What I am reading to my kids, part 4

The Missing Piece
by Shel Silverstein

I bought this book for my daughter for her 2nd birthday, and she is now 4, so this book has made a regular appearance at night time readings for two years now. It came a little late in my own childhood for my enjoyment. Silverstein's The Giving Tree was one of my favorite books as a child, but I am going to wait to unleash such a sad childrens' book until she is a little older. Anyway, as I have read this book over the two years my daughter has taken certain parts of it and always makes the same comment at whatever point that is. The comment she makes keeps changing, but the book seems to give her a lot to chew on. It's nice to think that in an age where every form of media is available for immediate consumption, whether it be movies, TV, and music; media that goes into sensual overdrive in order to get little eyes and ears to pay attention to it, that a book that is simple black and white line drawings suggests so much to a young mind.

The first line of the book, where a circle with a mouth cut out of it (sort of pre-pacman) is noted that it was "missing a piece. And it was not happy." suggests that this has been a condition for the circle for a long time. it didn't decide that it was missing a piece on day, as part of the plot. Also, interestingly for childrens' books, the circle is referred to as "it". Most books have a character with a specific gender with the stories geared toward that gender and the characters performing specific gender roles. The circle then sets out on his day, looking for a missing triangular piece that will fit in his mouth. The first one he comes upon rejects him. The next four don't complement him for some reason, begin too big, small, the wrong shape, etc. Finally he comes upon a triangle that fit and accepts him. The circle then realizes, however, that he can't be who he is with it, so he let's it down and goes back to singing about missing a piece.

The story really has 4 interpretations:

1. That one must have another person to complement the other, a companion or friend, rather than accepting that it's also fun to be alone. The addition of the piece makes the circle realize that he can't do the really fun things when he is 'complete.'

2. That someone must have something to possess to be complete. Perhaps Silverstein's comment on consumer society. I don't think kids would ever get that. Maybe that just a message for the adults.

3. That it addresses possible psychological anxiety about a missing sex organ, or presence of one, thus the lack of gender in the circle character. Silverstein may have done this subconsciously, don't you think?

4. This one is really for the adults - at the end of the story, after he gets rid of the piece that fit, he goes right back to being unhappy about missing a piece. This is an unconventional resolution in the world of happy endings. The Hollywood version would have the circle having a realization and saying, "Hey! I really would be happy without the piece," and going on to be Deepak Chopra. But no, he goes right back to anxiously feeling that he's missing a piece. In other words, some people would rather be unhappy than to deal with the compromises that having a companion might have, and further, that some people relish being miserable than to take the risk of being happy.

So my daughter always reacts in these parts. (I'll use letters for this list. Don't want you to think I'm writing for the American Film Institute and getting obsessed with numbered and ranked lists):

a. At the part where Silverstein outlines what the circle likes to do, he says it likes to "smell a flower," to which my daughter replies, "Just like me!"

b. When one of the pieces that doesn't fit breaks, my daughter gets distressed. When the circle goes on an adventure and gets an arrow in his mouth, she thinks that it's the broken piece, since that's the last one that doesn't fit in the story. She says, "It's fixed."

c. She always looks at me when I sing the circle's song about finding the missing piece with the piece in his mouth, because I imitate what that would sound like. It's a cross between Marlon Brando in the Godfather mumbling, and a thirteen year-old with a mouth full of too big braces.