Concrete Island by J.G. Balllard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Concrete Island by J.G. Balllard - Essay Example This novel is followed by â€Å"High-Rise† and preceded by â€Å"Crash†. As the name implies, the book is about a Concrete island that is not a natural island but a manmade one formed by the intersection of three speeding motorways. This manmade island is a triangular section of land and is as isolated as a geographical island. The concrete island virtually traps the protagonist, the wealthy architect Maitland and stops every means of escape. The island is compared to a living thing that changes it form like a chameleon. It first gets hold of his car wrecking it up so that his one escape means gets destroyed and later grasps him, claws at him and forbids him to leave it until he himself have an upper hand on the island and thaw all its moves with the help of his intelligence and instinct. Maitland finds himself trapped in this triangular piece of land while life goes on as usual in that metro city. People even see him from their passing cars but mistake him for a bummer and refuses to stop. But, as the protagonist become more and more acquainted with the forgotten piece of landscape, he feels more comfortable living there, until he finds that the island is the mirror image of his self, â€Å"I am the island† (pg. ... He is a rich architect living a fast and furious life who has a wife along with a mistress, a high profile job and all the luxuries that life can give him but no time for himself. He is basically running off from one appointment to the other with little time for a break, speeding up his vehicle, until destiny puts a comma on his life and he gets a chance to evaluate his inner self and take destiny in his own hands by deciding to stay on in the void created by humans even when the chance to escape is presented to him. Thus, it could be fate itself that directed him to the island and urged him to stay on. Nobody to Miss Him Maitland crashes into the concrete island at a crucial time in his life when nobody was expecting him. Hence, this is the time when people would not miss him and his absence would not be questioned. Thus, Maitland has to restore to his resources to be able to stay alive. Maitland is a very impulse individual who rushes into things without waiting to think of their c onsequences. He is afraid of fate and of unknown and does all that he could to escape as fast as he could from the disaster that he finds himself surrounded in. But, however much he runs from the island, he finds himself back in it and worse for trying it out. It is like the island is surrounded by invisible Page 3 walls and he only hurts himself while trying an escape route. Like Robinson Crusoe he has to live on the meager ration of his car. Slowly, Maitland starts acquainting him in this new landscape and in the process discovers that he is not alone in this rough piece of land. He has two more neighbors in the form of Jane, a prostitute and Proctor, an acrobat. Thus, Maitland may decide to stay on for some more time until his appearance becomes necessary and people would start