Child's Mind

When i first saw that we were reading A Wrinkle in Time in this class I had mixed emotions: I was relieved and curious. Relieved because i had already read it in grade 5 and would have one less novel to attempt to finish in the short six weeks and curious because i quiet distinctly remember hating it the first time and wanted to know if id feel the same the second time around. Unfortunately, I kind of felt the same...

There is just something about this novel that bothers me. I remember being annoyed with the explanation of the time traveling when I was younger and again, as an adult reader, I was unimpressed. Not only was I disappointed with the authors explanation, i was also bored with the simplistic writing style. I find it interesting how sometimes with children's literature, authors tend to assume that the readers are not sophisticated enough to question their reasoning or plot lines or to deal with a more challenging vocabulary or writing style. The novels with the more complex plot lines, such as Harry Potter or The Golden Compass Series, and more advanced writing styles are the most successful. It is important to challenge young readers in order to encourage improvement.

Future Clones

Never Let Me Go made me seriously think about cloning. I don’t know if it was the novel itself or the class discussion, but for some reason I kept bringing up the topic with my friends and family and reliving the debate. At first, I was completely put off by cloning and its moral ratifications, but the more I thought about it, the more I really began to see the benefits – I started to come around to the idea, as long as there would be strict rules in place ensuring that it was kept humane (ex/ cloning an organ itself rather than an entire human body).

It is pretty clear that this is going to be an even fiercer and more prevalent debate for our future generations. This got me thinking about a novel I read a couple years ago in my Children’s Lit class, The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer. Since this novel is aimed at young adult and children readers I was initially shocked by the controversial ideas being thrown around by the writer – Farmer created a future world where people had completely embaraced the idea of cloning, either harvesting their clones organs in order to prolong life, or essentially lobotomizing them and using them for slaves. (A really interesting summer read if anyone is interested; I would definitely recommend it).



Basically, even though Never Let Me Go is aimed for adult readers, its content got me thinking about our future generation of readers. Novels such as The House of the Scorpion, are incredibly important – if the next generation, the generation that will probably be the greatest affected by this debate, is introduced to it in a narrative form at a younger age, they are earlier exposed to the controversial ideas and the implications of the technologically heightened world they are living in. This early exposure allows them more time to critically analize their social situations and form opinions and ideas regarding these emerging technologies. Although some people may argue that these ideas are too mature for young readers, if they are properly sugared by fiction, they could arguably be incredibly instrumental in the education of future young readers.

Physically Freaky and Personally Relatable?

In the past a freak was someone with physical deformities or diseases – an extraordinary body that does not follow the normative standards. Unfortunately, similarly to “geek”, the term freak focuses almost completely on the physical body. This is something that I have noticed after reading Geek Love and Nights at the Circus.

I was shocked when I read various peoples blog posts saying they were completely unable to relate to the ANY of the characters in the various texts we have read.

To me, Oly, the narrator in Geek Love, isn’t a completely a freak or a geek. I think that there are some aspects of the characters of Oly and Fevvers that are personally relatable.

Oly, specifically in the “present” narrations, seemed to have a completely “normal” view on her families past. She is able to recognize that a lot of what was going on with performative family was completely abnormal. Additionally, Oly, herself, was both secure and insecure with her body and personalities – she isn’t any different from someone that society would deem physically “normal”. It is apparent that she herself doesn’t feel completely adequate with regards to her family. Who in their life can honestly claim that they have always, 100% of the time, felt like they completely fit in with their family or society. My entire family has naturally dark hair and I am the “blonde sheep” so to speak, with naturally dirty blonde hair. Growing up I always felt like the odd one out, not because my parents didn’t love me or treated me as a lesser, but simply because I personally didn’t feel like I quiet fit. I have been dieing my hair dark brown since I was 18…

Fevvers is also someone that I can relate to. While she is overly dramatic and leads a completely performative lifestyle, I can completely understand where she is coming from. I think it would be false for someone the claim that they have never felt the need to “sell them selves” or perform – whether it be in a job interview, to a professor or even to your friends. Dramatic performances in order to sell our selves are incredibly common. I know when I am in a job interview I am definitely “performing”. I dramatically sell the qualities that I feel the employer is looking for in a worker in hopes of securing income and wealth. I can completely relate towards the dramatic performance that perpetuates Fevvers.

While we may not physically be able to relate to theses characters, or even, at times personally (ex/ Oly’s love for her brother Arty, Fevvers' open sexuality etc), there are various characteristics that every reader should be able to pick up on and relate to on a basic human level.