The Value of Ideas - Literature review Example

Gryphon by Charles Baxter Renowned American Charles Baxter, through his short story Gryphon, has pointed out towards the very reality thatif the children are encouraged to learn something creative and ingenious, they can show eagerness to their studies as well as can be proved to be curious to discover and analyze their social phenomena. Hence, they do not require the reminders from their parents, teachers or elders to give attention to their studies. Thus, the main theme of the story is this that if the children are provided with an opportunity to ponder on the abstract things related to their studies, it will excite and enthuse their curiosity and will be helpful in respect of looking into the facts and realities in a broader prospect. The story narrates the readers the value of ideas leading towards the brainstorming of students. The description of imaginary creatures develops the interests of students towards studies. The story reveals the command of the substitute teacher, appointed to teach them for a couple of days, over inviting and arousing the curiosity of the young students. Moreover, she knew it very well how and where to transfer such information that serves as something amazing for the little minds. The narrator expresses the students’ fondness for learning because of the teaching methodology adopted by a substitute teacher, called Miss Ferenczy, who captured the attention and attraction of the entire class because of her queer ideas, exceptional imagination and a bit curious thoughtfulness. The children had never discussed lessons and lectures delivered to them outside their class before the arrival of Miss Ferenczy in their class. It is therefore the writer gives the very message that if the curiosity of the children is projected in an encouraging way, there remains no need of forcing them pay due heed to the books and lectures. At young age, children are more interested in sports and games, and take the lectures, books and reading material as undue burden on them. It is the skilled mentor that creates learning environment in such a mode that could fascinate the students and compel them to listen to each and every word of the lecture with complete devotion and concentration, as did Miss Ferenczy while teaching the 4th grade class as a substitute teacher. Childhood is considered to be the most excellent period in respect of learning, during which cognitive abilities of the innocent children are at their peak. If the children develop taste for books in childhood, it will be highly supportive for them to absorb their attention towards books and consult helping material without any support. The same is the main theme of the story under analysis. Though her abstract ideas and concrete imagination put the students enter into discussion whether Miss Ferenczi was speaking the truth or telling lies, yet her words turned as moot point for the debate among the students while their return in school buses. It is because of her lecture that little Tommy starts exploring the pages of dictionary on reaching his home to find out the meanings, traits and characteristics of the imaginary creature Gryphon, about which Miss Ferenczy had claimed to see it in Egypt. A gryphon, according to the writer, is an entirely imaginary creature, half eagle and half lion. In other words, a gryphon is made up of the two different objects, combination of which make an entirely a new and novel object. Since the children remained confined to their syllabus books, they never managed to think beyond the course outline. It is therefore they took such an imaginary creature with unbound curiosity about which they had no surety whether or not it existed in the world until they had any thought of it. Miss Ferenczy appears to believe that the knowledge of abstract and exotic objects should be transferred to the young students so that they can contemplate on the possibilities of the existence of such objects and creatures. The character of gryphon, according to Baxter, is highly symbolic one, where Miss Ferenczy herself represented the imaginary creature --half in this world, a world of concrete objects, and half out-of-this-world. (Quoted in charlesbaxter.com) Tommy had never consulted the dictionary himself in past; nor did his class-fellows use to discuss their lectures outside the school. On the contrary, they used to talk about the personality and activities of their teachers, as they mocked at the illness of their regular teacher Mr. Hilber while exiting from the school gate. Tommy’s sharing the unique personality with his mother during her domestic chores proves the very reality that Miss Ferenczy had left indelible imprints on the minds of children and encouraged them to recall the things they had learnt in the classroom. Hence, the words delivered by Miss Ferenczy at the classroom urged the students contemplate upon even the imaginary things existed in the contemporary world. Baxter does not confine to the notion of teaching the students abstract and imaginary things altogether; rather, he appears to state that since the probabilities and possibilities are part of everyday human life and cannot be negated altogether, these things could be the part of lectures given to the young students, so that they could explore the very existence of unexpected possibilities in their life. The same is the case with Miss Ferenczy’s comments while taking the arithmetic class. It was an astounding matter when Miss’ Ferenczy ignored the mistake of a student (i.e. John Wazny’s) during his reading the table of six. It was quite strange for the entire class that the teacher appreciated the reader instead of pointing out his mistake. But the substitute teacher i.e. Miss Ferenczy viewed it as a ‘substitute fact’, which could be true ‘until she was in the classroom.’ It was really an amazing thing for the innocent students of 4th grade, and they could not understand how both sixty-six and sixty-eight could be the right answers simultaneously. But instead of making corrections, Miss Ferenczy stuck to her point and viewed that it could be happened sometimes. The students observed it in an extraordinary inquisitive way, and appeared to be curious regarding the magic of numbers. The teacher explained her arguments through the example of cup. The only thing a number does, she submitted, is contain a certain amount of something. “Think of water. A cup is not the only way to measure a certain amount of water, is it? You could use saucepans or thimbles. In either case, the water would be the same.” (Quoted in shortstory.by.ru) It forced the little students apply minds in a more curious way and to think about variety of possibilities in an inquisitive mode. Miss Freneczy’s teaching methodology was absolutely unique and somewhat weird one, but it wide opened new horizons of wisdom and knowledge to the students. The same could be examined while her teaching the vocabulary to the students. As soon as she found Tommy writing wrong spellings of the word ‘balcony’ again and again, she whispered in his ear that ‘the words we don’t like shouldn’t be used while speaking too.’ It was a great disclosure for Tommy and he came to know about the imperative significance of words and vocabulary in everyday life. In addition, her method of elaborating the things through pictures, like the Egyptian Pyramids and tree, also serves as a splendid method of coaching and teaching the students in a vivid way. It was also curious for the students when she connected the link of George Washington with the Egyptian soil by stating the fact that Washington’s grand-mother belonged to Egypt. In addition, she also compared the ancient Egyptian civilization with that of the USA, which was a thing that the students could never forget in life. The children were in a fix whether she was right in her arguments or just spinning a yarn to fascinate the students. Even then during her delivering the lecture, there remained pin-drop silence in her class, and nobody tried to interrupt her altogether. Here appears the question whether the children should be taught in such a way that may turn them astonished and dumbfounded. Baxter is of the opinion that the teachers should transfer knowledge, wisdom and foresight to the children for their better upbringing, cognitive development and socialization as well. To conclude, it becomes evident that teaching and coaching is an art as well as science, which could be supported by abstract articles and imagination in order to broaden the mental capacities and learning abilities of the students. It can encourage them explore the truths and realities in their social and physical environment and they are sure to take interest in their studies even without the provocations and enforcements of their elders. Moreover, Baxter has, in an extremely interesting mode, revealed the very fact that if a teacher has command over portraying scenes on the basis of his thorough study, superb imagination and pageant ideas, as well as he maintains dexterity over inviting the inquisitiveness of the students, it becomes incredibly encouraging and supportive for the small students to pay extraordinary heed to their studies rather taking it as an unwanted burden that is challenging for their sports and other leisure time activities. References: Baxter, Charles. Gryphon 1985 (Retrieved from http://www.shortstory.by.ru/baxter/gryphon/index.shtml) Gryphon: Often Asked Questions. (Retrieved from http://www.charlesbaxter.com/published_works/gryphon_main.htm) Pinocchio Read More