When we read a book, it almost always includes or revolves around a problem that must be solved. Of course, this statement is very general and is not true for all books, not even all novels, especially not for biographies, but, generally speaking, it is still reasonable. This dilemma can be something we come across every day, love, for instance, but it can happen that the issue you read about is really out of the ordinary or something you haven’t even given a thought before.
I had this experience with the novel titled The Children Act written by Ian Mc Ewan, six years ago. In a nutshell, it tells the story of a boy, named Adam Henry, who is suffering from leukaemia and who desperately needs blood transfusion in order to stay alive. The plot starts getting complicated when it turns out that Adam’s parents strongly object to this idea due to religious reasons (or to be specific, the family is Jehovah’s Witnesses) and they believe that blood is basically life, and only God can give or take away lives, that is why blood transfusion goes against the dogmas. However, the decision is in the hand of a judge, named Fiona Maye, who – just like the reader – does not understand how all this is even a question.
Fiona visits Adam in the hospital, because she thinks his parents influenced him, so she wanted to hear Adam’s opinion. Fiona had a huge impact on Adam, but later (after the successful blood transfusion) she ignores him.
In the end, Adam’s leukaemia returns and this time he refuses treatment himself as he’s already turned 18 by then, thus he passes away. Fiona is devastated by this event and of course she blames herself.
For me, it was really hard to understand how religion could be more important than life, especially in modern days. Actually, I think this is my problem with religion. It does give hope to some people, no doubt. But it also gives opportunity for some people to misinterpret it so badly, but, at the same time, so persuasively that a couple would see their (only) child die rather than let doctors give him the proper treatment. I think this is highly outrageous and I’ve never dared to think that there are actually people who would do such a thing.
But, I learned a very important lesson from this story: life does not mean the same for all of us. It means something different for devoutly religious people. The reason for this is that religious people believe in life after death. At least most of them believe in some kind of an afterlife.
And if you do, then it is obvious that your life on Earth is less precious. It is like, your ’life’ in a video game is not so precious either, because you know you have more than one. And usually the opportunity to have the most marvellous and prosperous afterlife has only one condition: live a flawless life. So, if you look at it that way, perhaps Adam’s parents were not actually monsters. They were just regular parents, who wanted their son to have the happiest life. Only a happy life not on this planet, but in Heaven.
The novel also shows another issue: The balance of private life and work / career. Fiona and his husband, Jack drifted apart from each other, mainly because of Fiona’s preoccupation with her work and though she is highly recognised, she never has an easy conscience, as she has to make really difficult decisions and hence, she can never know whether she’s made a good decision or a terrible mistake. Jack lacks intimacy between the two of them, so he even declares, that he wants to have an affair even though he still loves her. This is a more common problem, that is showed in numerous books, films and series. I personally think it is very challenging to draw the line between your private life and your career. Especially if your job ’makes a difference’. If you can save and take away lives, just by a single sentence, then you really have to take it seriously and do your best otherwise you can make terrible mistakes, with even more horrifying consequences, that can destroy your life forever. But we also have to be careful, not to let it ruin our personal life, marriage, relationships with friends and relatives or any values in our life.
In the end, Fiona and Jack manage to reconcile as Fiona starts telling Jack about her problems, that she has had for years.
I think the massage of this story is that if we have such big problem, then it is much better to share it with our partner. It feels much better to us, but also, it makes it easier for our companion to understand our behaviour and so we can avoid quarrels and live a happier life.
The book actually has a film adaptation, starring Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci and, most interestingly, the screenplay was written by Ian Mc Ewan. I watched the movie too, and it was mind-blowing, it was extremely intense, and everyone did a fantastic job.
I am glad I found this story, because the religious question is so unusual and so thought provoking that I was thinking about it for days after finishing the book, and to be honest, I still give it a thought sometimes.
The other issue is more common, but it shows the other more vulnerable side of Fiona, the one that which she hides from the public. I think it also teaches us not to judge somebody without knowing their story, because we can never know what that person had been through, which is an extremely important lesson in my opinion.
Dalia Mahmoud