A Cage Of Butterflies By Brian Casswell

The world is selfish place, full of selfish people with cruel intentions. No one does anything descent or kind for anyone else, without it benefitting themselves in some kind of way. Kindness (generosity?) isn't free. We all pay for it in the end…eventually. The book A Cage of Butterflies, by Brian Casswell, is an episodic novel about 'babies', who are stolen from their families to be used as lab rats. They are separated from the rest of society. Labelled and bullied. Used as nothing but a toy for people to play with. They are merely just delicate butterflies trying to escape the hard, cold metal bars of a cage.

When observing the world and its inescapable human interactions, it is easy to see that people who are considered gifted are often

Through the character of Larsen, the reader sees the exploitation of children who are considered weaker when there are no limitations to morals or a sense of ethics to their actions. With the children only being there for the benefit of others, Larsen is willing to lie to the parents about his intentions with the children and cuts off any contact or ties with society. He has no interest in helping the children, but only in helping himself to further his career and make himself known to the world. Greg reinforces this mentality of Larsen's when he states, "A mismatched bunch of post (most of us) pubescent misfits, with super high IQs and sub-zero social skills, locked away in this cozy coastal retreat...Because some thought we might prove useful" (Caswell, 1992, pg. 9). Caswell shows us through A Cage of Butterflies that children that mistreated and only used for others and their

These are just two of the words that we use to describe autistic kids in this day and age. Humans and Animals. None of the two are the same, so why do we have the need to take away the basic human rights, to which we all deserve, and treat children unfairly by constantly watching, observing and experimenting with their lives. In society, the only A+ kids want to give are the ones on their report card…but in the book A Cage of Butterflies, the only A+ they are capable of giving, is the kind that runs through their veins. The Kids from 'The tank', consider themselves to be just like animals, living on 'The Farm', constantly being restricted to the same four walls of the institution to which they have been confined in for the majority of their lives. Brian Casswell truly believes that this is the case, when he states "Researchers, who set them tasks, monitored the results and generally used them as guinea pigs" (Caswell, 1992, pg.19.) Children are gifts to the world, but instead of admiring their beauty, we pick and poke at them to see what makes them tick. We treat them as commodities, not people. Caswell clearly shows this unfair treatment through the use of the different viewpoints from each character. No one deserves to be treated like animals, especially children who do not have control over their lives, and yet we still continue to do