How To Be Judged In Brian Caswell's A Cage Of Butterflies

“Be proud of who you are, not ashamed of how someone else sees you,” (2015). In today’s society everyone is judged, if they are slightly different or have something ‘wrong’ with them then they are made to feel unaccepted. People take one glance at someone and they’ve already pinned them as a certain label in their head. In Brian Caswell’s novel, A Cage of Butterflies, he highlights a few of the issues in today’s society. He based his novel on a real life problem, where mothers in the 1960s were given the drug Thalidomide to help with morning sickness; it was later found out that this drug caused their children to obtain deformities. Many of the children in his book fear being judged by society for the differences they have. These children become part of a project, where they are with several other kids like them. Through his novel, Caswell addresses how people are measured to how ‘normal’ they seem and how people are made to feel they can’t be who they are because of how they are. He also hints …show more content…
In Caswell’s novel, there is a teenage boy, Greg, who is crippled, but in turn he is extremely intelligent. Before Greg became part of the project he went to school much like everyone else, but never really fitted in; his appearance turn most people away quickly. He feared being unaccepted, but soon came to the conclusion that he would never be like everyone and attempted to embrace who he was. When people first met Greg, he claimed they would attempt to ignore his “problem” and he would play a ‘game’ with them to make them even more uncomfortable. Greg states, “The more they try to ignore my “problem”… the more their eyes wander” (Caswell, 1992, Pg. 7). Greg, and the rest of the children involved in the project, ultimately fear not finding acceptance and love from people around them. Everyone wants to feel ‘normal’ and accepted, not feel judged for how they