Argue for or against the proposition that fiction texts can extend your ideas by exposing you to experiences you might never have had yourself. You should make detailed reference to a novel you have studied, and you may, in addition, refer to other texts.

An experience is something that changes us; be it mentally, physically or spiritually. Whether it be parachuting from 10,000 feet or having a conversation with a person you met in a coffee bar, experiences reinforce our own beliefs and ideas or cause us to engage new beliefs and ideas – sometimes at the expense of old ones. Fiction texts, in particular the novel, have long been used as a medium for conveying messages and ideals important to those who write them. Through the fictional worlds created in novels we are able to gain both our own ideas and the ideas conveyed by the writer and apply them to our own world or situation.

‘The Collector’ by John Fowles is such an example of how a novel may extend our ideas past our immediate physical experience. Its grimy world of obsession and exploitation draws us in from the start, darkly seducing us into a world not so far removed from our own in the physical sense. However, the way we view it – through the eyes of a socially depraved but otherwise normal man named Fred Clegg – is what gives this book its dark potency and allows us to gain ideas that (god willing) may never had crossed our minds. It is akin to putting on a mask; we are made to be close to him through the use of a first person point of view and this gives us rare insight into the kind of mind that only the worst aspects of society can give birth to. Obviously this kind of first hand insight cannot be achieved by any of us normally (or at least it would be hoped so!) and thus we gain the experience of ‘feeling’ the emotions and thoughts and dreams and aspirations of Clegg that we may never had encountered otherwise.

An example of ideas that may challenge our own is in the opening page. It is the way Fred Clegg describes his initial impression of Miranda; “Seeing her always felt like I was catching a rarity, going up to it very careful, heart-in-mouth as they say. A Pale Clouded Yellow, for instance.”. In the same situation, describing watching Miranda as catching a rare butterfly would never have occurred to me personally, and so through this parallel my ideas have been extended in respect to the future observation and description of another human being.

Another example of how ‘The Collector’ extends our ideas is through its exposition of London’s culture. For many of us that have never been to London or indeed England at all, and even those who have, we are treated to a ‘tourist’ view of these locations. In the first part of the book (Fred’s part) - there is no glamour cast over his descriptions. London is described exactly as it is; no life, no laughter, no colour. This is a direct result of Fred’s character having no connection with the place and its culture. We gain a rather depressive view of the place, which plaintively asks us to question our own impressions and incorporate a new suggestion about the character of London. Thus our ideas must be extended to include this new impression.

A further way of extension through the reading of novels is not through the challenge of new ideas; but through the reaffirmation of old ones. One idea that was very greatly reinforced during ‘The Collector’ was the sanctity of human life. In the novel we see the slow and steady crushing of Miranda’s spirit, her soul and her humanity. In the climatic ending to her part of the story we are reminded of the preciousness and fragility of a human life, and indeed how easily a vibrant life such as hers could be so easily snuffed out. For me this concreted my own values in regard to human life; that it should be preserved at all but one cost, and that is the life of another person. In this way my ideas are extended towards a more recognizable set of ideals that I hold.

A less subtle way of exposing us to new experiences but one that is used very regularly in fiction texts is that of creating entirely different worlds, entirely different people and entirely different situations to what we are normally privilege to see. A giant fantasy world filled with strange creatures and ancient magic, or an epic space opera employing far-future technology – these are but two examples of the flexibility of novel writings. ‘A Man Rides Through’ by Stephen Donaldson is one such example of a fantasy world created exclusively to extend our ideas of what is normal and what is not. It is not often that we see a  flaming cat the size of a bus walking down streets burning down buildings as it walks! Yet this is what we ‘see’ in one instance in the book, an impossible situation being faced by possible characters much like you or I. And though we may never have to face a giant heat-bearing cat anywhere in the near future; the simple acts of courage displayed in the book lead us to conclusions about the human spirit when faced with adversity. The ‘never say die’ attitudes of the characters are made more inspiring by the simple fact that they are like us – entirely human in their failings and tribulations. So through our witness of their acts of bravery we may be given an extension of our own ideas and even actions when faced with an adversary that, either physically or mentally, is as large as the beasts the protagonists face.