We finished watching Howl on Tuesday. Two aspects stayed with me: one, the candle-lit sepia faces of the listeners as Ginsberg (Franco) gave his reading, and two, this:
"...there is in most of us the desire to make the world conform to our own views and it takes all of the force of our own reason as well as our legal institutions to defy so human an urge. The battle of censorship will not be finally settled by your honor’s decision, but you will either add to liberal educated thinking or, by your decision, you will add fuel to the fire of ignorance."
- Jake Ehrlich
What brilliance. I'm trying to imagine how thrilled the actor must have been to be able to deliver such words. I don't remember my mother ever telling me I couldn't read something, and I hope to never limit my child's (or children's) reading. Reading is the gateway to all knowledge and to all experience that is out of reach. I will be proud and grateful beyond measure if Oliver wants to read, and I hope that his father and I will daily model a wonder of books.
As a teacher, I want to decrease the "fuel" that ignorance gathers. I may not be able to pour light on my students (I don't have much to give), but if I can just tear a little hole through which my students can climb toward knowledge, if I can at least prompt a little awareness, I feel fantastic about that. I've been trying to dampen my own ignorance too (for example, when I see a page view from a new country, I look it up and try to learn a little about it since I'm completely daft about geography. When I saw an unfamiliar reference to a criminal case on Facebook, I read about it. When Josh noticed that some of his ancestors had really incredible numbers of children, I became curious about what they may have known or believed about birth control then, and I read about the history of birth control). I think reading (and then writing to reinforce, reflect, and create) is the best way to fight ignorance, which is not unintelligence but merely unawareness, willful or not. Reading, writing, cultural experiences, and travel can make our minds wider. Can't you feel it?
I have been thinking about this post since I first read it. I also can't remember my mother ever telling me that i couldn't read something, although I feel surprised that that would be the case, because she was extremely cautious with what we took in. Anyway, the relevant thing is that I felt absolute freedom to read whatever I could find in our house.
ReplyDeleteI had an internal censor, however, that served me well on several occasions. Once as a child, I found some porno magazine discarded and crumpled on the street in front of our house, and I remember only seeing a very little of it before I wadded it up and stuffed it into the drainage pipe (perhaps not such a good place to get rid of it), so that my brothers wouldn't see it. It was remarkably undisturbing for how innocent I was. I knew that it was not the sort of thing fit for me to read, and I'm proud that my simple curiosity, or voracious imagination didn't get the better of my wise restraint. (Of course I know you aren't saying that pornography is proper reading for a child!!! Just telling a story that came to mind) I hope that my own children can exert this sort of self-restraint, or even self-preservation also, and understand that not all knowledge is for them.
Glancing at my own bookshelf, however, I can see books now that I would not let a young Davy read. 'The God Delusion' by Dawkins, books on sex trafficking or on prostitution, even 'The Road' by McCarthy. If 11 year old Davy picked up 'Howl' I'd say, "Let's hold off on that one for a few years."
Ideas are powerful, and I am not such a censor that my shelf only contains true, lovely, uplifting ideas. To me, what is more important that granting absolute freedom, is allowing my children to wander intellectually into waters too deep, but to watch them discreetly, careful to never let them get swept away in the rip current of a concept so big, so monstrous or heavy that they have no defense.
There is a story of young Corrie TenBoon asking her father, "What is sex?" and in reply he pointed to his suitcase, packed for a trip, and asked her to lift it. She couldn't. "Knowledge of sex is like that, Corrie. Today it would be too heavy for you, but soon you will be able to bear it." I think that is so wise.
Reading is essentially exposure to the world, lovely and grim, wondrous and wretched. There are places in this world that I would never ever take my child. Then there are some places I have been that are stark and important, and I would want her there. Like India, for one. I want Davy to see India, and I feel confident that she will. I will have to answer questions like, "Why is that man living on the street?" and she will have to see some disturbing things: abandoned animals and children, extreme deformities and even human cruelty. But it is important, and I will be ready for the questions. Those are the kind of things that I hope to give her free access to in her life with books. But alternately, there are books that embody realities that I won't introduce her to until she has the mental wherewithall to defend herself against an idea or reality that is too dark, and she can say: "Stop. No further access granted," and not lose herself. I think specifically the time that I have spent in brothels, or the books that I have read about child trafficking etc. As a mother, I see myself as a sort of Aragorn, leading my children through marvelous and epic adventure that are also sometimes dangerous and threatening.
Thanks for feeding my brain for the past few days with this post!
Thank you for these insights! You should put this on your own blog. I've been thinking a lot about this as I unpack books, especially as our two biggest shelves will only fit in Oliver's room. I find myself organizing by height--Dr. Seuss and picture books on the bottom and so on up. Not that he couldn't climb if he really wanted to. I remember doing that in my mom's closet and reading Women Are from Mars...which seemed like a treasure house of semi-forbidden knowledge. Luckily, I don't actually own Howl, but I will have to get creative with placement of other books. I want books all around him, and I want him to feel that that world is open to him. And I think that feeling of discovery (even secrecy) is part of what makes us readers. Of course, I'd rather him stumble upon The Borrowers or even the scary Jane Eyre than Anais Nin's diaries. It will be an adventure, and I hope to chronicle how I deal with it and think about it (as I'm sure both will develop constantly). I hope you will chronicle that too.
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