Really Long Tom Clancy Essay

[Angelowner]

Ok so I had to write a 5 page paper abotu Criticism on Tom Clancy's works. Now that I have the writing par tdown I need some pointers, because this paper makes or breaks my grade.

Remember That One War I Wasn’t in…?

The story is revealed, the suspense builds, the first shot is fired, the antagonist is stopped; this is the simple plot line used in all of Clancy’s books. This concept can lead one to wonder why Clancy has become so popular despite the fact that all his books share very similar qualities. Clancy’s stories are often criticized by saying his characters are boring and unimaginative. Statements such as this anger Clancy since his writing is strongly based on the life he never had. Clancy was never allowed the chance to join the military, but his writing can be considered the basis of his thoughts toward his military life. Although he never got to experience the military first hand, he has become a great resource for anything military related. The he pentagon actually uses him for leaking information to the public, because “he shares the same views as some of the world as many pentagon analysts.” Clancy writes about the life for which he longs, but the unimaginative plot lines and reoccurring themes are frequently criticized.
Clancy’s life has been largely focused on everything military. Although he was never able to join any branch of the military, he made due with visiting cruisers and purchasing anything that the government will allow him to have. His wife has even helped with this obsession by buying him a tank for his birthday. His experiences with it along with other weapons have led him to say that “some of these are better than sex” (Garson 4). His life is close to being a true military one, but it is not the same in his eyes. The only way he can relate to it in his eyes is through his alter ego Jack Ryan. This is the character he uses in many of his books. When any of these books gets criticized in any negative aspect Clancy takes it to heart. He considers this a sort of bullying to his own life, because the character is essentially he in a world he created. Even though Clancy’s books are criticized for these elements Clancy fans love the stories, and that makes him write more.
The problem with all the attention gained by Clancy by his fans is the ever increasing expectations by the critics. Even with his first novel The Hunt for Red October Larry Bond after reading the manuscript said he,” just thought it was a good story, certainly not a blockbuster or the start of a whole new genre in fiction” (Garson 41). This new genre is commonly called a “technothriller”, and critics refer to him as the “inventor of the technothriller.” Though these first reviews had not suspected his sudden rise in fame, Clancy himself said,” I became a bestseller because Ronald Reagan read the book, told time magazine he liked it, and shazam, on got on the New York Times list (“The Write Stuff” 50). Although Clancy refers to his fame as luck his fans completely indulge themselves in the style of military/espionage. They are loyal through every book Clancy writes. Critics either love or hate this writer. Most often his reoccurring plots and unimaginative plot lines have become a center of negative criticism. Even more some critics such as Buckley say Clancy is,” The James Fennimore Cooper of his day, which is to say, the most successful bad writer of his time. This is no mean feat, for there are many, many more bad writers today than there was in Cooper’s time.” Critics may point out flaws in his stories, but fans are easily angered when he changes the writing style as emphasized in his later works. Rather than show his usual views in his stories, Clancy has chosen to show more of his political views. While the fans are not entirely happy with this change, they still buy his work and read it simply because it is a piece Clancy work.
Clancy tries to remain constant in his work by using a format known as “formula writing”. In this style Clancy provides very little change throughout the stories of his book to keep main central ideas constant, but he provides great detail in which he brings the reader into the world he created. This form of writing can be very successful if done right, and Clancy does it to the maximum of any writer’s ability. Although the style Clancy uses leaves his stories open to high amounts of ridicule. Critics would like to see more change in the plots Clancy works so hard to make real. Clancy has been recently adding more change to his works by providing new scenarios to his stories. This is good for any reader because change is constant in the real world. Fans often find themselves feeling as though they were right there as the story was taking place. This provides excitement for the readers, because Clancy brings a situation that most people will never encounter in their lives. The change he has done throughout the stories has still proven successful in many ways with everyone, but at the same time many can also complain because the change has not led his writing to an area that may not necessarily be an area of Clancy’s expertise.
Clancy does not look at this transition as a bad thing. His more recent works have been pushing the concepts of his political views on every situation. By doing this he can show different parts of his life in his writing. Clancy leaves himself open to ridicule not only from his characters in his novels, but to his personal life. This hasn’t stopped him in any way from showing these views where he deems necessary. Clancy was even attacked for his television show for his “portrayal of the Israelis, but Clancy protested by commenting that he has always been pro-Israel.” Clancy protects sensitive subjects such as that frequently, but he also takes the genre he “created” to heart as well. For many years Clancy defending his genre as being military/espionage rather than the term technothriller. Clancy would have rather it been called anything except that, and even said,” I write political thrillers not ‘technothrillers’ as dubbed by the critics.” After years of his works being referred to as technothrillers he finally gave in and accepted the given term as his genre. Clancy gave up his defense on this subject while speaking with Larry King and not defending his genre as King commenced to refer to it as a technothriller. Clancy has eased up on his constant defense of everything he does simply because people will always refer to it as something else, and things do not always come out the way one may plan.
Clancy could even base his life off of the fact that things do not always unfold as expected. Clancy had always longed to live a military life, but was never allowed into the military. Instead he lived his life out as an insurance salesman in his pre-writing years. “It wasn’t that Clancy didn’t do well as an insurance salesman, he just longed for a life with more excitement,” as said by close friends of Clancy. This was the point at which he began to write his first book. Clancy had no idea The Hunt for Red October would be so successful, but it put his foot in the door when it came to the military world. Since then Clancy has risen to the top of the military world. His books have been converted into many different forms of media ranging from movies to video games. Not only does he sit by and help develop all of these firsthand, he has also been a common subject for public speaking. The pentagon has chosen him to help leak out information during his public speaking. Officials say he was a perfect choice for this job because he shares the same views as many of the pentagon analysts. Since Clancy has created such a large web of stardom, he has become a common household name all over the world. His fans can range anywhere from the college student to a blue collar worker. It is because he can achieve this Clancy is provided slightly more privileges with the military world than the average person. Clancy denies these claims still to this day.
Tom Clancy is one of the most successful characters in the current media world. He has risen to fame on a subject that purely feeds him on a basis that he cannot have it. The downside of this is the fact that Clancy leaves himself open for ridicule, because he can only write about one subject. Many say his characters are unimaginative and his plots are too similar to be considered creative. Fans love his style of writing, but many critics hate it. This has put Clancy in a bind, because he cannot change anything to make both sides happy. This has led him to be considered on of the best worst writers around. Either way Clancy has proven that he never needed to be in the military to live the life he would have gained from it.