Jeffery Archer Essay, Research Paper
A Bible Representation Author Jeffrey Archer has written many powerful novels in his time,and Kane and Abel is not an exception. In fact all of Archer’s novels havebeen international best sellers. Archer combines many aspects of writing, inorder to create an interesting story with a powerful message. This novel isalso a representation of Archer’s upbringing. In the novel Kane and Abel,author Jeffrey Archer uses the characters, the conflicts, and the plot torepresent the Bible story of “Cain and Abel.” Jeffrey Archer was born in 1940 in England, and he was educated atWellington School. He graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford, and he isnow married and has two children (back cover of Shall We Tell thePresident). Archer is also a member of the British Parliament. Archer hashad many religious influences over his life, especially because WellingtonSchool is a Christian school. These influences aided in the writing of many ofArcher’s books, and Kane and Abel is one of these books (back cover of Nota Penny More, Not a Penny Less). Jeffrey Archer uses his two powerful characters to represent those inthe Bible story of “Cain and Able”. The first character is William Kane. Kane is born in Boston, Massachusetts, and is the son of a rich banker. Kaneis brought up in the richest family in Boston, and he has an extremelyluxurious upbringing. The Kane family “fortune remained comfortably over$16 million” (Archer 8). The Kane family is also the first in Boston to buy aModel T for the price of $850. “Henry Ford assured Richard Kane that ifonly the bank would back him the cost could eventually fall to $350,” so hedid (Archer 39). William Kane grows quickly and he attends Harvard. Kanegrows up to run his father’s business, the family bank. Kane’s protagonist is Alise 2 Abel Rosnovski, he is found in a forest in Slonim, Poland. His mother dieswhile giving birth, and he is found by a young boy who decides to take himback to the house where the boy lives. Abel’s new family has very littlemoney, but because of his intelligence, he is adopted by the Baron. AfterWorld War I is over, Abel boards the boat to go to America. His life is oneof hardship and struggle, and now he is a penniless immigrant. After his bosscommits suicide, he takes over as owner of a hotel, which grows quickly,and Abel becomes a very wealthy man. In the Bible, Cain and Abel arebrothers. Cain is the tiller of the soil, and Abel is the keeper of sheep. Whenboth offer God gifts, God likes Abel’s gift more and this angers Cain. The
characters in both stories are similar, this is the first way that Archer parallelsthe Bible. Jeffrey Archer also uses the conflicts between Kane and Abel torepresent the Bible story. The conflict between the two begins when Abel’sfirst boss in America tries to re-apply for his loan. Kane is the owner of thebank, and he refuses to re-instate the loan. This triggers Abel’s boss to have anervous breakdown and causes him to commit suicide. “For this, Kane isnever forgiven, and is thereafter pursued by the Pole through thick and thin ina vendetta which sets Wall Street alight” (Naughton 12). Kane dislikes Abelfor many reasons, first of all because Abel is not an American. Kane alsodislikes Abel because after the hotel has no financial support, Abel finds away to build it up and make a fortune. The conflict between them is “really abig misunderstanding, but there isn’t enough life in either of these parties tomake you care if they ever make up (Levin 13). In the Bible, Cain is veryupset because he feels that God likes Able more. The conflict between them Alise 3 is short because when Cain decides to talk to Abel about how he feels, Cainkills him. The ending to this story is much like Kane’s destruction of Abel inthe novel. Lastly, the plots of both stories are very similar. Jeffrey Archer’s novelhas William Kane, the Boston banker, try to destroy Abel Rosnovski, thePolish immigrant, by withdrawing support for his boss’s company. Becauseof this, the two men hate each other for the rest of their lives. Kane is alsopunished for trying to destroy Abel. Abel becomes as wealthy as Kane, andthis is the worst thing that can happen to someone with money, a person tocompete with them. The Bible story sets brother against brother. Cain andAbel go to give their gifts to God. God tells them that he is happier withAbel’s gift. Cain is not happy with Abel, and he goes to talk to Abel. Thetwo get into a fight and Cain kills Abel. For this, God punishes Cain bymaking it hard to till the soil. With his use of characters, conflicts, and plot, Jeffrey Archer uses hisgood background in religion, and an interesting writing style to write a storyto represent an undying Bible parable. The many ways that the two storiesare similar show that Archer wrote this story for a purpose. He wanted tohave a modern day representation of the Bible. He wanted to be able to teachthe moral that everything that you do in life, it does not matter if it is good orbad, it has consequences. With all of the problems in America today thereare many cases where this story is relevant.
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