Interpretations

In Halley’s Comet by Stanly Kunitz a teaching is telling her first graders about Halley’s Comet. She tells them that if it hit earth there would be no school the next day. The children fill in the gaps and realize that there would not be any school because the world would end. One of her students is very concerned about this and that night while his family is asleep he creeps up to the roof. On the roof he sits and waits while looking at the sky. He is waiting for the world to end. Being a young child he does not totally understand everything that his teacher told him and he truly believes that the world is going to end that night. This is one example of the way that children interpret things inaccurately. When I was little, like many other children, I interpreted numerous things very wrong. As a kid my family and I always stayed up to watch American Idol. Back then it was really popular and we all liked seeing people who sounded terrible and the select few that actually sounded decent. Well one day when I was five I can remember that I was in the car with my family and we were driving home from something. My mom and step dad were singing to a song, and I remember thinking that they should go on American Idol, because surely they would win. Thinking back on it now, I laugh because I now know that I do not come from a family of vocally talented people. Every year when we sing Happy Birthday I have to restrain from covering my ears because we are so tone deaf. I had this misunderstanding, like the child in Halley’s Comet by Stanly Kunitz, when I was little because I was proud and curious, but now I can see that it was just silly.

When I was a little kid I thought of my parents as the most amazing people in the world, to me they c...

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... seems so real and possible. Nothing is impossible and that thought and pride lead me to think that my parents could win American Idol. Above all, children are extremely curious about everything and Kunitz creates a character in his poem that was curious in the same way that I was as a child. The boy is very curious because of what his teacher told him and for this reason he snuck out to find out for himself. Curiosity is a part of growing up, and I had my fair share of it. In Halley’s Comet we never get to see what the little boy thought of his actions when he was older, but I think that my actions were just silly. While it would have been a life changing experience from my parents to be on American Idol, I know now that it would never have happened. I am, however, proud of the imagination that I had as a child. Though silly, it creates good stories for the future.