We briefly touched on The Memory of Running's sort of "view of humanity" in class -- I know a lot of people keep bringing up Smithy getting beat up, nearly shot, actually shot, etc as shocking & terrible. Which they are -- but I do feel like Smithy's journey turns out to ultimately bring out a lot of good of humanity & ends up pretty humanist.
All of the people hurting Smithy due to misunderstandings are pretty depressing -- it sucks to think that someone saving a little boy from a blizzard could end up being shot by the police. However, as Mr Rogers so wonderfully says, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." Dr. Donna Trivitch buys Smithy a flood of new gear as a way to say sorry for hurting him, and even as Smithy is shot Kenny's father ("Red Check") is thanking him profusely. Smithy basically manages to get across the country largely because of people's kindness (whether it's because they're feeling guilty or not).
I also do like that Smithy manages to not get jaded throughout his trip -- I think this is a fairly heroic trait. It's not like he loves everyone (see the prom chapter & his hatred of Bobby, but that seems fairly justified), but he does promise in the river that he'll never live a suspicious life. He seems to appreciate everyone's stories -- I think you can see this by the way that everyone spills their stories to him -- he seems to be a very good listener. Overall, I think this book highlights humanity in a way that I find pretty humanist -- appreciating humanity in its good and not-as-good moments.
I also like this Smithy quote: "'Thank you,' I said out loud to the player and his pop. Good people were there. There were things for them to do together, and I was somehow a part of that."
I agree that this book's overall message is overwhelmingly positive. We tend to associate that kind of attitude as naive, but I don't think that word is quite accurate when it comes to describing Smithy. Naivety implies a kind of ignorance from lack of experience, and Smithy definitely has plenty of experiences when it comes to meeting a wide variety of people -- more so than most people probably, in fact. What makes this novel's positive message, to me, inspiring and realistic rather than naive and childlike is the fact that Smithy, like you say, appreciates humanity not just in the good times but also in the many not-as-good moments.
ReplyDeleteAdding to your list of examples of people who helped Smithy, the priest also helped him a lot. He gave him some good advice as well as food, clothes, etc. I think just the fact that he was nice helped boost Smithy's morale, and Smithy was definitely very grateful.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I also like the fact that Smithy has good times as well as bad times. I mean, imagine a book full of Smithy being beat down and then run out of a city. That sounds even more depressing...
ReplyDeleteI see Smithy's humanism as at the core of his "heroism"--he has so many reasons to be bitter, about life in general and human behavior, and the whole Bethany story is so wrenching because it suggests that even good, beautiful, smart, and gifted people can be taken away from you by something as alien and arbitrary as her "voice." Combined with his experience in the war, and his failure to reengage at all with his society afterward, we'd have every reason to expect Smithy to be *exceptionally* bitter and angry. Likewise with the adversity he meets on his journey--we want him to stand up for himself more, to take on that delicious self-righteousness when we know the other person is making a mistake, but there's a kind of saintlike refusal to go down this more typical, emotionally charged path.
ReplyDeleteI don't teach books with such a positive view of life and humanity all that often, and I'm not sure why this one worked for me when others ring false. But I find Smithy's wanting to be "somehow a part of that" and his appreciation of the simple pleasures of life and social interaction quite inspiring. I want to be a less suspicious and crabby person.