Jacqueline Rose defines children’s literature as a “seduction” or a “colonization” of the child in an imposition of the adult ideal of childhood (qtd. in Redcay). Criticism of children’s literature and all research about children is developed by adults who speak of the children on the basis of the assumption that children are inherently weaker and cannot speak for themselves, much like how colonizers speak for the colonized. There is a distortion in the way childhood is perceived and represented, as it is presented as an adult would remember it, and also the ideal that an adult held about childhood.
On the basis of this premise it is easy to assume that all the stories that children are told, and the stories that they themselves begin to narrate are manipulative in the sense where they inculcate the adult’s worldview into the child. Early storytelling transfers language, and the wealth of cultural context and modes it carries to the child. These then become part of their own memories and collective consciousness and children begin to then look towards stories to help them understand adult behaviour.
“For children, stories are metaphors, especially in the realm of feelings, for which they have, as yet, no single words” (Meek Introduction 2). The attitudes of the older generation therefore inevitably influence those that a child might develop simply by exposure to these attitudes through stories that the adults choose to tell the children. To borrow Althusser’s concept, the collective of the “Ideological State Apparatuses” contribute towards the ideology that future adults ought to follow. This is of course, keeping in mind that the ISAs include narratives for children.
Stereotypical representations of characters lead to childre...
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...as children grow up, the stereotyping becomes internalized and leads to the continuation of prejudices held and propagated by the majority about the minority.
A postcolonial reading of texts such as Kipling’s The Jungle Book is necessary in order to clarify how Eurocentric biases factor into the stories they are told and in the processes of cultural identity construction. No representation will ever be completely accurate, and Kipling’s own love for India mixed up with his imperialistic approach distinctly colours what could otherwise be passed off as an innocent tales of growing up. The colonial mindset needs to be made familiar so children may accommodate for them and dismantle imperialistic structures. This can be made possible through their understanding of the world as fostered through books that allow for representation of cultures by those who belong to them.
Reading Chapter 11, “Genders and Sexualities,” written by Carrie Hintz was to construct and enact alternatives for these two traditional categories. Data is clearly indicated that sexual material is some of the most controversial content in literature. Children’s literature that is involved with adolescent’s childhood are key battlegrounds for attitudes about gender and sexuality. The significance of gender and sexuality in children’s literature is the persistent investment in what is perceived to be the innocence of children. Innocence is defined in part by children’s enforced ignorance of sexual matters. According to James Kincaid, “Youth and innocence are two of the most eroticized constructions of the past two centuries. Innocence was that
Many thoughts come into the mind when hearing the word stereotype. The society has been exposed to too many stereotypes. These stereotypes result in controversial issues, which in turn, affect adults and children. The TV shows, internet, and social media are sources that expose children, as well as the adults, to stereotypes. Examples of those stereotypes are religion, sexism, and race. As children grow up by, the age of four they are able to pick up many stereotypes through those sources and without the perception and knowledge these children carry these stereotypes along with them in their long term memory. Moreover, children are not able to know or distinguish whether those thoughts are negative or positive stereotypes, which in turn, cause
‘Every child knows what it’s like to be Cinderella because all children feel unappreciated at times and want to be special.’ (Smith, 2007. P.6). While it is unlikely that most parents would abuse their children in the same way as in our fairy stories, or lock them in the cupboard under the stairs like Harry Potter, every child knows what it is like to be ignored, or (in their eyes) unfairly punished for something. ‘Children often feel helpless because they are subject to what they consider the whims of adults.’ (Cleaver, 2004, p.56).
The Giver, by Lois Lowry portrays the discovery that a controlled society doesn’t constitute a content society; The novel portrays the life of an adolescent boy named Jonas who is given a glimpse into the downfalls of his utopian society. Seeing that with pain and loss come great joy, Jonas breaks away from the rules as he tries to find a greater good. I too find that the restraints of our society limit our ability to reach fulfillment. In the words of Lois Lowry, “We gained control of some things. But we had to let go of others”. In the modern day a rebel is often needed to break the rules and find a greater existence. I would rebel for one of three main areas that the government controls: our money, our mind, and our protection.
In Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden nature and its fantastical elements are crucial in making their novels the iconic children literary tales they are presently. However due to these fantastical elements both authors criticized for their romanticized view of nature and idealized depictions of childhood within nature. Scholarly critics Jacqueline Rose and Humphrey Carpenter argue that in creating idealistic narrative worlds both authors lose their ability to represent childhood in a realistic way and instead let their works become escape outlets rather than true depictions of childhood. In doing so these books are no longer true children’s literature, but simply ideals born out of an authors
It has always been amazing to realize how well the literature I read as a child has stayed with me through the years. It takes an exceptional writer to compose a narrative that maintains a storyline on the same level of a child's understanding; it takes everything short of a miracle to keep a child's interest. However, that undertaking has been accomplished by many skilled authors, and continues to be an area of growth in the literary world. Only this year the New York Times has given the genre of children's literature the credit it deserves by creating a separate best-sellers list just for outstanding children's books. Yet, on another level, children's literature is not only for the young. I believe that the mark of a brilliant children's author is the age range of those who get pleasure from the stories; the wider the range, the better.
The younger children growing up today are discovering how this world works. It’s not an easy place. It’s not a nice place as you get older. People that choose to stereotype others around them will have no problem stereotyping children as they grow older. For example, a issue with kids high school is that whoever seems to have the best name brand clothes, shoes, or other attire are the ones with more money. The more money you have the cooler you are. Along with that is the assumption that the more money you have, the more stuck up you are. This isn’t always true though. When parents teach their children to not feel superior over others and to consider everyone’s circumstances it instills a form of respect for others. And by respecting others and their feelings it could motivate them to think before they
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Children live in a world designed for them by adults. The two cultures, child’s culture and adult’s culture exist side-by-side. As the children eventually mature into the adult world, they grow up learning the structure of what is expected of them. As children challenge the authority or expectations, they are battling the construction that was predetermined by the adults. Children have to live in a world where they are living in the structure, as well as being active agents. The two combating ideas are one component that makes growing up a difficult learning experience.
There are several factors that play a role in the development of stereotypes. The biggest learning of stereotypes come from family influences. Young children don’t see color or hold beliefs about culture and religion, but as they grow up, their ideas about people change with the people that they are surrounded by and associated with. Stereotypes also come from the media and social categorization (Ferguson). In young l...
Gillespie, Gerald, Manfred Engel, Bernard Dieterle, and Bettina Meibauer. "Images of Childhood in Romantic children's literature." Romantic Prose Fiction. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub. Co, 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Children begin to develop a sense of self, of belonging, gender and racial identity at an early age. Children will absorb bias, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination if they are exposed and practiced them in their world, unless guided otherwise.
Literature has been part of society since pen met paper. It has recorded history, retold fables, and entertained adults for centuries. Literature intended for children, however, is a recent development. Though children’s literature is young, the texts can be separated into two categories by age. The exact splitting point is debatable, but as technology revolutionized in the mid-twentieth century is the dividing point between classic and contemporary. Today’s children’s literature is extraordinarily different from the classics that it evolved from, but yet as classic was transformed into modern, the literature kept many common features.
U.C. Knoepflmacher’s wonderful parody of the current situation of children’s literary criticism and the psychoanalytic approach to literature perfectly sums up what will be the major obstacle of this critical paper. It would seem that modern literary criticism has an unfortunate tendency to overlook children’s literature extensively; to relegate it to a position of only secondary importance in the critic’s glossary of “good literature.” On top of that, psychoanalytic criticism, as it is applied to children’s literature, seems to have taken on a startlingly simplistic, static approach to the analysis of the text, that does very little justice to the diversity and complexity that the field possesses. (132-133) ...
In this chapter, I will examine the messages that are given to young children through fairytales and how theses fairy tales teach children the moral way to live. “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” (Albert Einstein)