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Mon, I don't know if I told you but I got this book and I love it. I'm in sacrament gotta sing now.

I love that book. How dare we dream? How dare we express those dreams? How dare we express ourselves outside the norm? What I most appreciate about the book is that the initial terror the neighbors have at seeing someone being creative and out of step subsides and they remain a community. Of course I view the book as a great tool in the field of special education. Simple? No doubt. Powerful? Yes.

I'm glad you enjoy it, Pirate.

For some reason, I find myself in the mood for orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream.

LOL sherbit hehe.

I do enjoy it very much. I got something a bit different from it. I don't remember right now though. Stupid brain LOL.

JonasS wrote:LOL sherbit hehe.

I do enjoy it very much. I got something a bit different from it. I don't remember right now though. Stupid brain LOL.

I remember about a year and half ago I had an epiphany.

I dreamed of freedom, clarity, independence and a happy home for my children and I! That dream sent me into a downward spiral that I had to climb out of, yet, I never lost sight of it.

I'd like to know what you got from it.

As follows is my interpretations of the parable that is The Big Orange Splot...

I would associate the houses with each of the person's personalities. That is, whilst all he houses were the same and they all lived in the neat street, they all felt the need to follow the social norm that is being neat. Kinda like sheep I guess. They liked being the same perhaps because it was routine and they were stuck in the life they had made for themselves.

The seagull dropping the paint on My Plumbean's house is kinda like fate. Why his house and not someone else's? Not that it matters because if it were someone else's then we would say why not someone else's but the fact is that Mr Plumbean made a difference whereas he simply could have painted the roof back to the neatness it was. But, he took the opportunity to make something brighter and stepped out of the social norm, even if it meant being criticised and he stood firm in his choice that he liked his new house.

Mr Plumbean only decided to paint his house when confronted by a fellow neighbour and so perhaps somewhat out of rebellion he painted it differently.

It says he painted his house at night because it was cooler, but if that were so then why say? It would seem more like he didn't want to show that he was doing it so that when people woke up, he had already done it and it was too late, no one could stop him. But he didn't change it all completely over night, he added to it as time went by until he was happy with it.

The people thought he was crazy, not because he was crazy but simply because he did not follow the social norm and was different. He became what he wanted to be as though house was his dreams. The neighbours pretended not to notice, this happens in everyday life when someone is different.

"My house is me, and I am it. My house is where I like to be and looks like all my dreams." -- Mr Plumbean. He was expressing himself and who he is.

People after criticising began to follow Mr Plumbean when he explained his irrationality. They saw that he was himself and it was good. And so in turn they each had become there own selves.

I see it as more of a social thing where we should not be scared to be ourselves because others tell us what is right because there is no wrong or right, each of the people the street had different dreams and were individuals as are we all and they would have been scared to leave that social norm until they felt comfortable expressing themselves. Had the seagull not dropped the paint and made the orange splot, everyone would have been sheep and would continue to be scared to step over the social boundaries they have set themselves. That is, it had to take an external interruption to the social circle to start change.

Does that make sense?

But I should tell you this interpretation was not the initial interpretation I got, I just can't remember and until I am that person I won't remember. But looking at what you have said again, they kinda correlate. I wish I could remember, I knew it wasn't this but just can't put my finger on it.