In praise of incompetent adults
I want to sing the praises of incompetent adults today.
Well, not, like, real life incompetent adults, but literary ones in books about children. We complain about the incompetence of the Order in Order of the Phoenix (I am not without sin here) and of course the adults surrounding active children in Stephen King books are simply abysmal. How could adults end up leaving things to little Anakin in The Phantom Menace? And what's with everyone in Sunnydale over the age of thirty? (Except Giles.)
There's a certain claim of logic in that. In the real world, we'd quite rightly prosecute adults who put kids in such positions.
Here's the thing, though:
I just read a book about a child heroine who was surrounded by competent adults who kept her out of danger as much as they could. It was deadly dull.
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Well, not, like, real life incompetent adults, but literary ones in books about children. We complain about the incompetence of the Order in Order of the Phoenix (I am not without sin here) and of course the adults surrounding active children in Stephen King books are simply abysmal. How could adults end up leaving things to little Anakin in The Phantom Menace? And what's with everyone in Sunnydale over the age of thirty? (Except Giles.)
There's a certain claim of logic in that. In the real world, we'd quite rightly prosecute adults who put kids in such positions.
Here's the thing, though:
I just read a book about a child heroine who was surrounded by competent adults who kept her out of danger as much as they could. It was deadly dull.
( Collapse )
