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<title> Powerful but lonely </title>
Introduction
I'm going to look at the chapter November 7th in John Fowles's book The Collector and in that passage try to state what the themes of the book are. The passage November 7th is a part of Miranda's diary. Miranda and Frederick are the main characters. I'm going to call Fredrerick Caliban, because Miranda does so. I think the name Caliban is chosen on purpose, meaning a monster or a bestial man.

Analysis
The passage November 7th starts with Miranda saying: "How the days drag. Today. Intolerably long" (p. 264), where we can assume that she feels lonely, just like Caliban did before he kidnapped her. She means everything to him: "You're everything. I got nothing if you go." (p. 330). Is it Caliban's loneliness that has made him kidnap her, that has made him crazy? I mean, a normal person wouldn't have kidnapped someone just to get to know that person, as Caliban has done. I think that some people do anything to get what they want or need, and then they are considered mad because of their actions.

Miranda and Caliban talk about the book The Catcher in the Rye, where the main character is a little like Caliban, Miranda thinks. "He doesn't fit in anywhere and you don't" (p. 265). Caliban doesn't agree, but I believe that inside of him he knows that he is different from other people in some way. His father died when Caliban was two years old, and his mother then went off, so he was brought up by his aunt and uncle. His uncle died when Caliban was 15, so thereafter he hasn't had any male person in his home. This has probably affected him to become what he is today.

One of the themes in the book is loneliness. The questions the author wants to answer are in my opinion; what causes loneliness, what are the effects of loneliness, and how far can it bring you to madness. I believe that we get some answers from the above written. Caliban's childhood might be one cause of his loneliness, and the effect is that he acts like a normal person wouldn't have acted. In his case, loneliness can cause madness.

The other theme is power. Easily connected to this theme is money and class. In the book, Caliban has got money. Without this money, which he won when he did the pools, he couldn't have bought and furnished the house, to which Miranda was brought. Money gave him power. But it also showed him that he couldn't get what he wanted, which was Miranda's love and friendship. "I wanted what money couldn't buy" (p. 362) and "You can't buy happiness" (p. 362) are things that Caliban himself realises towards the end of the book.

When it comes to power, the questions are; are you born with power if you belong to a certain class in society, what can power and money do to people, and finally can money buy everything. Maybe the first question remains more or less unanswered. The second question is answered throughout the book. Caliban is very nice to Miranda in the beginning of the book. His actions are actions of a madman, though. Miranda, on the other hand, is born into a kind of upper middle class having money and opportunities to do what she wants with her life. The last question is already answered by Caliban himself in page 362 (see above). 

Miranda says: "I hate the uneducated" (p. 267), and she also hates what her art teacher G.P. calls the New People (p. 267). They are "the new-class people with their cars and their money/.../and their stupid imitation of the bourgeoisie" (p. 267). Miranda thinks that Caliban belongs to this new class as well. She seems a little like a communist when saying that she hates class distinction (p.46). At the same time she favours some people. "The doctors and the teachers and the artists/.../what hope there is, is with them - with us" (p. 265). She belongs to this group too, which might be a part of what she calls the Few. "I belong to a sort of band of people who have to stand against all the rest" (p. 268). There is class between Caliban and Miranda as he expresses it in page 47. Also Miranda sees this class difference: "It's a battle between Caliban and myself. He is the New People and I am the Few" (p. 300).

Conclusion
There are two themes in the book. The first one is loneliness, and the second one is power. These themes can be connected to each other. For instance, Caliban is lonely, but by getting money he gets power, and by getting power he gets company. The theme power is just one name for it, because along with power goes money and class, as well. I think that Caliban's own words sums it all up very good; "I wanted what money couldn't buy" (p. 362).
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