Sunday, December 4, 2011

The School

So this school, is consumed with death. First the students try to grow some orange trees. They all die. Then there are snakes at the school that are all killed in a strike on the school. The herb garden that the children are growing dies, possibly due to over watering. The class gerbil dies. One student finds a puppy and brings him to school; he is dead just a few weeks later. Matthew and Tony, two of the students, were killed tragically in a construction accident involving wooden beams. Many parents are killed or either kill themselves. On parent is murdered by a masked intruder. The students begin to ask their teacher, Edgar, about it. They ask if death gives meaning to life. He says that no, life is what gives meaning to life. The children are all excited at the end when a new gerbil arrives at the classroom.

I guess the point of this story is death follows us. You can't escape death. There is one absolute certain in everyone's life, you will die one day. This story is tragic. The amount of death that these little children experience is so high. They will probably become numb to the idea of death by the time they are older, if they are not already. This story reminded me of the Final Destination franchise. In these movies, characters survive a freak accident only to be found by death later on in the movie. The idea is the same in the movies and this story. Death is everywhere. Kind of morbid. These children are still young enough that they can be mesmerized by something shiny and new.  This is seen with the gerbil at the end. The children are elated at the sight of the new gerbil. It's like they have forgotten the past deaths they have all experienced. It is said that children bounce back they quickest. They don't dwell on the past. So maybe, these children will all turn out alright despite the large amount of death they have experienced in their short lives.

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