Message?
So, I've been reading threads about Rant and I feel like I'm starting to feel like the book is making sense. However, nobody has mentioned anything on what Chuck's overall idea/theme in the book is. What's he trying to say?
It seems like its a comment on religion. Though Rant didn't invent party crashing or change it in any way, nor was he very distinguished among party crashers, yet he's made out to be a martyr.
I took it to be religion/martydom/general over inflation of dead people, and the nighttime people were definitely symbols for homosexuals, the leader who had the daughter who was a night timer, the slage usage "That is soooo nighttime", and the disease related to them.
I thought that the whole rabies epidemic seemed like a metaphor for the AIDS outbreak at first. It was restricted mainly to Nighttimers (homosexuals), so the Daytimers didn't really care except for their own well-being.
Rant Casey seemed more of a martyr than a patient zero. He was the hero that this generation of jaded, destructive kids needed, and he became what they made him. Perhaps he wasn't actually so grand as they remembered him to be. A metaphor for society's he said, she said?
Anyway, my take. I'm interested to see other's impressions.
Well...
I'm trying to write a 25-30 page paper on this bad boy, and I'm still not sure what Chuck's overall idea was for this book. Although, one of my guesses would stem from the fact that this book is so damn confusing. Chuck is very valuable to me because he seems to incorporate elements of current American society into his novels while still creating romantic stories where everything turns out ok in the end, even if it's a little (or a lot) screwed up. I think this book shows how jumbled and confusing our world is today. You've got a million people telling you different things, people lying to you and disappearing right and left, and I think Chuck is saying that if a hero were to pop up now, he would be like Rant. He would be just as screwed up and crazy as the rest of our generation is, but a hero nonetheless. I think one of the most important scenes in the novel is when Rant takes the kids through the haunted house with real guts and eyeballs. All Rant wanted was to show people what was real and what wasn't, so that makes him a modern day hero. I don't know if I'm making any sense, but it's late and I felt like running my mouth for a minute. This paper is killing me.
I've never seen a thread pull so many out of the shadows in such a short time.
[QUOTE=Ryan-In-Exile;1084551]So, I've been reading threads about Rant and I feel like I'm starting to feel like the book is making sense. However, nobody has mentioned anything on what Chuck's overall idea/theme in the book is. What's he trying to say?[/QUOTE]
Maybe you should find it yourself.
Everyone will find something special...Just enjoy reading.That`s all
His books are about real life, madness, bad & good things....about us - people!
I'm not sure where its from but there's a quote from chuck that goes "what we don't understand we can make mean anything."
I'd rather know the author's intentions than invent my own. How can we learn if all that we are exposed to is just a variation of our own ideas interpreted as we please?
Yeah, that quote is from Diary.
Maybe later I'll post to what I think he's trying to say, but right now I'm a little tied up -- on another hand what do YOU think he's trying to say?