Consequence and To Kill A Mockingbird

On: By: cariwiesewriter@gmail.com

download (1)I read To Kill A Mockingbird today. It’s been a long time since I read it last. It was interesting to read it again with a different life perspective. I’ve always thought it was fascinating that you can read the same words more than once and get a completely different experience each time, if you put some life-mileage between them. Anyway, I enjoyed it.

How I actually came to read the book again was kind of strange. Just last week a friend happened to bring it up in conversation. I remember agreeing with his point, but feeling frustrated with my lack of memory for the specifics of the storyline. I did not possess a copy of the book as of last week, and so promptly forgot much of the conversation. Then, last night, J and I went to Crowder’s and Murph’s. After watching Crowder beat the hell out of a TV with a baseball bat, I began to peruse his small bookcase for interesting titles. The last time I had done this, I’d commented on the high quality of The Giver, and Crowder had ended up giving it to me. To Kill A Mockingbird caught my eye this time, and the forgotten conversation came back to me. I plucked it out and told Crowder I was borrowing it (to which he replied that I could have that one as well). I deemed it fated. And so, I spent the better part of my day engrossed in the awe and adrenaline that comes with Boo Radley.

I found the story, for the most part, excellent.

Now I find myself contemplating its use in schools.  When I was a child, stories such as this one and Huck Finn were a given as part of middle age curriculum.  Now, these tales are practically gone from the education system until college.  Why?  I know why.  I suppose we all know why.

I grew up in a South that was very cautious about its reputation as “racist.”  We were deliberately presented with literature such as this to make us understand the depth of human fallibility.  To remind us how easy it is to be completely and utterly wrong without ever realizing it.  The language shocked us.  Our teachers said, “Good, you should be shocked.”

Children today are almost never shocked.  Even fairy tales have been sugar-coated.  No one ever dies as a result of a poor choice.  Mistakes are fixed with a change of heart and a sincere apology.  What are we teaching our kids?  Is is really in their best interest to teach them that consequences are either temporary or nonexistent?  What will be the consequence of letting our children believe such lies?

To-Kill-Mockingbird

I find myself of the side of those teachers.  Be shocked.  You should be shocked.  Some things are worth fighting for, worth dying for.  Never forget the massive mistakes we have made in the past.  And when you see something that is wrong in the world, stand up and say something.

Go Set A Watchman is on my night stand.  I don’t know if I have the heart to face it yet.

 

The tide comes up the black and gusty river — Lois Elsden

On: By: cariwiesewriter@gmail.com

We love visiting our friends in the Netherlands, we always have a wonderful time together – and also a wonderful time when they visit us here in England! We became friends through our love of music, and first met in person about ten years ago. They live in a lovely part of the country, in […]

via The tide comes up the black and gusty river — Lois Elsden

The Lion and the Stream

On: By: cariwiesewriter@gmail.com
“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I–could I– would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to–do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
“Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as it it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!,” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.~The Silver Chair~