Summary Of Charles Baxter's Short Story 'Gryphon'

BreAnna Ah Po
Susan Howe
ENGWR 301
20 February 2015
Great Minds Think Alike
Creativity in the classroom is often hard to come by in schools today. Learning revolves around a certain banking system- where the instructors give lectures and the student listens and takes notes. Once in a blue moon though, a group of students will come across a teacher who opens their minds and allows them to think freely. For the students in Charles Baxter’s short story “Gryphon,” the opportunity to receive a different education from what they’re used to experiencing on a daily basis will actually benefit their way of thinking; no matter how unusual the process may be.
Miss Ferenczi, an intriguingly peculiar fourth-grade substitute, is a perfect example of an
instructor who goes against the grain in matters of teaching. For students who are so used to following an exact lesson plan and schedule throughout their school day, this may come as a bit of a shock and be quite confusing to say the least. Creative thinking can be perplexing for someone who has been restricted to learning a specific way, so when Miss Ferenczi explains that “six times eleven equals sixty-eight as a substitute fact, ”she is only saying that because it could be a possible answer to question (248). In other words, she wants to open up her student’s minds to think more broadly about their learning processes to explore other possibilities in life besides the ones that are taught in a lesson plan on a daily basis by their original instructor Mr. Hibler. It’s almost like their way of learning is being revived from the style of learning their used to experiencing daily. Learning has become less of a chore for this 4th grade class and more of a creative thinking workshop.
Miss Ferenczi is the type of instructor who leads by example and forces her students to think outside of the box; much like she has since the first day she stepped foot into their classroom. As Gryphon’s narrator, Tommy, struggles to spell the word “balcony”, he is encouraged by Miss Ferenczi to go about spelling the word a different way: by simply omitting it from his vocabulary. “It’s ugly. My feeling is, if you don’t like a word, you don’t have to use it” (249). Ferenczi’s style of creative thinking lecture encourages students to look for new ways to go about learning new topics and finding ways to make education better for themselves. She is a breath of fresh air in the children’s dull routine they perform on a daily basis and allows their minds to question and go against the norm. It is when Miss Ferenczi introduces the gryphon to her substituted fourth-grade class when her teaching methods finally affect the children’s minds. “I read in the newspaper that…this mad scientist in the Swiss Alps [has] been putting genes and chromosomes and stuff together in test tubes, and he combined a human being and a hamster” (251). By introducing this fictitious creature to her students, she is allowing the children to relate what they learn in class and bring their wonders home with them. Tommy admits that even he looks gryphon up in the dictionary and discovers that Miss Ferenczi’s story was actually true. He reads. “Griffin. A fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Fabulous was right.” (252). Even though Miss Ferenczi’s stories may seem a little absurd, she is promoting keeping an open mind in learning by letting her students’ educations expand beyond the walls of her classroom. Teaching and learning is more than just lecture and memorization. For Ferenczi, learning is the minds’ ability to do more than just retain information. Her teaching methods force her students to relate to the material being taught.
It would seem that Miss Ferenczi strays from Mr.
Hibler’s original lesson plan because she wants to expand the students’ minds to promote imaginative thoughts. Her lessons consist of magical stories that force the students to decide if they’re real or make-believe. Ferenczi increases conversations between students after her peculiar stories to debate the validity of her so called substitute facts. Her use of tarot cards in the classroom definitely came as a shock to some of the students. Tarot cards, which are normally used to tell someone’s future or fate, is another way Miss Ferenczi makes her students question whether or not she is extremely intelligent or a compulsive liar. Wayne, an innocent victim in Miss Ferenczi’s educational experiment, is next in line to draw a few cards. “That one means you will die soon, my dear…But do not fear…It’s not really death, so much as a change.” (256). Again, Ferenczi is encouraging her students to take a different view on a situation; in Wayne’s case: his own death. Learning is something that will not always have the same views from every student. In fact, Ferenczi wants her students to disagree with one another. Tommy immediately supports Miss Ferenczi in regards to her tarot reading, “She was right…She was always right! She told the truth…You were just scared that’s all.” (256). Although Tommy and Wayne are at a disagreement, one can admit that they both have valid arguments towards one another and that is exactly what Miss Ferenczi’s goal
is.
It’s safe to say that Miss Ferenczi is not an ordinary person. She is peculiar in every aspect: her language, her mannerisms, and her style of teaching. However, as we take a look at the story as a whole, one can notice an incredible change from the students’ personalities and the way they retain information. Instead of going about a daily routine and learning the exact subject at a specific time every day, the students would learn about animals they never knew existed, how soda was bad for someone’s health, and beautiful classical music. Ferenczi may not be the most normal instructor in the school system, but it seems as though she is the best at doing her job.

Works Cited
Baxter, Charles. "Gryphon." Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 245-57. Print.