{"id":17,"date":"2018-04-29T21:14:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T21:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2018-06-11T18:29:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T18:29:15","slug":"the-book","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/the-book\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling fusion-equal-height-columns\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content-centered\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-center fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-one\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h1 class=\"title-heading-center\" style=\"margin:0;\"><h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Story Behind the Book<\/strong><\/h1><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-2 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-center fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h3 class=\"title-heading-center\" style=\"margin:0;\"><h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">A message from Chandra Prasad<\/h3><\/h3><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><div id=\"pl-17\" class=\"panel-layout\">\n<div id=\"pg-17-0\" class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" data-ratio-direction=\"right\" data-ratio=\"1\" data-style=\"{\">\n<div id=\"pgc-17-0-0\" class=\"panel-grid-cell\" data-weight=\"1\">\n<div id=\"panel-17-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_text panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-style=\"{\" data-index=\"0\">\n<div class=\"textwidget\">\n<p>When I first read<em> Lord of the Flies<\/em> in 8th grade English class, I found it riveting.\u00a0 The novel nibbled at my conscience and made me question the true state of human nature, which hitherto I had assumed to be (mostly) good.\u00a0 Some of the scarier sections wormed their way into my sleep, giving me nightmares.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet I was pretty sure my teacher would manage to find a way to make Golding\u2019s book boring.\u00a0 She had a knack for sucking the life out of literature with her cold, clinical presentation style.<\/p>\n<p>As we started the LOTF unit, history seemed bound to repeat itself.\u00a0 The droning of her voice sounded like static.\u00a0 She listed literary devices with all the panache of a robocaller selling used car tires.\u00a0 But just when I was about to tune out completely, she uttered a remark that made me instantly alert.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you see, class, Golding\u2019s island was a perfect microcosm of human society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A perfect microcosm?\u00a0 Seriously? \u00a0The island couldn\u2019t possibly be a \u201cperfect\u201d microcosm because\u2014guess what?\u2014there were no girls on it!\u00a0 Nor were there any people of color.\u00a0 Nor was there any class hierarchy, except maybe by age.\u00a0 All of the kids on the island fit more or less the same mold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-2 fusion_builder_column_1_2 1_2 fusion-one-half fusion-column-first\" style=\"width:50%;width:calc(50% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.5 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:55px;margin-bottom:20px;\" id=\"trailer\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube fusion-aligncenter\" style=\"max-width:600px;max-height:360px; width:100%\"><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player 1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_D1UTguK1gk?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-3 fusion_builder_column_1_2 1_2 fusion-one-half fusion-column-last\" style=\"width:50%;width:calc(50% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.5 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content-centered\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p>I didn\u2019t speak up about my skepticism.\u00a0 But I still remember how frustrated I felt that my teacher didn\u2019t see what seemed so obvious to me.\u00a0 Those unvoiced feelings of discontent and exasperation, which carried over into adulthood, were the inspiration for <em>Damselfly<\/em>.\u00a0 Since 8<sup>th<\/sup> grade, I\u2019ve wanted to read (and write) a novel with similar themes to LOTF, but that presents a more realistic and diverse modern society.<\/p>\n<p>As with my other novels, I made a detailed outline of the plot.\u00a0 And as with my other novels, I veered off course from it almost immediately.\u00a0 <em>Damselfly<\/em> started out as an indirect response to Golding\u2019s novel.\u00a0 I attempted to ask and answer some of the same questions Golding did.\u00a0 What happens when vulnerable young people are displaced and left to fend for themselves?\u00a0 Do they create new rules and order?\u00a0 Or does the very notion of civilization disintegrate?\u00a0\u00a0 If violence and chaos reign, does that mean that human beings are naturally depraved?\u00a0 Is civilization just a cover-up for our savage instincts?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-4 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-3\"><p>Somewhere along the line, however, <em>Damselfly <\/em>became its own unique, self-contained, autonomous narrative that was less homage to LOTF than crucible for a whole different set of questions. \u00a0Would girls act and react differently than boys if placed in similarly terrifying circumstances? \u00a0Would one sex take a position of leadership over the other? \u00a0How much does race matter when we are removed from regular society?\u00a0 What about class?<\/p>\n<p>Almost all of these questions are addressed by the protagonists of <em>Damselfly<\/em>.\u00a0 Samantha \u201cSam\u201d Mishra and her best friend, Amelia \u201cMel\u201d Sharpe, quickly emerge as the heart, soul, mind, and central nervous system of the novel.\u00a0 The reader experiences and interprets the world of <em>Damselfly<\/em> through their discussions, thoughts, and actions.<\/p>\n<p>Sam was the easier of the two girls to create.\u00a0 She is mixed-race, observant, and possesses an uneasy sense of self.\u00a0 Her voice is not my voice, but it is one I know.\u00a0 Mel was different.\u00a0 In my notes, I wrote that she should have a little of the spirit and verve of the following characters:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Anne Shirley from <em>Anne of Green Gables<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Huckleberry Finn<\/li>\n<li>Nancy Drew<\/li>\n<li>Elizabeth from <em>Pride and Prejudice<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Encyclopedia Brown<\/li>\n<li>Laura Ingalls from <em>Little House on the Prairie<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Jo from <em>Little Women<\/em><\/li>\n<li>MacGyver (the inventive secret agent from the \u201880s television show that only olds will remember)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Not an easy recipe, to be sure!\u00a0 Happily, Mel Sharpe turned out to be not a cockamamie combination of all these characters, but a fully formed person in her own right.\u00a0 She is someone I wish I could have known when I was a kid.\u00a0 How refreshing it would have been to hang out with someone who didn\u2019t care how she looked; who\u2019d rather invent and discover new things than crush on boys; who was unmoved by bullying, peer pressure, popularity, and gossip.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know a Mel then, but I\u2019m glad to have made her acquaintance now.<\/p>\n<p>As for my 8th grade English teacher, I still don\u2019t think she was right about that \u201cperfect microcosm\u201d thing. \u00a0But you know what?\u00a0 No microcosm can be perfect.\u00a0 Each is destined to be as complicated and provocative as the characters who inhabit it.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-3 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-5 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-4\"><h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/06\/A_Message_from_the_Author.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here for a PDF handout of the author&#8217;s message.\u00a0<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-4 fusion-parallax-fixed nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling fusion-equal-height-columns\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-image: url(&quot;https:\/\/www.chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/beach-calm-clouds-457876.jpg&quot;);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:50px;padding-right:50px;padding-bottom:50px;padding-left:50px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 30px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;background-attachment:fixed;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-6 fusion_builder_column_1_2 1_2 fusion-one-half fusion-column-first\" style=\"width:50%;width:calc(50% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.5 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0.85);padding: 30px 30px 30px 30px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content-centered\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-5\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\">Sam Mishra, <em>Damselfly<\/em>\u2019s narrator, and her classmates are complex people who make unexpected and sometimes dangerous decisions<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/cast-of-characters\/\">Learn more about the book\u2019s Cast of Characters.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-7 fusion_builder_column_1_2 1_2 fusion-one-half fusion-column-last\" style=\"width:50%;width:calc(50% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.5 ) );margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0.85);padding: 30px 30px 30px 30px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content-centered\"><div class=\"fusion-column-content\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-6\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\">While <em>Damselfly<\/em> shares a setting and major themes with <em>Lord of the Flies<\/em>, it is a wholly separate and distinct novel with a unique storyline.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/summary-and-analysis\/\"><strong>Read <em>Damselfly<\/em>\u2019s Summary and Analysis by Chapter.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Book - Damselfly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/the-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Book - Damselfly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chandraprasad.com\/damselfly\/the-book\/\" 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