George, Martha: Lifeguard

I'm a bit obsessed with "The Job," because (as usual with Marshall) this story is so far from schematic.

George gets a lifeguard position. Martha lectures him on how he needs to be very strict. Then MARTHA HERSELF turns out to be a troublemaker. (Human nature, situational irony: The teacher fails her own test. We somehow think we ourselves are exempt from the rules we claim to find important.)

George tries to reprimand Martha--and Martha has a tantrum and clobbers George with a bull-horn.

What I love is this: George doesn't point out the absurdity of the situation. He just refers us back to the start of the story. "Martha was right. This IS a hard job!"

Is George such a fool that he doesn't recognize what is ridiculous here? Or is George being knowing and wry? You decide.

The message is that people are running around clueless--strangers to one another, strangers to themselves. Disaster ensues. As always, I find this really subversive for a work of children's literature--and, as always, I feel that Marshall captures exactly how I myself tend to view the world.....

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