Childhood/Parenthood

I've just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane. Now, usually I'm a massive fan of his work - I first got into him by reading a collection of the short stories (I'm slightly ashamed to admit I bought it because I liked the cover!), then moved on the novels: Neverwhere, which I loved because I love the London Underground, American Gods because of its exploration of mythology, Stardust because of its humour and magic (and because I will never get the image of a cross-dressing Robert Di Nero out of my mind from the film version...). The Graveyard Book was a beautiful story of childhood that explored hope, love and an openness to wonder that I admired very much. But much as a hate to admit it, I really didn't enjoy Ocean... Like The Graveyard Book, it is partly a story about childhood. This childhood, however, is lonely, isolated and, to be frank, fairly depressing. It seemed to me to also be a story about parenthood, if only by the absence of security offered by the central character's parents. They do not seem to matter very much to him, and when they do appear, they are often threatening, unknowingly becoming the enemy.

Now, I know from my PhD research on Theology and the Act of Reading how important the reader is to the act of reading. As readers, we bring to the text our own experiece of the world - our preoccupations, prejudices, aspirations and education. Given that this is so, I wonder to what extent my reaction to this novel is the result of being the mother of a very young baby. The idea that my child would find me threatening, or - what is worse, - fail to find me important at all, fills me with horror. And yet, when I think back to my own childhood, my life certainly didn't revolve around my parents (at least, not in my memory of it!). Perhaps parenthood, then, is the greatest sacrifice a person can make. To bring a child into the world out of love, to care for it, to have one's own life revolve entrely around it, and all to nurture a human being who belongs not to you, but to themselves. It is, perhaps, the biggest risk you can take. 

To put this into the context of Christian theology, we can see the Incarnation of God in Jesus as an example - perhaps the preeminent example, for Christians - of this risk-taking. Christians believe that, in Jesus, God sacrificed, not a human being, but himself out of love for an offspring that may not even acknowlege his existence. God sacrificing God, out of love, with the possibility of no reward - and no reward expected. 

I hope, in the future, to reread this novel with new eyes and the knowledge of what has passed between now and then. What is certain is that, as a reader, I will bring the whole of myself and my life's experienes to the words I read. As you read more as part of this course, be aware of the extent to which you bring yourslf to the text, and the effect that may have on the messaage you take from it. In so doing, you will become better able to truly evauate what you read.