Innocence In Being Young
So my three little cousins, triplets, came over the
other day. They are all in Kindergarten and the most adorable little kids ever.
While they were over I noticed one of them, Tyler, drawing shapes with crayons
on a piece of paper. For some reason, I thought of the Secret Agent. I know
what you’re thinking, why the heck did a little kid drawing make me think of a
book like that. Truth is, we have been doing the paper on Stevie and his
innocence, and my little cousin reminded me of this. I did not think much into
this at first, it was just a quick thought, but I ignored it, and became
distracted by other things going on with the other two kids. However, in
sitting here, trying to figure out what I could possibly right this blog on, I
remembered the instant, and thought it might make an interesting topic to blog
about. So here is what I came up with. The reason I thought of Stevie when
watching my little cousin, wasn't because Tyler was sitting there only drawing
circles, in fact there wasn't a single circle on the whole paper. It was the
look on his face, the focus in his eyes. He was taking his drawing very
seriously, in fact, so seriously that, when he would "mess up" he
would get frustrated, attempt to crumble the paper, and start all over. What his
mistakes were, I have no clue, every new drawing was entirely different so I
really have no clue what he was going for. Whatever it was though, he was
failing. Just while thinking about it now, I sort of imagine that is what
Stevie was like while drawing his circles. Intently focused- on each singular
circle at a time- like nothing else in the world mattered. I guess one could
say that this alone is the characteristic that defines us as being young. It is
a word that, while primarily associated with age, and being called "young",
it can also refer to the level of our minds. Stevie may not be
"young" age wise, but because of his brain, and the mental challenges
he faces, he is restricted from having the ability to entirely observe what is
going on around him. In a sense, he is blind. His blindness makes him innocent.
And his innocence is what makes him young. My little cousins are the most
innocent little things ever, they look on Ty's face when he finally felt like
he had created and finished his masterpiece, all ready to show it off to the
world, to hang it on the fridge like it was created by Divinci himself, that
look he had, that beaming smile, that was priceless. I almost imagine Stevie
having that same look when he knows he has done well, when he does something
right and Verloc is happy, or at least not mad, at him. He knows Winnie will be
happy as well. Making other people happy is what he wants to do, he is loyal to
anyone present at the time. this makes him innocent, almost like my little
cousins, and this is what makes him special, a character of importance, because
when innocence is abused, when Stevie dies, a moral crime has been committed.
It is as horrific as if a baby was killed instead. This is, although maybe not
a main theme, in the book, definitely a theme, and definitely important
exactly
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