my friend lucy smells like corn - who wouldn't be intrigued by a chapter title like that!
i really enjoy reading these stories from a child's point of view. i mean isn't it more enlightening? the ideas that children have (even if it is an adult writing.. yes this i realize) and the way they view the world gives you a renewed sense of hope. so far my favourite part is when the young girl in 'eleven' explains how when you are eleven you are also ten and nine.. etc. I think that this is one of those childlike comments that you don't forget.... at least i didn't.
while having an overwhelming weekend, i thought about this chapter in the book and how the little girl tells her mama "when she's sad and needs to cry ...[it's because] she's feeling three" (p7). i definitely felt three this weekend and that part of the book really made me think. it's childlike comments like this that make you remember that children can teach us as much as we teach them. sometimes the children that are around us leak out an interesting point even if most of the time they are little sponges absorbing what we have to teach.
in a children's lit course this summer my prof brought up the difference between childlike and childish and the class was quick to define. the childlike comments in cisneros book are insightful to how the children are coping with their lives, how they perceive what is going on around them and how they know more than we give them credit for. the opposing term - childish - can be more applied to characters like those in who would have thought it, like mrs norval who complains and manipulates and has little tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants.
i'm looking forward to reading the rest of cisnero's stories and seeing how the narration changes throughout and if the childlike teaching continues, or if we see it mature into adult understanding
1 comment:
I think your offering good insight by distinguishing childish and childlike!
The stories from "My Friend Lucy Who Smells like Corn" captivate the essence of being a child. I have a nephew who is 6 and he relates his memories with his age instead of a location, specific date, etc. I think I might have done something similar when I was younger but I never realized this only I read it. She seems to verbalize the sentiments of a child with the full understanding what it is to be a child. And what better way than to start the book with a scent, the strongest memory.
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