Jean Rhys wrote The Day they Burned the Books in 1960. The story is about a young boy whose black mother wants to burn certain books after his white father had died. In the end, the narrator and the boy, Eddie, steal two books and run away from the house. Rhys was born in the West Indies and grew up knowing many different people of many different races. What is the point of this story? When first reading it, it seems like it may not even have a point. A boy’s dad dies and his mom wants to burn some of his books. He steals a book and that’s it. Eddie and the narrator are about 12 years old when this happens, right around the time of puberty. Rhys could have been writing about a child who rebels against his parents and starts to become his own person. Rhys also could have written the story to talk about the narrator not feeling comfortable or as one with her peers. Eddie takes a stand and states that he does not conform to what his peers like: daffodils or strawberries. The narrator seems to appreciate this and also talks about meeting other British children who may not associate with her because she was born in a colony and not England. She says that she likes this because she didn’t want to be associated with them in the first place. One of the meanings or themes from this story might be to not conform to everyone else. That it is important to be who you are and not what anyone else thinks. Mr. Riederer writes in one of his blogs posts that Eddie associates himself with British culture and considers himself to be a minority. He writes, “Thus, while Eddie identifies himself with British culture, he also now is subjected to view himself as a minority in the Caribbean” (2018). Word count: 317 References:https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Day-They-Burned-the-Books-Values-Identity-and-Otherness Photo Credit: Flickr
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AuthorMy name is Jake and I am a student at WSU and will hopefully graduate in the next year. I hope to then get a teaching liscence and become an English teacher. This blog is for my British Literature class where I will post reviews for the assigned readings. ArchivesCategories |
Photo used under Creative Commons from Nicholas Lucien