'I want to know everything, everything,' screeched
Harriet suddenly, lying back and bouncing up
and down on the bed. 'Everything in the world, everything,
everything. I will be a spy and know
everything.'
-Harriet the Spy
When I first read this book, as a kid, I felt betrayed. I was one of those boys who tore through Hardy Boys books and Encyclopaedia Brown mysteries, even dipping into the occasional Nancy Drew in a pinch. So despite the fact that the title indicated the hero was a girl, I assumed she'd at least by a spy, a James Bond kind of spy. But no, instead, she was just an annoying brat who snooped on all her friends, neighbors, and the household staff. What a stinkin' gyp!
Now, returning to the book as an adult, I also see that it is also really mean-spirited. [N.B. : If you've not read the book and plan to, you might not wish to read any further.] Harriet is an unhappy little girl, growing up in New York City, whose upper class parents mostly ignore her. Her one hobby is spying on the people around her and making snide observations about them in a journal. She runs into a rough patch when her beloved housekeeper, Ole Golly, surprisingly falls in love and moves away. Her behavior at school and home deteriorates and things really get ugly when her journal is discovered by classmates and read aloud. But she then follows the advice in a letter from Golly :
Dear Harriet,
I have been thinking
about you and I have
decided that
if you are ever going to be a writer
it is time you
got cracking. You are eleven years
old and haven't
written a thing but notes. Make
a story out
of some of those notes and send it to
me.
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'--that is
all
ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
John Keats. And don't you ever forget it.
Now in case you
ever run into the following
problem, I want
to tell you about it. Naturally,
you put down
the truth in your notebooks. What
would be the
point if you didn't? and naturally
those notebooks
shouldn't be read by anyone
else, but if
they are, then, Harriet, you are going
to have to do
two things, and you don't like
either one of
them:
1.) You have to apologize.
2.) You have to lie.
Otherwise you
are going to lose a friend. Little
lies that make
people feel better are not bad, like
thanking someone
for a meal they made even if
you hated it,
or telling a sick person they look
better when
they don't, or someone with a
hideous new
hat that it's lovely. Remember that
writing is to
put love in the world, not to use
against your
friends. But to yourself you must
always tell
the truth.
Another thing.
If you're missing me I want you
to know I'm
not missing you. Gone is gone. I
never miss anything
or anyone because it all
becomes a lovely
memory. I guard my memories
and love them,
but I don't get in them and lie
down. You can
even make stories form yours, but
remember, they
don't come back. Just think how
awful it would
be if they did. You don't need me
now. You're
eleven years old which is old enough
to get busy
at growing up to be the person you
want to be.
No more nonsense,
Ole Golly Waldenstein
After pretending that she didn't mean the things she wrote, Harriet is rewarded with a position on the school paper and presumably lives happily ever after.
And what are the lessons we've learned ? That it's okay to snoop is the most obvious, but the least significant. More important is the implicit suggestion that this eleven year old--never mind anyone else--is able to discern the "truth" about people by observing them and that she can then judge them and record those judgments where they will inevitably be found one day. Think about the presumption here. What responsible adult would teach a child such a thing ?
Of course, the hidden agenda here is the suggestion that writers are uniquely capable of perceiving "truth" and that the truth can be so dangerous that they may not be able to share all of it. It comes as no surprise to find many references to the influence of this book on young writers, particularly women, who claim that in its pages they found their calling. This message is quite writerly and must be quite comforting, but it is also dead wrong.
Many years ago another author offered the opposite lesson :
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment
ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall
be measured
to you again. Mk. 4.24
3 And why beholdest thou the mote
that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that
is in thine
own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a
beam is in thine
own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out
the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to
cast out the
mote out of thy brother's eye.
-The Gospel According to Matthew,
7:1-7:5
That still seems like pretty sound advice and a more appropriate lesson
for children.
(Reviewed:03-Oct-01)
Grade: (D)
