Melvin Burgess

’s Loving April Essay, Research Paper

In societies throughout the world, children are sometimes raped by demented human beings. These victims cannot be blamed for the natural occurrences that are prone to them. Moreover, they have to live life with these horrid experiences. In the novel, Loving April written by Melvin Burgess, the main character of the story is April Dean. April was injured in an accident when she was five years old resulting in her disability. She has become frantic after the death of her beloved father, and things starts to get worse as time goes by. Burgess’ novel is written in third person perspective.

In the novel, Tony along with his mother, move to the village after being abandoned by his father to a life of poverty and sadness. Tony is angry with everyone and is desperately lonely. April Dean, the deaf girl also needs friends. April who doesn’t have many friends begins a friendship with Tony and this continues throughout the novel.

” ‘Why don’t I have any friends?’ April sighed.” Page 83

It is evident that the main character has a primary element, one which clearly indicates that she has no friends.

As the story goes on, April falls in love with Tony. April liked Tony from the beginning and her love for Tony grows throughout the story. This creates jealousy in two boys who love teasing April.

“April, beautiful April, wanted him as he wanted her.” Page 103

This shows that April loves Tony and loves the thought of being with him. This continues throughout the story making the texts substantially interesting.

In Loving April, Tony and April’s growing relationship arouses deep prejudices which threaten to engulf not just Tony and April, but also the whole village. April and Tony fall in love which each other and their love is objected to by the villagers.

“They had to be separated before more damage is done, that was much clear.” Page 149

Evidently, April and Tony’s relationship had to be stopped before matters got worse. April is forced to live in fear of persecution.

Throughout the story, April encounters two swines whom try to take advantage of her by forcing her to engage in sexual intercourse with them.

” “Did they rape you?” begged Tony. April shook her head.” Page 127

After being assaulted, April feels insecure even with the presence of Tony. This creates a barrier between the two lovers thus making their relationship worse than ever.

In the text, rape could be classified as the main theme and how these sinful acts have the strength to make humankind suffer. In Loving April, April is the individual who suffered because people assume that she is dumb and not able to understand human acts therefore causing a chance for the two diabolic person to rape her. This acquaintance causes disrupt in the relationship with Tony thus making April to feel more remorse than ever before.

Towards the end of Loving April, Tony has to leave April and return to his father. The separation of these two lovers creates melancholy causing April to runaway from home. April wrote a letter telling her mother that she was pregnant. Upon hearing this, Tony searches for April in a place only he will know where she would be. After hours of intensive search, he finally finds her. He consoles her but their time is running out. Tony has to leave. Tony returns to school and everyday he thinks of April. In the middle of the term, he received a letter. April has sent him a letter telling him that she wasn’t pregnant after all.

“I wasn’t (you know what) at all. You knew that, didn’t you? I came back the next day.” Page 168

Evidently, April was not pregnant and she keeps in touch with Tony by sending him letters.

In Loving April, the story is set in a village named Cibblesham. Cibblesham is a village which has many inhabitants. In this village, everybody acknowledges each other. Everyone knows that April is a deaf girl. April has no where to go but there is a river nearby the village which is April’s second home. Whenever she is free, she will run to the river and enjoy time to herself there.

April’s character shifts in different perspectives as she experiences harsh attitudes towards her. People call her a deaf in front of her and all she can do is avoid all these nasty and pathetic remarks.

“On her own. No discipline. Her mother’s no better .off every weekend with some chap. No man about the house. The girl just does what she likes.” Page 67

Like many people with communication disabilities, April is assumed to be profoundly retarded when in fact she has a very quick mind. April could also lip-read as fast as a professional lip reader thus making her understand all the nasty remarks people abuse her with.

In the conclusion of Loving April, the last page of the novel captured my interest the most because finally everything was fine. Tony is back with his father living his usual life while his mother became rich again. April is able to read and write plus she wasn’t pregnant after the hurtful event that happened to her. Burgess is indeed a good writer, the technique he uses to convey his feeling to the audiences work effectively. Burgess is trying to indicate to us upon how lucky we are for not being a victim of rape. Loving April is a great example for anyone who has never experienced social isolation and for those seeking a deeper understanding of what it means to be a person with a disability and being raped in Western culture.