Matthew Dunlap - On Stories

In C.S. Lewis's On Stories one passage struck me very hard: “To that extent the book [The Wind in The Willows] is a specimen of the most scandalous escapism: it paints a happiness under incompatible conditions- the sort of freedom we can have only in childhood and the sort we can have only in maturity- and conceals the contradiction by the further pretence that the characters are not human at all.” Lewis goes on to state that one might think this book would disrupt our daily lives, but that instead it “strengthens our relish for real life. This excursion into the preposterous sends us back with renewed pleasure to the actual.” (14) Upon reading the first part of this passage, I was instantly struck with its relevance to my current situation as a college student. Due to good fortune I do not have to work to sustain my college experience. But much of it is unreal. I am no longer a child, but lacking what feels to be the necessary component for adulthood. At times it feels like I am just lazy, but to get a job would not alleviate problems. I don’t need things that badly.

Even with the similarities, there is still a difference. In The Wind in The Willows the characters all experience life in the same way, this freedom does not make them different from those around them. The conclusion I have reached is that while I may not really feel a part of a group, I should enjoy this freedom while it lasts, because at any moment it might disappear. And when it does, maybe the excursion I have had will strengthen my enjoyment of the actual as well.