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Tenderness Continued
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 15:25:29 -0500
Carrie Schadle asked if the suggestion of incest is too subtle in Tenderness for YA's to pick up on as the suggestion of it is the most obvious clue readers have for Eric's behavior. I don't think it's too subtle for most older YA readers, but I also don't know if it specifically needs to be identified. There is a tension in the scenes in which Eric's mother is mentioned--I think that whether or not readers articulate it as an incestuous relationship, what is clear is that something wasn't right from Eric's perspective--it didn't feel right (or else why woudl Cormier inlcude the memories in the first place? They are significant however one interprets them). I found a sense of unease in these memories that I hope YA readers can pick up on whether or not they describe it as "incest." I think of it as being akin to a young child who may not be able to define inappropriate touching in any way other than the sense of discomfort, unease or fear they have in relation to it--there can be a similar respnse, a similar feeling of unease reading about Eric and his mother.. I realize that in reading Eric's story one is not physically living it, but I think Cormier was successful in building on each subsequent memory of Eric's mother to give the reader a sense of tension about it.
It's up to the reader to decide how much impact this has on Eric's subsequent behavior--does it explain it even if it can't excuse it? For me this is one of the unanswered questions readers are left with because I even after making all the link's between Eric's mother and his victims, for me it is clear that there is something more to Eric. In the real world, one of the tragic realities is that children are abused and victimized in a number of ways, but not every abused child become a serial killer. So what's different about Eric? He is unresolvable.
The juxtaposition of Eric and Lori is interesting in this sense. Lori, too, has been victimized and abused in her past. But she is not a serial killer. Indeed, as Christine Hill noted in her posting, Lori "is willing to allow him [Eric] to smother her." She is an opposite of Eric in this sense. How can we resolve the different ways in which violence and abuse has played itself out in the actions of each of these young people so that one turns against others while the other turns against herself?
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 08 Aug 1997 03:25:29 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 15:25:29 -0500
Carrie Schadle asked if the suggestion of incest is too subtle in Tenderness for YA's to pick up on as the suggestion of it is the most obvious clue readers have for Eric's behavior. I don't think it's too subtle for most older YA readers, but I also don't know if it specifically needs to be identified. There is a tension in the scenes in which Eric's mother is mentioned--I think that whether or not readers articulate it as an incestuous relationship, what is clear is that something wasn't right from Eric's perspective--it didn't feel right (or else why woudl Cormier inlcude the memories in the first place? They are significant however one interprets them). I found a sense of unease in these memories that I hope YA readers can pick up on whether or not they describe it as "incest." I think of it as being akin to a young child who may not be able to define inappropriate touching in any way other than the sense of discomfort, unease or fear they have in relation to it--there can be a similar respnse, a similar feeling of unease reading about Eric and his mother.. I realize that in reading Eric's story one is not physically living it, but I think Cormier was successful in building on each subsequent memory of Eric's mother to give the reader a sense of tension about it.
It's up to the reader to decide how much impact this has on Eric's subsequent behavior--does it explain it even if it can't excuse it? For me this is one of the unanswered questions readers are left with because I even after making all the link's between Eric's mother and his victims, for me it is clear that there is something more to Eric. In the real world, one of the tragic realities is that children are abused and victimized in a number of ways, but not every abused child become a serial killer. So what's different about Eric? He is unresolvable.
The juxtaposition of Eric and Lori is interesting in this sense. Lori, too, has been victimized and abused in her past. But she is not a serial killer. Indeed, as Christine Hill noted in her posting, Lori "is willing to allow him [Eric] to smother her." She is an opposite of Eric in this sense. How can we resolve the different ways in which violence and abuse has played itself out in the actions of each of these young people so that one turns against others while the other turns against herself?
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 08 Aug 1997 03:25:29 PM CDT
