Books in 1940 and now

Jonathan Carroll's Facebook

I saw the picture above this morning. The caption of this picture on Facebook reads: "A boy reading in a ruined bookshop in London, after a night of heavy bombing. October 1940." At first it shocked me because of everything that has happened this week with Boston and West. I think this shows well what books represent. And it does so with one fleeting picture.

The front of the shop is in shambles, as the back of the store seems to be undisturbed. Whether this is a boy or a girl does not truly matter because the point still stands that the subject is nonetheless reading in the midst of destruction.

It makes me wonder what was happening at that very moment and what was going through the subject's mind while this picture was taken. From this point onward, I will go with what the caption says and refer to the subject as a boy.

Maybe the threat of bombing had just ended. After spending all night hunkered down in his London home, while air raid sirens blare, he ventures out with the afternoon sun making its way through the dust and smoke after the bombing.

And after the bombing scare the night before that kept him and his family in a constant state of stress and a heightened awareness that I'm sure could only come from fearing for his life, he wanted to spend his time out of the house in a place where he one time found solace.

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The book he is reading could be anything from Treasure Island to a collection of William Shakespeare's works. There is any number of things he could be reading - besides, of course, a history of WWII. The book, no matter what it is, provides the boy with an escape from a world that must feel like hell. 

This is what books brought in the past - an escape and solace. To some people, that is still what books represent. They provide an escape to the world and what is going on around them. It makes me wonder if it still does this. 

In Boston, and across the country, truly, did those affected by the bombings read? If nothing else, the news was simply a reminder of what had happened. Videos, sound bytes, interviews and pictures of the carnage and the devastation at the finish line. A book could have acted and might still serve as an escape into a world that is not filled with the injuries and death seen last week. 

Those in West might also be thinking the same thing, turning to books to escape instead of watching their town be on national news for such a disaster.

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And the books they might have turned to could have been Treasure Island or a collection of Shakespeare's works. Books are one thing that can connect centuries together, not just decades.

"Classic" books from the 18th century were read during that time by some people, then by someone in the 1940s, and now by someone in the 21st century. That is something that movies and music cannot do, at least not to the same extent. Renaissance festivals across the country, of course, have traditional music from that time, but I would venture to guess that most of the people at Renaissance festivals do not listen to music from that era on a regular basis.

Books do not change, though. Even if they are being read on e-readers, the content of the books do not change. And the places the books take you to and the escape they provide do not and have not changed.