In high school, we read Metamorphosis - the one where the guy turns into a giant bug.
Basically, in this book the guy used to take care of the family. They all relied on him. And when he turned into a big bug, he just sat in one room, alone, trying not to be in the way. But his family decided that his big bug presence was dragging all of them down, even though he just stayed in his corner. And even though he'd always taken care of them in the past.
Of course we had to write a paper about that book.
The thing that I loathed about high school English XD
One girl asked the teacher something about the book and her paper. She said something about how the bug guy was nothing but a burden to his family. Internally I went "You've got it all wrong! He's not doing anything wrong. His family is the one that turned on him!"
I actually did say something - about how he was always the one that took care of his family, and that he wasn't really in the way.
I suppose this one is easy to understand. The girl was quoting what the book said instead of reading deeper to what the book actually meant.
But last week, someone told me that The Fault in Our Stars is just a story that romanticizes cancer. That comment really made me bristle. I'll bet they didn't read the book, and only saw the movie. And I'll bet that they don't know anything about the author's inspirations behind that book, because John Green doesn't romanticize diseases. He has to deal with his own brand of them. And he had to watch a friend of his - a girl like Hazel - die from cancer.
When someone makes a suggestion like that, it feels like they're saying that a sick person can never be a hero. Because if they are, then the author is automatically romanticizing whatever illness they have.
What? Should we only make perfect people our heroes?
I'm afraid of how people will misread any of my stories.
But like I said, I'm far too sensitive about what people think of me.
No comments:
Post a Comment