"I can jump puddles" - Alan Marshall

“I can jump puddles” is the first of the three autobiographical works of the author. This particular work talks about the author’s efforts and experiences through which he acquired the skill of riding. The author was diagnosed with polio when he was 6 years old and the story is takes us through his feelings, persistence and passion for horse riding which eventually helped him learn the skill.

I think the most striking take away for me from the literary discussion of this story with my peers was that each one of us had a variation in our interpretation of it. Each of us identified different key points which we felt were highlights of the story and then through the sharing process, making sense of the story in terms of the theme, the characters, the dialogues etc. became a richer experience.

The author initially creates a context of the account by narrating an episode with his father in which the father says to him that it is alright even if he cannot ride a horse. His father asks him not to worry about it, and I personally felt that this could have acted as a potential trigger for the author to furiously pursue horse riding and not give up trying to master it due to his disability. I felt that maybe that could have made Alan want to make his father proud or maybe even prove a point to him that he could ride as well. In this episode he also recounts how it felt to be riding a horse, which tells the readers that he was not handicapped since birth and he knew how to ride before he was struck by polio.

We as a group did not really follow any order to critique the story. We just went with the flow of the discussion which we had on each one’s insights. An important point that came up in the discussion was the character of “Starlight” the pony. Starlight has been portrayed as a symbol of perfection. He is the fastest, most beautiful white pony and Alan is extremely fascinated with him. One perspective that came up during the discussion of Alan’s attraction to Starlight was that probably because Alan’s life lacked mobility and speed which is why he kept feeling like riding Starlight. Another possible interpretation that came up was that riding a fast running horse is more difficult and required a certain amount of competency in the skill of riding. Due to this challenging task, Alan probably wanted to ride him to prove his mettle and perfect his ability to ride. The third viewpoint that emerged later on at the end of the discussion was that the horse was actually, a metaphor for his legs. After Alan learnt to ride, with the help of the horse, he was able to go over different terrains, like slopes, marshy places etc. This would probably be a huge step towards a perfect life for someone who lost his leg and thus his ability of walking was gone in a flash.

As we were discussing characters, we also discussed why Alan was so persistently pursuing horse riding even though the activity was difficult for him in his health condition. One of the group members shared some information which gave us the cultural context of the story which could be related to Alan’s passion for horse riding. She shared that the story is set in Australia, and horses are very commonly found over there. Even today, some of the best bred horses are from Australia. Therefore, the author’s surroundings and the culture also encouraged or regarded highly, horses and horse riding. Another point which came up was that Alan was not handicapped since birth. He had had the experience of riding before he was affected by polio. His school mates, his father, all of them loved to ride and there could have been a possibility that he felt alienated from everyone since he was suddenly not able to do something which was such a common part of their lives. In the story, there is also a mention of Alan being “angry” with his body. It gave us a sense that he was not satisfied about not being able to ride just because of his polio. Horse riding was a kind of an intrinsic need for him, a passion, something that drove him. There also seemed to be an angle of him doing it to please his dad and make him feel proud.

The description of the boy finally learning to ride despite his handicap is a rich and nuanced one and somehow we all felt that such a detailed account of the process could be written only by someone who has actually experienced it. We also discussed the “right to write” debate in this context, which questions whether a writer needs to have necessarily experienced what he is writing about, and if he has not experienced it then does he have the right to express his stance on it.

 The account also depicts that children around him were supportive and not at all demotivating him in his attempts. We initially thought that this was because of the physical location where the people are more open and considerate of such cases while in in India he might have been made fun of. But it was later realized that the time period in which this account was written, polio was prevalent all over the world, and it was very common to have polio affected students in the classrooms.

While discussing the last episode of the story in which the author shows his father that he can ride, we all agreed that the father was a very experienced and passionate rider himself as he tells his son that it’s good that you can ride but don’t show off, treat your horse well and be careful. The text clearly shows how proud the father was of his child but also how much he knew about the skill of riding. I feel this episode gave the story a closure and also a parent’s perspective on the theme. The whole story is from the point of view of the author, a child, and this piece at the end of the text gives us some insight on how the father looked at the situation.

The story is a personal account and in my opinion this a very big contributing factor to the in depth and thorough narration of all the incidents in the story. I felt that it was a very simple story with no plot as such but very prominent and round characters like the author, his father and also Starlight the pony. The primary theme which emerged from the group discussion was the author’s effort of overcoming a physical disability and the subsequent feeling of limitations on certain aspects of life.

I feel that sitting as a group and discussing the story based on these various pointers actually gave all of us a chance to see the same story in different perspectives and we were able to as a group help each other understand the text in a more enriching manner.