The Childrens Story

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Critical Essay: The Children’s Story, by: James Clavell Is it possible to brainwash a large group of human beings in exactly twenty-five minutes? You probably think that this is impossible, but an author named James Clavell made it possible in his short story called, “The Children’s Story.” In Clavell’s short story The Children’s Story he has a new teacher that takes control of a class of elementary students. The new teacher persuaded them to follow all of her beliefs in exactly twenty-five minutes by telling them what they wanted to hear. Clavell convinces the audience that it is possible to brainwash humans within twenty-five minutes with a psychological point of view. Clavell used his psychological knowledge on children to convey that humans can be easily persuaded to do something. For example, the new teacher in The Children’s Story knew things about the students without them having to tell her. In the story Clavell stated, “Good morning Sandra, and Sandra flushed deeply and wondered, aghast, with all the other children, HOW DID SHE KNOW MY NAME? and her heart raced in her chest and made it feel tight and very heavy” (Pg. 315). This made the students think and feel important and made the children start to like the new foreign teacher. Clavell asserts that humans all look for the same thing in a person, which is kindness, attractiveness, makes us feel important, and makes us feel secure. By the new teacher being a young attractive nine-teen year old, this also made it easier for the teacher to persuade the students. In Clavell’s story he stated, “But instead of a monster, a beautiful young girl stood in the doorway” (Pg. 315). If the new teacher was to be an old man it would’ve been harder for him to persuade the children to go along with his beliefs. The children would have found him very boring and would have lost interest into what the old man was
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