From: Nina Lindsay <nlindsay>
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 08:12:00 -600

Responding to Ginny's comments on naming, and the evolution from illiteracy to literacy -- both naming and literacy are evidences of control in the world. In naming something, you somehow 'define' it; being literate means you can use language to understand, persuade ... especially in a time where only the elite were literate, Alyce's being able to read marks her as a powerful member of her community.

So I keep on looking back to the moment when she names herself. The man who mistook her for "Alyce" wanted her to read something for him, and that was one of the reasons she took that name. "Alyce" sounded like someone who could read. "This, then, is me. Alyce." she says, and in speaking those words names herself, and names herself as someone who could be literate. She defines herself, instead of others defining her
("Brat", "Beetle"). This is the first moment the reader is sure she can take charge of her own future -- from here everything leads to the final scene. And the pleasure of it is, as Ginny calls it, that it's done in such an "understated way". It's an incredibly pleasurable story, and the reader, I think, understands the complexities of the evolving character without it being overt.

In terms of Ginny's question, about the "Big Trick" -- this for me was the least potent and least believable part of the book, especially happening so early, as Ginny notes. It seemed an unnecessary distraction from the flow of the story. But it was funny, and seemed in-tune with her character, if a little precocious. Kids will love it.

Nina Lindsay Student--School of Library and Info Studies UW Madison nlindsay at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu



 
     However, for me the most powerful images of Alyce's growth are shown to readers through her acts of naming. On page 11 - at the very beginning - she gave Jane a last name, and she had good reasons for choosing Sharp, just as she did when she named the cat (Purr), the boy (Edward) and Girtle's calf (Rosebud). And names have other significance. Names have a history: we read on page 111 that the month of June was named for Juno, "the Roman goddess of the moon, of women and of childbirth." Names anchor past events, even forgotten ones: the inn would be known The Cat and The Cheese. Alyce has left a mark on local history.
     I'll leave it to others in CCBC-NET to comment on Alyce's evolution from illiteracy to literacy and the way Cushman has Magister Reece teach letters and words to Purr (p. 79+) and, thus, to Alyce. Such an important dimension of the book handled in an understated way.
     I'll conclude this message by asking if you find Alyce's capacity for playing a Big Trick on the villagers (the chapter "The Devil" (p. 46+) credible, regardless of how accomplished that chapter is in conveying the rampant superstition of this time and place. Maybe she could have accomplished her trick near the end of the book, but was it something she would have had the nerve to do at that point in the story? ... Ginny
****************************************************************** Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St. University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI 53706 USA Fax: 6-8&2I33
Received on Thu 30 Nov 1995 08:12:00 AM CST