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<title> "And the Few Have to Carry It All" </title>
"The Collector" by John Fowles is a very exciting and versatile story, and it can most likely be interpreted in many different ways where the theme of the story is concerned. In my opinion, however, the most important theme in "The Collector" is the idea that there are things money can't buy although many people seem to think so. I think this theme is fairly obvious even from the beginning. Frederick's- or Caliban as Miranda calls him- problems regarding how to get in contact with Miranda are suddenly, in his opinion, solved when he wins the lottery; now he can buy a house, kidnap her and, buy buying her everything she wants, make her love him. Throughout the novel there are many things pointing towards this theme, and in Miranda's diary entry from November 7th, there are a number of sections dealing with it.

Miranda is in several passages writing about and condemning the ways of the New People, as she calls them. These people are the newly rich, and they are, according to Miranda, ignorant, behaving in petty ways and only interested in showing off. They are striving to pleasing and impressing others. Consequently they also believe that if you have money you also possess all admirable abilities and qualities. Caliban is a representative of these people, something which becomes quite clear when they are discussing the novel "Catcher in the Rye". When talking about Holden Caulfield, Caliban holds that this character isn't reliable: "Going to a posh school and his parents having money. He wouldn't behave like that." In this statement Caliban expresses exactly what Miranda means is the feature of the New People, namely that they assume that money automatically gives you a good life free of problems, whether they are materialistic or mental ones.

Whereas Caliban is a representative of the New People, Miranda is that of the creative ones- in her opinion doctors, teachers and artists. These people are the intelligent and intellectual ones who unfortunately are bound to put up with the petty and superficial New People. It's obvious that Miranda hates everything that the New People represent and she also feels that the creative ones, or the Few, in a way are captivated in a world occupied and empowered by stupid people. I In one passage she writes. "Why should we tolerate their beastly Calibanity? Why should every vital and creative and good person be martyred by the great universal stodge around?" and she continues, talking about her concrete situation but also about her people's situation in the world:
"A martyr. Imprisoned, unable to grow." It is obvious that the whole novel, in the sense of Miranda being imprisoned by Caliban, serves as a metaphor for how Miranda is looking at the world. The New People keep the Few imprisoned in a materialistic world where everyone should look, behave and think in the same mainstream way, and Caliban's keeping Miranda in his cellar, below the ground where noone can see her is the same thing: "Because they all hate us, they hate us for being different /_ _ _ / They persecute us, they crowd us out"

In my opinion the theme in this novel is quite positive; creativity will prevail. The most obvious things pointing in this direction are the literary connections in the diary entry. Firstly there is Miranda's nickname for Frederick- Caliban, who was a half-human slave in Shakespeare's "The Tempest". This suggests that Miranda, although imprisoned both in a literary sense in the cellar and in a metaphorical sense in the world, still looks upon Caliban as a slave. Consequently, in the context of Caliban being a representative of the New People, this suggests that these people are slaves under their money and assets as well as their ideas and supposedly good behaviour. 

Secondly, there is the comparison of Caliban to the Old Man of the Sea, which also is a metaphor for the New People versus the Few:
"... stupid people like Caliban, with their great deadweight of pettiness and selfishness and meanness of every kind. And the few of us have to carry it all."
It might seem like there is no way out for the Few, but in the Arabic story of Sinbad he manages to outwit the Old Man of the Sea, who, although of considerable weight, is stupid. Here Sinbad represents the Few and the Old Man of the Sea is a symbol for the New People

I think both these passages signal that creativity will finally win over materialism and one final passage pointing in this direction is what Miranda writes, quoting her friend G.P.: "The others hadn't any money and these haven't any soul". In my opinion this is a key sentence for the whole novel. I think it expresses very clearly the idea that having money does not mean you automatically attain any intellectual abilities, and that many newly rich forget about such values that are important for your mental health and humanity. I also believe that Miranda, and consequently the Few, are the winners in this novel. Although Miranda dies, which undisputedly might seem like a defeat, it is a defeat on Caliban's part, since he has not succeeded in making her love him.
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