I Deserved That

I don't often give detentions in my classes; however, when a student really crosses the line I have no choice but to pull out one of the lunch detention slips and start filling it out.  Here's the positive about not giving detentions too often, when I do assign a lunch detention the student never asks "why?"  There is never any push back.  They simply accept the detention because they know that what they did was unacceptable and there are consequences for that kind of behavior.

This same kind of you get what you deserve attitude is found in C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy.  Consider what Aslan says to Aravis, "The scratches on your back, tear for tear, throb for throb, blood for blood, were equal to the stripes laid on the back of your stepmother's slave because of the drugged sleep you cast upon her.  You needed to know what it felt like."

The prince of a neighboring land Rabadash is given "what he deserves" but I'm not gonna tell you what it is because that would really spoil the ending. And this, in my opinion, is one of the lesser known Chronicles of Narnia so there's a good chance you haven't read it yet.

Yet, in The Horse and His Boy things aren't always what they seem.  Horses can talk, nobles befriend slaves and  secret histories are revealed.  Because life isn't all punishment and sometimes, dare I even say often, consequences are positive.

Here's a quick synopsis.  A boy takes off on a quest to reach the Northern Countries (Narnia and Archland) after he finds out that the man who has been raising him is not actually his father.  Right away he is assisted by the talking war horse Bree, and it's not long before their party of two becomes a party of 4.  As you can imagine there are plenty of perils and interesting characters along the way. I find The Horse and His Boy to be just as engaging and thought provoking as the most famous Chronicle of Narnia-The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  

Taking responsibility...that's kids stuff.