July 23rd
I sat in the backseat of the van, holding my water bottle in one hand and my paperback War of the Worlds in the other. Outside the window, an unmoving sea of grass and farmland whizzed by at 75mph, broken only by the borders of the fields and a series of handmade signs advertising a live five-legged steer and the largest prairie dog in the world. Hot wind tore through the one working window on Tyler’s side, ruffling the pages of my book, which were damp from my sweaty fingers. My back brace felt like it was choking me, but I couldn’t take it off because of the pain along my spine I’d felt that morning. Perspiration trickled down my calves, but my mouth felt dry as sand. Welcome back to the Midwest.
We knew that the 23rd was going to be a miserable nine-hour trek across a vast plain of hot nothingness, so knowing that ahead of time, I managed to enjoy myself. I think this is the perfect opportunity for two interludes to discuss my reading material.
First, War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I read this sci-fi classic when I was 14, and it blew my mind. Although I’m not an evolutionist, it’s interesting to consider, from that perspective, what would happen if humans became suddenly second on the food chain. Wells pointed out, with biting criticism, the massacres that humans had wrought on each other in the name of evolution— it was a lot for a 14-year old to take in, and one of the first high-concept stories I ever read.
Even eight years ago, I could see that the themes were heavy-handed, using caricatures rather than characters to illustrate different points about human nature. A man fleeing from the aliens drops his bag of sovereigns and is trampled when he tries to recover them. A paperboy sells the news for a shilling as he runs along with the mass of screaming people. The protagonist falls in with a curate, a symbol of organized religion. When the curate wails about why God would allow an alien invasion when he had run such a good Sunday school, the protagonist responds: “Be a man!” said I. “You are scared out of your wits! What good is religion if it collapses under calamity? Think of what earthquakes and floors, wars and volcanoes, have done before to men! Did you think God has exempted Weybridge? He is not an insurance agent.” Although Wells’ disdain for religion is apparent, he also understood a hard truth about God that is important for all of us to remember.
Violence and savagery abound in the story, told through the eyes of the only fully-developed character in the story: the intense, educated and evenhanded protagonist. Wells strikes a perfect balance of mayhem, introspection, random scientific interludes, and heart-stopping terror. Reading the story again gave me more food for thought and reminded me why I love science fiction.
The second bit of literature I read was Tree and Leaf, an essay by J.R.R. Tolkien about the importance of “fairy-stories” (tales that touch upon the world of Faërie, not stories about little fluttery creatures). I could write a huge discourse about it, but I feel that I have to digest it a bit more before I venture to comment on it in detail. Briefly, a few ideas he discussed were the definition of fairy-stories, their purpose, their origins, and why he believes they are more important for grown-ups than they are for children. At this moment I don’t have the resources or the careful thought to give this essay a full review, so I’ll leave you with a quote that struck me.
“Children are meant to grow up, and not to become Peter Pans. Not to lose innocence and wonder, but to proceed on the appointed journey: that journey upon which it is certainly not better to travel hopefully than to arrive, though we must travel hopefully if we are to arrive.”
I encourage all my readers to find a copy of Tree and Leaf and read it for yourselves. It is an ocean of insight into the “real” world, the world of Faërie, and the true nature of escape.
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I ended up getting minor heat stroke by the time we’d reached Wichita. But all in all, considering that I spent the day in a non-air-conditioned van driving across Kansas, I think I had a pretty good time.
~Lisa Shafter
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