"It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one's children will become than for the children one's "mature" critics often are"
About this Quote
Walker slips a stiletto into the polite talk about "age-appropriate" art and twists. The line is framed as advice about craft, but its real target is authority: the gatekeepers who claim to speak for children while behaving like scolds. By putting "mature" in quotation marks, she turns the label into a costume critics wear to disguise their fragility. These are the people who panic at complexity, sex, rage, politics, history - anything that risks making young readers think beyond the approved script.
Her intent is strategic as much as moral. Write upward, she argues: aim for the adults children are becoming, not the simplified children adults prefer to imagine. That choice respects kids as unfinished citizens rather than delicate property. It also refuses the common trap where "protecting children" becomes a veto on honest storytelling, especially when the story comes from marginalized voices. Walker knows how easily a book about race, gender, or power gets recast as "dangerous" under the pretense of innocence.
The subtext is a dare to artists: stop negotiating with tantrums dressed up as criticism. Critics who demand sanitization often want comfort, not care. Walker's punchline is that the real immaturity sits at the reviewer's desk. It's a wicked reversal, but not just cleverness; it's a survival tactic for serious writing. If literature is supposed to prepare us for the world, she implies, then pandering to adult infantilism is the least "healthy" option of all.
Her intent is strategic as much as moral. Write upward, she argues: aim for the adults children are becoming, not the simplified children adults prefer to imagine. That choice respects kids as unfinished citizens rather than delicate property. It also refuses the common trap where "protecting children" becomes a veto on honest storytelling, especially when the story comes from marginalized voices. Walker knows how easily a book about race, gender, or power gets recast as "dangerous" under the pretense of innocence.
The subtext is a dare to artists: stop negotiating with tantrums dressed up as criticism. Critics who demand sanitization often want comfort, not care. Walker's punchline is that the real immaturity sits at the reviewer's desk. It's a wicked reversal, but not just cleverness; it's a survival tactic for serious writing. If literature is supposed to prepare us for the world, she implies, then pandering to adult infantilism is the least "healthy" option of all.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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