if the mystery isn’t getting explained, then maybe authors shouldn’t plant clues that lead nowhere.
Yes! I totally agree! I don't mind some mysteries going unsolved, but Abigail's letter is a very concrete clue that suggests that the mystery WILL get solved and the book IS more than just allegory, and then it just gets completely dropped.
Also, if it were just about growing up, why have Jinny’s choices toward the end make any difference at all? People don’t generally get to choose whether or not to grow up. (Is that what leaving on the boat is about—she tried to stay a child and you can’t, so she has to leave anyway? But why would that ruin things for everyone else? What choices, IRL, can a literal child make that will ruin the lives of a whole neighborhood and cause nature to encroach upon them?
Exactly! Allegories have to make sense on their own terms; the allegorical things have to match with their real-life counterparts.
For instance, there's a picture book allegory about growing up and not understanding it and having to do it anyway that I don't quite agree with but which does work as allegory, in my opinion.
The main character is a caterpillar who sees butterflies and keeps asking them what it's like to be a butterfly, and they just say, "Someday you'll know." The caterpillar is very annoyed and grumbles that when she becomes a butterfly, she'll tell the caterpillars all about it. She pupates and becomes a butterfly and sees a caterpillar yelling, "Hey! What's it like to be a butterfly?" And she realizes that the only thing she can say is "Someday you'll know."
Now, I partly agree that becoming an adult is kind of impossible to really explain to a child, because you have to experience it to really understand it. However, I think it's possible to at least try if a child wants to know. But the caterpillar/butterfly metaphor works for me, and the point does at least make sense.
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if the mystery isn’t getting explained, then maybe authors shouldn’t plant clues that lead nowhere.
Yes! I totally agree! I don't mind some mysteries going unsolved, but Abigail's letter is a very concrete clue that suggests that the mystery WILL get solved and the book IS more than just allegory, and then it just gets completely dropped.
Also, if it were just about growing up, why have Jinny’s choices toward the end make any difference at all? People don’t generally get to choose whether or not to grow up. (Is that what leaving on the boat is about—she tried to stay a child and you can’t, so she has to leave anyway? But why would that ruin things for everyone else? What choices, IRL, can a literal child make that will ruin the lives of a whole neighborhood and cause nature to encroach upon them?
Exactly! Allegories have to make sense on their own terms; the allegorical things have to match with their real-life counterparts.
For instance, there's a picture book allegory about growing up and not understanding it and having to do it anyway that I don't quite agree with but which does work as allegory, in my opinion.
The main character is a caterpillar who sees butterflies and keeps asking them what it's like to be a butterfly, and they just say, "Someday you'll know." The caterpillar is very annoyed and grumbles that when she becomes a butterfly, she'll tell the caterpillars all about it. She pupates and becomes a butterfly and sees a caterpillar yelling, "Hey! What's it like to be a butterfly?" And she realizes that the only thing she can say is "Someday you'll know."
Now, I partly agree that becoming an adult is kind of impossible to really explain to a child, because you have to experience it to really understand it. However, I think it's possible to at least try if a child wants to know. But the caterpillar/butterfly metaphor works for me, and the point does at least make sense.