Innocence, Wonder, and Imagination

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."

----Mark Twain

Welcome to my blog Book Pulse! My name is John Lyden and this blog is for the discussion, review, and general love of books. Something I am passionate about.

Regularly I will present my sincere thoughts on subjects I hope you will find intriguing. I have been an avid reader since I learned to read. I am an author, as well. I feel I have something unique and informative to offer to the online community. I hope you agree.

I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by our country's greatest humorist, Mark Twain, when I was roughly Tom's age. It was the first adult book I ever read, in Mrs. Hurst's seventh grade English glass at St. Joe's Catholic school in Carteret in 1982. (Yes, that makes me fifty-five years old. Do the math.) As a preteen I reveled in Tom's enterprises with Huck Finn, his first love with Becky Thatcher, and his jeopardy with Injun Joe. It all seemed so exciting and romantic. An example of my life to come in the big world ahead of me.

I was not yet the adult that Tom graduates to at the end of the novel. I still retained my innocence, wonder, and imagination. The possessions a child most prizes. There is a wonderful meme circulating in writer's circles that goes, and I paraphrase, "An adult who retains his imagination never stopped being a child." I can remember having a fertile imaginations as a child until about the age of ten when seemingly overnight it waned then disappeared. If I still had half that imagination I would be a genius. Certified. Mensa et al.

Of course, all writers rely on their imagination, as well as their experiences and skills. Is the key to imagination, how much in touch we are with our childhood self?

TAoTS is episodic. It does not have a main narrative other than the maturation of Tom. Although, even Tom's growth ebbs and flows depending upon the situation. Twain was recounting memories from his own childhood in Hannibal, Missouri in the 1840s, with some embellishment.

Tom was an industrious boy. I was never slick enough to entice my friends into doing my chores for me. I didn't have the right temperament. I was too nice a kid. This doesn't make Tom a villain. In the episode where Tom convinces his friends it's a privilege to whitewash his fence, it's a victimless crime. His friends feel truly honored to pitch in and paint the fence. Tom's friend's fall prey to their own greed. Mo mercy shown there by me.

TAoTS was richer, more descriptive, and had more realistic dialogue than the Hardy Boy books series I had been reading as a Young Adult. The three dimensional characters, exotic southern setting and time period made the novel endlessly enchanting to me. Its repeated contextual use of the N-word often finds it banned in school libraries. For the record, I am against all forms of censorship. Art should not be judged by the social morays of a particular culture. Art is above arbitrary judgement by uniformed people with often religious agendas..

There were twenty-three students in my seventh grade class. Of those students, exactly one was African-American. To the best of my memory, no special mention was made of the use of the N-word in the book. I could be wrong, it was forty-two years ago. I have no impression it was discussed. As I recall, no one blinked an eye. We, the white majority (there was one Latina), were accustomed to hearing our parents use the N-word, sad to say. The single black student didn't voice her displeasure. Perhaps she wanted to but felt outnumbered. A lost cause. Too intimidated to say anything. The time of Political Correctness had not yet arrived. Perhaps Mrs. Hurst did address the N-word dilemma. She was a very good teacher. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. In retrospect I feel bad for our lone black student.

Did Becky Thatcher represent an unrequited love from Mark Twain past?

If not for the specter of Amy Lawrence, Tom's relationship with Becky would have most likely flourished. Tom is shunned by Becky until his redemption when he saves her life during the cave episode with Injun Joe. Tom the hero, perhaps, is Twain's vision of himself as the hero winning the love of a snubbed lover with a romanticized outcome. Tom pains over Becky's rejection, maybe this is a memory of Mark Twain, himself.

I still possess my paperback copy of TAoTS, its cover missing, the pages yellowed. Except for library books, I still have every book I've ever read. I am a natural hoarder, but only of sentimental items. Once I've read a book it becomes part of me, and I can't envision throwing part of myself away. To my wife's dismay.

Next post will discuss the new Horror/Thriller Pierce the Veil by David Simms and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Please check back in and see what I have to say about this wonderful new book by Mr. Simms and the classic by the mad Russian.