Judith
Viorst's book, Alexander and the Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, follows Alexander
through a rather trying day. He wakes up with gum in his hair, doesn't
get a seat by the window during carpool, doesn't get dessert in his
lunch, is rebuffed by his friends on the playground, has to get a cavity
fixed
at the dentist, and has to eat lima beans for dinner. The difficult
situations Alexander finds himself in, and his way of dealing with
them, are what
makes this book ripe for philosophical discussion. The book addresses
issues such as moods and emotion, envy, fight and flight responses,
the concept of art, and making mistakes.
The concept of emotion is a particularly evasive one
and is notoriously difficult to comprehend and even harder to articulate.
Understanding the nature of emotions is a philosophical issue that
is still under much debate. Traditionalists believe that inner states
are important for emotions, while Behaviorists believe that emotions
are only comprised of our outer behavior. Alexander grapples with
a number of different emotions during his day and handles some of
them on the inside, and some of them very outwardly.
He goes through a range of emotions from just generally
being in a bad mood, to jealousy, frustration, anger, and rage, and
he is forced to manage each of these emotions. His actions raise
philosophical questions about the best way to recognize and handle
emotions. The module contains questions to help recognize
the characteristics of each emotion, and raises questions about determining
the best way to respond to a difficult situation. This, in turn,
necessarily brings up questions about moral and ethical behavior.
Ethics is an area of philosophy which can be applied
to nearly any situation and having a good background in ethics can
help individuals respond to any given situation. The concept of violence
is particularly interesting from an ethical standpoint because it
initially always seems like a bad thing to engage in, but there are
cases where it can be argued that violence is the only way to handle
a particularly tricky issue.
Several times throughout the book, Alexander mentions
his desire to move to Australia, and it raises the question about
whether or not it is appropriate to run away from problems, and whether
or not this is the best possible response. The book also raises questions
about making mistakes. This is particularly interesting because most
children are at an age where making mistakes is a common occurence
and, although everyone can learn from mistakes, some mistakes are
bigger than others. This may raise questions about the philosophy
of learning. What does it mean to learn and what are the best ways
to learn? Our society is always geared toward putting a positive
spin on everything and attempting to learn from every situation,
but is this always possible or reasonable?
In the spirit of learning and being creative, there
are some questions about the nature of art as well. There are many,
varying opinions about art and it seems impossible to come up with
any one definition although the book indicates that there are definitely
things that are not to be considered art. Children are particularly
creative, and these questions are designed to trigger further thinking
about what art is or isn't.
The question set is designed to elicit responses from
the children on what they think each of these topics means. It asks
a series of how and why questions as well as a few more philosophically
specific questions designed to get
the children thinking. The reason this book is particularly poignant
for children is because every child has had to deal with at least
one of these issues in his or her life. Thinking about these issues
will not only allow children to better understand them, but also
will allow them to think about their own experience with these issues
and how to approach them the next time they come up. By thinking
more critically about everyday issues like whether or not to punch
your brother for calling you a name will hopefully help children
think about what it means to be morally or ethically responsible
social citizens of the world, even in Australia.
Continue
to question set for this story
