In Blueskin the Cat, a children’s book, a reviewer said she stopped reading in the first few pages because it talked about a hanging. It was not a subject she would ever allow her children to know about. The hanging is seen by a cat who is a reincarnation of the hanged man, and the book is about his adventures as a cat. She might have enjoyed it if she had read it all. But this censorship of life by parents does not make for rounded, strong people. It makes for weak, romantic minds that are startled to find out what human beings do. It’s like never watching any movie with a death scene in it.
The great works of literature all have elements of tragedy even if it is treated lightheartedly as in Candide. Childhood innocence is not an excuse to lie to children. quite the opposite it is the one time you can learn these horrid things in a safe environment.
#blueskin
#childhood