Thoughts on Spufford

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I roll my eyes when I learn that we have to read from Spufford - not that I don't like what he has to say...it's just that sometimes takes his time in saying it.

This week, however, I did not feel that particular strain when I dove into his chapter about the town. I suddenly found myself connecting more with what he had to say - and not just because he talked about readers engaging themselves with the character in novels.

I thought he explored the idea of connecting with a character and actually thinking in his or her skin (as opposed to just imagining the character as oneself); I've always known that I have the ability to empathize with characters in novels, but I've never really heard someone go in depth with the feeling and break down what it means to identify.

What really held my attention was the thought of a young Spufford trying to piece together another world - the United States - in order to understand some of the literature he was taking in as a child. Today the world is so small - people can know a little about each country and if they don't, they can Google it. Spufford had to try to reshape his own experience in his portion of the world to fit any new ideas he encountered while reading. I felt a particular pang of saddness whenever he discussed losing the reality of what he imagine in his head after seeing the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird and realizing he had been "wrong" about what Maycomb looked like.

I suppose this week I will be more conscious of how I read and how I identify with characters as I absorb them into my own version of life. I think that is why so many of the sources for my group's annotated bibiliography said it was important that children read from a variety of perspectives in order to get a better scope of the world.