In class we discussed a Welsh short story called 'Snowdrops.'I'm in two minds about this story. When I first read it, I didn't enjoy it very much because it was too simple and emotionless. however I read it again and rethought my attitude. The story is simple because it is written from the perspective of a six year old boy, and really its simplicity makes it a good story. If the story had been complex and full of emotion, it would not have accurately portrayed the life of that boy. Another thing the story did was highlight the differences between the adult world and the world of children. Throghout the story, the adults try to keep their world seperate from the children, in order to protect them. The main character in this book, a six year old boy displays the innocence and naivety of young children throughout the entire book, his parents do their best to protect those qualities in him by keeping things from him, such as not telling him when someone dies (in this case his teacher's boyfriend). He also has the high expectations of a child, when his teacher, Ms Webster, tells him about a certain type of flower, a snowdrop, he imagines something that looks like a snowflake, delicate and beautiful. When Ms Webster tells the children in her class that she is taking them to see the snowdrop flowers, what she really wants to do is watch the funeral procession of her boyfriend go past the school, but she can't tell her class that because they are just children. When the boy first sees the flowers, he is dissapointed by them, untill he "began to see their fragility... he imagined them standing all night in the dark garden holding bravely to their specks of white." In a way, the snowdrops are an analogy for the boy, he is the white petals and the people around him hold him up bravely. This is why he is so shocked when Ms Webster starts crying in the garden, watching the funeral, because she is one of the things that holds him up. You could say that whatever was holding Ms Webster to her stem had let her go, and if she could fall, so can the boy.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Snowdrops
In class we discussed a Welsh short story called 'Snowdrops.'I'm in two minds about this story. When I first read it, I didn't enjoy it very much because it was too simple and emotionless. however I read it again and rethought my attitude. The story is simple because it is written from the perspective of a six year old boy, and really its simplicity makes it a good story. If the story had been complex and full of emotion, it would not have accurately portrayed the life of that boy. Another thing the story did was highlight the differences between the adult world and the world of children. Throghout the story, the adults try to keep their world seperate from the children, in order to protect them. The main character in this book, a six year old boy displays the innocence and naivety of young children throughout the entire book, his parents do their best to protect those qualities in him by keeping things from him, such as not telling him when someone dies (in this case his teacher's boyfriend). He also has the high expectations of a child, when his teacher, Ms Webster, tells him about a certain type of flower, a snowdrop, he imagines something that looks like a snowflake, delicate and beautiful. When Ms Webster tells the children in her class that she is taking them to see the snowdrop flowers, what she really wants to do is watch the funeral procession of her boyfriend go past the school, but she can't tell her class that because they are just children. When the boy first sees the flowers, he is dissapointed by them, untill he "began to see their fragility... he imagined them standing all night in the dark garden holding bravely to their specks of white." In a way, the snowdrops are an analogy for the boy, he is the white petals and the people around him hold him up bravely. This is why he is so shocked when Ms Webster starts crying in the garden, watching the funeral, because she is one of the things that holds him up. You could say that whatever was holding Ms Webster to her stem had let her go, and if she could fall, so can the boy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment