Read the poem and write a response to it. The response is purely your choice and up to your discretion. There isn't a required length, but I do want you to deliver some kind of response to the following poem:
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.
- Loris Malaguzzi
The response is due before 11:59pm on Monday, 2/18/2013.
If you have any questions, please send me a message.
Brooke Drebenstedt ENC 1101 0M03
ReplyDeleteI think the use of "one hundred" is to signify that it's the highest number that children can understand-they do not yet have a grasp on quantity. A lot is one hundred. As a child our imagination is boundless - as we enter school they teach us to be "realistic." "They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy"
With conformity and discipline a child stops imagining and starts obeying.
I believe in this poem the term “one hundred” that is used repeatedly throughout the poem signifies a child sense of imagination. As a child, you pretend that you are a super hero or princess; you believe that you can fly or take over the world. As a child, our imagination is endless and you believe that you can do the impossible. Then when you go to school you have teachers who tell you to “get off the monkey bars! you can’t fly!” or children who crush your dreams and tell you Santa Claus is not real. As you grow older, you learn about reality and your imagination and dreams seems to become simpler than as you were as a child.
ReplyDeleteThis poem was adorable, I like at the end how the child still says “no way. The hundred is there.” That’s a child that never gives up.
In my eyes this poem is talking about how many creative and imaginative things go through a child's head at one time. The term "one hundred" is just a representation of how children don't even have to just concentrate on one thing and their mind is free-willed and travels at a hundred thoughts per-second. The start of the poem talks about that and how children are so beautiful in all their innocence and love they have for everything. They can dream and imagine anything and not be hindered by the broken dreams that many people have when they get older. Toward the end of the poem the tone starts to change from happy and light hearted to a harsher and more realistic tone. It then changes to telling the child that they shouldn't think out of the box and to only concentrate what they are told is there and true. They should "Listen not speak" so that they can't ask questions and expand their mind. It tells how society is sometimes afraid of the unknown and people that might want to think a little different than others in order to explore the world. At the very end of the poem the child says "no way. the hundred is there" meaning that the child does not want to just sit back and be told everything they know they want to be able to learn, explore and decide what they want to do on their own.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Brown
ReplyDeleteEnc 1101-OM04
In my opinion, this poem displays the pure creativity of a child. At that point in a child’s life, they are pure and seem to have a hundred ways to do the simplest of things. This displays their free spirit and ability to have more than one way to accomplish a task. These are the elementary school days, before life really takes a toll on the creativity and simplicity of a child. They are able to dream fully about what they want to do with his/or her life because they do not yet know that failure is like. With the imagination that children have, they can make anything a reality, using little supplies. These are the times where you make forts or even adventure to a land where the ground is “lava”. These are instances when you are free to dream; yet today most of us wouldn’t be able to do this even if our lives depended on it. The tone of the poem seems to become a bit more tragic when the author describes how ninety-nine languages are stolen from the child. This is true, the child is told not to explore with your hands, but with your mind. However in the next phrase, says that they are told not to speak and only to listen. These two contradict themselves, because without the ability to ask questions, our mental creativity is taken away. We cannot grow without learning and we cannot learn without asking questions. This poem describes the process in which every person has experienced at one point in his or her lives. This is the process in which you change from an innocent and free-spirited child, to a person who is more realistic. This supports the idea that after a certain point in your life, creativity isn’t necessary. It is imperative that one learns the technique in which ideas are taught in the real world. As you get older, school becomes more and more intense and less and less creative. If this is not shown at a young age, it will make the adjustment from creative to logical much more difficult. Though society is trying to hard to influence the individual, the child still sees the full potential, the hundreds.
Jasmine Tagle
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 - OM06
I think the poem hits home relatively hard. It is an exposure of what the real world does to children. It brain washes us all. Society is corrupt. We start off as innocent children with dreams as big as the world. As we get older and experience more of the world, we are forced to learn how to think in black and white rather than using the grey areas. “The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine.” Society takes almost everything away, stripping us down to nothing. As Sir Ken Robinson said, schools are killing creativity. They are attempting to turn the world into robots. Everyone should act the same and think the same. We are even coming into the age of looking the same with all of the sought after genetic information to pick your child’s features down to the eye color. It’s almost similar to Hitler’s reign in which he wanted only pure Germans to inhabit the world. It may not be nearly as harsh but it is a subtle form of history repeating itself. As for the last few lines of the poem where the child says, “No way. The hundred is there.” it shows that there are still people in this world that stand up for what they believe in. It exemplifies how no matter how much or how long people have been oppressed in history, there is always someone who stands up and dares to be different. The people who stand apart from the rest are the hope for the future.
This poem is talking about a child journey from innocence and fantasy into reality and social expectation. This article mentions 100 hundred a lot. They also mention “steal 99” I think this mean if there was 100 opportunities, school parents and culture is steal 99 of them. From a young age kids leave their world of 100 hundred different things and or expected to work learn and be discipline. The poem also talks about the school and culture separate the head from the body, I think the what they mean is that the school and culture encourage work and discourage playing so the kid can be more focus. There is a strong focus on order once a child enters the school system. Once a child enters the school system the things they are used to seeing such as an ice cream man or a lolly pop aren’t as glorified as the events Easter and Christmas.
ReplyDeleteSara Heitzenroeder
ReplyDeleteENC 1101- 0M04
This poem plays on the idea that each child is different and unique. Everybody is creative in an individual way, and may interpret things differently. Children’s thinking processes are represented by how they play, write, and draw. Unfortunately, most of these ways are frowned upon. Children are taught to think one way and if they think another it is wrong. They aren’t allowed to express themselves freely, and if they do, typically it results in a negative consequence. This poem expresses the importance of imagination and discovery in a young child. Children are full of creativity and curiosity and we shouldn’t hold them back. They are born with ideas and thoughts and we shouldn’t treat them as if they have an empty slate, waiting to be filled with numbers, facts, or dates of significance. We need to encourage our children to be individuals and think for themselves. We need them to want to be who they are and fight for it. It wouldn’t be a great world if we were all the same and had the same thought processes and theories.
Brandon Lee
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M04
In the poem I believe that the author is trying to express how people are very limited in todays world due to how society works. Everyone in this world has different personalities, hobbies, traits, etc. and in school as well as society, kids aren't always able to express themselves. Although common nature is to treat everyone equally, the extent people take it to limits child's mindsets. A person may very easily treat all students the same while allowing each individual to express themselves. When our world treats society this way, everything becomes systematic and predictable. This leads to boring lifestyles, considering people begin to lose that special edition they have in their group or differentness. It's healthy for people to be different and sparks up situations making life more pleasurable. The video we watched in class the other week seemed to touch this topic on how society is brainwashing kids unique traits. The idea can't be healthy and might demotivate kids on fulfilling their dreams in life. In my opinion, this poem expresses the world we live in today based on what I have seen throughout grade school. Although my viewpoint on the topic tends to have a negative outlook, as the poem states, some students can break free of this trap. At the end the child says, "No way. The hundred is there." revealing their inner self. Not all students have the high motivation it requires to be different, which is why they shouldn't be restricted.
Dacotah Roeber ENC 1101-OM06
ReplyDeleteThe poem to me is the explanation of how limitless kids are. How when we are kids we can imagine anything and no one ever tells us wrong. As children we can think however we want to think and nothing is ever out of bounds, kids are allowed to think as free as humanly possible. The poem continues on explain how 99 are stolen, and that shows how schooling can deteriorate a child's imagination and force them to stop thinking outside of the box and focus on real life issues. It is a sad reality that we are all faced with as we grow into young adults. Attending school we tend to lose focus on all of personal fantasies and are shot down when we let them show at school. The ending represents that no matter how old people get and what they are told to do or thank, we all still have a child in us and we still have a wild imagination that we have inside of our minds and that in the end we are all still kids at heart and nothing can take that away from us.
ENC 1101-0M04
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, the vast and colorful imagination of a child is portrayed, particularly through the repetition of the words “one hundred.” Also, I believe it shows innocence and naivety because it symbolizes that children believe in many possibilities and marvels before reality steps in and hinders their imaginations. As children, we imagine being superheroes, pigs flying, and becoming president, because our imaginations and thoughts allow us to think like this. However, as exemplified in the poem, individuals step in and halt our imaginations, pushing us into the real world where the word “impossible” exists. The use of the number ninety-nine in the poem is to show how society steals most children’s imaginations away from them, leaving them with hardly any left. This poem shows children’s transition from innocent dreams to harsh reality due to the exposure to our flawed society. However, it also shows that some will not succumb to society, as the child in the poem did.
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ReplyDeleteEdgar Ortiz
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 0M04
So this ambitious child with a huge imagination is stuck in school facing the realities of society. It kind of suggests that he attends an oppressive christian school since they teach him to only love and worship only in Easter and Christmas. It represents how most schools take away imagination from children who can grow up to become visionaries and masters of art but instead are being encouraged to become everyday people in the future like doctors or lawyers. Some institutions simply don't understand the value of imagination and creativity when you just don't know how it can reshape the world. Look at all these classic musicians, painters and philosophers. The world simply wouldn't be what it is today without a spark of creativity, otherwise we'd just be emotionless robots following orders.
Lauren Helinger
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0m06
I believe this poem is explaining how in schools, youth learn how to be quiet, raise their hand, and to do things as they're told to do. The part where it says “They tell the child: that work and play... are things that do not belong together” depicts how children are indirectly taught that they can have dreams, but most won't work because of reason, and that their imagination and reality just aren't the same. The things they teach suppress youth's ability to be creative. In the end where she says “The child says: No way. The hundred is there” shows how even though the school tries to take away the creativity, the children still are creative and use their imagination even though others tell them otherwise. I think this poem shows a good point and even though it is focused on how the children are confident, it could give a good insight to older people as well and can give inspiration to follow dreams and be creative.
Brittany Callarman
ReplyDeleteENC1101 0M04
This poem is a brings out a really touchy subject on how society is almost corrupting the children today. It shows how children grow with high hopes and expectations that are then corrupted by others in the future. Malaguzzi uses the phrase "one hundred" multiple times throughout this poem. I believe that she is referring the one hundred to all the hopes, expectations, and dreams that these children grow with. As the poem goes on she states how the steal ninety-nine. This is where society and our cultures come along. She states that "ninety-nine shows that societies win the child's dream." This is the dream that children grow up with wanting to be an astronaut or a firefighter or the president and others tell them no. This ninety-nine is our society that is crushing the dreams of individuals. The society that is trying to sculpture people into someone they may not be. "The school and culture separate the body", says Malaguzzi. The body that is supposed to be connected is no longer functioning as one, and the dreams that are supposed to be achieved are no longer in the hopes of the child.
Courtney Williams
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 OMo6
Throughout this poem, I believe children are described to be made out of one hundred to exemplify the extent of their imagination, creativity and curiosity. Because of this a child believes they are able to accomplish anything and everything they can ever imagine. However, the majority of these imaginations are restricted by institutions in a child's life, such as their schooling and culture, thus limiting a child to only one opportunity; "the child has a hundred languages but they steal ninety-nine." Instead of exploring the unknown, the children are restricted "to discover the world already known", further limiting their potential, imagination, and creativity.
In my opinion Loris Malaguzzi’s poem portrays how the innate freedom of a child becomes limited and restricted as a result of social, cultural and educational guidelines. The concept of endlessness, is symbolized in this poem by the number “a hundred”, which is seemingly endless in the eyes of a child.
ReplyDeleteTo briefly discuss the structure of this poem, I intend to divide it into three sections. The first part describes how versatile a child is. It is willing to explore and discover new cultures and languages. It has the ability to act in various ways and also possesses a vivid imagination. It is innately free to think and behave without boundaries .This is shown by the repetitive use of “a hundred”, which, as mentioned, simply serves to underline this notion of endlessness. Who would deny the fact that, as a young child, the concept of a hundred appears so incredibly unreachable that it seems endless?
The second part is very much the contrast to the first one. Suddenly a child´s notion of endlessness is destroyed by the introduction of various rules and regulations. Having to conform to these social and cultural expectations a child is suddenly deprived of its individuality and spontaneity and consequently runs the risk of becoming institutionalized and even stereotyped, as it is taught “to think without hands” and “to do without head”.
The last part, which happens to be my favorite part of the poem, describes a child, who refuses to let go of this idea of infinity. “No way. The hundred is there.” The child wants to remain in its innocent world of endlessness, where it is free to act and think just as it pleases.
The poem by Loris Malaguzzi was probably one of the most influential poems I have read in a while. It spoke the truth. In the beginning it focused on describing that children are born with so much creativity and imagination that they have hundreds of opportunities. They have dreams, and joys, and wonders to explore and invent. The sadness of it all is when a child reaches their school years, their imaginations are cut down to the bud. They are trained to flourish in an environment which they are not accustomed to. Children still believe in wonder and imagination, but the sadness is that school focus more on logic and understanding. Sadly to say that the hundred possibilities are always tried to be cut. Kids are pushed to grow up after a certain period of time. Forced into the "reality" of the world. Taught that life isn't multicolored, it is black and white. That eventually the magic in the world is lost. But kids, young ones more specifically, they still feel the magic and wonder around them. And that in itself is what it means to be a kid.
ReplyDeleteKaitlyn Huber
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 OMo6
For me, this poem started out confusing before the main point was made clear. We are born and as children we have creativity and imagination that is endless. This poem reminds me of the video we watched in class where a significant statement was made. “Everyone is born an artist and only some of us retain it.” Our education system doesn’t put as high of value on the arts as they should. This doesn’t only concern painting and drawing classes but theatre and music as well. I feel that this poem is trying to convey the same message as the man in the video. The statement being made is that as we grow older we are taught to let go of our creativity. We do not live in a world where dream and reason can exist as one entity. And that is what this poem implies.
Madison King
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-OMO4
In this poem, I feel like Lori Malaguzzi is trying to explain her opinion that children are full with individuality, but the outside world can take that away. A lot of adults want their kids to grow up with the same beliefs they have, and that is why “…of the hundred they steal ninety-nine.” The beginning of the poem when it talks about “The child has a hundred languages”, it reminded me of my psychology class last week. My professor was teaching the subject of developmental psychology, and she said that a small infant has the capability of knowing all the languages of the world. To me, this means that young children have the capacity of learning just as much as their elders, but Malaguzzi thinks that that doesn’t mean they get to choose what they learn. In the second half of the poem, it’s like it’s saying that children aren’t being allowed to branch off into their own, unique person, and dream what they want to dream. The world needs variety and originality or it would be too boring and never prosper; children are our future and our hope for improving society. Taking their individuality away from them could be disastrous.
Jessica Shevlin
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M04
The concept used in this poem is that the child has many thoughts within 100 represents the child's ability to create his/her own ideas and feelings, the widespread imagination of that child (and most children). Throughout the poem, it showed that the capability of the child's' imagination is continuous, as the child grows his/her mindset on different aspects of life; language, thoughts, emotions, etc. The poem is trying to to convey the message that kids have vivid and beautiful thoughts, feelings and curiosities, but are raised in a society where their abstract thoughts are pushed aside to maintain the status quo. This is a problem that many we are faced with today, that the adolescents in our society are being strayed away from their creativity and imagination to grow into specific fields and ways to think in order to keep up with the ever changing society that we live in. The concept of this poem is to express that the ambiguity and wonder in a person's mind should be celebrated and not sheltered due to the society that we live in.
Orane Walters
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M03
This was a very interesting poem. In my opinion, Loris Malaguzzi was basically saying that children have a hundred ways of expressing their way of thinking, speaking, learning and concepts that they have as a child. She also explains that children have many ways of understanding, listening, and loving. Straightforwardly, I think Malaguzzi’s main point is that all these ways those children have of exploration and learning is being changed by society. Children have a diversity of experiences but is limited by “school and culture”, instructing them to “think without hands”, “to do without head”, and to only “love and marvel at Easter and Christmas”. In my judgment, I think that this is hindering children from numerous learning experiences. Furthermore, her poem goes on to say that “work and play, reality and fantasy, science and imagination, sky and earth, reason and dream”, are things that do not belong together which is truthful in its entirely and something that I completely agree that children need to understand. Even though society supports the education of children and teaches them certain concepts, the child still says "the hundred is there", meaning they still revert to the way nature intended them to learn.
Aasim Bhimani ENC 1101-0M03
ReplyDelete“The Hundred” could signify how unique each child is, along with their individual imagination. As we all know, children are very imaginative, often coming up with a multitude of ideas which don’t make sense to us, but do to them. Kids are always coming with the most creative ideas or ‘next big thing’. Kids grow up with great big dreams to be the first to do something or be great at something that’s been around for a while. However, Malaguzzi points out that whenever they do come up win an idea or something they wish to do, they are usually told no or that they can’t by an adult, who pushes down their imagination. While the adults say no, kids always want to say yes.
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ReplyDeleteTalitha Milton
ReplyDeleteENC1101-OM06
To me, the poem is talking about how wild the imagination of a child is. Children have such an amazing perspective of the world and creativity that is often unimaginable. Adults often dispute their ways of thinking because they don't understand them. Society teaches us to think rationally and those who have this limitless optimism and sense of possibility are looked down upon or seen as crazy. I love how the poem ends it on a hopeful note though, it kind of inspires you to go back to those creative brighter days and encourage children to cherish them too.
Peter Hoang
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 - OMO3
The repeated use of the word hundred simply means that every person as a child is unique and has a hundred plus different characteristic and personalities that describes who they are. The hundred could also represent the creative thinking, beliefs, and dreams a child has that makes them happy. When it comes to the “they steal ninety-nine” section of the poem, this is when the higher institution such as the child’s school or parents teaches them about the real world; it changes everything in a child’s mind. Like at such a young age when a child believes in the tooth fairy or santa claus, but as they grow older they learn about the real world and the truth about the tooth fairy and santa claus. As we get to the end of the poem, the best part is the last line, “The hundred is there.” Although a child’s belief can changed as they grow older, but a child’s dream is never broken by anybody, and no higher institution can make a child give up/change his or her dream. One example of this situation can be found in the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner and his son. In one scene when the two of them were finished playing basketball, Chris tells his son, “Don’t ever let someone tell you… you can’t do something. Not even me.”
Connor Waugh
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M04
I think that this poem is one-hundred-percent accurate. I agree with Loris Malaguzzi and her statement that schools and society put limits on what is truly possible, that they have managed to restrain the potential that so many children have. From an early age, we are taught that there is right and there is wrong. Children are so open to things, they see that there’s more than just black and white, that there’s also a gray area in between, but as they grow older they’re conditioned to see the world strictly in black and white, with no middle ground. The schools and society also have managed to restrain creativity through this. An example would be, a child painting the sky purple in a drawing because he or she likes it or believes it should be that way and their teacher may scold him or her and tell them that it is impossible and it must be blue. This is what I believe Malaguzzi is trying to show us, these ideas are the limitations put upon us by society and schools when the truth is, the world is infinite and so are our ideas and beliefs. She wants us to know that the tapering of our potential by these institutions is wrong and that we shouldn’t be forced into their perspective of life, but instead have our own.
ENC 1101-OM06
ReplyDeleteBrandon VanLandingham
I believe that this poem is about how kids start out having such creative and open minds to everything. They say this by saying 100 of everything is how the kid sees everything, but as time goes on the adults, school, and society start to corrupt the kid’s creativity and individualism. This happens because many of the things that happen as you grow up in the current society focus on making people believe certain things. Another problem is that not only do we prevent them from believing certain things but we don’t allow them to continue solving things hundreds of different ways they have to solve it our way or else it is wrong. The main way we limit them is by just telling them to listen and be quite, and to tell them to learn without enjoyment. Basically I believe this poem is telling about how children have so much potential but we squash it because we want them to conform to the rest of society.
Kevin T. Bhim
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-oMo4
I think that this poem covers the way of how any child can be able to learn and do hundreds of things in their own lives because they are children and they are still learning things at that point of their life. The Author uses the word “a hundred” to show how much these children try to do with their lives but then they bring up “they steal ninety-nine”. They would be the school and culture that the child is in and the ninety-nine is the things that the child would do based on their school or culture. The author uses this because in real life the child learns and does most of the things at school and brings that to their own environment. Around the end of the poem though they say that from “They tell the child........ that do not belong together.” and this would mean that the schools are telling these kids the right things to know when they move on in their lives so that would help with those kids growing up. When the child says at the end that the hundred is there they mean that the hundred is there because that's the way they have learned material over their lives. Overall, this just means that the child learn hundreds of things over time but mostly the schooling and the culture that the child is influenced by will be the 99 out of the 100 things the child will know.
Justin Kennedy
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 Mo3
In the poem it portrays the mindset of a child that has so much going through his or her head but to a child it could simply just be one hundred. As a child one hundred is a big number. Whether it be one hundred dollars, a hundred as a score on a favorite game or even a hundred pieces of candy from Halloween. As a child we imagine a hundred different things as well as having a vast imagination. But unfortunately as a child matures and grows up, society conforms that child into how they need to be and how to act. Like in the poem it stated when a child could love or marvel and that was at either Easter or Christmas. In the poem how it said children would go through life only understanding and not enjoying or living life. Almost as if the child’s thoughts, dreams and fantasies are stripped away because it isn’t scientific, fact or reason. Society and religion try to take ninety-nine of them away. Only some children like the one in the poem stand up to both and grow up with creativity. So when the child did say,” No way. The hundred is there.”, it shows that some child won’t accept it and that they’ll grow up to still have the inner kid creativity and imagination.
We are all born with infinite potential. One hundred is a number that represents totality (100%). Many people go through life with the crowd, not putting their own abilities into complete effect. They let the "man" pull them down and take away their excellence. The child spoken about in this poem represents each and every one of us. The choice must be to hold on to the truth that we are one hundred and nothing less. Others can only bring us down if we let them. When they do not bring us down, they too are not brought down and the cycle continues one hundred, one thousand, one million etc. times.
ReplyDeleteDavid Lipszyc
ENC1101-OMo6
Kyra Nori
ReplyDeleteENC OMO3
The poem exemplifies all of the different possibilities children have when they are young of what they can become when they’re older. “A hundred languages, a hundred hands, a hundred thoughts, a hundred ways of thinking” these all describe opportunities the children have from a young age, all that they can become when they are older. The poem really illustrates all of the potential the world can offer to somebody. As the poem progresses, it reads “The school and the culture separate the head from the body. They tell the child: to think without hands, to do without head, to listen and not speak.” Which limits the child’s horizons, which they previously thought were limitless. The biggest shift in the poem seems to be the line “..and of the hundred, they steal ninety-nine” signifying that children are limited by society, by their limitations in school, by the world around them. Growing up, children think there is no limit for their creativity, that they can be whatever they want to be, that they can conquer the world. However, growing up, they start to realize that the world is a tricky place, and if you want to be something, you have to stand up and make it happen for yourself.
Gabriela Lozada
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M03
This poem portrays the innate innocence and love for the world that every child is naturally born with. The repetition of “a hundred” throughout the course of the poem, emphasizes on the endless (and not to mention countless) possibilities that life has to offer. The line “they steal ninety-nine” alludes to the notion that it is society who has the blame for influencing (in this case, negatively) and molding each and every child into whatever they believe is acceptable. They steal every child’s creativity and imagination and replace it with what is socially accepted. If it weren’t for the grips of these influences, each child would exercise their right to blossom and experience the world in whichever way they choose—creatively and wide-eyed.
I think when this poem refers to a child having a hundred of everything it means that they have an infinite number of possibilities in life. No child is born knowing a single language, having only a single thought, or a single possibility of what they can become. When you are a kid you are so imaginative and creative and you do not always follow what is socially acceptable because as you kid you can see that a lot of what society expects from you is a bit ridiculous. A child is taught to limit their imagination and creativity, they are taught the language that they know, and they are taught to follow society as everyone around them is doing. Kids are taught to get rid of their infinite number of possibilities in life because they are taught to separate work and play and imagination and reality. At the end of the poem it talks about how the “hundred” is taken away from the child, but the child knows that the “hundred” is still there. The child still has the same imagination, same creativity, and same possibilities as before his/her “hundred” was taken away, they just learn to hide it because of what adults and society teaches them.
ReplyDeleteTrevor Gross
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 - OMo6
This poem is referencing the fact that young children have pure and uninfluenced minds. They have been influenced by few because of there age and thus have a mind free from human contamination. The term “hundred” is used frequently to illustrate just how pure young children’s minds are. They term one hundred is used over an over in an attempt to show that because the brains of young children are unpolluted and pure they are capable and therefore have “hundreds” of thoughts about the topics mentioned in the poem. Basically, a child’s imagination is unstoppable and so is their creativity.
Matt Concelmo
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M06
Every child posses an innocence that is slowly stolen as time goes by. As a child, there is nothing to worry about; a child can do anything, be anything. Their creativity allows them to process hundreds of thoughts, as mentioned in the poem. Children see no boundaries; those have yet to be revealed. Their potential is infinite. With such a vast imagination and ambition, a child holds hundreds of dreams of worlds that are dissipate while growing up. Near the middle of the poem, Malaguzzi begins to mention the causes of the loss of innocence. Our culture removes the head, which contains the hundreds of worlds and thoughts, from the body. “They” strip away the children creativity and tell them to simply listen and learn. The natural balance is tipped when our culture tells the children that science and imagination, work and play, reality and fantasy, fall in separate categories. This poem explains the immeasurable amount of ways children can express themselves, and how the education system narrows their thinking-process as time goes by.
Ralph Mahalak
ReplyDeleteENC 1101- oMo4
The poem is referring to the imagination of a child. As a child we use our imagination to create wild ideas and fantasies that shield us from the real world. One could make the argument that this will not help you in life. To be successful you need to have a firm grip on reality. This is a valid argument but is it any way to live? Teachers and authority figures always tell us to use our imaginations, yet most of them try to input their own thoughts and beliefs onto us. A child must be able to think and create for himself and find their niche in life.
Children are born with an infinite amount of learning capabilities and imagination that will never be matched. The child is born with the free space that is later filled up by the people that are in charge of teaching the child how to act. By repeating a hundred over and over we are able to see just how expansive the child’s mind is. I do not agree that only 99 are stolen from them I believe that many more are taken. Without the imagination that is founded in this stage the world will have no new inventions or no new industry because we learn to solve problems and create by playing at this age.
ReplyDeleteKhondaker Rahman
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M06
The child in this poem is portrayed as one that holds the potential to be absolutely anything it could be. The "one hundred" signifies the child's imagination and potential when it is born. it can be born form any background with any kinds of features that shows its unique physical form. Its thoughts as a new life form can be anything but we'll will never know because it has just been born. However, the child's hundred ways potential will be limited to just one form by its environment and the people the child will interact with. Because of the standardization and rigid structure of society and its people today, the child's potential will be limited to what it can get under the guidance of its elders. Only a few will have environments that will lead to them indulging on the potential that they start with when they are just born.
Kelly Costa
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 Section OMO4
Blog Post 7
This is a very inspirational poem. At the beginning I did not quite understand what they were getting at, but it all started to make sense. The poem was so true also. All of my life I have been told to do things a certain way and that this is the only way. Whether it’s writing, drawing, or even just talking to someone I have been told there is only one way, the right way. The way of saying that children have a hundred hands and worlds to dream is very powerful and moving. The repeat of the word “hundred” also makes the poem more clear and powerful. Towards the beginning of the poem you think it is just going to be about children’s imaginations, but then it takes a turn to tell about how schools and adults are taking away these imaginations. I think many parents of young children would like this poem and push more for the elimination of standardized testing. I enjoyed reading this poem a lot and would recommend it to many people.
Chris Arizmendi
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-moo3
This poem shows the strictness and order of the world that wants to almost control a kid and tell them what they can and can not do. All the way up to the end of elementary school, I remember everyone having such a free spirit in classes. We could do almost whatever we wanted to do and even in art class we could express our imagination and show our creative sides. Most people, as kids, were always asked, “What do you want to do when you grow up.” With such silly answers and no real knowledge, kids would say anything that seems fun and interesting to them. Parents and the world never crushed a kids dreams until they became older and more mature. I feel that this poem correctly describes the impact that “the school and the culture” most of the time says you cant always be who you want to be in the end as an adult. Some say that the culture in America says you can not be successful unless you go to college and get a degree. With this depressing thought, some or most children are in the mind set as everyone else. Organized and just expecting to have the best education. Cutting back their imagination and true meaning in life, schools and our culture should not mold us and suck out 99 percent of our life. In a sense, me and you are that ‘child.’ When Loris Malagasy says “The child says: No way. The hundred is there,” it’s up to us to be that fighting child. Not to let schools, your culture, and other things brain wash you. It is up to us to not let the world grab you and throw away the 99 percent of our brain that may hold our imagination and actual things we want from life. People need to see that being successful isn’t something to be viewed through the world’s eyes, like money and power, but being successful should be what you think is success in your own eyes. Our mind and imagination is a beautiful thing. Don’t ever let someone tell you you cant do something. Be that child inside that never gives up, pushes the world’s perspective of them aside, and to do what you love using all 100 percent of your beliefs and interests to get out of life. Always be free to dream and to make those dreams, come true.
A child has an imagination like no other. Children can literally make up some of the craziest things that you can't think of because most of us hit the cycle where we lose our child like creativity and hit the social norms that keep us in line. This poem is about that social norm that we conform too. Children, as they hit school age, are forced into seeing the "real" world and being told to grow up much too fast. It is seen way too much in our society because some of the best things can come from being able to grow up with a child like sense of wonder.It is a shame that most of us are swept up in being a robot a growing up free of social norms would probably make for a happier life.
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-oMo3
When I read this poem the first thing that I thought about was that the mind of a child is so creative and will always find a hundred ways of doing things or viewing the world. They do not have anyone telling them what is right in the world or what is wrong. At this age there is an infinite amount of ways of seeing one thing, until they are tought differently in their later stages. At first I didn't understand what the point was but after reading it twice I noticed that as we grow older those "hundred ways" of viewing the world starts to get smaller and smaller with education and life experiences. I thought this was a great poem once I read it over and more thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteSkylar Summers
ReplyDeleteENC 1101 – oMo4
February 18, 2013
The poem written by Loris Malaguzzi is a very depressing poem. It describes the awe-inspiring wonders of a young child. A child is born with such skills and talents that can be built upon and that child can grow into a magnificent character. The poem describes the abilities one child has from language, thoughts, speaking, playing, listening, loving, singing, and speaking. Once the poem lists off all the learning strategies of one child, Loris says “they steal ninety-nine.” “They” as in the teachers inhibit the learning styles of children. The teacher tells a child how things are done, what things are important, and when to be joyous. They take away from the fascinations and potential of children. I like the way Loris puts the word “steal” into the poem. She could have put multiple words in place of “steal”, but she didn’t because it is a more drastic word that emphasizes the effect on the child. The word describes how the learning abilities are stolen and cannot be replaced. The poem wants the child to experience school with their whole body, not to think about it but to feel and explore with hands on activities. To have a sense of feeling that can go along with the thoughts. The repetition of, “They tell the child”, is used throughout the poem to emphasis how the teacher deprives the children by repeatedly telling the children what to do and how to do it. As I read this poem I can picture my teacher just standing there telling me what to do over and over again, until its done. The ending is amazing how the teacher “tell(s) the child” one last time, but the child stands up and states “No way. The hundred is there.” The ending gives hope to the reader that there still is a chance for the kids and that things can change.
Taylor Beam
ReplyDeleteEnc1101 0m06
In this poem I believe that Loris Malaguzzi is trying to illustrate how broad a child's imagination is by using the number "a hundred" not necessarily meaning one hundred but maybe meaning just a very large number. I remember thinking when I was younger that a hundred was out of reach. The poem starts off by talking about everyday things such as listening, loving, understanding etc and saying how a child has "a hundred ways" of doing all those things. As the poem goes on it talks about how as a child gets older, they are told to conform and do things differently. Children are told that
"work and play
reality and fantasy
...are things that do not belong together." I believe Malaguzzi is trying to say that children become less imaginative and more obedient as they grow older.
ENC 1101-0M03
ReplyDeleteI believe the poem is talking about a child’s creativity and imagination. When we are young we start off as blank slates and believe our possibilities are endless. This is somewhat true but there is unfortunately some ignorance in that as well. Children stay blissfully ignorant to their surroundings, not understanding the harsh realities of growing up. The poem starts off happy and innocent and seems to change as if it were speaking to a child and entering them into the real world. It brings the child into school, where the teacher begins to hinder the child’s creativity and tell them how to think, what to think, when to speak and when to be silent. Rather than encourage creativity and help them blossom into what they desire, their culture lays out some sort of life guideline that they are expected to follow essentially killing their dreams. The hundred as a whole represents life and your choices but 99 is stolen because you can do what you want to a certain extent. What culture and status you are born into determines a very large chunk of your life. Children are unaware of this at the time and just go with whatever is given to them. Some children are given gold plates, while others have no plates at all. This is when you realize that the 100 was never really there, but until that realization occurs the child stays innocent for a little longer.
Amanda Cramer
ReplyDeleteENC1101-OMO4
I think what the author is trying to stay is that the child is a clean slate, unhindered by the suppression of the world. The child feels authentically, genuinely loves and enjoys moments to the utmost satisfaction. The world, as it develops a grip upon the child, deteriorates the individual’s ability to feel as they had felt before. No longer do they have many ways to speak, to play, and to think. They are limited to the one they are “allowed”, at the times that are “appropriate’ (only at Easter and Christmas). The child must not experience the encouragement of self-driven discovery, the thoughts accompanied by the use of hands, and must refrain from expression, to absorb the environment but not respond to it. The child must simply be a product of the world, instead of vice-versa. But if the child maintains a sense of dignity, individuality, curiosity, and self-gratification, he will take it upon himself to withhold his multitude of ways to grow and progress as not just an experiment of society’s expectations but the revolutionary among the faces of dreadful conformity.
ENC1101 0M04
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading this poem, the number ''hundred'' kept on reminding me how in the number system 100 basically translates into ''whole.'' As in relation with the child, his body and mind is one and complete. In a sense, the child is able to experience everything around him to the fullest potential. Whether this be pleasure or learning, he is able to realize there is no right nor wrong; thus take in everything as a whole. The author then creates a theory that influences such as society and mankind takes the ability of the child of seeing everything to the fullest away. I wouldn't really agree with the author when she states ''steals 99.'' Society doesn't ''steals'' our child-like mind and capability, but rather, we are SHAPED but society around us and we naturally LOSE that ability because we have been exposed to ''reality.'' It's our innocence that is lost, when we LEARN the consequences of the behavior we present. The author depicts the education system that of demonizing attributes, that it limits the ability of the child and takes away his ''senses.'' I cannot really relate to the author in this sense, because my educators were very pro-expression and commonly tired to make learning interesting and amusing. We are ultimately conditioned to certain feelings and abilities that society presents to us according to the author. However, it's the human's heart that seeks venture and strays from the road most traveled.
Personally, this poem reminded me of my childhood. To me, it explains how as children, there were endless possibilities and our ideas and creativity were limitless. Our minds were free and we had an abundance of imagination. The poem then goes on to explain how of our "hundred (and a hundred hundred more)" languages, ninety-nine are stolen. It explains how schools and culture "separate the head from the body." This was very intriguing to me, as I never thought of it that way. After thinking about it deeply, I realize that society restricts and limits our creativity and imagination. We are told what is the proper way to think, what to think, and how to think. The last part of the poem tells me that the children stand their ground and think how they want . It makes me realize that although various aspects of society may tell us how to think, but we as people should hold onto our creativity and possibilities will be endless.
ReplyDeleteEmily Nakis
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M03
What I interpreted while reading this poem was how the innocence and imagination of children is something every person acquires at an early stage in their life, but while growing the unlimited possibilities become scarcer, and they are forced to live a conformed lifestyle. This poem exemplifies that a child’s outlook on life is something that is stripped from them. The word “hundred” used quite frequently in this poem signifies a child’s innocence and never ending hope and it allows them to see no limits on where they can go in life. A child sees the world as a playground without limitation, but as they grow older they are influenced to see the world from a “rational” viewpoint. They are forced to live a “traditional” and disciplined lifestyle that so many people have just accepted. I really enjoyed this poem; it really put into perspective how a child loses their innocence but strives to hold onto it, as demonstrated in the last part of the poem. I believe that a child’s creativity and imagination is something we must help them preserve so that they may continue to see life without limits.
Krystine Colon
ReplyDeleteENC1101 OM06
As I began to read this poem, I saw a child having fun, enjoying life, being creative and finding hundreds of ways to do those things. A child viewing the world in a hundred ways or more. Further into the poem I realize this child’s life is shot down and limited. I thought it had something to do with religion when it mentions Easter and Christmas. When delightful things and imagination are taken from a child, there is nothing left for that child to have faith in and will grow up dull and bleak. A child should have the right to believe in what they feel and have interest in what they like. A child will not grow up fast because a child will enjoy their childhood. To tell a child adulthood and childhood do not work together, the child will agree but will most likely say that a childhood is worth hundreds more than adulthood. The very last phrase of the poem has meaning to a child having an opinion on what a child would have hundreds for. This poem has so many more meaning behind it but I only mention one that I felt the strongest about and saw within the poem.
Robert McKamey
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M06
The main point of this poem is to show how a child’s natural born creativity and imagination is taken away throughout adolescent. In my opinion, I believe the term “one hundred” refers to the infinite possibilities a child starts with. As Malaguzzi states, “The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine. The school and the culture separate the head from the body.” Society steals away a child’s imagination by forcing them to learn a specific way. Although children may be discouraged from using their imagination, Malaguzzi still believes a child can overcome this hindrance. He goes on to say, “And thus they tell the child that the hundred is not there. The child says: No way. The hundred is there.”
Matthew Simpson
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M04
For me this poem shows the true potential of a child, how impressionable a child is, and how good and bad influence can affect a child's mind. The second part of the poem shows the constraints that society is taught to put on the child, whether it is bad or in the best interest for the child. I feel as though the author wants to get across that these constraints that "they" are putting on the child are killing their ways for creativity and are trying to mold them into what is their idea of a smart or intelligent person.
Alexandra LaRoche
ReplyDeleteENC 1101- 0M03
I believe this poem is saying that when children are born there are multiple different things or people they can become and they thrive off their imagination. But then they go to school and get older and other (adults) mold them in to people just like everyone else. “They take away ninety-nine” meaning they take away the uniqueness of the child to mold them into the average person leaving them with only one little piece of their real self.
From reading this poem I have come to similar conclusions as my peers. I think the poem is stating that when children are young they are open to so many different opportunities and have the ability to experience a lot of different things. They have the ability to try new things in different ways in order to have the opportunity to find what works best for them. Those "one hundred" different ways are then "stolen" and turned into one way. I think the poet is trying to come to the point that society has a set of standards that everyone is supposed to follow and live by. If something is done in a different manner then it is considered weird by society. But in the end, children are still able to experience new ways of doing things and form their own opinions for later on in life.
ReplyDeleteCalyn Beese
ENC 1101-0M03
Cody Showers
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M04
In this poem, the author begins to outline the prospective limitations of the child’s understanding of his world. He describes how the child defines his world in concepts he only partially understands. The emphasis is not a lack of understanding of qualitative reasoning, but rather quantitative. Since the number hundred or one hundred is something the child understands as a vastly large incomprehensible number he substitutes it for a large number beyond counting. He attaches this newly developed concept of the word to items and actions a child might want to quantify. Because of their vastness, the implication and tone imply some fantastic or wonderful amount. He then goes to imply that school and culture take this away from this and all other children by making them comprehend the limitations of the term they are using. In essence the implication is that that these outside forces take the wonder and fantasy out of the number one hundred by quantifying it. Continuing with this tone the author goes to elaborate on his feeling of how we use this concept of understanding to limit children’s capability to imagine and be their selves. We do this by outlining their lives with concepts of quantity, responsibility, time, and sense of logic.
It is true that a certain amount of ignorance and lack of understanding can make even the simplest things feel truly wonderful and fantastic. However, without something to contrast this wonderment how can anyone truly understand and appreciate these concepts? Without knowledge of what one hundred means, one thousand, one million or any greater number would have no meaning. Without the need of work in between play how can we value this time to play? If we don’t understand reality in its complexities would it be possible to differentiate between the real world and one we imagine? A little bit of contrast and quantitative understanding allows us to apply some sort of value on these things we would otherwise take for granted. I do believe staunching the growth of imagination and wonder completely would deny a person most of what is important mentally besides general knowledge. Without time to exercise imagination and play, critical thinking and creativity would never truly develop well enough to function in society. However, not focusing on the quantitative measure of reality and separating it from the imaginary world would destroy a person’s ability to focus on important aspects of concepts. These include but are not limited to large numbers, relative importance and truth. To be resentful of having ignorance taken away at the expense of some but not all ability to imagine is to be resentful of giving imagination, wonder, and fantasy, meaning and value.
This poem speaks purely for the thirst of creativity along with the lack thereof. The "hundred" statements repeated with more emphasis speaks of the variety and capabilities of the human mind only to be watered down to one single uniform standard where the ninety-nine are taken away leaving the child as just a black and white load of carbon. Rather than embracing the gift that creates academic potential, it is being squandered for the idea that academics alone can survive by itself. When reading the poem, I embrace the warm feeling of irony. Funny enough, creativity creates the academia a person will be studying assiduously, against their will or not; instead of finishing that painting or that cadence on that person's instrument. At one point all brilliant minds as they neared towards their light-bulb dealt with the journey of scientific method SPARKED by creativity. What, did Pythagoras just look at a triangle and thought, "Hm, a square plus b square equals c square"? I beg to differ. Towards the end, the child is at odds with the authoritative figure. After being told what to continuously do, the child sees things because the child still has the life of creativity that isn't crushed like the adult's former life by another adult. This exchange represents a fork between the child's life. Follow his heart, enjoyment, and his will or put down the brush permanently only to pick up the prescription of Xanax in a classic painting of regret. It leaves room for our own creativity flourish, not only to inform a reader of a dying practice… but to cleverly make the reader engage in a dying practice.
ReplyDeleteYou be the judge.
Allison Serafine
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M06
The first thing that came to my mind after reading this poem was the speech by Sir Ken Robinson at the TED conference, and how we brought up his perspective that “schools are killing creativity in our children”. At the core of this poem I believe the point to be focused upon the idea that children are born with “a hundred” ideas and ways of thinking, and then we come in and teach them that are wrong and incorrect and that these ideas they make up in their imagination they don’t make sense.
From a technical stance, this poem, while very true and well put, is somewhat repetitive. I understand that the “hundred”, as a word and a concept, is used to deliver the point, but about three quarters of the way through I almost felt lost. Perhaps this is because I am not a poet by nature, but is the objective of writing not to reach as many people as you can? And to you narrow your rhetorical audience to only poets is almost ridiculous.
But from a poetic and rhetorical analysis point, I do like the objective in this poem. I think that there is more than just an inkling of truth, as for the FACT that children are born with these incredible and deep imaginations. In my personal experience I see this daily, as I work at Disney World. While Disney is incredibly detailed, I just see that you can give them an inch and they will make a mile long saga and imaginary journey for themselves. And even in less magnificent settings, even with just an empty cardboard box, a child could play for hours, with different scenarios and lives made up quickly and just as quickly being forgotten. Children’s imaginations are endless, and I think that it wouldn’t hurt any of us to try to regain that “skill” as adults.
With a hundred different ideas on learning and raising children, at least a few of those hundred should be focused on the preservation of imagination and good, healthy outlook on everyday things. If we all had this, perhaps there would be less bored adults feeling stuck in a hum-drum life.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe this poem means that when we are young we have a very vivid imagination. We are encouraged to use our imaginations through the toys, stories, movies, etc. that we are exposed to as a child. I believe that Malaguzzi is saying that what we learn as we grow up in the world, we realize that the things we imagined as a child were never real; and the reasons why they were never real. We start to understand more complex ideas and reasoning as to why the world is the way it is.
ReplyDeleteThe poem delivers the idea to me that a child has a never ending amount of ways life that it could take. When a child is born, he/she will be molded into whatever the culture, language, ways of thinking, playing, speaking, etc., is. It is like the TED talk we watched, the arts are missing in school. The idea expressed that “the school and the culture separate the head from the body” shows how as human beings and the society that we live in, we live in our head. The child has no idea on what life is, and how reserved it is. This is why a child is so joyful, happy, and able to do just about anything he or she can set their mind to.
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-0M04
ReplyDeleteI believe what this poem is trying to convey is that throughout our childhood our imagination and creativity is slowly but surely taken away from us. The use of the number 100 is to signify the highest amount possible you can get of something, i.e- 100 percent on the english test. Children are born totally innocent ready to face the world with nothing but their imagination. The author is suggesting although we teach children things we do it by taking away their creativity and taking away what makes a child unique. He suggests that we go about teaching are young students the wrong way, and that are approach is way too scientific and based solely on education. He also suggests that their is much more to growing up and learning then education and learning subjects.
Ashlynn Allums
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-050M
I think that Loris Malaguzzi is expressing how children are capable thinkers. Children have huge imaginations and they use their curiosity to delve into it. My little sister could make it a story about anything and talk about it for hours. Or she will draw something and her perspective will be totally different than what yours is. Children look at the world as if there is no bad, or cruelty. But I think that’s the most fun part. Not having a care and an open mind. The poem describes the many ways children communicate their thoughts and feelings. They use symbolic languages, for example, drawing and writing to represent their thinking processes. At this young age children establish their own individuality. But as we get older, that childish side of us never dies.
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ReplyDeleteTania Wysong
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-oMo3
I think this poem is trying to represent how society limits our imagination and blocks our developing process during childhood. When you are a child, you believe the sky is the limit. You see a world full of possibilities and with so many things to discover and learn about. But later on, different circumstances, and people try to shape us, and make us fit into various structures according to culture and society. I believe one hundred is a very big number for a kid, and this is just a way of expressing the child’s vision of this world. Then, he goes to school and 99 is taken away from him, which means his growing and learning potential has been limited and forced to follow a specific path. It’s like when a teacher says we must follow certain rules during class, or when we are required to wear a uniform, speak a certain language or practice a specific religion. These are all examples of limiting a child and making him believe there is only one, even though in our hearts we know the hundred is there, we just have to free ourselves, release our inhibitions and reach for it.
Jeffrey Sosa
ReplyDeleteENC 1101- OMo6
In my opinion, the poem is about how the adults in the world limit the views of children. The adults dictate what children are allowed to know, see, and learn. They take away anything that they themselves do not believe and only allow the children to view the world as they see it. The children are forced to follow one path out of the hundreds available to them.
Colby Maynard
ReplyDeleteEnc 1101 - 0M04
This only brings us back to our class a couple weeks ago when talking about creativity and the lack there of it. As we watched Sir Ken Robinson speak at the TED conference, he stated many times that our creativity has gone to the dumps over time. In the poem, it is mentioned how a child has a hundred languages, hands, thoughts, ways of thinking, playing and speaking. This is their sense of creativity and their ability to choose what they want to do, say or make. A child lets his imagination run free and isn't judged about it. Growing up and going through school makes you lose that sense of imagination. Teachers, parents and other sponsors make you feel like you're wrong for imagining and being creative. This poem strongly displays how children need to keep this sense of creativity. Live your life that you're meant to live and do it how you imagine and create it.
Chibundo Egwuatu
ReplyDeleteENC 1101-OM06
There was this saying or quote that I read somewhere by someone who I cannot remember; here is it paraphrased, since I have also forgotten the exact wording: a child is amazed by a thing in the air, it's movements and appendages, the way it looks.All the beauty of this creature is decreased when one tells him it is a bird. As in, giving a thing a name, telling it how to be or what it is makes it less. As with life, this too happens in the poem. There is the attempt to assimilate a child to the established culture, but the child, ever the foreigner, resists. The tell the child the way things are to be done, the way they are, and how the child's differing from these established points are wrong. The poem agrees with the child's multitude, establishes them, the hundred, as real.The adult avatar in the poem tells the child that they are wrong.It is a pretty ethnocentric view on childhood (that is to say, as it generally is when the term is used, eurocentric)discussing holidays like Easter and popular western thought dichotomies.However, still accurate.