"The Garden" from Frog and Toad TogetherBy Arnold Lobel, Harper Trophy SummaryToad loves Frog's garden so much that he decides to grow a garden for himself. It doesn't take Toad long to realize that growing a garden can be hard work, especially if that work involves being patient. But did Toad really need to work as hard as he did, or would the garden have grown anyway? Guidelines for Philosophical DiscussionBy Jayme Johnson Everyone has heard the expression "patience is a virtue." Yet for as common as the expression is, it seems less common that it is given any serious discussion. A reading of "The Garden," by Arnold Lobel however, seems to offer a perfect opportunity. When Toad sees Frog's beautiful garden, he immediately wants one of his own. Determined to have a garden at least as beautiful as Frog's, Toad wastes no time in getting started. Soon after planting his seeds, Toad becomes distraught by the fact that he still does not have a beautiful garden. Toad becomes impatient. And he remains that way until he finally has his garden, at which time he declares, ironically, that growing a garden is "hard work!". Understanding the humor in the little punch line of this story offers a glimpse into an important philosophical point about patience, and how having it can contribute to having a good life. Perhaps more importantly, the story offers a friendly little reminder of how lacking patience can fill our lives with unnecessary anger and frustration. If we compare what the process of growing a garden was like for Frog with what it was like for Toad, the underlying idea that emerges is that Frog was somehow better off for having the patience that Toad lacked. There is a sense of virtue in Frog's approach to gardening that is missing from Toad's. Perhaps a good place to begin a discussion of virtue is in the ethical views of Aristotle. Aristotle believed that really living the good life could only occur if a person was virtuous. To be virtuous means having a certain kind of control over yourself, and an ability to judge the correct actions to take in a given situation. How best to judge the appropriate course of action comes from taking aim at the mean between two extremes: an extreme of excess and an extreme of deficiency. For example, being courageous means not being a coward, but it also means not being foolhardy. Aristotle referred to the extremes as vices, and the middle ground as virtue. Following Aristotle's lead, if patience is a virtue, it is a quality of character that falls somewhere between a vice of excess (too much patience) and a vice of deficiency (impatience). "The Garden" seems to offer a comparison between two of the three of these. Frog seems to have just enough patience, while Toad does not seem to have any at all. While in the end, Toad finally gets the beautiful garden he wants, the process of growing that garden was quite different for him than for Frog. Growing a garden takes some work, but it also takes time, and whether one has patience or not will have a large impact on the quality of life one has over the course of that time. For example, while both Frog and Toad planted seeds, watered them, perhaps even fertilized and weeded, Toad's inability to be patient with the process had him upset, anxious, and wasting his energy in all sorts of fruitless efforts. This makes the experience of gardening much less enjoyable for Toad than it could have been. One might even say that Toad's life would have been better if he had not been so upset and worried during his experience. That there is only an example of having patience, and of not having it raises an interesting question. Is it possible to have too much patience? If patience is a virtue in Aristotle's sense, then it is quite possible. Perhaps people with too much patience are willing to wait forever for something that will never happen. Imagine, for example, that unbeknownst to some aspiring overly patient gardener, the seeds she has planted are all sterile. Yet despite the fact that sprouts never break through the dirt, she has patience, and continues calmly to do everything that is part of the garden-growing-process. Indefinitely perhaps, if she doesn't "run out of patience!" Whether one thinks that it is possible to have too much patience or not, discussing why one thinks so is likely to lead to some lively debate. Questions for Philosophical Discussionby Thomas Wartenberg and Jayme Johnson In the story Toad started shouting and getting angry with his seeds.
Toad did not want to wait for the plants to grow.
Toad sings and reads to the plants.
Toad wanted a garden because he saw how beautiful Frog's garden was.
This book module deals with ethics, specifically virtue. You can buy this book on Amazon. |