The book I'm currently reading is Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner. This is one of the books on this year's Teen Book Club Book List. It's set back in the 1950s. The main character is Standish Treadwell, a fifteen-year-old kid with a weird name and dyslexia. One of his teachers, Miss Connolly used to say "Can't read, can't write. Standish Treadwell isn't bright" Gardner (3). He can neither read nor write, but he understands. His parents were taken away (or killed) and his friend Hector suddenly vanished. He lives with his Gramps. They live a Communist-like society, where the people in charge were part of the Motherland. He, along with Gramps and his neighbores live in a place called Zone Seven, location of the undesirables. And Standish definitely knows he is one, what with his different color eyes and slow understanding.
In Chapters 26-30, a series of events took place, starting with the standoff between Standish and grumpy and mean, Mr. Gunnell, a native of the Motherland. Mr. Gunnell yelled at Standish for being late after Standish was beaten up by school bully, Hans Fielder. Mr. Gunnell tells Standish that his shoelaces were untied, he took advantage of the the fact that Standish's defenses were down, and hit him hard on the back with his walking cane. Standish straighten and then punched him right in his jaw. Everyone laughed, but a small kid, Little Eric, wasn't able to contain his laughter; unfortunately, this made Mr. Gunnell set his sights on him. He grabbed Eric by the ear close to him and started beating him with the cane unitl it broke, throwing punches at his body, and later resorted to "kicking the s*** out Little Eric" as Standish put it (77). He kept kicking until Eric wasn't moving anymore. Mr. Gunnell would have even smashed Eric's head if Standish hadn't clocked him in the nose.
When a teacher, Mrs. Phillips, came out to see why Mr. Gunnell's class hadn't come for the assembly, and asked him about Eric's body, he immediately blamed it on Standish. Standish, asked by Mrs. Phillips, told her what really happened. Mr. Gunnell immediately started lying and blaming and Standish more fervently. Surprisingly, Hans Fielder stepped to agree with Standish's story. Mr. Gunnell accused him of lying, to which Hans replied " "I never lie, sir," He said. "Never." " (81). The left Eric's body on the ground and went inside to hear the assembly. Afterwards, Hans Fielder was beaten by the principal, Mr. Hellman, Standish was expelled from school, and Mr. Gunnell was shot in the head.
These scenes might be similar to the Holocaust that occured during WWII. Mr. Gunnell could represent Adolf Hitler, or his Nazi soliders. They both look down on the so-called inferiors: Hitler on the non-Aryan peoples and Mr. Gunnell on the undesirables. Hitler felt that a race that only consisted of blond-haired, blue-eyed, white people was the superior race, just like Mr. Gunnell believed that the Motherland was supreme. When he was kicking Eric, he was also yelling, " "Don't you ever laugh at me again.... I am to be treated with respect!" " (77). The Motherland brainwashed him into thinking that he is better than not only Eric, but also the people of Zone Seven. Also, during the Holocaust, there were people brave enough to speak out against the crimes against humanity, only to be silence. Standish showed that bravery by confronting Mr. Gunnell, even though Mr. Gunnell hates his guts, by telling him, " "You can't keep hitting.... I'm taller than you. Pick on someone your own size" " (75).
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