Children's Story

THE STORY: The place is a schoolroom in a middle-sized American city, the time a morning after the war-the war which we lost. The old teacher waits uncertainly for the pupils to return, and for her replacement to arrive. Neither she nor the children know what the New Order will bring, but the children, at least, are relieved when the new teacher proves to be young, attractive and carefully prepared in her duties. To be sure there is resistance and suspicion at first, but these are deftly and charmingly surmounted, and soon the children are finding school more fun than ever before. Gradually the new teacher moves from acceptance to control, and before long she has maneuvered her young charges into agreeing that the flag is merely a symbol which should be snipped into pieces for souvenirs, and that prayers to God might better be replaced by prayers to the all-powerful New Leader. In the end her victory, innocently handed to her by the children themselves, is complete. Through ignorance of the enemy, and perhaps a lack of true understanding of their own beliefs, they have fallen victims to subversion-the subtle, soft-spoken, smiling kind of subversion which can so often deceive the unthinking and the unprepared, be they young or old.Clavell, James is the author of 'Children's Story ', published 1966 under ISBN 9780822202066 and ISBN 0822202069.