs is from Charlotte Bronte: “Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.” THE CIDER HOUSE RULES attacks the self-righteousness of much of the debate over abortion and teaches that, regardless of personal views, one should speak and listen with humility and compassion and, above all, with a respect for individual choice.

Bibliography

Berson, Misha. “I Can’t Believe I Staged the Whole Thing.” American Theater 13 (March, 1996): 6-7. Berson evaluates Peter Parnell’s theatrical adaptation of Irving’s popular novel. He notes the strict adherence of the play to the novel and discusses the Dickensian themes apparent in both.

Burgess, Anthony. “A Novel of Obstetrics.” The Atlantic 98 (July, 1985): 98-100. Review of The Cider House Rules by another prominent novelist. Burgess finds the novel’s themes admirable but judges the book to be lacking in artistry.

Campbell, Josie. John Irving: A Critical Companion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. Offers a brief biography of Irving’s life as well as an overview of his fiction. Devotes an entire chapter to The Cider House Rules, including a discussion of plot and character development, thematic issues, and a new critical approach to the novel.

Clemons, Walter. “Dr. Larch’s Odd Orphanage.” Newsweek 105 (May 27, 1985): 80. Clemons criticizes the book from a traditionalist position, citing what he claims is its lack of structure, its shallow characterizations, and its sentimentality.

DeMott, Benjamin. “Guilt and Compassion.” The New York Times Book Review 90 (May 26, 1985): 1, 25. A balanced, subtle, probing examination of the book. Notes the novel’s defects but recognizes its virtues, especially its “courage of imaginative ardor” and its straightforward storytelling.

Reilly, Edward C. Understanding John Irving. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991. An illuminating, clearly written study of Irving’s work, with an incisive chapter on The Cider House Rules, which Reilly calls a “definite maturing of Irving’s literary talents.” Includes a brief biography and a good annotated bibliography.