From: WMMayes
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 23:05:23 EST

Ginny--thanks. Here's my thoughts...

The following exchange occured on Child_lit on 98
 18:56:24 EST,

Linda Lamme writes:

<< Wringer was the first of the books that won that I read. I agree that it
 is a gripping story about animal violence, but I wonder who the audience
 is. My son, 13, and a very sensitive kid, called Palmer a wimp -- I was
 devastated -- clearly the book is too simplistic for him -- he never got
 into it -- and the book seems a bit harsh for younger children. Probably
 this is a gender issue, but I got tired of the repeated scenes of
 intimidation and threatened violence. I didn't think there was as much
 creativity in this work as there is in other Spinelli books. >>

I responded:

I think the audience for the book is nine, ten, and eleven year-olds, boys who are in the midst of the same kind of cultural rituals and choices as Palmer. Thirteen may be too late. The average thirteen year-old has dealt with the issues of societal and peer pressures to conform to violence as a ritual bonding experience of malehood and has figured out how he as an individual would deal with it--shining it on, giving in, acting like it doesn't matter, knowing that Palmer is right but nonetheless a wimp--these are all choices that have to be made at roughly the ages of nine and ten in order to get along in our culture. Any mother who has felt the longing for the hugs of her sweet boy can recognize a similarity between Palmer's and her child's worlds.

The violence is unsettling, I feel deliberately so, but very few young men will fail to recognize the elements and apply them to their own memories--The Treatment and the sense of pride in enduring publicly so wounding a ritual, the need to torment someone to prove you are part of the gang. Most men have had to go through that, be wounded by it, figure out what to do so that they can look themselves in the mirror and make the choice whether or not they were going to conform or go their own path. To save children from this book because there are things that disturb us is to rob them of a powerful touchstone that can givel comfort, solace, and strength to boys making similar journeys.

Or, as Gary Paulsen is fond of saying, "So, it's OK for them to live through it at that age but we don't want them to read about it."

Interesting that Linda raises the issue of gender. It may well be that it is a book that speaks less to women than men, girls than boys. I also found it interesting to hear the book characterized in terms of its violence towards animals. I found the loss of the boys' souls as upsetting--even more so--than the pigeon killings. There is a cultural dynamic that Spinelli nails in this book, having to do with violence as a male sanctioned activity so disapproved of and yet tacitly accepted by women. The only people who offer Palmer a path that is not violent are women, and the male figures in his life make it abundantly clear that to choose a 'womanly' path is not acceptable. But the woman in this story have no power over Palmer's choices--he withdraws from them and in distance has to grapple with the only person who can give him permission to act on his feelings: himself.

This book struck a powerful chord in me. I am still trying to put into words how it affected me and am glad for this forum where I can discuss it with you all.

Walter the Giant Storyteller WMMayes at aol.com
"Love, Food, Shelter, Clothing...Books!"
Received on Sat 17 Jan 1998 10:05:23 PM CST