Post 7 of 7 MENTOR: CHARLES XAVIER

Post 7 of 7 MENTOR: CHARLES XAVIER Charles Xavier begins Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (1982) believing the X-Men are dead. Accepting new students means returning to work that now carries the memory of an apparent, devastating failure. Moira brings him young people whose needs cannot wait for his grief to settle. His telepathy gives him extraordinary ways to understand and guide them. The school asks for something more sustained: attention to what each student needs, how they respond to authority, and what kind of life they are trying to build. The closing admission of Sam Guthrie makes that responsibility concrete. Sam has fought the others while working for Pierce. Xavier nevertheless invites him to the school, asking the class to make room for someone they have reason to distrust. Education begins with the possibility that a student can learn from a serious mistake. That decision also asks something of the other pupils. They will have to share space with Sam and discover whether trust can grow through what he does next. Xavier can arrange the introduction; the relationships will have to develop among the students themselves. As mentor, he gives the founding class its home, its training and an adult responsible for both. “Renewal” ends with the school able to begin again. Its promise now depends on how carefully he helps these five individuals live and learn together.