“You can’t make people care.”That’s what Wonder Boy said when I was trying to tell him about In and Unlikely Event by Judy Blume and how I related that book to so much of what I see in current events. But I think Judy Blume can make you, the reader, care. This woman whose writing occupied so much of my youth… she knows how to make me care.
In and Unlikely Event is about a series of true events in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the 1950s. I don’t think what follows will be too spoiler-y but it definitely leans in that direction. So, if you don’t like spoilers, stop reading now! You’ve been warned.
In Elizabeth, where Judy Blume grew up, there were three plane crashes within a very short time period. Blume tells the story from the perspectives of many people in the town, although she mainly focuses on just a few main characters. This rapid switching of characters and perspectives offers her a chance to do something very smart. As a reader, more than once we are introduced to a character whose story we get invested in and then who subsequently, and every suddenly, dies in a plane crash. At first I was very upset by this. After some thought, though, I decided that Blume deserved some kudos. She pulled me in by making me relate to the character. She made me care about the character. And then, by taking the character away from me, she made me care about the event.
During a time when society seems to be turning in on itself, when we have people killing each other, when terrorist groups are blowing up innocent people and towns, when people aren’t getting enough to eat or a place to live … when so much is just wrong, sometimes it’s hard to keep caring. And that, just writing that, makes me feel awful. But it’s true. You get fatigued hearing all of the bad news. How can you not?
Last year there was a devastating earthquake in Nepal. I’d like to think I would have cared no matter what, but it was certainly more personal because I’d recently visited there. It seemed more real. More relevant to me. The attacks in Paris hit closer to home because I’ve been to some of those places that were affected. I can (and yet can’t) imagine being there. I think this works in retrospect as well. I felt closer to some of the events in World War II after visiting a concentration camp or to the genocide in Cambodia after visiting the Killing Fields.
A lot of what I’m seeing in the news right now are stories trying to help people connect with people they might not otherwise know. Syrian refugees. Women in Afghanistan. Paris attack victims. And on and on.
It’s the same thing Judy Blume did In and Unlikely Event. There’s a chance I can’t make you care about an event, because you only have so much care to give. But, I can make you care about something that’s personal. So how do I make it person. Blume accomplished this by connecting you to people.
And so while I actually think Wonder Boy’s comment is pretty spot-on: “You can’t make people care.” I do think there are some workarounds. If you need proof, read In and Unlikely Event.
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