Ford was a major part in the novel; however it did not create a large impact in the creation and product of the film. The differences between the novel and film are significant, but do not alter the story line. Instead it created confusion, suspense, and kept the audience intrigued. .
To capture a larger audience, changes to racy content had to be removed from the novel for the film. In the novel it is made apparent that kids would fondle each other and engage in erotic play when the nurse says, "It's just that this little boy seems rather reluctant to join in the ordinary erotic play." (31-32) The nurse talks to the doctor and tells him that she is going to take him away to go see a doctor because of his abnormality. The nurse makes it clear that children of young ages would engage in erotic play with each other and if a child would not partake he or she was taken away. The film did not touch on kids engaging in sexual acts at all. The addition of these scenes to the film could have created both awkwardness and uncomfortableness for the viewers and actors. This racy content would have lessened the audience range due to the nudity and inappropriate content. This was not the only racy content Williams and Libman decided to withdrawal from the film. At the end of the novel, John decides to commit suicide. He is found "Just under the crown of the arch, dangled a pair of feet." (259) John was found alone hung with his feet dangling under the crown of the arch. The film did not show John commit suicide; instead his death was made to look more like an accident. In the film he fell off a cliff instead of being hung. If the directors kept the suicide it would have created and depressing mood and graphic content. The removal of racy content made the film more appealing for all ages.
Characters in a book are what we perceive them as. Everyone perceives a character differently, which makes translating a character from a novel to a film difficult.