I have always enjoyed historical fiction because it brings to life the people of events. I love getting into the inner thoughts of characters who are going through what I so dryly learned about in a textbook.
I Had Seen Castles is a short but intense story about a 17 year old boy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He feels anger at the bombing of his own country and cannot wait for his 18th birthday so he can enlist. This is ironic because just before the bombing he and his friends had joked about running away into the forest to avoid the draft. But the bombing on Pearl Harbor changed all that.
The scene in which John retells the moment he heard about the bombing, brought to mind the moment I heard about the planes being flown into the Twin Towers. What an awful day. I was sitting in my first education course at LU, and the secretary of the education department walked in crying and asked to speak to our professor. The professor came in and told us to go back to our dorm rooms, turn on the T.V., and call our parents. He did not say what had happened, but we all turned white. Nausea rolled through me. We rushed back to our rooms and watched the horrible footage. While I read the scene in which John talks about the radio broadcast, the same sickness I felt on 9-11-01, I felt again thinking about Pearl Harbor.
I remember feeling the same anger and wanting war. Before 9-11, I had never been a person to want to fight. But I was angry and I wanted revenge. So, I understood John’s response. However, war is so different now. I watch the movies depicting war prior to our technical advancement and cannot believe the amount of lives lost in battle. So, I can understand Ginny’s objections to the war. So much loss; so much devastation. I know we still have loss and devastation today, but nothing like it was during WWII. I cannot imagine.
When John and Ginny argue about his registering for the war, John cannot put into words why he wants to join. He cannot seem to tell her that he wants to fight simply because he does not want to be a coward. He has heard about the death of his friend, and has come to realize, even though he does not admit it to himself, that this war is dangerous and that he may not come back from it. But as he and Ginny argue, he asserts that if living a life in this country is so important, then he must go fight and risk his life because everyone’s life in this country is at risk. Freedom is at risk.
The focus of the book is on the progression of John as a boy/man throughout the war experience. The events in the book are told bluntly and without any ‘fluff.’ John remembers the boy in Europe that was crying for his mom while he was walking around looking for his arms. I cannot imagine! Looking for your own arms! The horror. These descriptions make the reader understand how he says he was no longer a boy, but a ghost who did what the war demanded of him.
There are other stories going along with John’s story. Like the story of Emily, John’s sister. She feels pity for the boys who are going off to war and are so hungry to feel alive before they face their death. She ends up becoming officially engaged to two young men, and pregnant with a third’s baby. This baby, at first a shame for the family, ends up being a gift to the family. The baby takes her home in the nursery of Emily and John’s sibling who died when he (or she?) was only 2 months old. Emily has brought life back to the nursery and fills it with mischief and laughter. Emily is even respected as a war widow (even though she and the boy were never married). The boy died before his 20th birthday leaving behind a child he had never seen.
The ending of this book is not happy, but rather melancholy. John cannot bring himself to live in America, because he has suffered, and America has not. America cannot understand the changes he has undergone, cannot understand the misery he has lived through. I feel this must be true for all our veterans. What must life be like for them to come back to a country that seems to have not changed after they have seen so much horror? John cannot come back, even though his parents love him and he loves them. He cannot come back even though he loves Ginny and wants to be with her. He must stay away. He will always remember Ginny, because it was Ginny who saved his life. She told him he would live to be an old man, and it was those words that kept him going in his darkest days. And now, at the end of the book, he wants Ginny to know that he has lived to be an old man, and that he still loves her.
The scene in which John retells the moment he heard about the bombing, brought to mind the moment I heard about the planes being flown into the Twin Towers. What an awful day. I was sitting in my first education course at LU, and the secretary of the education department walked in crying and asked to speak to our professor. The professor came in and told us to go back to our dorm rooms, turn on the T.V., and call our parents. He did not say what had happened, but we all turned white. Nausea rolled through me. We rushed back to our rooms and watched the horrible footage. While I read the scene in which John talks about the radio broadcast, the same sickness I felt on 9-11-01, I felt again thinking about Pearl Harbor.
I remember feeling the same anger and wanting war. Before 9-11, I had never been a person to want to fight. But I was angry and I wanted revenge. So, I understood John’s response. However, war is so different now. I watch the movies depicting war prior to our technical advancement and cannot believe the amount of lives lost in battle. So, I can understand Ginny’s objections to the war. So much loss; so much devastation. I know we still have loss and devastation today, but nothing like it was during WWII. I cannot imagine.
When John and Ginny argue about his registering for the war, John cannot put into words why he wants to join. He cannot seem to tell her that he wants to fight simply because he does not want to be a coward. He has heard about the death of his friend, and has come to realize, even though he does not admit it to himself, that this war is dangerous and that he may not come back from it. But as he and Ginny argue, he asserts that if living a life in this country is so important, then he must go fight and risk his life because everyone’s life in this country is at risk. Freedom is at risk.
The focus of the book is on the progression of John as a boy/man throughout the war experience. The events in the book are told bluntly and without any ‘fluff.’ John remembers the boy in Europe that was crying for his mom while he was walking around looking for his arms. I cannot imagine! Looking for your own arms! The horror. These descriptions make the reader understand how he says he was no longer a boy, but a ghost who did what the war demanded of him.
There are other stories going along with John’s story. Like the story of Emily, John’s sister. She feels pity for the boys who are going off to war and are so hungry to feel alive before they face their death. She ends up becoming officially engaged to two young men, and pregnant with a third’s baby. This baby, at first a shame for the family, ends up being a gift to the family. The baby takes her home in the nursery of Emily and John’s sibling who died when he (or she?) was only 2 months old. Emily has brought life back to the nursery and fills it with mischief and laughter. Emily is even respected as a war widow (even though she and the boy were never married). The boy died before his 20th birthday leaving behind a child he had never seen.
The ending of this book is not happy, but rather melancholy. John cannot bring himself to live in America, because he has suffered, and America has not. America cannot understand the changes he has undergone, cannot understand the misery he has lived through. I feel this must be true for all our veterans. What must life be like for them to come back to a country that seems to have not changed after they have seen so much horror? John cannot come back, even though his parents love him and he loves them. He cannot come back even though he loves Ginny and wants to be with her. He must stay away. He will always remember Ginny, because it was Ginny who saved his life. She told him he would live to be an old man, and it was those words that kept him going in his darkest days. And now, at the end of the book, he wants Ginny to know that he has lived to be an old man, and that he still loves her.
3 comments:
I agree that Cynthia Rylant told this story without a lot of "fluff" but simply and to-the-point. Having lived through the Vietnam War era and recalling the anxieties and fears associated with losing family members I felt some of the same Ginny-like feelings. One of my daughter's friends has served in Iraq and has experienced the post tramautic war issues that John spoke of. What a horrible feeling it must be to not feel as though you "fit into" society after serving so honorably to fight for our country! That's one issue the book brought out to me plain and clear - the need to show more concern and compassion towards those who have served our country.
Your perspective about how John's feelings regarding Pearl Harbor paralleling those you felt during 9-11 is very true. The feelings of patriotism that surged to levels not seen by our country in a long time were so powerful to live through and experience. As we did, you begin to see your daily life change in a completely different way, a way that you really do not stop to think about before a real tragedy challenges your sense of security. I agree with Carolyn's point about how it's simply not acceptable for any service member to not feel right after serving in the war. Any person who fights for all of our freedom's and security should be made to feel appreciated and honored on a higher level. The emotional side to what they carry around within them when they come home cannot be understood by someone who has not been through witnessing that bloodshed, anger, hatred, and unfairness, but compassion and listening are definately in order for them all.
Your connection to the events on 9/11 mirror the feelings many people had on that day. Shock, pride, a fierce loyalty, and that desire for revenge was felt by many. You mentioned that you had never been in favor of war before 9/11, and explained that you understood how John had felt. You have it exactly right. We do not feel what others must feel unless we experience their pain and loss.
Cynthia Rylant writes so powerfully that you can see John's reactions and confusion clearly, and better still, connect with those feelings.
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