The Loud Silence of Francine Green,

The Loud Silence of Francine Green,
Catch a Tiger By The Toe

YA fiction
Someone famous once said that those who forget the lessons of
history are doomed to repeat them. Jeepers Creepers! The United
States must have the world's worst case of amnesia. On a regular
basis we get so scared of some scapegoat enemy du jour we willingly
relinquish our freedoms for protection by the government, conveniently
forgetting they're the ones keeping us focussed on fear. Why do they
do this? Why do we let them?
Why am I asking these questions? I recently found a couple of
very thought provoking books set in the Cold War years written by
people who were young when Joe McCarthy was in ascendence, innocent
people were blacklisted and arrested for alleged Communist sympathies,
and children were taught to take cover under classroom desks if Russia
decided to drop the bomb. Karen Cushman's The Loud Silence of
Francine Green and Ellem Levine's Catch a Tiger By The Toe give vivid
pictures of a time both light years distant from and chillingly
similar to our own.
Francine, Cushman's protagonist, has been taught by her family
that it's essential to not rock the boat or make waves, to stay in the
shadows, and, above all, to never get in trouble. She has learned her
lesson well. She tries to help a neighbor, Sophie, who was kicked out
of public school, adjust to their strict Catholic school as they start
eighth grade.
Sophie will have none of that. She has opinions of her own and
no fear of sharing them. The first day of class she gets in trouble
for observing that praying for a volleyball team win might be silly
when there are much bigger problems in the world.
Seeing Sophie stand up for issues ranging from free speech
rights to the need to ban the bomb, Francine begins to question her
strategy of silence, especially when she sees innocent people
blacklisted and in danger of arrest. Things have become a lot less
black and white than she has been raised to believe. She covets the
clarity of her earlier years. In a scene where she is stamping
through rain puddles, she declares, "...I wanted the government to be
right and fair, to keep us safe and out of war. I wanted communists
to go back to Russia and get rid of their bombs. I wanted Americans
to get rid of our bombs (splash!). I wanted the world to be like I
thought it was when I was four or five. It was much too scary now
that I was thirteen (splash! splash!)."
Francine could have had quite an interesting conversation with
Levine's narrator, Jamie, who asks, "'Can't we once, just once, sit
down to dinner, and nobody says anything except 'Pass the butter,
please,' or 'The meat loaf is really good,' or 'How nice you're on the
newspaper staff'"--I paused--without one word about the president or
Congress or Senator McCarthy or anything about politics?'" She hates
politics. She has ample reason to.
Jamie has to think very carefully about everything she says or
does. Her parents are always reminding her of the need for secrecy.
They have participated in activities that could have McCarthy's people
considering them Communists. Her radio writer mother and teacher
father could be easily blacklisted, losing their jobs and maybe going
to jail. She has reason to believe the family is on the F.B.I.
radar. A couple of agents have asked her what newspapers they read.
Jamie has to be very careful at school. A lot of kids reflect
the anti Communist views they hear at home. A girl, Harriet Purdue,
who had to move when her blacklisted college professor father lost his
job, was ostracized her last day at school. Even some teachers share
the prejudices of their time. Mrs. Ridit considers the United Nations
to be fellow travellers, communist sympathizers.
Retro (the old becoming cool again) is awesome for clothes
styles and atrocious for politics. Joe McCarthy would be green with
envy over the new techhnologies the government can use for espionage
in the name of homeland security. It may be terrorists instead of
Communists. But the script of gubmemt protecting us from them has
remained dismally the same in 60 years, as has this focus been used to
divert citizens from pressing issues of justice and fairness. Either
or both of these books would be great to show kids this recurring
theme in much the way Arthur Miller used his play, The Crucible, set
in the Salem witch hunt days, to show that what went on in the
McCarthy era had much deeper historical roots.
On a personal note, I learned a lot about the McCarthy Era from my
college professor mom and college librarian dad who hadn't been
exactly simpatico with Joe when it was all going down. In my mind
Margaret Chase Smith's Declaration of Conscience became one of the
truly pivotal moments of American history. Smith became the famous
person I would most like to meet. This actually happened in the
1980s. I arrived very early at a place she was going to speak. She
was there early too and actually started a conversation with me. She
didn't let me talk much of my admiration of her, turning the
conversation to my thoughts and passions which, for some reason I
couldn't fathom, she found fascinating. Before she went in the
building she insisted I at least seriously consider running for public
office. It is a matter of great pride that I was first encouraged
into public service (school committee) by my greatest role model. I
try very hard to live up to the example of courage and grace under
fire that she set.
A great big shout out goes out to Dennis Kucinich. I so would love to
see him become president and change the priorities of the United
States to be more in line with our Constitution and its amendments.
Maybe, just maybe, liberty and justice for all could become a reality.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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