Chapter 2 & 3

During chapters 3 and 4 of The World According to Garp, Garp begins to set himself apart from his mother, Jenny.  When Garp enrolled in Steering School for Boys he had no sense of individuality; he was essentially a male version of his mother.  Now that he is attending school and has a slight separation from his mother he begins to show that he is different.  Garp joins the wrestling team, which is both I ronic and very different from his mother because wrestling is an all boys sport at this time.  Jenny wants nothing to do with men or sports but her son joins an all boys sport.  It seems that almost every aspect in the story is contrasting to Jenny’s original character.  Her son falls in love with a girl named Helen, something Jenny has failed to do.  Jenny makes her first friend who is a man named Ernie (Helens father).  Jenny finds comfort in the wrestling room, a place dedicated to a mans sport, both of which Jenny has always disliked.  The story shows the irony and change in Jenny’s life with Garp.

The major event that takes place in these chapters is that Garp is swayed into the field of writing.  After practice one evening Garp is speaking to Helen where she admits that if she gets married she will marry a writer.  Garp begins writing short stories, but doesn’t reveal any to Helen for some time.  He also learns from one of his teachers, the s-st-studdering Mr. Tinch, how to write. 

Nearing the end of chapter 4 the story gets back to the themes of sex and humor.  Garp is with his friend Cushie Percy who is quite lenient with who she sleeps with.  Garp is expecting to sleep with her but because he is a virgin he forgot about condoms.  Eventually Garp does lose his virginity to Cushie on his graduation night, but not before getting his revenge on Bonkers, the Percy family dog.  While at Cushie’s house Bonkers is barking and jumps at Garp, so Garp decides to bite a part of the dog’s ear off.  This is ironic because the dog did the same to him when he first arrived at Steering Academy.