In a Different Context

 Although I never read the House of Danger series as a child, I have to admit, I did read some this summer. The little eight-year-old boy I babysat had a bit of an obsession with them, so much that his parents even told me to make sure he also read “real” books once in a while. While he read them out loud to me, I half-heartedly listened along, more concerned with correcting his pronunciation of words than the actual story line. Once in a while, however, I did get enthralled in the story and secretly disagreed with some of his decisions throughout the reading. I often had to stop myself from asking why he chose one way, when it was clearly the wrong choice. I had the unique and often frustrating experience of having the listen through these books without actually getting to choose my own adventure. Alas, I realized I better keep quiet not fight with an 8 year old about his fictional choices if I wanted to keep my job…

When I saw it was on the syllabus for this course, I was a little confused, but quite honestly, I was excited to finally be able to choose my own adventure instead of following along with the little boy’s clearly wrong choices. Although I was expecting an increased freedom, what I found was one of the most constricting books I’ve ever read. I felt the same sense of entrapment that I had before, the words were so matter of fact, so absolute. There was no choice, no room for the analysis of behavior. The boy I babysat was beyond excited by the idea of choosing his own adventure, he totally bought into the freedom, as children naturally should. Reading the book through a more critical lens, where we focused on the concept of choice, I realized his sense of freedom was largely synthetic. I found this application of the reader’s ability for choice within fiction was an extremely interesting way to read House of Danger and saw clearly how it related to the other books from this semester. It demonstrated how the ability to choose and control the reality in fiction is much more open in a disconnected narrative than one where you are told every step of the way. Although the House of Danger claims to give you the ability to choose, it is much more constricting than a text like Cat’s Cradle, where almost every action and emotion can be interpreted and changed. I thought the book very easily proved this point and therefore should be kept in the class. On a more personal level, I really enjoyed reading the book in completely different way than this past summer. It was rather strange, yet exciting to be exposed to the same text in two very different contexts. When I go back home on breaks and listen to little Teddy chose his mystery, fully believing in his power of choice, I’ll be just a little cynical in regards to his sense of freedom.