Author: Maria Chzhen
Date: 7 August 2020
The Collector is the creepiest book I have ever read. It is a deeply unsettling account of a mad man, Frederic, the collector of beautiful butterflies, and a woman, Miranda, that he takes prisoner. What made the book stand out to me and many other people were the kinds of people both Miranda and Frederic are. They definitely aren’t your typical kidnapper and “kidnappee”, so to say. Miranda is an upper-middle-class art college student who was born into a rich family. She is a pretty emotional person, and, of course, she loathes the way society puts people in classes. I liked her character, and she definitely didn’t deserve anything that was happening to her.
On the other hand, we have Frederic. He is a butterfly collector, and this time, his new butterfly in the collection will be Miranda. When I read some reviews, I saw that people actually drew some interesting conclusions about which problems the author was hinting at in the society with Frederic. I found it curious that many saw that John Fowles was showing a typical middle-class consumer. Like Frederic, this consumer always wants new things. Frederic collects butterflies but he doesn’t appreciate their beauty. He is just glad that they are in his captivity. Frederic is glad that he owns this beauty, and the consumer is glad that they bought this new beautiful thing. But as soon as the butterfly is dead and dry, its wings pinned to the board, The Collector forgets about it and chases another butterfly in hopes of owning it. The consumer wants new things.
Anyways, the story is told from 2 perspectives: Miranda’s and Frederic’s. I think it is brilliant because, in such novels, we only usually get to see everything from the third perspective, ours. We really got to explore their characters and discover an explanation for why they do what they do. We start getting a bit more understanding about why Frederic does what he does - he isn’t just a thoughtless, one-dimensional maniac from a cartoon. He is a very messed up human, an "incel".
In the first part, we just feel really sorry for Miranda. But in the second part, things get more interesting. Miranda keeps a secret diary, and through it, we get an insight into why she is acting so unpredictably - why she doesn’t resist as much as you would think she would, what Miranda’s thought process is, and why she doesn’t try to escape that often. We can witness how entrapment is changing her views on life, art, class, and freedom. We can see that she is missing the most simple, basic things in life, like breathing fresh air and exercise.
The ending truly horrified me. Although the novel is semi-predictable, I am still a little shocked by how it turned out. If you are into really creepy and disturbing books, like Silence of The Lambs, I would definitely recommend checking out The Collector.
When I first read the book, more than 3 years ago, I was really terrified. I was about to turn 12, and psychologically, I was definitely not ready for this. It can mess with your head a little if you aren’t prepared and don’t expect anything very heavy coming.
I am sure there are multiple different metaphors that I have missed and many more possible interpretations of the novel.
Andrew Burmakin
Megan Jorgensen
Maria Konnikova
John Fowles
Paul Scharre
Cat Patrick