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<title> A New Kind of Poverty </title>
For this essay I've read the book The Collector, by John Fowles. It is a psychological thriller about a lonely young man, Clegg, who lives for his butterfly-collection and his dreams about Miranda, a beautiful art student. He watches her and fantasizes about her from a distance, until one day when a pools win changes his life and he decides to "collect" her. He captures her and keeps her locked up in his cellar. 

The first half of the book is written with Clegg as the narrator. The second part consists of diary entries made by Miranda during her captivity. I have studied the pages of Mirandas diary entry of November 7th and I will now discuss the theme (themes) as they are made evident there. 

Miranda, who's been captured in the cellar for weeks, has had time to think about her own life. Her thoughts are influenced by GP, her artist friend, who's been like a mentor to her. On page 143 she talks about the impact he's had on her life. "He makes me question myself". "I'm arguing as he would argue. Judging people by his standards". 

He used to talk to her about "the new people" or "the many". People who in their strive for money and materialistic values have lost their souls. To her Clegg fits in well with "the many". Miranda calls him "Caliban". It's a name from The Tempest by Shakespeare were Caliban is the monster, representing the groseness of the many. He is a collector and a photographer, more interested in the butterflies when they're dead or captured in a photograph, than when they're alive. She hates "the many". To her "the many" are the vulgar new class people with their money and their vulgarities. They are uneducated and ignorant, selfish and mean, and so is Clegg.

In opposition to "the many" she talks about "the few". They are the ones, like her friend GP, who have to carry it all. People like doctors, teachers and artists. Not that they don't have their traitors but they work for and with the living. The hope lies with people like them. Miranda feels that she is one of them. 

She felt it during the last year at Ladymont. She was different from the others, with her "weird political views". She cared for people in need and felt suffocated in the atmosphere of her school where only the "right" people with a "nice" behavior fitted in. 

"The many" takes no notice of "the few". They look down on them. It's only when "the few" produces something that can be worth money, like a van Gogh painting, that they come crawling. But then, again, they want to own it, to collect it, to use it in a selfish way. 

This is, I believe, the very core of the theme. How people, due to the process of industrialization, mass-production and welfare-programs have lost contact with their souls. They've locked themselves up in ivory towers, caring only for themselves, forgetting about all the needy people in the world. There's only a smaller group of people that are still fighting for their believes, being true to their souls and caring for others. 

I think the author wants to make us aware of these facts and also that it's becoming urgent for "the few" and "the many" to start communicating with each other. He says, in the words of GP, that we can see a new form of poverty today. People have money, but no souls and that it's time to wake up to those facts. 

Being one of "the few", Miranda is a caring person, so she tries to understand Clegg. She asks him to reed the book "The Catcher in the Rye" in hope that he'll identify himself with Holden Caulfield. This way he would see that he is not alone and that he can actually better himself. It doesn't work, though. Clegg says that Holden's behavior is not realistic, having parents with money and going to a posh school.

Miranda knows that even among "the few", there are people who are not perfect. They have their "weak moments", as she says. They have their sex moments and drink moments that are like holidays in the ivory tower. But the difference is, they don't lock themselves up there. They still fight for the right things and tries to be human and intelligent, like GP.

Miranda also have the insight to see that all, that is so clear to her now, may fade away ones she is back out in the real world. She wants to have a husband, children and money and she can see how these things can have an effect on her. Can make her into someone that no longer cares, put her in an ivory tower and make her part of the enemy.

This is part of the theme too, I think. That you are not born into "the few" or "the many". There is a very fine line between them and in our lives we wander between the two. You can be swept away with money, towards materialistic values, without even realizing it. 

And if you don't realize it, how can you make the changes needed? Then it is, as Miranda puts it, "the few" that has to carry it all. It's "the few" that has the burden of getting "the many" back on the right track. "The few" that has to start the communication. 

The theme of The Collector is about "the few", the idealistic people of the world and "the many", the materialistic people. How it's becoming urgent that we start communicating with each other. We have to start thinking about what's important in life and act accordingly. 

The book ends with Miranda dying and Clegg on the way to "collect" another girl. Maybe the author feels very pessimistic about the future or maybe he just wants to give us a warning, that "the many" will suffocate "the few" if we don't do something soon to prevent it. 
With our materialistic world we've created people who can no longer appreciate the little things in life. "The few", who still care about others, care about nature and all that's living are the ones who must start the communication. We have to wake up and make a joined effort if we want values like humanity and freedom to survive.
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