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The Wart, TH WHite
“Education is experience and the essence of experience is self-reliance” (46 White). This is Merlyn’s own definition of education, quoted from The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White.. During his education, in which Merlyn tutors the young boy, the Wart is transformed by Merlyn into several different animals, each of which teaches him aspects of ruling as King. Merlyn says this to the Wart, or Arthur, as he is later known, during the boy’s fish transformation. By experiencing these transformations, it is Merlyn’s hope that the Wart gains knowledge, and through that knowledge he hopes the boy learns to make decisions on his own. Yet how effective is this education?
Throughout the book, the Wart is still learning how to be a proper king through Merlyn’s teachings. Because of this, it is not entirely certain the outcome of the Wart’s experiences. However, some instances imply that his views change and he understands the importance of morale and ethics. His first transformation, the fish form of a perch, the Wart confronts Mr. Pike, who tells him that Might is Right, that a government that emphasizes force is best. The Wart disagrees with these views in disgust, which shows he may take this advice negatively and be a just ruler, rather than a forceful one.
When he is transformed into an ant of a belligerent colony, he is introduced to the dictatorship society by which the ants live. The Wart is disgusted by how the ants lead a monotonous life of two separate emotions, represented as Done and Not-Done. The food he ate was not his own, he had no privacy, and couldn’t ask questions for fear of rejection. From this it is to be believed the Wart learns that although the communist society is highly efficient, it is hardly the best choice for a good ruler and King. In his goose transformation, the Wart finds the very thought of killing one’s own species was horrible to others, almost unthinkable. It teaches him that violence is not necessary, and that war should be avoided as much as possible.
Although these circumstances show the Wart ways to become a good ruler, they seem to be much different than contemporary education. Given that Merlyn is able to use magic for his purposes, the Wart made physical transformations into different animals, not just mental transformations, and so may have had an advantage in better understanding his experiences in that respect. He is living in a different time, where people live and think differently than they do today. The Wart learns mathematics and sciences and other modern school subjects, but he also learns how to hunt, to put hay into bales, to work outside and use a hawk to hunt, and to ride a horse as part of the usual education.
The Wart learns about chivalry and being a good person, but he learns such things with a tutor, whereas people today don’t really learn ethics and morality inside the classroom as much as outside, if they ever do learn them at all. There seems to be the same kind of life lessons to be learned from this novel as in real life today: kindness, loyalty, chivalry, justice. Yet there also seems to be the same evils: jealousy, cruelty, neglect, ignorance, hate. The Wart’s education appears to be much different than contemporary education, but they are in fact more alike than first noticed. However, the same aspects of life are in each time, and deeply affect those who live in each.
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This intel was contributed by doublet
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May, 2012
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