Reflections: Island Of the Blue Dolphins

The island of Blue Dolphins lies in the Pacific, somewhere off the Hawaiian islands. The island is so named because it resembles the shape of a dolphin lying on its side. On this little island, there lived a tribe of Indians, peacefully organizing themselves into a society subsisting on the marine life. But even this little island of harmony was not spared of conquests and invasions. After a battle that wiped off many of the men and leaders of the tribe, the new leader began to explore the seas to search for another land - the land of the “white men”, near the California coast. A ship is sent for his entire tribe to join him near the coast of Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, one girl of twelve, Karana, jumps off the ship to get her younger brother who was left behind. All alone in the entire island, she bravely awaits the ship to return for many years. This is a cast-away story of a girl who cleverly survives on her own - armed with her shrewd weapons, courage, hope and some loyal animals.

Every time I pick up a book honored with the Newberry Medal, I feel how much I wasted my younger years reading happy, fun, fantasy, fairy-filled, la-la stories. Entering adulthood was all the more sudden and harsh for those of us who were not introduced to heavy concepts - such as survival, the hardships surrounding it, the decisions confronting it, and the principles that help with addressing all of it. It makes sense to slowly inject these issues into young minds, to start the process of thinking, questioning, and informed understanding.

When I started reading the book, I was extremely skeptical of this being a children’s classic. I expected happy magical dolphins and sea creatures that help the girl out (how amusing, I know). But through the course of the story, as tragedies and pitfalls were balanced with determination, optimism and compassion, I conceded that this was indeed a fitting story filled with lots of thought-provoking moral principles for children. This is a story without adornments trying to add happy frills to a tough situation - it relates the story as is, but in such a way so as to not overwhelm children with grief or anxiety.

Karana is written as a strong and clever girl who creatively and constructively combats her loneliness and pursues her quest to survive. I particularly liked how the author balances the ruthless spirit of survival with tenderness, kindness, and compassion. Even though one is driven to defend oneself by killing other creatures, the story brings the message that one has to draw a line to make sure that the spirit of humanity is not lost to barbarism. The story shows the rewards of compassion, friendship and loyalty to animals, and their importance in our lives.

The writing flows well and takes the bitter edge off the theme of survival. Perhaps as an adult, I wished for more emotions in the words, but on second thoughts, I think it is best that children not be choked with heavy emotions on a heavy topic. The book is surely worth its adulation as a children’s classic.

Reflections: The Giver

As an incurable idealist, I have often imagined a futuristic Utopia, where civilizations will coexist harmoniously in a society that offers both equality and individuality. As I keep getting older, each little brick defining this imaginary castle is being taken down. I am coming to terms with the inevitable reality of human existence, reconciling with the fact that it is perhaps unrealistic to hope for Utopia, for there are too many unanticipated eventualities in the process. Many essays and books have been written on how the path to Utopia can turn devious and lead us into Dystopia, but this book is one of the first that explores how the extremes of Utopia can erode some of our fundamental elements. It makes us question if it's worth sacrificing the essence of humanity, for a harmonious life which guarantees peace, equality, and resources for all.

Jonas is a young boy awaiting his eleventh birthday with a bitter-sweet anticipation. On his b'day he will know what his future career would be, and how it would change his life. The momentous day arrives. Based on meticulous monitoring and survey of his potentials and skills, he is assigned the society's most honorable, unique, yet incredibly demanding and challenging job.

He is assigned? Does he have any say? How was he monitored? These are the pivotal questions. Every person in the community gets monitored - their every action, every utterance, and sometimes even thoughts. The Chiefs in the community decide the apt role of every individual in the society, and on their eleventh birthday, assign their future roles/jobs and begin training them. It is an optimal strategy which utilizes every individual's fullest potentials, thus guaranteeing growth and profit to both the community as well as the individual. A picture perfect model of resource allocation, isn't it? Individuals are also mostly content with their assignments. But Jonas's assignment is one of a kind. There is only one person in the entire community who takes up the job and he often gets burdened with intolerable pain and grief. His job is to hold centuries worth of human memories all to himself. Jonas realizes the bitter truth of how his community functions, and the more secrets he unravels, the more convinced he is that his community needs to revert to the days where people could feel emotions such as love and empathy, despite the prevalence of poverty, wars and inequality. Humanity was too heavy a price to pay for Utopia.

Jonas' guide calls himself the Giver. The people in the community have no access to books, have no means of knowing the history of humanity, and the causes and consequences of the evolution of their existence. The keeper of memories shields the people of any kinds of pain - physical pain, pain of losing, pain of hunger, pain of death. Everything in the community is regulated and controlled, such that people are never exposed to any kind of discomfort, let alone pain. Regulated and standardized meals were always provided, any physical pain was immediately pacified through sophisticated drugs and any cause of turbulence was instantly identified, crushed and terminated. Families did not form by themselves. "Family units" were formed based on the capabilities and personalities of males and females. Babies were assigned to those family units which demonstrated good parenting skills, and who seemed compatible with the baby's personality and needs. When people aged, they were sent to special retirement homes, where based on the supply and demand of resources, the aged were provided for, or they were "released" painlessly. A delicate balance of resources was diligently calculated and maintained. Equality, or "sameness" was exemplified. With advances in genetic engineering, every person was born with the exact same traits - skin, hair, eyes, and all other features. Discrimination based on any kind - caste, color, creed, was eradicated. The cones in the eyes were manipulated and the meaning of colors was obliterated. Weather and temperature were minutely controlled - no one knew what rain or snow meant. A world in monotones, where everything worked like clockwork, nature controlled, animals eradicated, history eroded, memories locked up, emotions diluted, individuality meaningless, and humanity -- was lost. Here is a flip side of Utopia when we try to perfect, equalize, standardize and normalize everything.

The tone of the book is reminiscent of Orwell's 1984, although here is a Utopian society of perfectness with nothing to depress one. Too much perfectness perhaps. An automatized society that churned out rational decisions according to relentless numbers. An interesting discussion that Lowry brings out is the importance of memories in helping us gain wisdom and learn. I have discussed this before, but devoid of memories, we are emptied of our precious experiences which help build our wisdom. But memories don't just end with our own. Imagine if we didn't have any means to learn about the world around us, no permission to books that stimulate thinking or to learn what happened in the past, and how they are playing into the future, how appalling would our ignorance be? The memories of humanity's past is equally important to our growth. While the community's motto was "ignorance is bliss", the lack of wisdom heads the Utopian society  to an unstable future.  Besides, pain - be it physical or emotional, also helps us grow (however unpleasant it is to grow through them). A pampered society oblivious to pain, learns very little about life. The keeper of memories attempts to provide the society guidance on their decisions but it turns futile.

Lowry's writing is simple but powerful. I appreciated how she strings the details on the community without any explicit narration. There is an element of mystery and the pieces on how the society functions slowly fall together. But I have to mention that this books is lauded with the Newbery medal, meaning it is a literary children's classic. It is my personal opinion that the topic of discussion is a trifle too heavy for children to comprehend or come to terms with. It will probably offer a good introduction to young adults to ponder on idealism in society. Lowry definitely reinforces the importance of our core values and she beautifully brings out the true meaning of humanity, and being a human.

Reflections: A Wrinkle in Time

Having found a very promising and good source of books recently, I'm looking forward to quite a few interesting reads :)

It's been a really long time since I indulged myself in a fantasy tale of happy endings. I constantly had to restrict myself from going near Children's Fantasy novels with the reminder that I was growing up (or grown up) and it's about time I read more "grown up" serious books and amass all the knowledge about the Universe ;). But a Wrinkle in Time fits the bill perfectly. Having been lauded with the Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, the book is undoubtedly a wonderful and enjoyable read for children. At the same time ,the science fantasy that strings together the tale gives the book a lot of ground for adults (or young adults) to appreciate.

A brilliant physicist with his charming and intelligent microbiologist wife, heads a family of four unique children - an impulsive and impatient girl with intelligence masked by her stubbornness, very normal twin boys, and a very highly developed and intelligent little boy. The physicist experiments with a fifth dimension of time travel and unfortunately gets lost in space, in a very curious, highly controlling and menacing "Dark Planet". The impatient girl, and the intelligent little boy set off to rescue their father with the help of three curious creatures from another planet, and a red-headed boy from their neighborhood. The book takes us on a journey of their adventure through space, their encounters with curious inhabitants of other planets and their ways of life, and their battle against the "Dark Thing".

A worthy point is that this book was published in 1962, even before scientists and astrophysicists had discovered or "seen" planets much beyond the solar system, or had identified and defined Black Holes. It was a time before computers and technology invaded the planet to this extent. With that perspective, it's quite commendable that the author had an imagination so well tuned with the future that she could translate it in such a beautiful manner through a tale that children can enjoy. Most science fiction novels are shielded from children for their apparent gore and depressive nature, asides being very technically involved. But this book encompasses some of the most heavy concepts that Physicists have been concerned with, and they have been seamlessly transformed into an enchanting fantasy tale that will tease curious and very relevant scientific thoughts from children. This goes on to say that the fantasy does not entirely lack in "logic", so as to be trivialised as a fairy tale.

Also, despite being a children's book, the language and style of writing are a little more elegant and profound so it doesn't run the risk of sounding kiddish and elementary.

Reading the book took me back to my younger days, and such a time travel was as magical as the concept of "wrinkling in time" :)