The Birchbark House

            The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich brings me back to what should seem like more familiar surroundings than Kipling’s Kim. I should feel much more acquainted with the setting because a great deal closer to where I have grown up and lived than India. But Erdrich’s novel was about a subject that is unfamiliar to me. I am not knowledgeable about anything Native American. It seems to have been pretty much glossed over in my education so far. I found it interesting the way the author weaved elements of a culture that is strange to me with what seems like universal things that young girls of any culture may go through.  This is much different from the traditional stories that I heard as a child such as Pocahontas. I learned about the day-to-day life of a young Indian girl. She had her chores just as we all did as children but her chores were very different than the ones I did as a child. While I may have hated cleaning my room she hates to clean the hides that her father brings home for hunts.

Just as in Kim, The Birchbark House has its own unique language. Just by reading these last two books I was given the chance to expand my vocabulary by probably over a hundred words. I have a feeling that my brain may only absorb a couple of them though. When I started to read Erdrich’s book I was excited because it takes place so close to home compared to Kipling’s. I thought that it would feel closer to home but I was wrong. The small world of The Birchbark House is just as unfamiliar to me as Kipling’s portrayal of India. It is quite amazing to me that something that is set in a place so close to me ends up feeling like a place as strange as India. 

Kipling's Kim

            My first thoughts as I started reading Kim by Rudyard Kipling were what a strange and fantastical land of India that Kipling paints for his readers. As you may have figured out by now I like to try to put myself in the shoes of the reader at the time of publishing. Published in 1900 knowledge of India and the eastern world would not be completely strange to some readers. So if I put my turn of the century schoolboy shoes on my imagination would take me to this strange yet familiar place that I most likely have never been too. India has been glossed over in my texts but I am fascinated by the details of the world that Kipling is describing. I have a hard time adding all of these new and strange words to my vocabulary. This new language makes the story all the more strange and exotic. I am also learning much more about the relations between the different religions and social cultures of India that my schoolbooks have never mentioned. It makes me dream of being on my own in a strange land and outwitting adults and making my way in life.

            When I first started reading this novel I couldn’t help but to start making comparisons to Huck Finn. They are both two boys on their own. Both of them use their wit to continue their respective journeys. Their journeys are both so much more than just an adolescent boy on his own. Huck and Kim are both on spiritual journeys of sorts dealing with real world moral dilemmas. These aren’t the only two books that I have read that have this theme of a boy on his own trying to survive. When I was young I remember reading other coming of age books such as My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead and Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. 

The Romantic Child and Blake...

This week’s section is entitled The Romantic Child, and what better subject to talk about than William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. I just have some random thoughts and connections that I think I picked up on that I’m going to ramble about. First off, I am not very educated in examining or interpreting art but I will take a stab at it while looking at the frontpieces and title pages of this book and how they relate to some selected poems from the work. The frontpeice (http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/images/songsie.b.p2.300.jpg) shows a child angel flying above a man. The man is looking up at the angel and holding a recorder or some similar instrument. They are in a natural setting and the man seems to be leading a flock of sheep.  The first connection that jumps to my head is the angel and the lamb from the poem “The Lamb”. (http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/transcription.xq?objectid=songsie.b.illbk.16). This little poem is about a child being asked and then told where he or she came from. The child is called a lamb in the poem just as Jesus himself is referred to as the Lamb of God in the Bible. Blake is making the case that children are heavenly gifts as Jesus was sent down from heaven in the human form. I see a similarity in how he represents the child in the frontpiece as an angel and the child as a lamb. Both are symbols of innocent and heavenly creations. Throughout the Songs of Innocence Blake keeps the children pure, innocent and angle like. Even in The Chimney Sweeper he has the child dream of an angel taking the dead children to heaven where the sweeper knows the children will be better off.

            Another thought that came to me was I saw a connection between Locke and Rousseau’s ideas that it is important to play and experience nature. The poems “The School Boy”(http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/transcription.xq?objectid=songsie.b.illbk.20&java=yes) and “Nurses Song” (http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/transcription.xq?objectid=songsie.b.illbk.13&java=yes) both are about children and how they feel about being in nature rather than inside somewhere.  In both of these poems Blake puts importance on the children being in nature and not stuck in some dreary classroom or house. “The School Boy” reminds me of my own yearning to be outdoors on a beautiful day. I found it hard to pay attention to any book or school direction when I knew that there were experiences to be had outside. “Nurses Song” reminds me of those innocent summer nights of playing in the neighborhood. When thinking about it now not only was I playing but learning different aspects of life such as nature while catching bugs or just socialization by getting along with other children while learning and playing games. To Locke these would be just as or more important than anything learned in a book or a boring old school house.  

John Locke

John Locke, a rational guy. A visionary. A mind before his time. I rather liked the little synopsis in the Demers reading about the rational moralists Locke and Rousseau.  When I think about it it’s quite amazing that it was in 1692 when Locke’s   Some Thoughts Concerning Education was published. His idea that children are rational beings rather than little adults was revolutionary for his time. I believe in some of his methods for teaching children are effective. But considering Locke’s place in society his it is apparent that his method would not be available for all children. First of all you would have to have money. At least have enough money to pay for a tutor or personal instructor. And it seems like he was definitely addressing the education of boys. So if you were lucky enough to be a boy born into a family with enough money to afford a teacher that was willing to instruct you according to Locke’s thoughts concerning education I would say that you would be a lucky young lad for the time.

So I imagine myself being one of these boys lucky enough to get this type of education. Thank god I don’t have to sit through Greek and Latin before I have even mastered English. I have to learn my manners first. Root out my bad habits and learn good virtues. My tutor keeps reiterating the importance of my character. Character before knowledge.  But once I have what is deemed a strong character I can concentrate on the bookish side of education. Sometimes I don’t like it but I am told that I may be a fine scholar one day that can pass on my knowledge to my brothers. My instructor and I play lots of games with blocks and balls with letters on them. Sometimes I can’t believe that my dad pays this guy money to play games with me…

Well I think an education like that would have been much better than the typical rote learning that was popular back then. His ideas were just the beginning of changing the way we educate children. His advocacy of play as an important part of a children’s learning process is still ignored all too often today.

Ps. I know this is slightly off topic and last weeks news but I found it interesting.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20032_5-terrifying-origin-stories-behind-popular-childrens-songs.html