T.S. Garp is the son of Jenny Fields, a feminist nurse who wanted a child but not a husband. She rapes a brain-damaged soldier known as Technical Sergeant Garp to become pregnant and names her son after him.

Garp grows up interested in writing fiction and wrestling, unlike his mother. He develops a relationship with Helen Holm, the daughter of his wrestling coach. Jenny writes an autobiography titled "A Sexual Suspect" which becomes a feminist manifesto, overshadowing Garp's own writing career.

Garp and Helen marry and have two sons. Jenny starts a home for troubled women, including a group called the Ellen Jamesians who cut out their own tongues in solidarity with a young rape victim. Garp befriends a transgender ex-football player named Roberta Muldoon.

Garp struggles with anxiety over his children's safety. In a tragic car accident, one son is killed and the other loses an eye. Jenny is later assassinated by a man angered by her book. Garp himself is eventually assassinated by a childhood acquaintance radicalized by the Ellen Jamesians.

Developed by Perplexity AI