<doc.id=0120.a4>
<title> Of butterflies and men: Main themes in The Collector </title>
Fowles's book the Collector is divided into two different views of the story. I think that the main themes vary in the two texts. 
The two themes I found as the most relevant ones were mostly made evident in the heads of the characters. The first in the head of the shy and strange Frederick Clegg or Caliban as Miranda calls him in her diary entries. People who knew him would probably say that he would not hurt a fly (except perhaps butterflies) even less kidnap someone and be on the verge of becoming a serial killer.
His interest in collecting beautiful things is in the beginning rather harmless, when he collects butterflies. This hobby of his takes more the form of an obsession when he meets Miranda. This obsession leads to that he kidnaps her. He claims that he loves Miranda and he seems to do anything for her but as the story continues his real feelings shine through. He is indeed a collector and collects Miranda in the same way he collected his butterflies. He does not really want her to like him or her to live a normal life with him. He just wants to put her out for display, look at her because she is beautiful and perfect, in the same way that he did with his butterflies. He believes he has found a rare specimen in Miranda Grey. As on the first page:
"Seeing her always made me feel like I was catching a rarity, going up to it very careful, heart-in-mouth so to say. A Pale Clouded Yellow, for instance." 
He is trying to make her happy, though. He gets her anything she wants and tries to please her in any way possible but is always very careful and always on his guard thinking she will try to escape. He is always distrusting her, always thinking that when she says something nice to him it is a trick to try to escape. Miranda sees him as a person that stands below her. Like a slave or a servant. That he does not seem to have a will of his own just strengthen this opinion. On several occasions she tries to persuade him to let her go and starts to believe he will. Not until near the end she realises how he really thinks of her. That she is like a dog that he can keep imprisoned. That he can spoil and pet with. Give her all she wants except what she really desires, her freedom. As in the passage on November 7th when she tries to argue with him: 
"We argued - no we don't argue -I say things and he tries to wriggle out of them." 
She thinks he does not have a mind of his own. He drives her crazy when he just replies "If you say so" when she is trying to argue with him. She does not realise that her words just don't interest him. He cannot be persuaded because her words don't touch him. No matter what she does he will love her for the beautiful and perfect specimen she is.

The other theme is made evident in Mirandas thoughts. She sees herself as better then other people. Perhaps these feelings grew during her imprisonment as a result of Calibans worshipping of her. She sees herself as one of a few that cares and understands. She spite the people that just pretend, the phoney, the uneducated and the ignorant. She sees Caliban as a symbol for them as on November 7th:
"Why should we tolerate their beastly calibanity?" referring to them as Caliban. And sees herself like: 
"A martyr. Imprisoned, unable to grow. At the mercy of this resentment, this hateful millstone envy of the Calibans of this world"
She thinks that everyone else hates her for her intelligence, her looks and that she understands. Disliking her because of envy, when they really want to be like her. As on November 7th:
"They pay thousands and thousands for the Van Goghs and Modigliansis they'd spat on at the time they were painted." 
While she believes Caliban to be a symbol for the enemy as she calls them she see her artist friend G.P. as the symbol for the people she wants to be like. He is her mentor and her inspiration. A man twice her age that is the only man who has touched her heart. He is the one she thinks about while imprisoned. The one that keeps her from going crazy and makes her want to keep on living. One of his paintings that she made Caliban buy is her one consolation and the only thing alive in her dark dungeon. The only thing that does not remind her of her insane oppressor.

The two main themes follows more or less the story of the book. When Caliban tells his story his obsession is the main theme and when Mirandas diary notes takes over, her own feelings and views of the situation are made most evident in the text. That she sees Caliban as a symbol of the people she spite and her imprisonment an act of envy from those people.
</doc>