You May Be Wrong But You May Be Right

One time, a young man named Eustace was proudly considering things others said.  “Never judge a book by its cover,” he heard his teacher say, one day.  Eustace was afraid of his teacher – she could punish him.  “I know what I can do, safely,” thought Eusctace, “I can ask the librarian what the ‘adage’ means.  Maybe she can explain it to me better.”

So, library day came, and Eustace was excited.  He always was; the library was a place he could learn things without talking with real people.  “Ms. Worthers?” asked Eustace, once her announcement spill was over and the students began to browse through the various book shelves, “What do you think the old adage, ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ means?”

“Well, Eustace,” said the librarian,

“I think of the statement in two ways.  For one, I judge a real book I pick up and look at by its cover, title, author, and publisher.  Is it old? Is it brand new?  Is it hard or paperback?  Does it have any foreign languages in its text?  Is it an independent, scholastic, or big-named published book?  We as the readers can already know what to guess about the book we have in our hands.  Can we guess its genre?  What do we already know about, in concerns with the author or people who composed the literary work?  Is it a classic?  All of these example questions relate to what we think is in the text, how good we can guess what is there.  Books are like wrapped presents – you can infer a bit about their contents via their wrapping paper.  You can read an intro or an author-bio and call yourself a present shaker, so to speak.  The other side of the old adage’s meaning has to do with people and content.  What someone looks like or appears to be on the outside is not always who they really are.  Some people are more superficial than others – people like you and me call them actors or fakes.  We all learn from time to time.  A book’s contents can be perfectly composed and tell an absolutely astounding story full of properly used writing devices including plot, climax, foreshadowing, flashback, and, if we as the audience are lucky, even such devices as narrative hook and the intriguing use of well-planned symbols.  A masterful literary composition can easily hide behind a dull and hard-to-notice cover.  You will learn more about writing and devices as you study and pay attention to your teachers.  The adage, to many people, sometimes means that a flashy book cover may not allude to a very enthralling novel.  On the other hand, a dull covered hardback classic may be your most favorite book ever.  The book I am reading has an interesting cover, and I enjoy its stories.  One would have to read nearly every sentence to figure out the cover, in theory.  When people say, ‘You cannot judge a book by its cover,’ they simply mean not to form an opinion from what little you know and see on the outside of a thing or situation – you may just end up becoming the ignorant and surprised individual considering.”

“Wow, Ms. Worthers,” said Eustace.  It was like he already knew what she could say, but actually knew her meaning well when she spoke.  He said “Thank you for answering my question,” and went to go search for an exciting book for his class’ book review assignment.  Eustace picked up a book titled, “My Travels in Norway”, and time continued to pass.

♦

billy joel song