Marcel’s puzzling age In
« Marcel, the young positive mind »
Everybody keeps wondering about this adolescent’s age.
His mother believes that he is either a genius or mentally disturbed.
His father thinks he is a pain in the neck and may expose himself to dangers.
His siblings and peers don’t know how to figure him out; since he is not interested in their games and other activities appropriate to his age.
As for Father Gregorio, Marcel’s precocious positive thinking makes him an envoy of God.
Everybody keeps guessing, but Marcel himself.
He knows that he is a fourteen year old boy. His physical appearance shows his age. But he also believes that he is as old as his parents who have passed down their experiences to him.
He thinks that he has, in a way, acquired the age of his grandfather, a science teacher, who, unfortunately, died at the age of sixty. He was very close to him. As a six year old child, his grandfather dispelled his fear of an alleged bogeyman standing in the morning at his bedroom doorway.
Later on, his grandfather tempted to reinforce his lesson of positivity by having recourse to the refraction experiment. Marcel, that day, accused his own eyes of being “treacherous”. His grandfather, conscious of his ingenuity, smiled and thought that was a “good predicate”. However, he emphasized that Marcel’s mind has the power to rectify his eyes “betrayal”.
Marcel has gone very far in confusing his age with older and older generations. On his grandfather’s advice, he finds out that all has been said and confined in the public library. Then, he turns a bookworm and thinks that he is as old as Confucius, since he relates to his advice according to which: when the mob loves someone, you have to investigate such love; when the mob hates someone, you have to investigate such hatred.
Thus, since the Voodoo priest, Old Sam, is loved and feared by the townspeople, because he serves as go-between an evil spirit and the population, he is liable to Marcel’s thorough investigation.
This young boy may be an inspiration to many. I recommend the reading of this book to youngsters. I use a language suitable for young readers.
