The Children's Story
"The Children's Story" is a 4,300-word dystopian fiction short story by James Clavell. It first appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal October 1963 issue, and was printed in book form in 1981. It was adapted by Clavell into a thirty-minute short film for television which aired on Mobil Showcase.
Plot summary
The story takes place in an American classroom full of seven-year-old children, after the US has been defeated and occupied by an unspecified country. The story opens with the previous teacher leaving the classroom, having been removed from her position and replaced with an agent of the foreign power.The new teacher makes an immediate good impression with her pretty face, friendly demeanor, lack of an accent, beautiful singing voice, and the fact that she'd already memorized the children's names by studying from a chart. Only one child, Johnny, is hostile to her, as his father has been arrested and placed in a detention camp.
The children first attempt to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but the new teacher questions them and exposes the fact that they do not understand its meaning or even many of the words. She convinces them that the Pledge is pointless and to cut up the classroom's flag to each keep a piece. The children throw the flagpole out the window for fun.
The children ask the teacher several questions, which she answers using propaganda techniques and relentless optimism about the change. She tells Johnny that the detention camp is like a school for adults and that he'll be allowed to visit his father in a few days.
The teacher asks the children to pray to God for candy, which does not come. She then suggests they pray to "Our Leader" for candy, and while the children's eyes are shut, quietly puts candy on the desks. Johnny, who had opened his eyes, calls her out. The teacher claims she did this to show that prayer does not work, that only humans can give each other rewards and that she and the regime will reward the children if they behave well. She awards Johnny a position of authority in the class, which placates him and he commits himself to not accepting "wrong thoughts".
The story ends with the teacher contemplating the fact that all throughout the country, children and adults are being indoctrinated. She has only been in the classroom for twenty-five minutes.
Background
The story touches on concepts such as freedom, religion and patriotism.Yukio Aoshima, who translated this novel into Japanese, suggests it follows on to La Dernière Classe in Contes du Lundi by Alphonse Daudet. This short story tells of the last schoolday of a French teacher who is about to flee Alsace after a German conquest.
Clavell wrote this story after a talk with his six-year-old daughter, who had just returned home from school. His daughter, Michaela, was explaining how she had learned the Pledge of Allegiance and he was struck by the thought that, though she had memorized the pledge, she had no idea what many of the words meant.
Clavell finishes by writing: