Brendan Donohue
English 122
Mr. Cripps
The assigned stories by King and Alexie take place in vastly settings, but have many parallels due to one overarching theme. This shared major theme is that of young men who are considered outcasts in their environments, but find their place in the world thanks to literary creativity. Alexie tells the story of young boy in a Native tribe who’s life is changed at a young age due to the exposure of large amounts of books. King tells a slightly different narrative of a boy who finds his path in high school when he is recruited to write for a local paper.
Alexie’s piece describes a young Native boy who has very minimal formal education in reading and writing but has a spark of imagination when reading one of his father’s book. “… but I still remember the exact moment when I first understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph.” His father’s unique and varied book collection was one of its kind in the down trodden Native Reservation, where most people made their living by working remedial labor focused jobs. The boy idolized his father, and therefore idolized his father’s love for books. “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with aching devotion, I decided to love books as well.” The boys decision to take an interest in books would propel him in a different direction than his fellow classmates and children of the Tribe. This made him unpopular and according to him “dangerous”. “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike. I fought with my classmates on a daily basis.” The young boys desire to be like his father, or pursue his unique and highly advanced literary abilities was not what enabled him to be so successful from an early age, it was something more powerful and individualistic. The boy had an innate ability to see books and literary content in a creative and personal way that he could connect to his own personal world. “This knowledge delighted me. I began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs. Our reservation was a small paragraph within the United States.” The boys creativity and ability to digest knowledge and make it his own is what set him apart from his peers. His literary experiences and hardships in the classroom gave him a unique perspective and a desire to give back to his community, in a way they were badly needing. “[Children he is now teaching on the reserve] look at me with bright eyes and arrogant wonder. They are trying to save their lives.” This piece by Alexie tells the unique story of a boy who is exposed to a wealth of literary stimulus at an early age and it has a profoundly positive impact on his maturation and life purpose. This very same theme and journey of struggle is found in King’s piece as well.
The main character in King’s piece finds himself at a dead end writer position within his high school paper. He seemingly had no inspiration and was more or less going through the motions. “The Drum did not prosper under my editorship” he sorrowfully admits. Despite the difficult position the boy seems to be in during his sophomore year of high school, he has a spark of inspiration that hits him and he sees it through. The boy puts aside his high school paper and instead begins to write pieces that stimulate his creative side, unfortunately it is done by slandering teachers at the school for his own amusement and creative curiosity. “What resulted was a four-sheet which I called “The Village Vomit”. I filled the “Vomit” with fictional tidbits about LHS faculty.” Instead of continuing down the conventional path of writing and creative expression, the boys decides to pursue his creative desires and create his own path, similar to the Native boy in Alexie’s piece. In both cases it must be difficult for the boys to go against what is popular and seemingly acceptable, and instead let their own creative journeys take flight. Fortunately for the boy in King’s story, he is able to work through situational road blocks and shift his creative ability towards something positive. In this case, it came as a job opportunity with a local town paper. “[The school councilor] had enquired John Gould, editor of Lisbon’s weekly newspaper, and had discovered Gould had an opening for a sports reporter.” Despite not knowing much about the specifics of any major sports, the boy took the position and was able to learn the ropes fairly quickly.
The two boys discussed each must deal with personal struggles and obstacles in order to fully develop and live out their creative gifts and ambitions. Both authors seem to value this important lesson and place significance on it in their respective pieces. I believe anyone who reads these pieces can take value out of what each character works through to follow their core literary and creative ambition.
collreadwrit1b
