I have a great story to tell you.
Once upon a time there was a lovely mother and a lovely father and they had a lovely baby, whom they adored. This baby turned into a child and this child was spared no luxury, but above all, this child was loved. The mother and the father crafted and molded their child with care and thought to themselves,
What a lovely gift we are giving to the world.
And one day, the child grew up and went out into the wide, wild world. The child, now an adult, saw things they had never seen before, smelled things they had never smelled before, touched things they had never touched before, heard things they had never heard before and met many, many different people from all around the world. They were gone for a very long time and the mother and the father waited patiently for their baby to return, but the child did not come back. The child was far away, learning and growing and most of all, changing, changing quickly.
One day the child stopped and remembered their mother and father and decided to go home and show them all that they had become. But when the child arrived home, the mother and the father barely recognized their baby, for so much had changed. The child was not the person they had molded so carefully.
No, thought the mother, this is not the person I gave to the world, this person is much worse.
And the mother and the father were very sad.
And in the deep night the child left again, following the lights of the city, ready to see and smell and touch and hear and meet people and learn and grow. The father cried out when he saw the child had gone, for he still loved the child dearly. He cried out, come back, we can make you right again. But he knew he could do no such thing, for once a child is born it cannot be called back.
Once born, it is loose in the world.
* * *
I told this story to my dad. As I told the story I realized that I had a bit of an agenda. I guess I was put off by the simplicity of the moral in Thomas King’s retelling of how evil came into the world; that stories are dangerous. And I thought, so are people and even if their parents have the best intentions, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t do bad things. And just because they might do bad things, doesn’t mean we should stop reproducing. Maybe I feel the same way about stories, yes they are dangerous, but maybe they should be told anyhow? I don’t know. Even if a story is crafted perfectly and meticulously, once you tell it, it will inevitably change, just like a person. As I told this story to my dad and honed it to be exactly what I wanted, I kept that in mind and think it did change the way I told my story… I honestly found it liberating in a way, knowing that the story as I was telling it at that moment would cease to exist in the next moment. Which is perhaps the exact opposite of what the witches’ story is trying to say.
I really tried to keep my story as bare bones as possible. As a reader (or listener) we don’t know if the child is now a bad person, or if they are just different from whom they were before, different from their parents. I think this is so important, because even something that at times can seem so clear cut, like evil, is not objective. Maybe the witch’s story just seemed bad to the other witches. Am I the only one who wishes I could hear it for myself?
* * *
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2003. Print.
“Thomas King.” English-Canadian Authors. Athabasca University, Oct. 2012. Web. 30 May. 2014.
Great story. It reminds me of a Children’s Literature course I took a couple summers ago. The great debate that constantly came up was: are there types of children’s literature (stories) that are inappropriate for children? reasons for a story being inappropriate include violence, sex, racism etc… The idea that there should be no censorship on children’s lit promotes the freedom for children to become in contact with all sorts of issues, and then be able to make decisions on their own as to whether or not something is right or wrong, or appropriate or inappropriate–but at least the child will have had the chance to make the decision for themselves. The other side of the argument is that children should be guarded from at least certain issues until they reach a certain age. That a danger lies in children being exposed to certain darkness in our world, and that once a child sees/reads something, it cannot be unseen/unread.
This all lines up with what you touch on after your story when you pose the question: because a child does something bad, should we stop reproducing? What I offer, is: if one child is affected negatively by, or decides to do evil with the knowledge he/she has experienced at a young age, should we then prevent other children from witnessing that evil until a certain age? no bars held? keep this in mind, Sherman Alexie wrote a children’s novel about being raped. it was banned in several states. although, there were some children who wrote the author, telling of how his story helped them cope with their own struggles.
Hi Cory thanks for the post!
Your comments are very interesting and raise some important questions, such as the idea of censorship. This is also linked with the notion of responsibility and if the artist is personally responsible for the repercussions of their work. Though it is a highly nuanced, complicated subject that cannot be viewed in a purely black and white way, I guess I tend to gravitate towards the importance of freedom of speech. Obviously people need to be careful about what they say, but if we impose too many restrictions on what can be said and to whom, it becomes a slippery slope. I find the point you make about children and children’s lit especially interesting (particularly about author Alexie Sherman) because people are very sensitive to what children should be exposed to, and yet as you state, we don’t know what story is going to be helpful or detrimental to someone. In fact the same story can cause completely different reactions in people and maybe it is up to us to think critically about what we are reading/hearing.
Hey Caitlyn,
I really enjoyed your story! My version sort of went the same direction as I used a family as my main characters and talked about kin-related change. I think it’s really interesting how your story relate’s back to King’s since rather than a story being told and becoming an object of the world, its instead a person here. Nice twist! It really shows how King’s message can be expanded and applied to other dimensions rather than stories.
As for the questions you addressed, it’s definitely difficult to find middle ground between censoring stories/media and allowing freedom of expression through these platforms. I personally like the idea of minimal censorship. It allows individuals to develop their own thought and their own sense of discretion. As you said in your post, it’s also liberating and allows growth. Even dangerous stories present some measure of underlying truth. My follow-up question goes back to finding the middle ground. Though I think censorship can hinder personal growth and persona, is there a limit to stories, and where does it lie?
🙂 thank you!