Day: September 28, 2009

by John Steinbeck

I thought of this book because I saw it mentioned on The Zen Leaf among a list of banned books. I was really taken aback- what could be objectionable about The Red Pony? So I pulled my own copy (with lovely illustrations by Wesley Dennis) off the shelf to thumb through and refresh my memory.

Well, now I remember. It is kind of brutal. And the kid swears once or twice. Sorry, there will be some spoilers here, so don\’t read ahead if you want to avoid them.

The Red Pony is about a young boy living on a small ranch in California. It is really four short stories, which show Jody growing up, learning some bitter lessons about life and death. In the first story, Jody\’s father gives him a red pony, and it is his responsibility to care for it and train it. Jody delights in the pony\’s lively spirit and is proud to show him off to his friends. But one day the pony mistakenly gets left out in a rainstorm and becomes ill. The ranch hand, Billy Buck, tries to save the pony but it dies. The descriptions of the pony\’s sufferings are pretty stark. Jody is angry about the pony\’s death, and feels betrayed by Billy. The next story opens up with Jody venting his frustration on smaller creatures around him- teasing the dog, killing small birds, etc. Then his attention shifts when an old man shows up from the mountains. He says he was born on the ranch long ago, and now that his life is at an end, he wants to stay there until he dies. But Jody\’s father doesn\’t want him hanging around the ranch. In the third story, Jody is allowed to take his father\’s mare to be bred by a neighbor\’s stallion, and the new colt will be his. He and Billy watch carefully over the mare\’s pregnancy, but when it comes time for her to deliver the foal, something goes wrong and Billy must make an instant decision- to save the mare, or fulfill his promise to Jody and give him a live colt. In the last story, Jody\’s grandfather comes to visit, telling romanticized tales of the times he led a wagon train across the plains, to the delight of Jody, and the great annoyance of his father. Strife ensues when Jody\’s father openly admits he\’s sick of hearing his father-in-law\’s tales.

All the stories have a common theme of death. Jody\’s first colt dies, and so do his dreams (his fantasies of owning a fierce, prancing stallion were never realistic). His faith in Billy\’s infallible ability with horses dies. He sees the old man come to the ranch seeking a peaceful place to meet death, and being turned away. He sees his grandfather face the fact that his time of glory is passed, only interesting to small boys. And then he has to confront the reality that he can only have his longed-for colt if the mare dies. Not a pretty picture, all around. Jody isn\’t a nice, innocent little boy, either. But there\’s something in these stories that makes them vivid and real, throbbing with life, with the pain of growing up and the hardness of living on a small, poor ranch. I hate to see animals suffer as much as anyone, and yet I love this book. It is just so heartachingly real.

Rating: 4/5 …….. 120 pages, 1933

As I\’m sure you know, it\’s Banned Books Week. I thought to participate in my own little way, I\’d write this week about some books I\’ve read that have been banned or challenged. In the TBR shelf by my bed I have a few titles from the lists of banned books: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolfe, Dubliners by James Joyce and Schindler\’s List. Hm. I\’ve tried to read two of these before, and couldn\’t make it through. I\’m going to give them another honest effort this week. Out of the several lists of banned books I\’ve seen online, I counted up fifty-six titles that I\’ve read. Forty-two of those are books that have a permanent place on my own shelves. That must say something for the quality of these books, objectionable material or no!

Some banned titles previously featured on this blog:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Black Like Me by John Griffin
The Handmaid\’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Call of the Wild by Jack London

I have to admit I haven\’t liked all of these books. In fact, they often make me squirm (I\’m a bit of a prude, don\’t care to read lots of sex or violence). But at the same time, what better place to meet frightening or distasteful subjects than in a book? What better place to meet issues that often need to be faced, for the very reasons they make us want to avert our eyes? Reading these books broadens my mind and gives me lots to think on. Then, too, there are some whose spot on the list puzzles me. I have to think people who want to ban books are simply offended by or frightened of what\’s in them. Frightened by the influence books could have on our minds. Do you think books have such potent power?

After all, I\’ve read Go Ask Alice and it didn\’t make me want to experiment with drugs (quite the opposite!) I\’ve read all the Harry Potter books – and let my five year old kid watch the movies- and neither of us want to be a witch (we know it\’s just a story). My view is that if you object to what\’s in a book, just don\’t read it. I\’ve set aside many a book (as my Abandoned list attests to) that made me too uncomfy (or, more frequently, was just boring me). But that doesn\’t mean I\’d stop others from reading those books. Everyone should be free to read what they like.

DISCLAIMER:

All books reviewed on this site are owned by me, or borrowed from the public library. Exceptions are a very occasional review copy sent to me by a publisher or author, as noted. Receiving a book does not influence my opinion or evaluation of it

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