House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, Essay Example

Movie and Novel Adaptation: A Comparison

Starting out as a mere fight for a house, the story plot of House of Fog and Sand by Andre Dubus III creates a startling presentation on how four lives were ruined because of the desire to keep a house that meant more than just a shelter but the meaning and purpose of their lives. What makes such point of comparison determinable effective is the way Dubus tried to imply on how a single house could make a difference on the perception of humans with regards properties and the connection they have to one’s overall being. Noticeably, the main characters Kathy [the past owner of the house who was being evicted because of her inability to pay for tax] and Massoud Behrani [the new owner who would not accept a lower price than the upraised rate of the house because of the renovations he had made] both had valid reasons that are dedicated towards creating a more responsive process by which the concentration on human behavior is directly defined in the plot of the story.

The differences in the presentation of such valuable messaged between film and the novel is more focused on the elaboration of the story especially in determining the role that each of the characters needed to play. Relatively, the novel’s plotting was careful enough to point out the why’s and the how’s behind the reactions that each character had to display in face of the different distressful events that happened in their lives. Noticeably, Dubus made this certain because of the fact that he did want his readers to know more about his message; to get them involved in the situations making it easier for them to relate to the conditions of thinking that the characters are basically dependent upon. What makes the story compelling in its novel form is that of the details provided by the author. Each character was properly developed answering why each character act the way they do especially when faced with trials.

Kathy, for instance, had been described thoroughly to have had a rough past and a possibly traumatic experience from her past that made her as vulnerable as she had been to alcoholism. The house was the only steady matter in her life; as he was trying to start over, the house was the only element that was holding her through the process of recovery. On the other hand, Behrani was described to have had an equally difficult past as one of the deployed members of the army to Iran. Having had nothing in his pocket, he needed to readjust to an ordinary life, earning meager savings from his work that had nothing to do with military service. Trying to hold his reputation, the house meant a new life for him and his family. He was a careless spender, living beyond his means. But the house meant a turning point for him; with it he created many plans and he knew it would be the beginning of a new and a more meaningful life; one that he wanted to give to his family.

Both individuals had their own reasons for keeping the house. Such desire has however brought them into convening themselves into uncontrollable rage. The anger that they felt towards each other was escalated with the fact that they both believe that they are not getting the worth of the purpose of all their hardships and how the house represented such turning points in their lives. Tragic as the story was, it defined how psychological aspects of human realization does create a massive distinction on how life in itself is compromised with the unwitting capacity of rage to control people. The process of rationally thinking about one’s action has been compromised several times in the story; thus creating a much deeper sense of insistence on how pain creates a distancing effect on people even before they get to know each other.

The movie, time constrained as it is, dealt more on the thrill that the plot of the story portrays. The reasons behind the reactions of the main characters upon the situations they had to face were not fully defined thus making the story a little bit scanty or weak especially in representing the original message of Dubus in the novel. Focusing more on the social and economic value of the story [which is identified with the representation of how taxation ruled the situation between the two claiming owners of the house] the movie fails to give full consideration on how psychological distinctions of rage and how humans respond to it. It is because of this reduced value that the movie fails to reach to the worth of the story that the original novel represents.

What makes this story compelling is that it is able to explore on how the past affects the present and at times even the future, not only of the individuals involved in a situation, but also that of their loved ones. Decisions made in the past and the scars that were burdening them were the ones to have characterized the being that they have become through time. This is the message that was focused on more in the novel than the movie adaptation of the story of the House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. With full consideration to detail, it could then be said that the different constraints on time and resources that holds movie-makers grounded into their limitations often cut the stories short off their real value therefore creating distinct points of reasoning that creates a corrosive impact especially on how elements of important message are handled in such points of media presentation.