Gray Kitty

~Today I bring you a short story I wrote a few years ago for my last blog. This has been edited several times since I first wrote it, and was also modified last year to make a narrative speech. Enjoy!~

A loud thump, thump, thump resounded throughout a little house in a large, busy world. No one would yet take notice of the young girl who sat playing with her toys, which she imagined to be alive. She had no desire to see the world around her but was instead content to play her games and revel in her fantasies for a few more years.

The girl's days at that time were long and filled with joy. On one such long day, her birthday, she received a small stuffed animal fashioned as a gray, striped cat. It was quickly put to good use indoors and outdoors and was merely named “Gray Kitty.” This new toy, given out of love, was received with love and cherished well.

A year went by and still the young girl cherished the toys she considered her friends. For unknown reasons, she cared for them like no other human being could. Despite being rubbed, ripped, and tossed in the air constantly, the girl loved all her toys, especially Gray Kitty. Gray Kitty did everything with her: they climbed trees together, they finished the young girl’s homework together, and they slept together at night. Gray Kitty was always by the girl’s side.

Gray Kitty wasn’t the only toy that the girl cherished, however. Her brother had a few toys that she considered neglected. Though still young, her brother had found much greater things to set his sights on than stuffed animals. The young girl, caring not only for her own toys but also for her brother’s, took in the wayward plushies. She cared for them as her own, even brushing their hair and tying ribbons around their necks.

Over the years, the girl’s toys became more and more worn out. Still the girl loved them, still the girl cherished them. Eventually, however, the girl set them all aside. It was not because she no longer loved them but that she, too, had finally set her sights on greater things. She had found things beyond her home that excited her and was no longer content to play house with all her stuffed friends. But even after they were set aside, the toys waited patiently for her.

Every now and then, when the girl was not busy with all the matters that now occupied her life, she would stop to pick up and play with her old toys. Gray Kitty remained close to her heart and was always the first to be picked up. Even after having her fur rubbed flat against her body, the stuffing within her smashed to oblivion, and her whiskers cut off, Gray Kitty still to loved the young girl who once had played with her, and still the girl loved Gray Kitty.

Long years passed as the girl steadily forgot about all of her old toys. Then the girl left the home of her youth, and the toys would have given it all up as a lost cause had Gray Kitty not reassured them that one day, though how far away that day might be she did not know, the young girl would return to them.  And so they waited.

More years passed in silence until the girl eventually returned. Gray Kitty waited anxiously in the young girl’s old room. The girl passed through her old home, chatting with her mother and looking at the old couch where she used to do her homework, the old tree she used to climb, and finally the old bed where she used to sleep. She looked around her room curiously, and walked up to her old dresser. All her old toys were still piled on top of the piece of furniture.

After standing still for a few moments, the girl picked up one toy in particular that caught her attention: Gray Kitty. The girl touched the place where the whiskers once had been, stroked the now rough fur, and felt the stuffing poking out of a hole in Gray Kitty’s side. She hugged Gray Kitty close, holding her over her heart. She remained in that pose for several minutes as she felt her beating heart through Gray Kitty’s cloth body. She fancied that the heartbeat she felt resounded from Gray Kitty’s own heart.

The young girl smiled and gently set the old toy back on its shelf. As entertaining as they may have been, the girl’s fantasies could not replace all the truths she now knew. The woman turned to leave and continue exploring the great, busy world beyond.

_________________

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:11-12

Question 2: Myths

Is there any truth in Greek mythology?

In order to begin answering this question, let's first look at a few examples from Greek mythology:

1. Cupid and Psyche. The gist of this story is that Psyche is given in marriage to Cupid, thinking, along with everyone else, that her husband is a horrible serpent. After her marriage, Psyche is forbidden by Cupid to look at him, though she is fairly certain that he is not a horrible serpent after all. But then she is tempted by her sisters to look at him, and she does. Cupid wakes up and curses her. A lot more happens later and they eventually get back together again.
2. Narcissus. This young man is so beautiful that all the nymphs have fallen in love with him, especially one named Echo. But Echo is then cursed to forever repeat the last words someone else says. Narcissus never even notices or cares for Echo, or any of the other nymphs, but in the end falls in love with his own reflection, and dies trying to reach it in a pond.
3. Demeter and Persephone. In this story, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, is kidnapped by Hades to be his bride. Demeter casts the world into a frozen wasteland until Hades returns Persephone to her. But before Hades lets Persephone go, he makes her eat a pomegranate seed, which will cause her to always return to the Underworld for a third of the year. So for a third of each year, the world is cast into a frozen wasteland as Demeter weeps for her lost daughter.

There are many more examples I could bring up, but these are some of the easiest ones to explain. Each one has its truths. In the story of Cupid and Psyche, we learn that without any trust in a marriage, the marriage will fail. In the story of Narcissus, we see what pride does to a person. Narcissus was prideful because he thought so highly of himself that he didn't care for the praise of others, considering them beneath him. In the tale of Demeter and Persephone, the Greeks tried to explain the change of the seasons with the actions of their deities.

So for each of these three myths, and in pretty much any myth written by the Greeks, there is some truth, whether the story tries to explain a physical or a non-physical truth. However, none of these stories tells the whole truth. For instance, none of them agree that there is only one God, and in most of them, nature is at war with itself, when really the natural world works together amazingly well.

You can find such truths not only in mythology, but also in pretty much any novel. You just have to be careful what you pick out as truth and what you pick out as a lie. The best way to find truth in a novel is to test it against the Scriptures. But there are also a few other pieces you can look at when analyzing a book for truth.

Some books tend to have more truth in them than others. Having only some truth doesn't necessarily make a book good. Why the truth is written about, how the truth is written about, and what the truth is are also important. Why the truth is written about is important because sometimes, truths are merely used as evidence for a false conclusion. When reading such a book, you need to be able to distinguish between the actual truth and the false conclusion. How the truth is written is important because good truths are often wrapped in evil in a novel. For example, an angst-filled teenage love story may contain truth, but do you really need to endure the angst for the sake of the little truth in the story? Lastly, what the truth itself is is important because although such things as abuse exist, do we need to go into detail about them? Do those who have endured abuse need to relive it in the form of a novel? I would argue that such topics are unnecessary to be dwelt on in a novel, even if they do exist.

In the end, yes, Greek mythology does contain some truth. But it doesn't capture the whole truth, so we must be wary when reading it, just as we should be wary of calling lies the truth in any other fiction we read.

Question 1: If you were stranded on a desert island...

To kick off this blog, I want to start with a question. This will be the main format for my posts from here on out, though I might include essays I write for class, drawings, or anything else I might think is interesting. I intend to post once a week on Saturdays, so stay tuned!

My question for this week comes from the application to the Torrey Honors Institute (which I intend to fill out soon):

If you were stranded on a desert island and you already have your Bible, what other two books would you want with you? Why would you choose these books?

There are four distinct qualities I can think of for choosing these two books: personal preference, utility, education, and whether or not the books build up my soul. Personal preference in this case is really a minor quality and should be considered last. Utility only refers to books that would help me to live longer on the island, like a wilderness survival guide. That can only take me so far, since eventually I will die, whether I have such a book or not. Education could be a good quality to look at, but what purpose would it serve on a desert island? I would be building up my mind with no person to share my thoughts with. And lastly, whether or not the books are uplifting... The only book I really need for this last purpose is the Bible, which I am already given in the question.

So I have pretty much eliminated any books that would help me to survive, since they would only really extend the short amount of time I already have in which to live. Educational books may be interesting, but serve little purpose with no one to share your ideas or discoveries with. Any books that would be uplifting would only be in addition to the Bible. I have pretty much settled that one of the most uplifting books I have ever read, and which is my top choice for taking to this imaginary island, is Confessions, the autobiography of St. Augustine.

Now I want to look back to personal preference. I did not completely throw out this option because there is some purpose behind it. If I were stranded on a desert island, life could get pretty boring pretty quickly. Because of this, I'd probably want the second of my two books to be either a novel or poetry. But to make the most of this choice, I would want a story that is uplifting, as well. So here is a list of possibilities: 

• The Count of Monte Cristo. This is my favorite novel at the moment, and because of its length, I could read and re-read this many times over. 
• The Nine Tailors. I recently read this for English, and we were able to pull so much from it that I'm sure I could pull even more out of it if I had it with me on this desert island. 
• The Divine Comedy. I have only read Inferno, but I'm sure Purgatorio and Paradiso would be very interesting reads, as well. 

I'm sure I may come up with more options in future, but as of right now these are my three main choices for that second book. Out of the three, I would probably choose the Divine Comedy, since I've only read part of it and could probably learn more from it than the other two options.

So in the end, my choice of books is Confessions and The Divine Comedy.