Visions of Childhood: Response

Childhood is something most people go through. It's also depicted and experienced in countless ways--but what are the similarities and differences?

Something I saw in every story was this: Childhood sucks. No getting around it, whether it be your parents dying during WWII or watching an adult party blur and blast around you. Or you meet A. Friend that you ought to avoid. Yeah, happy-go-crappy stuff.

Another similarity is this: Things are out of your control. Period. Sure, you can acquire as much brain as Esme, keep out of everything like Victor, or trytrytry to please your parents like Cates, but, at the end of it all, good luck fighting fate.

However, the difference is hope, and the way people handle it. Connie messed up big, and there was no hope for her... well, there could have been if she'd handled the phone better, but she missed the boat with that one. For Esme, her parents are gone, but she still tries to make the best of everything, improve herself (I'm training myself to be more compassionate. My aunt says I'm a terribly cold person...) makes it through the war and meets a man she marries. Overall, not bad, considering our examples. Even in "Bottle Caps", something as morbid as death gets a laugh thrown in. Not everyone leaves everything all doom and gloom--some put their imagination to good use and make the best of things.

As for whether or not the authors hit the mark, I can't say. I've only had one childhood and thus have little to compare with. Life's too varied for someone to write a "right" or "wrong" interpretation. Even if I whole-heartedly disagree, someone else won't.

A story that depicts childhood... I'd go with Fullmetal Alchemist. It's about messing up and fixing mistakes, accepting helping hands and fighting frightening adversaries, viewing the world outside boxes and comfort zones; the characters experience war, hope, trust, deaths of children, parents, enemies, and loved ones, numerous morals, questions, unity, and love, even with alchemists and suped-upped prosthetics blowing things up.

This texts says a lot about childhood—it can be full of hardship and simplicity, complexity and ease. Childhood is about making mistakes and thinking large while living in a small world before growing up into a much bigger, much more interconnected life. There is similarity with the stories we’ve seen—morbidity, doing things one really shouldn’t, wanting one’s parents, loss—but the details vary—a science like magic, fairytale/nightmarish bad guys, action, fighting back. Overall, while the adventure may be widely different, the cores are close to many childhoods.