''At the Pitt-Rivers"

                                                 by Penelope Lively 

   "At the Pitt-Rivers' is a story about a sixteen year old boy that goes to a museum for a little peace and quiet. He writes his poems there. One day a middle aged woman comes in waiting for a man that is about thirty years older than her. Seeing the relationship between them disgusted the boy. In the story the boy says that he has already been in love twice. He thinks that because of the age differences between the old man and the woman, it is wrong for them to be in a relationship in that way. As the story goes on, the couple continues to come back. The boy begins to enjoy watching them and starts to see the true meaning of love. At the end of the story, the couple walks around the museum over and over again and then walk out. The next thing the boy sees is the woman combing her hair in nervousness as the man walks away.

      The moral of the story teaches the boy about the true meaning of  love. At first he thinks he knows about love because he claims that he has been in love two times. In reality, the boy is too young to know what love really is. That is what the couple teaches him. He realizes that age is just a number and if you truly love someone, it doesn't matter what other people think. That is why the boy starts to like and understand the man and the woman. By the end of the story he tears up the poem he was working on for the past few months. The poem he tore up was about a young boy and an older man sitting on a bench together, talking. The young boy in the poem is actually also the older man. No one knows why he tears it up. I think it's because he does not  need it anymore because he learned the true meaning of love.

"At the Pitt Rivers" -- Penelope Lively

Penelope Lively

         Penelope Lively, the author of “At the Pitt Rivers” and many other short stories and novelizations once said, “I have never come to terms with life, and I wouldn't wish anyone else to do so; if fiction is to help at all in the process of living, it is by illuminating its conflicts and ambiguities.” In other words, fiction can highlight what takes some a lifetime to figure out. The story “At the Pitt Rivers” starts out with a young boy with a deluded view of love. He thinks only two attractive people, who are the same, young, age can be happy and in love together. He sees a woman, not particularly pretty, with an older man. The boy is, at first, disgusted by the couple and doesn't think they should be together. He sees them, almost every day, at his museum (the Pitt Rivers) and slowly, begins to be more comfortable with the relationship. One day, something happens. They aren't happy together and that makes the young boy not as happy. The author highlights these lessons, which love isn't all about looks that it can be about love. This lesson, which might take a lifetime to learn, can be learned in 20 minutes or less reading this story. This is what Lively is talking about when she says, “by illuminating it’s conflicts and ambiguities.”

The Pitt Rivers Museum

         In “At the Pitt Rivers,” the young boy who watches the couple decides to write a poem about an old man and a young boy who is actually the old man. He had been writing it for the past few months, but then he teared it up towards the end of the short story. Lively never makes it clear why the character tears it up, but simply leaves it in the air. After the couple stops going to the museum, he decides to rip up his poem. The boy does this because he no longer has that younger person inside of him telling him what to and not to think. He tears up the poem, because he knows what love is. 

"Zoo Island" -- Tomas Rivera

Migrant Workers

           Tomas Rivera’s short story, “Zoo Island,” describes how Mexican immigrants suffered in the 1920s and 1930s, but it also offers a bit of hope. The immigrants and their children work in the fields, day after day.  When it’s dark, they go to the market and then back to their meager camp to sleep.  They wake the next day and endlessly repeat the same, excruciatingly boring, cycle. One of the children, Jose, decides to ward off boredom by taking a census (a population count) to see how many people are in their community.  Jose is a fifteen year old boy who lives in the migrant work camp with many other Mexicans.  The camp is on a farm owned by an American.  Jose’s census reveals that there are more people in his “town” than in the nearby town where they get their groceries.   Despite their greater population, the other town has far more wealth.  It has churches, schools and other standard facilities that Americans too often take for granted. Rivera’s story describes both the pain and pride that the young Jose feels at realizing his community is larger Knowing this gives the boy and his community a bit of hope.  Rivera’s story highlights the inequity and poverty of immigrants during this time, but it also points toward a future where things might change.

Because these immigrants are treated, literally, like animals, one of the older workerssuggests Jose give the immigrant camp the name “Zoo Island.” Jose and his friends and familylive in chicken coops.  Because these coops are like cages, the town’s new title suggests the workers themselves might as well be zoo animals since they are treated no better than animals.  The people point at them and gawk at them just as visitors at a zoo might do:

“I think they want to feel like we’re a whole lot of people. In that little town where we buy our food there are only 83 souls […] they have a church, a dance hall, a filling station, a grocery store and even a little school. Here we’re more than 83, I’ll bet, and we don’t have any of that. Why, we only have a water pump and four outhouses[!]”

 The Mexican workers are isolated on their camp, just as if they were on an island.  It seems there’s no way out for these workers.  But Jose’s census hints that there is power in numbers and that one day, the workers will count.  They will escape the cage they’re trapped in now and make themselves heard.

Tomas Rivera's own history reflects the situation of his characters.  His parents were Mexican immigrants and he was born in Texas, 1935.  His dream was always to break out of his migrant shell and he did. He got his PhD in Philosophy at The University of Oklahoma and later taught at high schools. He was so highly regarded that he became the chancellor of UC Riverside and he was the first Mexican American to hold such a position in the UC system. The character Jose was most likely based upon himself. Rivera worked on farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Dakota before he got his degree in Oklahoma. He wrote his first short story after he was in a car accident in 1946.  This prompted him to continue his career as an author until he died in 1984 of a heart attack.  As an author, Rivera copied the dialect of the people he farmed with, giving a realistic feel to his characters and their perspectives.  He chose to write "Zoo Island" in the third person because it puts the reader in the position of looking in at the characters.  This emphasizes his theme of a zoo and his characters as the animals.  Rivera uses his skills as an author and his own background to enhance his stories.

Don Simon, one of the characters in the short story is a very important character to the story because he adds resistance, a conflict and gives the title to the story. He is introduced towards the end of the story as the grumpy old man who doesn't like children and is sometimes violent. He is asked the Census questions and answers them with sarcastic and witty responses. This problem gives the story its conflict. This character shows Jose about just how racist some of the other people can be. Although these highly emphasized facts/comments go over Jose’s head and go to their sign, it still shows through to the reader’s perspective.

          Don Simon, one of the characters in the short story “Zoo Island,” is one of the most important characters. His part is large for a short story, making everything even he says more important. At a first glance he may seem like an old man with anger management problems, but on the second or third reading, his character is opened up and you can see the importance of his role. He came up with the name for their farm, “Zoo Island,” which, because they live in an immigration farm where people come to gawk at them, fits as a title. Although this originally goes over the young Jose’s head, he still likes the sound of it and makes a sign.

In the first half of Don Simons monologue, he is uncharismatic and almost mean, but halfway in there, his character shifts and tells him that he is giving their community hope and agrees with the choices Jose makes. He tells Jose, "in the world, when you count yourself, you begin everything, that way you know you're not only here, but you're alive." He uses the metaphor “Alive” meaning having a good time and LIVING your best day. Before, their lives were so boring that even a census count can make people get excited and make them think that they “Count.” With Don Simon’s blessing, Jose makes a sign and feels good about what he did for his community.

The young people in “Zoo Island” are so desperate for something to do, that even something as small as a simple Census count can make them feel like they matter. The young Jose and his friends go to each house and ask a few questions while counting everyone else in the homes. They count everyone, even the 2 unborn babies and they manage to get 86 people. Having more in their town then the one they get their groceries at, they feel like they “count.” Even a Census can make a town full of nobody’s, feel like they are somebody’s.

  Don Simon is a cranky,and sometimes a violent old man that lives in a chicken coop. He is very mean because his wife lift him for another man. He can also be very stubborn and sometimes very hard to be around. Don Simon and his chicken coop are moved away from all the other people because he slices Stumpy with an onion knife. Though he can be very inspiring at times, especially when he says "By counting yourself, you begin everything. That way you know you're not only here but your alive". Don Simon is a very important character to this story because he is the person that comes up with the name "Zoo Island".

  Tomas put Don Simon in this story to bring some interest to it, not just because he made up the name, but because of the details about his life that Tomas puts in the story. That itself shows that he is the main part of the story. Don Simon brings conflicted, interest, and impotence to this story.

Why Don Simon was in "Zoo Island," again.

 

     There are many reasons for Don Simon to be in the short story, "Zoo Island." He is a pretty big character for such a small story. One of the reasons is that he gives the name, "Zoo Island," for the small farm they live on. The name he gives is for a lot of reasons, first of all it's not just because the people drive by and laugh at them, it's as if they were in a zoo because they live in cages, but everyone's different. You can be a tiger in a zoo and have the same family, but you would still be different than the other tigers. Don Simon also make Jose think. When Jose asks him, where he was born, Don Simon replies, "in the world." He also says, "when you count yourself, you begin everything, that way you know you're not only here, but you're alive."

     Don Simon has a big mood swing from when Jose is asking him the questions, and when he's done. Don Simon also adds a little bit of conflict in the story. Don Simon also gave everyone on the farm a new perspective on life. Before he gave his most important line, Jose wasn't living life to its fullest. By "alive," he probably meant experiencing life as being happy and living like you only do once. Don Simon obviously knew a lot more than Jose and more about the world.

Don Simon's Point In "Zoo Island"

The story, "Zoo Island", by Tomas Rivera, talks about immigrants. When Jose, the main character, takes a census count, they counted everyone but a man named Don Simon. Don Simon is a grumpy guy that makes Jose scared. One of Don Simon's points is to cause a little conflict in the story. When he got angry with Stumpy for needling him, Don Simon chased him all around the field with a knife. Without this the story would be much more boring and not very complex. When Jose went to question him for the census, he used the vaguest answers possible. 

"How old are you?"
"Old enough."
"When where you born?"
"When my mother born me."
"Where where you born?"
"In the world."
"Do you have a family?"
"No."

He was said to be a man of few words. But there was something in his eyes that made people jump.

Even though Don Simon only appeared towards the end of the story, he still has many important roles to play. He was the one who named their town.  He called it, 'Zoo Island'. I think he called the town that because the first part, "zoo", relates to them because they don't have very many laws. When Don Simon sliced Stumpy with a knife, no one did anything about it, for example. The 'island' part relates to them because they are isolated from other people.

When Jose first began questioning Don Simon for the census, he wasn't very enthusiastic.He barely answered and wasn't to happy about it as well. He drastically changed, though, because after Jose took Don Simon in the census, he said, "Well, you know, I kinda like what y'all are doing. By counting yourself, you begin everything. That way you know you're not only here but that you're alive." He took a huge change from being grumpy and uninterested to being supportive. Don Simon is a very important character in Zoo Island and may be even more interesting than you think.

Don Simon... Why was he in Zoo Island?

By: Emily :]

Don Simon


In the book Zoo Island, Don Simon, the old man had to take a "test" for the census. Maybe Don Simon was in the story because he was supposed to  make people think. Here are some of the questions the boys asked him,

" 'How old are you?' "

" 'Old enough' "

" 'When were you born?' "

" 'When my mother born me' "

" 'Where were you born?' "

" 'In the world' "

" 'Do you have a family?' "

" 'No' "

" 'How come you don't talk much?' "

" 'This is for the census, right' "

" 'No' "

Maybe these questions made the boys think. this made Jose think about him not just being part of the farm but that he was a part of the whole world. Maybe Don Simon named Zoo Island "Zoo Island" because everyone in it was different. Don Simon later said that he liked what they were doing and that by making the census count they were starting "everything." What did he mean by everything? Well, he meant that they were here to do more then plow the fields. That plowing the fields was work for a strong animal. If they wanted to do more than plow the fields their whole life, they could strive to do something else. Don Simon was kind of the lion of every one on the farm. "There was something in his eyes that made everyone jump." Maybe the people didn't want to bother him after the incident with Stumpy.


The name "Zoo Island" was brought up by Don Simon the old man. They called this that probably because each person is different and they represent different animals. Don Simon is tough and lives away from everyone else so you could probably consider him as a lion or a tiger. Maybe he could even be like an alligator, he doesn't talk much, he wants to be away from everyone else and he made people jump. The citizens of "Zoo Island" were probably like monkeys. they just talk, talk, talk all they please out loud while old Don Simon talks to himself in his head. When stumpy was antagonizing Don Simon he chased after him and slashed at him with an onion knife. Don Simon was an important character because he emphasized the importance of the census and gave the farm its name.