This is how horrible my writing's gotten lately.

George Ha
Per 4 Rice
“Notes on Camp”


“Notes on Camp” is a piece written to let future generations understand what was happening during the time it was transcribed into words from Layner’s head. He fills this piece with several allusions to the nineteen sixties and what was happening during his childhood in such a subtle manner, the average person would only notice a silly story written by a eight year old (an incredibly intellectual one anyway).
Layner lets us know this piece was written in the nineteen sixties by scattering allusions about that era within the writing. For example, he makes two references to the Beatles (a terribly popular band in the sixties): “Yellow Submarine” which was a very popular song by the band, and “Ringo” (the name of his pet frog) Starr, the drummer for the band. He also talks about his parents listening and dancing to Stan Getz, a popular jazz musician at the time, who reached the top of the charts in the mid sixties. These musical references are important because music dominated the culture of America at the time.
Another reference to the sixties era was Layner talking about his parents “making fondue”, or having intercourse while he was gone at camp. Sex, love, and peace were major parts of the era, anyone who was raised at that time can tell you that. Sex symbolized love and peace, which helped ease the pain of war and reality. “Making fondue” could also be interpreted as drug use (marijuana perhaps), which could be believable, figuring that their son Mark was gone at camp for a while, leaving them alone to do whatever they wanted to partake in.
Layner also makes some references to the war between the United States and the USSR. He speaks of camp as a gulag, as if he were a Russian prisoner, sentenced to a set time in a jailhouse. Perhaps the strange friends he made as a child in the camp symbolized the kinds of friends a person would make when they were alone with no other options in a gulag. To survive, we will make friends with whoever will be our companions if we are lonely enough.
The tone in this piece is light hearted and silly, with the story being told by an adult with the mindset of an eight year-old. He is very intelligent for his age, which was absurd, as no eight year-old makes references to French literature or scientific Latin roots. This was part of the humor Layner was trying to portray, to weave a lot of satire into a piece through the subtle use of humour. He uses words to show that he was quite innocent as a child, not knowing about “making fondue” or what happens late at night, for the purpose of showing that a child knew subconsciously what was going on in the society (world) around him, but caring in a small way (the only way children can care and understand the outside world) and still living an ordinary life (if you can call this life ordinary).