Bless The Beasts And Children
The novel, Bless the Beasts and Children, by Glendon Swarthout has a theme of the progression of the Bedwetters. These are kids who are ostracized because of their lack of physical abilities. Their individualistic actions are eliminated as the novel progresses. Before the group changed to a fully functional group one could find clues of these individualistic acts such as when the Bedwetters attempt to steal the buffalo head from one of the other cabins. John Cotton's, the leader of the Bedwetters, at first refuses to compromise and allow the group to get food. When he does compromise, the Bedwetters begin their progression. Finally the event in which the Bedwetters free the buffalo shows them as a fully functional group. The group's individualism is shown when they attempt to steal the buffalo head from the Apaches. "They botched it"(pg. 60) describes the Bedwetters' attempt. Goodenow and Lally 2 set the group off on the wrong foot after one has giggled and the other trips on a root. Teft and Shecke
Literature is a good teacher, students find out from this book that no one succeeds who does not have a clear plan and work in a unified group to achieve its goal. Glendon Swarthout must have started with this idea as his theme, it worked well for this novel. The event in which the Bedwetters free the buffalo from the preserve show them as a fully functional group. "They never had a real plan, only a simple objective: no matter who, no matter what, to free from the pens the thirty animals doomed to die in the morning". This quotation shows that the Bedwetters have indeed made an amazing progression. The Bedwetters are now showing signs of being a much more functional group than ever before; at least they had a plan/objective. As they begin their "mission", they know what they must complete and they would do whatever is in their power to make that happen. After having been set free, the buffalo congregate outside and will not run away. The group, working together and quickly, comes up with a plan. For
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Approximate Word count = 680
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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