The Children's Story came about as a result of a conversation Clavell had with his 6 year old daughter when she came home from school one day and told him about learning the Pledge of Allegiance. He realized that, though she could repeat the words perfectly, she didn't have a clue what those words meant:
"During that day I asked all kinds of people of every age, “You know the 'I pledge allegiance...', but before I could finish, at once they would all parrot it, the words almost always equally blurred. In every case, I discovered that not one teacher, ever — or anyone — had ever explained the words to any one of them. Everyone just had to learn it to say it. The Children's Story came into being that day. It was then that I realized how completely vulnerable my child's mind was — any mind for that matter — under controlled circumstances. Normally I write and rewrite and re-rewrite, but this story came quickly — almost by itself. Barely three words were changed. It pleases me greatly because it keeps asking me questions... Questions like what’s the use of 'I pledge allegiance' without understanding? Like why is it so easy to divert thoughts and implant others? Like what is freedom and why is it so hard to explain? The Children’s Story keeps asking me all sorts of questions I cannot answer. Perhaps you can — then your children will..."
Clavell wrote this during the Cold War, and it's pretty obvious that, though unnamed, the regime which has taken control of America is a Communist one. If nothing else gives this away, the final lines do: "each according to their age group, each according to his need." Certainly, the skill of the communist governments of the USSR, China, North Korea, etc. in using propaganda, indoctrination, and intimidation to control their populations is well known. The ability of Soviet Russia to get children to inform on and denounce their own parents, resulting in their execution or imprisonment in Siberia (arguably worse) is especially notorious. And, of course, any movement which wishes to be successful and have staying power will target children, for a number of reasons: they're impressionable, and pre-disposed to believe what adults tell them, their brains are not fully developed nor are their abilities to think critically, and they have not had enough education or experience of the world to be able to discern truth in many cases. And of course- at the risk of sounding like an '80's pop song- children literally are our future... if enough of them can be made to think- and act- in a certain way, culture and society will inevitably veer in that direction for the foreseeable future.
In Part II of my examination of The Children's Story, I'll go into how these methods are applied by the new "Teacher" and how they are being used in our societies today.