Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is, overall, a novel about family. A really dysfunctional, not super healthy family, but about family nonetheless. The novel follows two brothers through their adventure of meeting each other for the first time after many, many years, and the frustration behind both their clashing personalities and the death of their father. Anansi Boys also shows the importance of family, with how Fat Charlie and Spider (the respective brothers) save each other in different ways, as well as the influence of their father, the god Anansi, on their lives.
This novel also explores the unpredictability of life. The boys’ lives don’t quite work out the way both they think they should - defying both their and the audience’s expectations. Anansi dying unexpectedly, which hits both boys hard (in Charlie’s case, harder than it should) is extremely unexpected to everyone in the novel, though it’s revealed he’ll come back in a few years. Rosie, Fat Charlie’s fiancée, at the beginning of the novel ends up with Spider by the end. Charlie, in turn, ends up with a random woman he met at a bar, Daisy. Charlie marries Daisy and has children with her.
Character-wise, Gaiman also shows off how absolutely unlikable the two brothers are within the first few pages of introduction. For one, this shows off Gaiman’s versatility with the written word, but also his beliefs as to how a human being should behave. Fat Charlie and Spider are later revealed to be two halves of the same boy, separated by magic. This explains why Fat Charlie is so horribly underwhelming and Spider is so annoyingly opulent and meddlesome. This gives us an insight into what Gaiman thinks people should be; why certain things make certain people likable or not: their multifacetedness. One needs to to be a well-rounded person, otherwise, they’ll be unprepared for life. (Charlie lacks confidence. Spider lacks humility). One huge thing that Spider, in particular, has to learn throughout the novel is that manipulation isn’t a character trait. Deception to make someone enjoy your presence or do something for you isn’t a good thing, even if you have an unnaturally strong ability to make them do so, as Spider does. He eventually learns his lesson and manages to keep those powers on the DL.
Personal growth and self-reflection are a necessity within the story, though the boys rarely do it. My personal belief is that one should reflect on their actions objectively fairly frequently, good or bad, and figure out how to grow from these experiences. Stagnation is absolutely not an option! I’d like to think Gaiman would agree with me.
This novel also explores the unpredictability of life. The boys’ lives don’t quite work out the way both they think they should - defying both their and the audience’s expectations. Anansi dying unexpectedly, which hits both boys hard (in Charlie’s case, harder than it should) is extremely unexpected to everyone in the novel, though it’s revealed he’ll come back in a few years. Rosie, Fat Charlie’s fiancée, at the beginning of the novel ends up with Spider by the end. Charlie, in turn, ends up with a random woman he met at a bar, Daisy. Charlie marries Daisy and has children with her.
Character-wise, Gaiman also shows off how absolutely unlikable the two brothers are within the first few pages of introduction. For one, this shows off Gaiman’s versatility with the written word, but also his beliefs as to how a human being should behave. Fat Charlie and Spider are later revealed to be two halves of the same boy, separated by magic. This explains why Fat Charlie is so horribly underwhelming and Spider is so annoyingly opulent and meddlesome. This gives us an insight into what Gaiman thinks people should be; why certain things make certain people likable or not: their multifacetedness. One needs to to be a well-rounded person, otherwise, they’ll be unprepared for life. (Charlie lacks confidence. Spider lacks humility). One huge thing that Spider, in particular, has to learn throughout the novel is that manipulation isn’t a character trait. Deception to make someone enjoy your presence or do something for you isn’t a good thing, even if you have an unnaturally strong ability to make them do so, as Spider does. He eventually learns his lesson and manages to keep those powers on the DL.
Personal growth and self-reflection are a necessity within the story, though the boys rarely do it. My personal belief is that one should reflect on their actions objectively fairly frequently, good or bad, and figure out how to grow from these experiences. Stagnation is absolutely not an option! I’d like to think Gaiman would agree with me.
I like your comment on how personal growth is a necessity throughout the novel, yet how the boys rarely do it - until they are ultimately forced to. I think this is also reflective of real life as people are often stuck in their ways and resistant to change.
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