What do you think of the
headline? Preposterous! Isn’t it? Yet, I can dig out a story where she has been
praising the holy cow in all her earnestness. It is titled “The Red and White Cow”. You can take a look at it if you want. The story is about a little boy Peter
who used to hate cows as they seemed to be like enemies to him. Until the boy’s
mother explains that milk, cream, cheese, and other dairy products that the
family enjoys are actually gifts from the cow. The story ends with Peter
deciding to be friends with the kind cows. The simple plot that has delighted
hordes of children from around the world can now seem pleasant to some groups
while being quite offensive to others! Some loonies may even be prompted to put
a label on Enid Blyton for writing such a story. And that is what this article
is about. Why are we trying to cancel the greatness of Enid Blyton? I know...the cow story is not the reason. But is there any solid ground that justifies the current outrage?
Another story that I would
love to highlight is “The Book of Brownies”. Here Blyton has described bald-headed
bespectacled people from a mythical Land of Clever People who insist on talking
in rhyme all the time. When I read the story back in my childhood, the characters
reminded me of Indian sages chanting shlokas. The little me was pleased to
think of India as the land of clever people. I guess if a child is made to feel
secure of their gender, ethnicity, and nationality, they are likely to see more
of positive parallels in the stories they read. When I made this point to some haters,
I was told that Enid Blyton was not likely to have held such a generous opinion
of Indians. And a lot of examples of racism, xenophobia, and misogyny from her
books were cited. Agreed, some of the content was quite shocking and needs moderation.
But how can we suddenly go to hating her after having worshipped her for so
many years?
The author was a product of her
time and wrote certain things that do not sit well with us in the current
context. But should that prompt us to dissect her books and make unsavoury
remarks about what kind of a person she must have been? We do not talk ill of
the dead for a reason. They are not here to defend themselves. Why not apply
the same rule to Enid Blyton and respect her memories? She is after all the
unofficial English teacher for millions of Indian children.
Funnily enough, I found
recently that Dick from the Faraway Tree series has been rechristened as Rick (for
obvious reasons) and Dame Slap is now Dame Snap. She only snaps at errant
children now instead of slapping them. While a bit of editing may be necessary
at certain points, too much censoring will alter the past irreparably. And the
children will never find out what social evils were prevalent in the past and
how people fought to reform the society. This is extremely important as such examples
from the past can motivate them to cleanse the society of the prevalent
evils in the future.
And if we still are hell-bent
on eradicating Enid Blyton’s books, the best approach would be to write better
books, books that are captivating enough to inspire the imagination of an
entire generation of children. Because, we, the fans of Enid Blyton will settle
for nothing less.
That way all Fairy Tales might be banned as well. The brutality of decapitation is completely subdued under the glorification of the protagonist.
ReplyDeleteVery well said. According to these people we should just forget the past. :-(
DeleteWhat a wonderful write up. I agree hating someone now without taking into account the times they were in is ridiculous. Instead of banning , better books need to be written for sure .
ReplyDeleteThank you Chinmayee! Instead of doing something constructive, we choose to rip apart people from the past. So sad.
DeleteExcellent article & extremely relevant. To summarise, in todays day & time our anger are misdirected & we often end up expressing things or people who we know not in a position to retaliate us back. All of us need to understand a movie or book is mostly a reflection of its time. Another example is movie. Picking up old movies & calling it regressive is another new fashion statement. You article kind of calls out the bluff.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ritam da!
DeleteIt is so stupid to call old movies regressive. Why not focus on the present and the future?