The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ Detailed outline

I. Adrian's life General feeling when we read the extracts: Adrian's family is not a model family, far from the ideal family - awful environment, bad influence Adrian's parents smoke, they are alcoholics, they are always arguing, they use swear words, the house is a mess, the dog is badly treated… Only the grandmother seems to be a normal person =>they are not really a good example for him, they have a bad influence on him (can't do his homework, health problems…) - Adrian's relationship with his family They don't show any affection for Adrian, the mother is quite sharp when she speaks to her son, she doesn't wear the apron he offered her, the father doesn't seem to speak much with Adrian, Adrian looks rather lonely (maybe the reason for his writing a diary?) =>not a loving family - Roles inverted As a result to his parent's demission in the house, Adrian has to take care of everything: housework, cooking, the dog… but he is just a kid! He is concerned with his health and the dog's well being (his parents aren't) => his parents are irresponsible and he took their place in the household - Adrian's attitude to his family He doesn't seem to realise the extent of the situation; we doesn't really understand that his family isn't a normal one (too young?). BUT he might be exaggerating in his writing, he might be a little paranoid or hypochondriac? Nevertheless, we can feel that he is not really happy.

Transition: eventhough Adrian lives in an unhealthy environment and that he doesn't seem really happy, his writing is really comical, for several reasons:

II. Humour - title ("13 3/4") Quite unusual and too precise (plus "Secret": his diary is not really secret since it's read by us!) - beginning of the text New Year's resolutions. Funny because surprising and unusual - comical oppositions: Between trivial details of his life (spots, his mother's not wearing the apron…) and real problems. He's very much concerned by unimportant things like his spots - jealousy towards his friend Nigel He's his best friend but Adrian is always criticizing him (bike, going on holiday…); in fact he's jealous (Nigel clearly comes from a higher social class) -Adrian's writing He's only 13 so he's quite naïve and his writing is not really elaborate: short, simple sentences, simple vocabulary, repetitions ("just my luck") =>the comical aspect of the novel is mainly due to Adrian's naivety and youth, it makes the reader feel sympathy for him (all the more so as we understand that he doesn't have a very nice family)

Transition: Adrian's writing is not really detailed and elaborate: so how does a young boy's diary manage to tell as much as a detailed narrative? In other words, how does the reader manage to get so much from so little?

III. Diary writing - Diary writing as a genre  no description (since it's not supposed to be read by someone except the writer of the diary who obviously knows already about his family!)  no dialogue  very personal details

BUT Adrian's diary is actually as rich as a detailed narrative That's the interesting point in thiswe, book: the reader, know actually more than the writer himself. He just writes the facts, without being able to analyse them, maybe because he is too young or because he doesn't really want to, but we as adults are more able to decipher, to understand what is really going on in this house: his mother is certainly having an affair with the neighbour, Mr Lucas. Adrian's father seems to know about it since the parents had an argument after Mr Lucas left, and his mother cried. The mother doesn't really care about her boy (she doesn't wear the apron, and she is apparently quite sharp with him), the dog is really badly treated; Adrian doesn't seem to understand that keeping the dog in the coal shed means mistreating him, but for us it is obvious.

That's also what makes these extracts quite sad: Adrian writes about his life with naivety, but he doesn't realize that his life is not that of a 13-year-old boy. He does the cooking for the whole family because they're all ill (or drunk…?), he visits the dog at the vet, he takes care of the house… all this, without Adrian's intervention in trying to call to our pity, brings out a load of sadness mixed with compassion in the reader. => reasons why this writing is effective