Social Norms In Daniel Pinkwater's The Big Orange Plot

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Acceptance for individuals who may not want to confine themselves to social norms is vastly increasing, and one of these reasons may be that individuals feel more comfortable being themselves when they see others express themselves first. Daniel Pinkwater covers this topic with an analogy in his short children's book, The Big Orange Splot, written in 1977. The story surrounds a neighborhood with houses that look exactly the same. One day, a pelican drops a bucket of orange paint on top of a man named Mr. Plumbeam’s house. In order to keep the neatness, for “this is a neat street,” Mr. Plumbean’s neighbors urged him to quickly repaint his house (Pinkwater). However, instead of repainting his house to look the same way it did before, Mr. Plumbean …show more content…

The line “‘My house is me and I am it’. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams,’” especially resonated with me because it repeated throughout the book, and was highly inspiring to help others not be afraid to stand out if it makes them happy (Pinkwater). The story as a whole sends two messages, one that it is important to express yourself, and the other that the ability to be brave enough to stand out helps others to feel more comfortable expressing themselves. Overall, Pinkwater’s The Big Orange Splot encourages readers to embrace differences by sharing the message that it is okay to stand out and that being the first to be different will inspire others to be their own person rather than what people expect them to be. One of the two significant messages of this story is that it is important to express yourself because individuality makes people happier in their own lives. A podcast called “Little Voices, Big Ideas,” which often analyzes children’s books and their significant themes that impact the world, discusses this topic with Sarah Debacher, an English teacher, Freddi Evans, a children's book author and public scholar, and Thomas Wartonberg, a philosophy professor and author of multiple books on teaching philosophy to

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