Essay on Emma Donoghues the Wonder: Exploring the Power of Religion vs Childhood Innocence

The novel by Emma Donoghue "The Wonder" is an important novel that presents the idea of the power of religion and childhood innocence and its main character is Anna. The author presents Anna and her mother tries to force things to happen, and this makes the audience understand much about the childhood experience and the opposing views regarding the religion. Annas mother forces her to understand the reality of the childhood experience versus the religion (Donoghue 23). Through the novel, Annas mother narrates interesting things to her about the world. Furthermore, Annas, other had some good to tell regarding the world and how it affects the human behavior. Ideally, it is a satire novel that that talks about the worlds current mores and media. The novel offers a conflict between the power of the religion and the childhood innocence. The power of religion and childhood innocence conflict each other. The author presence that the power of religion does not provide an opportunity for a childhood with childhood innocence to explore the real world. The conflict can be resolved by making sure that people teach their children regarding the religion and that nature is controlled by a supernatural being.

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It is in the novel that the author presence religions impact on Annas innocence. Anna and Elizabeth are seen having a strange and intense relationship which is seen to be a healthy relationship. The relationship presents the elements of mother-baby bond which are seen for example during the breastfeeding. According to the religion, this is seen as a significant bond between the child and the mother. The relationship between the child and the mother dramatizes the full range of the extraordinary emotion that children and parents have and feel towards each other. Furthermore, the author presents that the mother is religiously inclined but the child (Anna) out of her childhood innocence does not understand the importance of the religion. For example, when she sees his mother praying, he laughs thinking that her mother has run mad (Donoghue 36). She sometimes tells her mother to see the Chilean miners who always pray, but she does not see the reason for their continued prayer. Furthermore, because of her childhood innocence, Anna would view her mother as a vague Christian who does not deserve any respect at all. According to Anna, the prayers that her mother makes on a daily basis acts as a form of comforting lies or eternal verities and thus might make her get the sense of the world.

Moreover, Anna just sees the "Room" as a peculiar doubt concerning the death. Accordingly this explains the acceptance of death in the society. For example, she glimpses "a woman in a filthy frilled cap" "the hungry season" (Donoghue 47). Here she says that everything that goes against nature is meant to distract her mind. To explain further about the power of religion and childhood innocence, the author uses Irish potato famine that caused death to those who were starving. For example, the author explains A child now 11 must have been born into hunger. Weaned on it, reared on it every thrifty inch of Annas body had learned to make do with less (Donoghue 68). Here Anna sees it as a punishment from God because people are doing wrong things in the name of religion. According to her, people should not be praying but should utilize such periods to tending their farms. Anna sees food as the most significant thing in the society, and according to her, the potato farming has affected the society because people did not take their time and work towards ensuring the vegetables do not die. In the Wonder novel, food is the dominant chord and children in the society where it was set to see it as of great significance.

Furthermore, the author explains the concern for Anna by Elizabeth. The author uses "so-called Fasting Girls" who are said to have gone without food for some days, and they eventually became sick. Accordingly, Elizabeth here is seen being concern about the Annas welfare and how she will grow with good behavior. Because their parents did not understand the impact of fasting, they subjected their children to depressions and oppressions. According to the author, this shows how Elizabeth is being concern with Anna. Elizabeth says such need, such desire, risk and regret, all the unhallowed mess of life (Donoghue 83) to show that she has a great concern about Anna.

Conclusively, the The Wonder is a novel that presence the conflict between the power of religion and childhood innocence. Through the presentation of Anna, as a character, the reader tend to understand much about the religion and how it conflicts the childhood innocence. Being a fact-based historical novel, Donoghue presence the image of a damaged religion that has outdated superstitions and how childhood innocence perceives such a religion (Donoghue 89). The novel explores faith and trusts as having the conflicting interests of those with childhood innocence. It inspires the society to understand the role of the society in ensuring that children grow and become spiritually mature individuals. The author argues that mysteries of faith in some societies has misguided the parents and such parents do not bring up their children in a way that they will become principled individuals with concrete faith.

Works Cited

Donoghue, Emma. The Wonder: A Novel. 2016.