{"id":339,"date":"2020-09-24T22:39:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T02:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/?p=339"},"modified":"2020-09-24T22:39:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T02:39:38","slug":"innocence-vs-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/2020\/09\/24\/innocence-vs-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"Innocence vs. Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Throughout our class discussion of Mojo Mickybo<\/em>, we deliberated the themes of childhood innocence (or in the case of Mojo and Mickybo, the lack thereof) and the power of childhood imagination. I do not agree with the notion that Mojo and Mickybo lost their innocence once Mickybo\u2019s Da was killed, and his death finally brought to light the Catholic vs. Protestant conflict that the two friends were going against; the notion that only direct violence to one of their families was enough to make them understand the conflict around them and draw a wedge between the friendship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Mojo and Mickybo were forced to grow up without innocence – they were never innocent to begin with, which is why imagination was such a large part of their friendship and childhood. Growing up in Ireland during a time of serious civil unrest, it was impossible for Mojo and Mickybo to grow up shielded from what was going on around them. Starting from where the boys lived and the lifestyle the two boys lived, it is immediately clear that the Catholics were the poor societal class, and Protestants, the wealthy class. Even the way the adults in the play interact with them shows how unconducive life was for a child at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fantasy lets the friendship between a Catholic boy and a Protestant boy deal with the harsh reality that they live in a world of violence and abstract hate. Undeniably, their friendship is shocking and seems to be \u2018illegal\u2019 during the time. Like we talked about, their friendship is comparable to the friendship formed in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Unheard of during their times. I think the boys were astutely aware of their questionable friendship, but used their imagination to mask the societal pressures trying to pull them apart. So yes, while the death of Mickybo\u2019s dad did inevitably drive their friendship apart, I do not believe that moment made them lose their innocence and lead to their divide. I think that the death of Mickybo\u2019s dad made them lose their imagination and that is what ultimately led to the end of the friendship, because they could no longer deny the conflict going on around them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagination is a powerful tool, and once reality sets in, there is no going back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout our class discussion of Mojo Mickybo, we deliberated the themes of childhood innocence (or in the case of Mojo and Mickybo, the lack thereof) and the power of childhood imagination. I do not agree with the notion that Mojo and Mickybo lost their innocence once Mickybo\u2019s Da was killed, and his death finally brought … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Innocence vs. Imagination”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3821,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3821"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}