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Jordan Peeler

Ms. Mann

English II

9 October 2017

The Gift of Childhood Innocence

Louis Braille was thirteen when he finished the first copy of Braille, and fifteen when he

shared it with his community. This amazing written language for blind people was invented by a

child. Are children really as incapable of doing things on their own as we think they are? It is

believed that children are incapable of self-reliance, but they are more emotionally capable of

handling situations than society gives them credit for.

A child's ability to be unaware of their circumstances at times increases his or her ability

to handle certain situations. Naivety, which is known as a lack of experience, wisdom, or

judgment, has a negative connotation. However in certain situations, it is advantageous. In the

movie Life if Beautiful, for example, the son Joshua is blind to his surroundings and presumes he

is playing a game. Would he have been so calm, positive, and well-behaved if he had been aware

the real situation? The poem A Letter to Daddy further demonstrates this childhood innocence. It

says Tonight there will be a gathering like the ones at Scout camp in the summer./We will sing

songs we know,/a girl will play the accordion.(15-18) In some situations, it is best to be naive.

Our innocence can prevents a loss of hope and help maintains the purity of our world. It shields

the evil and corruptness from our eyes, preserving our image of the things we hold close. We can

go on believing we are attending a gathering like the ones at Scout camp rather than a meeting in

a concentration camp.
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In unfortunate circumstances, children are capable of showing resistance and being

defiant toward superiors. An emotion we dont generally associate with children is resistance

toward authoritative figures. This behavior is not rebel-like, but rather defiance toward a person

or society who disregards the consequences of their actions toward fellow humans. To clarify, in

a situation where the superior abuses or injures adolescents, the children are expected to

immediately comply; however some youth take a beating and still show intransigence. Jewish

Forever, by Jana Hellerova represents these emotions. The lines I am a Jew and will be a Jew

forever./Even if I should die from hunger,/never will I submit,(1-3) indicate opposition to the

idea of her religion being taken away. While the majority of society may expect Jana to

surrender, she stood up for herself, even though the chance she could have been disciplined for

her act of rebellion were high. Opposition is furthermore shown by the pipel in Night that refused

to give up the names of the people who sabotaged the power at the Central Electric Plant. The

pipel was kept in confinement and: He too was tortured, but he too was remained silent.

(Wiesel 64)

A childs capability to hold on to hope is a great strength. Children are untouched by the

evil and despair of this world until this innocence is taken away. Many of the poems had a

hopeful tone, showing this innocence. These children had a greater chance of surviving. A

specific poem illustrating hopefulness is Home. The last stanza says, I look toward my

home,/the city where I was born./City, my city,/I will gladly return to you.(5-8) The author has

hope that she will return home to her city, even though the chances of escaping the nightmare

were very low. Not only is hope evident through this, but we can also compare the mindset Elie

had in the beginning of Night to the innocence of a child. He is hopeful in the beginning , but
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later when he loses his innocence he starts to decline, having inner battles with himself

constantly. Gradually, he loses hope..

In conclusion, many assume children are incapable of relying on anyone other than

adults, they are more emotionally capable of handling difficult situations than expected. As Rhea

Perlman once said, Children are resilient and strong with powerful spirits. Adults could learn a

thing or two from children.

Bibolography
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aahelpdesk Follow. Holocaust Butterfly. LinkedIn SlideShare, 21 May 2009,

www.slideshare.net/aahelpdesk/holocaust-butterfly.

Benigni, Roberto. Life is Beautiful. Ceceni Gori Group, 1997.

I AM A JEW by Franta Bass, headcoverings-by-devorah.com/IAmAJewPoem.htm.

Jana Hellerova. Jewish Forever.

Paths to Literacy. The Story of Louis Braille, www.pathstoliteracy.org/story-louis-

braille.

Volavkova Hana. I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings and Poems from

Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. Schocken Books, 1994.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Translated by Marion Wiesel, Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus

and Giroux, 2006.