The Mosquito Coast belongs to the tradition of the novel of character.
Father's speech and behavior rivet the reader's attention, even though Charlie serves as first-person narrator. Theroux traces Charlie's development as the action unfolds — he clearly matures, gains insight — but this change comes as a reaction to Allie's actions. The closest American precedent for this technique is F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), in which the narrator gives a detailed portrait of a complex character whom he both admires and fears. Gats by's death, like Father's, both haunts and liberates the narrator. A recent popular precedent is James Dickey's Deliverance (1970), a novel about a Georgia hunter and he-man who convinces three of his less rugged, city-softened friends to take a perilous canoe trip down a beautiful but dangerous river soon.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 388 words. This
study guide contains 23,498 words (approx. 78 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Mosquito Coast Access Pass.
