Friday, August 5, 2016

Did Henry intentionally smash Mr. Levine's village in "Tunes for Bears to Dance To"?

As the other educator mentioned, Henry does make the choice to destroy Mr. Levine's village; however, the actual physical act of smashing the village is unintentional. Henry only drops the mallet after he is frightened by the scurrying rat. So the village is destroyed by accident. 
Henry initially decides to smash Mr. Levine's village because of his loyalty to his family. Yet, despite his strong urge to protect his mother, Henry is torn. He knows that he will betray Mr. Levine if he goes through with his decision to destroy the village. In Tunes for Bears to Dance To, Henry's difficult choice reinforces the theme of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. Many Jews had to choose between personal survival and the lives of family/friends in Hitler's Germany. Mr. Hairston put Henry in an impossible position, essentially treating him like a bear that performs tricks for its owner.
Because of his bigoted stance, Mr. Hairston sees Henry as a dispensable resource and a weapon to wield as he sees fit. In the end, Henry realizes that he must choose between good and evil. After Mr. Hairston explains his position to him, Henry terminates his own employment with the man. Henry's decision is a courageous one; although he knows that it threatens his family's livelihood, he prefers to brave the uncertainties of the future rather than submit to life under an unscrupulous employer.


In the young adult novel Tunes for Bears to Dance To, Henry's horrible employer at the local grocery store, Mr. Hairston, blackmails him into agreeing to smash up Mr. Levine's village in exchange for Henry being able to keep his job and receive the headstone for Eddie, Henry's deceased brother whose death prompted the family's move in the first place.
Mr. Hairston also tells Henry that destroying the village will result in Henry's mother receiving a promotion and a pay raise, while failing to destroy it will get his mother fired and ruin his reputation at school. 
Henry feels backed into a corner and does not think he can share this information with his mother. Thus, he hides out in the art center's storage room with a mallet in hand, eventually dozing off to sleep while he considers what he should do. When he wakes up, he walks to the village display and raises the mallet over his head to smash it. 
In the process of doing this, Henry decides that he will not smash the village after all; however, a rat scares him and causes him to accidentally drop the mallet on the village. Thus, although Henry initially planned on intentionally destroying the village to save his and his mother's job and to receive the headstone, the actual physical act of destruction was unintentional. 

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