Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Fighting the Odds
In class for the last 3 - 4 novels we read, we have seen the environment that the characters are in has an impact on the outcome of the story. In most books so far we have seen a tragic ending to the characters, but in Children of Invention we see the opposite. We see two children who are left by them selves not give-up and become pray to the society they live in, but they actually try to overcome it. A scene that really caught my eye was when Raymond tells Tina that their mom left them two and its just them now and they have to fend for them selves. Raymond starts to do math and he writes his ideas down to create inventions to sell. Raymond tells Tina that if they sell all there inventions they can make $10,000 and if they did it 10 times they can buy their home back.Tho Raymond has no idea of the cost of the home he does not let that deter him from his goal to buy back their old home. Raymond also makes the initiative to accomplish this goal by traveling all the way to Boston to get his money from the bank just to start working on the inventions to sell. This made me wonder what would happen to most children left in Raymond & Tina's shoes? Would they become a victim to poverty and scams and theft? Or would most children do what Raymond did, care for his sister and become the provider for his family?
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I completely agree. I even believe that this was the main exigence behind Children of Invention: to show just how strong and intelligent children can be when they are faced with hard times. I think the fact that Raymond did not give up and continued to care for his sister speaks volumes for his character. When poverty disrupts one's life or his or her family, often it can lead to destruction and disaster...as we see in Maggie, The Jungle, etc. But, as you said, we don't see this destruction occur in Children of Invention. And even in real life, we hear about children that steal, sell drugs, or even just flat out rebel in order to help their family or to channel their anger and emotions. However, instead of resorting to desperate measures or "quick fix" solutions as Elaine does, Raymond and Tina use their own intelligence and high optimism to improve their situation. However, while Raymond and Tina are very inspring in this way, I find it sad that they lose their innocence and childhood. However, I believe, in the long run, Raymond and Tina will take their experiences, learn from them, and apply them to their lives when they are older. Although hardships can negatively affect childrens' childhoods, it will build their characters and make them better people.
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