Mukherjee's Jasmine and Plato's Republic Show Elders' Wisdom Helps Raise Children

As seen in Bharati Mukherjee's "Jasmine," D. H. Lawrence's short story "The Rocking Horse Winner," and Robert Hayden's emotionally charged poem "The Whipping," the collective wisdom of the elders of the community benefits the child. Gained through their life experience, this wisdom helps to raise the children of the community. As portrayed in Plato's The Republic, the entire community holds the responsibility for the children because, according to the old African proverb, "it takes a village to raise a child." The extended family alone does not possess enough wisdom to raise the children as content and productive members of society.

According to Plato's Republic, "first among the virtues found in the State [is] wisdom" (97). Plato defines wisdom as the mark of a community "good in counsel" (97). Through "the knowledge of the guardians," the children of the state receive this counseling (Plato 98). Plato sees wisdom as a virtue held by all of the guardians of a state; in the terms of a community, the elders hold the position of the guardians, so they possess the wisdom. The guardians view it as their duty to impart this wisdom to the children. The parents must procreate in order to produce the children, but the children must gain their wisdom through the guardians, for the parents do not possess the required wisdom.