This week: The Drama of Authority Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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| Could it be that all stories are about the various aspects of authority, and that all the drama in books lies in either obeying authority or defying it? |
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Dear Reader,
One of the fundamentals of drama is conflict. Thinking about it further, perhaps it's about authority. Who has authority over whom, and why.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that almost all stories are about either succumbing or standing up to an authority figure.
Here are some thoughts I have on this, and some examples.
1. Family authority.
Possibly the first authority any living being knows is that of parents or immediate caregivers -- that is, family. At a very young age, this authority is absolute and necessary. As a child grows, other forms of authority might take over - or family might still remain strongest of all.
Example -- The Weasley Family in the Harry Potter series, particularly Percy, Fred and George.
Percy is pampered and admired by his parents, because he does what is conventionally expected of a boy -- gets good grades, becomes prefect and head-boy and so on. However, he's the one to reject family authority as soon as another authority promises him something more enticing to fulfil his career ambitions.
Fred and George, on the other hand, are thwarted in their ambition of owning a joke shop. Their mother burns their products and lists. They remain loyal to the family anyway -- and find a way to balance the joke shop idea with respect for their parents' authority.
2. School / Educational authority
Most children will go on to recognising the authority of the teacher / principal, after the authority of the parent. And, should the two come in conflict, a child will usually give the greater authority to the teacher.
Example -- ahem -- me.
Well, yes, I'm the example here. My fourth grade teacher once made a slip-of-the-tongue and said 'worm' as part of a list of 'insects' she was giving us. I went home and told my Mom that a worm is an insect. Mom tried to remind me of the characteristics of insects, and how a worm does not possess these characteristics. I insisted that all that didn't matter, if the teacher had said a worm is an insect, then, well, a worm is an insect.
I don't quite remember what happened -- Mom probably sent the teacher a note and the teacher must've corrected her mistake in class. But the shift in authority made for some drama, with a child rejecting a previous authority and an indisputable fact because a new authority had taken over.
3. Peer Group Authority
This is the one that hits the hardest when it happens -- probably because it's the most unexpected. I mean, parents and teachers are officially assigned authority -- with the peer group, it's more subtle and therefore probably more insidious.
Example: I wonder how many of you remember the family drama, 'Boy Meets World' on TV. Well, there's one episode in which Cory is boasting about his Christmas gifts, and Shawn's father has been laid off and Shawn doesn't have that many gifts to boast of. Shawn doesn't tell Cory about this, and Cory finally finds out from his own father and gives Shawn his coveted basketball. Shawn initially rejects the gift, not wanting charity or obligation -- or, maybe rejecting Cory's authority. Mr. Feeny steps in and things get amicably resolved, with Shawn accepting the gift.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Boy+Meets+world+Christmas+gift+basketball+episod...
4. Social authority
Another authority that isn't officially assigned -- and therefore, more real for the undercurrents. Something is either 'expected' or 'not expected' of you, in order to fit in. Accepting or rejecting this form of authority is perhaps the most visible choice a person makes. (Example combined with 5, below.)
5. Government authority
The law of the land, and the discretion of those who uphold it. Not respecting this authority puts one at risk of being punished.
Example of both, social and 'government' authority:
FROM ‘THE MURFER OF THE MAHARAJA’ BY HRF KEATING
“Mr. Morton. Take, take,” smiled the Maharaja. “Take some cream-of-chocolate.”
With a shrug, the Mr. Morton reached forward, grasped the open bottle, lifted it – and released a well-concealed powerful spring, which sent the whole bottle shooting up towards him like a jack-in-the-box.
A thick stream of dark, chocolaty, sticky liquid spurted all over the white starched shirt-front, the immaculate white suit.
“April Fool, April Fool,” trumpeted the Maharaja. “Oh, Mr. Morton, what a good one! What a beauty! It was worth bringing you all the way from America for that!”
He sat in his chair at the head of the table, shaking with laughter.
Henry Morton took it pretty well. He did not manage to laugh, but neither did he curse. He had leapt back from the table as the thick, chocolate jet had swooshed up at him, and he stood now with the sticky liquid trickling heavily down his white tuxedo. “Guess I ought to have seen that one coming, Maharaja.”
Next to him the Maharajkumar, Porgy, had also got to his feet. “Father,” he said, “really, this time you have gone too far.”
“Pooh, pooh,” said the Maharaja. “April Fool jokes are a very old tradition. It is right that we should keep up things like that.”
Finally, a cry from a teenage girl's heart, all about authority and its effects.
From: The Diary of A Young Girl
By Anne Frank
Saturday, 30 January 1943.
Dear Kitty,
I’m boiling with rage, and yet I mustn’t show it. I’d like to stamp my feet, scream, give Mummy a good shaking, cry, and I don’t know what else, because of the horrible words, mocking looks, and accusations which are leveled at me repeatedly every day, and find their mark, like shafts from a tightly strung bow, and which are just as hard to draw from my body.
I would like to shout to Margot, Van Daan, Dussel – and Daddy too – “Leave me in peace, let me sleep one night at least without my pillow being wet with tears, my eyes burning and my head throbbing. Let me get away from it all, preferably away from the world!” But I can’t do that, they mustn’t know my despair, I can’t let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn’t bear their sympathy and their kindhearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the more.
If I talk, everyone thinks I am showing off; when I am silent they think I am ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I’m tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc. etc. The whole day long I hear nothing else but that I am an insufferable baby, and although I laugh about it and pretend not to take any notice, I do mind. I would like to ask God to give me a different nature, so that I didn’t put everyone’s back up. But that can’t be done. I’ve got the nature that has been given to me and I’m sure it can’t be bad. I do my very best to please everybody, far more than they’d ever guess. I try to laugh it all off, because I don’t want to let them see my trouble. More than once, after a whole string of undeserved rebukes, I have flared up at Mummy: “I don’t care what you say anyhow. Leave me alone, I am a hopeless case anyway.” Naturally, I was then told I was rude and was virtually ignored for two days, and then, all at once, it was quite forgotten, and I was treated like everyone else again. It is impossible for me to be all sugar one day and spit venom the next. I’d rather choose the golden mean (which is not so golden), keep my thoughts to myself, and try for once to be just as disdainful to them as they are to me. Oh, if only I could!
Yours, Anne.
Thanks for listening.
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Thanks for the responses to "Acting on an Impulse"
Quick-Quill 
What a great idea. Could you write or post your article about reviewing? I think we have so much focus on writing groups that the art of Reviewing can be just as important. It helps to drive the writer to write better. What is a reviewer looking at? How can I write such a story that would illicit a response from a reader to post a review? "I loved this book?" "I became so caught up with the characters/plot/conflict I couldn't put it down." That's what writers want to read. How do we get there is the question.
Paul 
What a wonderful thing to have done. I’d attend one if it were held a little closer to me in Northern California. |
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Drama: February 27, 2019 Issue [#9406]
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