Ben and I read and listened to the 3rd and 4th chapters today. There was a lot going on – some of it subtle or requiring background knowledge to understand. We had to do some research on Ethan Allen and Abner Doubleday to understand the humor that the Author was presenting in Chapter 4.
Yesterday we had watched a PBS Ken Burns documentary on the Shakers. (It was produced in 1988 when 10 Shakers remained. I believe only one is still alive today.) That video helped us to understand Haven’s Peck’s reaction to Mr. Tanner giving Robert the pig, as well as the discussion of ‘Frills’.
Based on the dates of the Calvin Coolidge presidency, we were able to narrow the time frame for the story to the mid to late 1920’s. What was the state of the Shaker community at that time?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Background Knowledge
Posted by Mr. Z at 8:49 PM
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(Dad & Ben) The decline of the Shaker communities began after the Civil War as the Industrial Revolution took hold. Shaker made goods could not compete with goods made in factories. Also, Shaker Men had many new opportunities in the cities that drew them away from the Shaker Colonies. The Colonies began to close as the 1800’s came to an end. By the late 1920’s, most of the original colonies were shut down.
At the time of the book, Shaker communities that remained were struggling.
You must have noticed that Robert and his family are not living in a classic Shaker community. They live in the town of Learning, VT., a small community of farmers near a small town. He attends a school of the "world" which is not full of students accepting of Shaker ways. It must be hard for a boy from a Shaker family not to be tempted by everything that their friends have or can do. Robert's father tries to help him value what it means to be "plain people" yet it clearly is a concept hard to appreciate when you are 12 or 13. It is authentic of the author to try and mimic the real life decline of the Shakers by having his family living on their own instead of in a thriving Shaker village. It is however, a massive violation of Shaker law for the Pecks to live as a nuclear family.
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