The story is a realistic story about the Hoods and the Willams. Both of these families were affluent families that lived in New Canaan. The book centers around Wendy and the events that take place during the their thanksgiving in the 70s. The story is pretty simple and is about family strife. Wendy is a typical adolescent exploring her sexuality. At the same time her parents, Ben and Elena are having marital differences. Ben is cheating on his wife with Janey, the wife of his close friend Jim. The irony comes up with Wendy who is has sexual relations with Janey and Jim's son Mikey and his younger brother Sandy. Wendy's older brother

Though the events and a lot of the dialogue are the same in both the book and the movie the crux of the two are completely different. The book focuses a lot more on sexual tension and sexual exploration. The vocabulary they use is a lot more elaborate than the movie, actually it's more elaborate than most books. I see few books that use the word "orgasm" or "bestiality" at all. It's not typical book lingo. Though the vocabulary emphasizes the sexual nature of the book. The movie on the other hand probably wouldn't make a lot of money going with the erotic taboo nature of the book. Instead it focuses more around the ideas of family neglect and the hypocrisy of the parents doing what they don't want their kids to do. The story is more like an MTV clip of the real world than the book plot. Though that's what makes the movie so great. The people seem so real, like everyday people. The relation is even stronger because I live in an affluent community. The two different focuses put a different tint into the same story.

The parents have a similar motif switch as Wendy does. The whole section about the Key party is much more elaborate and erotic in the book than it is in the movie. In the book the party there was a bigger emphasis on Neil a 19-year-old boy at this adult sex party. "And what about Neil? ... Still not a single adult had questioned his presence there". His mother brought him to his party; he was portrayed as a hansom young boy that was eager to have sex. In the movie Neil's character was used to seduce Janey instead of Ben seducing her. Basically in the movie he is more like the antagonist that takes the woman away from the guy. In the book he is more sexually curious and came to this party to just have sex; he didn't care whom with. Though the dramatic scene where Neil takes Janey instead of Ben is accompanied by morose dramatic music. This is to emphasize the point of the superficiality of the sex that Janey and Ben had. Instead the scene doesn't seem as dramatic in the book. All the book says is "Janey selected away from Benjamin Hood" (169). The movie shows Ben about to cry and he puts his arms in his head. Even later in the movie he was sitting in the bathroom stewing about the dilemma. The motif of sexual exploration is also amplified during the key party. Moody wrote the various thoughts that the people were thinking when getting their partner for the night. "He (Earle, one of the males at the party) had had someone else in mind. On the other hand who knew really? Maybe he felt real affection" (167). Their thoughts behind the sex are displayed in the book. While the movie just shows the people getting their sexual partners and facial expressions. The facial expressions are misleading and only because I read the book I can infer what Moody may have had in mind. Otherwise to the average person they would be pretty irrelevant. The focus on the main parent's the Hood's and Williams were both shown in two different ways as well. At the key party Elana Hood and Jim Williams had sexual relations. Though in the movie they never actually show them having sex, they do nothing more than kiss. The watcher is left to infer if they've had sex or not. Instead the movie shows this more as Elana's revenge for Ben's cheating. Though in the book there is a graphic sex scene. "She (Elena) was pulling down her panties with one hand and settling herself across his lap" (176). There is obviously sex here and the motif behind it is curiosity. "She (Elena) hadn't known about rock and roll, she hadn't known about racial strife, and she hadn't known about heavy petting in cars" (176). The scene of being in the car was something that Elana never tried and she was curious. Ben himself was curious about other relationships. That is what led him to Janey, sex. Not emotional attachment like portrayed in the movie. The movie portrays a scene where B

Some common words found in the essay are:
Katie Holmes, Paul Libbets, Huh Wendy, Caller ID, Christina Ricci, Jim Williams, Benjamin Hood, Jesus Christ, Kevin Kline, York Libbets', book movie, key party, sexual relations, movie paul, sexual exploration, ice storm, sexual tension, paul libbets, movie ben, movie book, janey instead ben, motif sexual exploration, sexual nature book, story book movie,
Approximate Word count = 2605
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)