Grant McCloskey Week #11

In the piece The Burning of Paper Instead of Children there were two children that were “burned” or scorned by a parent for burning a math textbook. The irate parent sentenced the children to a week apart from another. The parent of the child who was “burned” by an adult other than his parent is the narrator of this piece.

The narrator didn't see the big deal with burning the book, hence the title. It was looked at as an act of rebellion against school, almost saying “finally no school for three months”. The narrator took it as harmless child’s play, while the other parent saw it as an act of Hitler.

In the narrators pondering of the day’s events at a typewriter that evening she present many different themes that literature presents. I am not sure if I am in the ballpark with my perceived themes in the piece.

The first theme is obsession. The narrator described characters from books, but in particular the Trial of Jeanne d’Arc. How one dreamed of her too often so the book was taken away, obsession.

Next is the theme: culture of the past, and what to take away from them. I feel that the narrator was speaking of medieval times. It is hard to understand this period however because it was a time with little record, and what one does know is the voice of the oppressed.

Another theme pick up in the text is how one can learn from literature. Then the narrators’ counter argument to that was but what one learns isn’t necessarily directed towards us how to live.  We need to make our own mark on the world and not live vicariously through history, as impossible as that may be.

The narrator makes the claim that America lives only in the present tense. Meaning that we only care about the present, the past has zero significance. Which takes claim the why there wasn’t a numbing feeling as the book was being charred by the fire.

This is a problem however, the narrator said the “flames hurt”. This will hurt our culture not looking at literature of the past as a way to live by. But is this something that we as a culture can overcome?