“Reading stories is bad enough but writing
them is worse.”
-From Anne of Green Gables
Marilla’s words to Anne may well have come
from someone L. M. Montgomery knew in real life, a grandparent perhaps.
Marilla is not alone in her views; her words have
reminded me of two other writers who in childhood encountered people with this dismissive attitude and
met with disapproval or worse just because they loved to read.
John Masefield, whose children’s books have been featured on
here, had a horrible domineering aunt who disapproved of his love of reading and thought that
it was a disgusting habit that should be broken. When he was 13, in an attempt
to cure his addiction she sent him away to train for a life at sea.
Rudyard Kipling said this about his life with
the horrible sadistic woman who made his life a misery in the House of Desolation:
“'reading' was…a means to everything that
would make me happy. So I read all that came within my reach. As soon as my
pleasure in this was known, deprivation from reading was added to my
punishments. I then read by stealth and the more earnestly.”
-From his memoir Something of Myself
Kipling shows that no discouragement, no
criticism, no opposition and no punishment can stop some very creative people
from doing what they must do.
L. M. Montgomery is one of Canada’s most
famous authors and her books have sold worldwide.
John Masefield became the Poet Laureate and
was awarded the Order of Merit.
Rudyard Kipling declined many prestigious
awards, but did accept the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Who knows whether all these achievements
happened because of or in spite of all the opposition and lack of support in
childhood.
Left in the charge of disapproving people
These three writers had more in common than a
love of reading and the immortalising of their names. As children they were in
the power of people who treated them badly. These people both created the need
for and tried to block their charges’ escape into reading.
L. M.
Montgomery’s mother died before she was two years old and her father sent her
to be raised by her elderly grandparents, cold, critical and intolerant people who
were strict Presbyterians. She said that her grandfather’s continual criticism
left scars that branded her soul.
John Masefield’s mother died when he was only
six years old, and he was sent to be raised by the unsympathetic aunt. His
father died soon afterwards.
Rudyard Kipling was sent back to England by
his parents at the age of five and given into the charge of the awful woman
who made his life a living hell.
There are patterns if not scripted scenarios to be seen in these cases. Are unseen influences at work here?
