Ethics in Elfland: The Truth in Fairy Tales

C.K. Chesterton's Ethics in Elfland really gave me a lot to think about. I had wished there were other people out there that found joy in simplicity, even to the degree of 'ignorance is bliss'. It seems Chesterton argues just that, and nothing ever made more sense to me.

Chesterton relates a person's instinctual attachment to sexuality to a person's deeply placed love for awe and wonder. The impossible stories are more true than the most realistic stories. Chesterton is trying to tell us that whether the tale was based on a true story or not, some fairy tales always tell deeper truths and something stirs in the reader's gut when the unpredictable happens. I can't recall a better moment in my lifetime of reading than this: Percy Jackson's pre-algebra teacher turns into a demon, his history teacher throws him a pen, the pen springs into a sword, and Percy slays his pre-algebra teacher. This all happens quick succession with very little explanation. My ten-year-old self is completely thrown into a state of unexplained excitement. My mind was alight with the thought of "What on God's green earth did I just read, and may I have a second, third, fourth helping?" I hungrily consumed the rest of the novel and my desire was not yet sated.

Chesterton wants all of us to pursue that hunger for awe and wonder. He wants us to imagine and to stumble on without questioning the logic of the situation. All we need to do is soak in the amazing moment and be swept off our feet like a child. There is truly nothing more fun than that on this planet.

Next time I read something, I'm not going to be thinking about symbols or about how one thing cannot follow the other, but only about the landscape the story etches into my mind, and about the great new things I can learn from it.