Hello everyone!
So I have just finished Jaws by Peter Benchley and wow.
I haven't ever seen the film myself and if you don't know what Jaws is, it's basically a book about a great white shark that attacks a summer town. But of course there is so much more to tell!
This story is based in the town of Amity in America. The town heavily depends on the summer tourism to keep businesses and jobs going throughout the winter months. So when a shark attacks in June, before the beginning of the summer holidays, it is questioned whether it is worth the risk of keeping the beaches open to encourage tourists and holiday rents to come to the town, even though there is the threat of attack.
I'm going to dive straight in and just say it really interest me that throughout this book, the great white was not referenced by the characters as 'the shark' or 'the great white' or even 'the beast', but simply as 'the fish.' Very rarely did they call it the great white shark. You get this feeling that it is just a fish, as the author describes the sharks point of view in the book, all the details are very simple. There is no evil intent or internal conversation, there are no thoughts at all. We are just seeing it simply from the shark's eyes and the shark's simple mind of how he tracks down food. I also noticed that in every attack by the shark, at one point or another, jaws were mentioned, never just simply called its mouth, but it's jaws. I wonder if that was on purpose or whether I just happen to notice it.
I have a great interest in sharks, and I wouldn't say I am particularly scared by the thought of them (I'm sure I would be terrified if one actually attacked me) but this book was terrifying because of the pure simplicity of the attacks. The author didn't describe it in every detail possible, but he described it subtlety enough to really turn your stomach and let your imagination take over.
Now about the people within the story, we have the community of the town itself, which always plays a part in this story, as it is the fate of the community that depends on this shark being killed, we also have Brody and his wife.
His wife was a 'summer person' as they call them (the townsfolk of Amity are the 'winter people') and there is great snobbery in both parties, the summer people who find the winter people part of the background and 'quaint' and the winter people who know the summer people have a lot more money then them, as they can afford to come on holiday there.
I think a great remark is when the author is talking about how Brody always felt contempt for those people who had the little alligator sown into their t-shirts, which meant wealth. I feel that if you have come from a less well-off background, you can relate to that irrational jealously of the branded products you see people wear.
His wife longs for summers gone past, when she was young and had rich parents, she wonders for the life she could of had with a rich lawyer. Its very interesting that, of course this is a book about a shark, but you also feel that half the book belongs to her.
You can not talk about this story without mentioning the great character of Quint, the professional shark hunter. He enjoys playing around with people and swears constantly at the shark and at everyone else. The swearing feels very appropriate and so much more real as a character, you can't help but like Quint.
What's interesting in this book is that there is no real 'bad guy' apart from maybe the shark. None of the characters are either good or bad people, you just feel that they are real, that every character has their strengths and flaws. That when you learn of each characters stories and their part in the overall story, there is no outright evil person. Even the shark, is he the bad guy? Is 'the fish' working against this small town for a reason or is it just pure instinct that pushes him along?
In conclusion, I really thought that this story was great in every aspect, it had drama, horror, gore, real people and real reactions. I often make myself think for this blog, how has a story changed me? While I don't think there are huge deep messages in it, there could be a few taken from this book. Maybe to accept your past and that thinking of a past that never happened is a waste of the present, maybe the message was to not let the pressure of others make you decide on something that you can not agree to. I think for personally for me, it made me bloody terrified of going into the water any time soon...
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