There Are no Children Here

In class today, we tried to determine what makes a person an "adult". This got me thinking about the reverse, what are the factors that determine whether or not a person is a child? The topic reminded me of a book most of the class read in 8th grade called There Are no Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz. The book takes place in the projects of Chicago, in a neighborhood where murder, robbery, and rape are all daily realities. It follows a young boy, Pharoah, who encounters adversity and corruption on a daily basis:

"Pharoah clutched his childhood with the vigor of a tiger gripping his meat. He wouldn't let go. Nobody, nothing would take it away from him. When he was two, Pharoah would around the apartment naked; sometimes he'd be wearing just small white shoes. At the age of five, he had an imaginary friend, Buddy, whom he'd talk to and play with in his bedroom. Those forays into distant lands and with other people seemed to help Pharoah fend off the ugliness around him" (15).

Despite this quote, which seems to suggest that Pharoah did in fact have a childhood despite the hardships around him, the class came to a consensus that it was not possible to have a real childhood in the projects of Chicago. The class came up with multiple suggestions for things that make people children, for example: children must be sheltered from violence and crime, to be a true child, one must be allowed to go to a good school and have positive role models, and to be a child one must be worry-free.

Do you agree with the quote, which suggests that childhood can be found wherever a person is lighthearted enough to create it, or do you agree with the class, who suggested that, while someone like Pharoah may be able to use their imagination and play, he was still robbed of his childhood because he lives in such a rough area he still carries the worries around him?