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Hi Bruce Coville!
I just read "Old Glory" in my ELA class, and I was wondering if as a writer, you wondered if you would have written Donald as not deciding to call the Uncle and siding with his Grand-Da. Did you ever feel inclined to have an ending where Donald felt more than "a little sad" at killing his great grandfather? Or is this there to show that in this generation, killing a family member if they are breaking the government's laws is more important than siding with them when they are wrong.
Thanks,
Alethea
I just read "Old Glory" in my ELA class, and I was wondering if as a writer, you wondered if you would have written Donald as not deciding to call the Uncle and siding with his Grand-Da. Did you ever feel inclined to have an ending where Donald felt more than "a little sad" at killing his great grandfather? Or is this there to show that in this generation, killing a family member if they are breaking the government's laws is more important than siding with them when they are wrong.
Thanks,
Alethea
Reply by Bruce Coville
Hi, Alethea -
That's a good question, but the answer is nope. I never thought of ending the story any other way. I wanted to show how brain-washed Donald had become because of the way kids were being taught, what the values of this culture were.
One reason to write science fiction is to pursue the thought "If this goes on . . . " I was thinking about censorship, and did an "If this goes on" story to talk about its dangers.
BC
That's a good question, but the answer is nope. I never thought of ending the story any other way. I wanted to show how brain-washed Donald had become because of the way kids were being taught, what the values of this culture were.
One reason to write science fiction is to pursue the thought "If this goes on . . . " I was thinking about censorship, and did an "If this goes on" story to talk about its dangers.
BC