I’m not the kind of person who gets “affected” by artwork, probably because I don’t take the time to really appreciate it (because really, there aren’t enough hours in the day). When I look at artwork it might affect me at that moment, but it doesn’t leave much of a lasting impact on me. But one of the last books I read was the Metal Children by Adam Rapp, and that definitely made me think about the issues in today’s society.
This play presented an interesting situation caused by censorship . This reaction doesn’t seem realistic, but the idea that total censorship by an authority can lead to an uprising is. Rapp was presenting the issue of censorship and what it leads to. Often when you tell someone you can’t do something, they’ll do it anyways. No one likes to be told “No” and be denied something, so this is the response one can expect. In writing this play he was criticizing this method of “Tell them they can’t do it because we said so.” It’s the same logic a parent uses to tell their children not to climb on the furniture or that they can’t go out late. The only problem is that it only works when their kids are young, once they get older they demand real answers, and if they aren’t satisfied by it they do whatever they want regardless of the consequences. Teenagers especially, are notorious for going against adult authority. The stricter the rules, the more likely they are to break them. So in the play, when the book The Metal Children is completely banned by a community it’s no surprise that the teenagers of the school rebel. What is surprising is the type of response they give and how devoted to their “mission” they are. I don’t know many (if any) girls that would willingly subject themselves to the beyond difficult life of being a single teen mother. The choice they make reflects the lack of a deep connection with family and shows the flaw in their community.
Rapp is also criticizing the girl’s choice. Especially Vera’s, because everything she does is for the mission. Vera doesn’t care much for her daughter the way a mother should. Her daughter is just another step in her mission, she cares for her because its part of the statement she has tried to make. She seems mature and sure of herself, but in reality her way of thinking is very flawed. She doesn’t care who she hurts or what it takes to further this goal of keeping the community in Idaho running. She uses a very sneaky manipulation (playing upon Tobin’s very real paternal feelings) to get him to support her cause. Tobin really does care about this daughter that he has only just met, and seems like he’d do anything to support her.
The style that Rapp uses to present this criticism really caught my eye, because the characters seem somewhat believable. Tobin, the passive guy who gets all but bullied into doing things and Vera, the teenage girl who decides to go against what society expects of her. To me the focus was more on censorship and the impact it leaves on a community, rather than teen pregnancy itself. Because the parents and community leaders weren’t speaking against teen pregnancy (even though that should have been more important) instead they were focusing on making sure this book was banned from curriculum, deeming it a “virulent element that was threatening to pollute the minds of our young people” (Rapp 53). It makes you ask yourself, what kind of small community would allow such close minded censorship when common sense would tell you that it isn’t going to solve anything?
