My musings this week have been inspired by our conversation at Sunday at the pub last week. We talked about monsters and childhood. As we drove home I was thinking about one of my favourite children’s picture books – Nothing by Mick Inkpen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJhrFNGbwNI
I trained as an early years teacher and so finding new and interesting story books was part of the job. This book was released in 1995 (just before I trained) and I always loved it. It’s a bit of an oddity. Although it follows a standard pattern of a character on a journey comparing themselves to others in order to find themselves or discover something (think the Gruffalo or, another favourite of mine, ‘The little mole who knew it was none of his business’), at its core the story has a deeply existential edge as Nothing seeks to understand his identity. While Nothing is often comparing physical attributes with the other creatures they meet, there is also the undercurrent of worth, family and identity.
So, a brief precis of the story for those who don’t know it.
The family at number 47 are moving to a bigger house because there’s a new baby on the way. Above the hubbub of packing, something small and forgotten is squashed in the attic wondering about who they are. As the family clear the attic a light falls on the thing and someone says: “What have we got here?”, “Oh it’s nothing”, another replies. “Let the new people get rid of it”.
“So, that’s my name,” thought the little thing, “Nothing!”
I told you it was a deep one. Just take a moment to let those words sink in. How do the words that we speak, and have been spoken to us, define who we are. As a child my family would say: “If he fell in muck, he’d come out smelling of roses”. It sound innocuous enough but behind it was a sense that I am prone to trouble and wouldn’t amount to much.
Nothing then goes on a journey comparing themselves to the creature they meet, But along the way Nothing finds themselves on the roof on a clear moonlit night. As they sit there they are awed by the huge world they have emerged into.
“…there are no words for that kind of feeling, so I won’t try to tell you how Nothing felt, except to say that [they] sat on the roof staring up at the sky for a very long time”.
Later, Nothing sees their reflection in a puddle. They see themselves as ugly and struggle to recall memories of who they were.
In the end, the family cat, Toby, finds Nothing and takes them to the new family home. Nothing is dumped in Grandpa’s lap who Nothing recognises. Nothing was Grandpa’s toy cat when he was a baby. He was based on Toby the cat’s Great Great Great Great Grandfather. Nothing is cleaned, remade with scraps and becomes ‘Little Toby’ once more and is given to the new baby.
I suppose at its heart this book challenges me to think about whether my life has made me less John or more John? Am I threadbare and tattered, forgetful of who I once was; or remade with scraps to my true purpose? A bit of both I suppose. And it make me think of John 3:16 and being “Born Again”. I think I’ve said before in a blog that Jesus is using word-play and that his words can mean “Born from above” as “Born anew”. So does that mean reset to the past, made into something different, or made into the best version of myself? I think those three differences could lead us to three very different views of ourselves.
Questions:
1, Do you have a favourite children’s book or film?
2, What does it mean to you, is it nostalgic or does it still have a deeper meaning for you?
3, Have you had any moments when being somewhere has caused you to see yourself differently?
4, Is our identity shaped by how people see us?
- In your faith journey, have you had moments where your perspective of yourself has changed? Has this felt like being reborn, renewed, rebuilt or something else?
- Draw as gingerbread person on a sheet of paper. on one side write the words (or draw images) that have been spoken to you that have shaped you, on the other side write the words (or images) you would like to say to yourself moving forward.
All quotes are from Nothing by Mick Inkpen (1995, Hodder `Children’s Books, London)
Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash
I’ve been a member of BCFX for about 2 years. I love it. It’s home and hearth, welcome and challenge, ebb and flow.