Innocence In 'American History And Society's Child'

All children are born with a natural quality that protects them—their naïvety. By not knowing about the sad truths of the world, they are protected from those truths. Benjamin Franklin once wrote that “Innocence is its own defense.”. In other words, being blind to harmful things can protect you from them. Two works of literature that display how innocence is a natural form of protection by showing innocence in hindsight are “American History” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Society’s Child” by Janis Ian. In “American History”, the narrator experiences prejudice and loses her natural innocence, showing how it defended her all along. In “Society’s Child”, the speaker is unbothered by the opinions of others until they realize that they cannot change those options. Through epiphany and denouement, Cofer and Ian explore …show more content…
When she finally realizes that she cannot be with that person, she loses that protection. We can see the change from rejecting the pressure of society to embracing it as the chorus changes from “She says / I can't see you any more, baby, / Can't see you anymore.” (Ian, 10-12) to “They say I can't see you anymore baby, / Can't see you anymore.” (Ian, 20-21) and finally “I say I can't see you anymore baby, / Can't see you anymore./ No, I don't want to see you anymore, baby.” (Ian, 29-31). This change we see in the denouement is brought around by the fact that the speaker cannot “…stop [her] listening…” (Ian, 23) or “…raise [her] head up high” (Ian, 24) because she has lost the innocence that let her ignore them before. We can see how the speaker has ignored this pressure because of the protection her innocence provides in the second stanza, where she says “Walk me down to school, baby…” (Ian, 13) despite her mother telling her that she cannot be with him just the line