Why Children's Literature Is Still Relevant To Adults Part I

A lot of teen and adult readers scoff at Children's Literature. I understand the impulse. We feel we're too mature for "little kid books" but older readers shouldn't be so quick to dismiss these novels. Many of them contain adult themes, historical and literary references, and are benchmarks for (what were once) innovative literary devices. 

To be clear, when I say this, I'm (mostly) not talking about Contemporary Children's Literature (like Harry Potter or the Big Nate books - though these books are great for their own reasons). I am talking about Classic Children's Literature. To illustrate these points, we'll be looking at classic novels like Peter Pan by JM Barrie, Winnie the Pooh by A.A Milne, and Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. All of these are incredibly popular and iconic stories, which we have seen at least once in Disney versions, with the exception of Hodgson's novel - which has several film adaptations. As such, I will assume the reader will know the general plot points of these works. Though these novels may bring about some childhood nostalgia, these novels can actually be extremely dark, the written works too dense for a child to navigate through alone, and filled with adult themes. 

If we take a more analytical view of these texts we'll see that a lot of complex themes are can be applied to these novels, including (but not limited to):

I. Abandonment, death, and abuse
II. Sexuality
III. Marxism (economic and social disparities)
IV. Historical and Literary References

How? Let's take a closer look...

I. Abandonment, death, and abuse

These themes can be see in all of the novels we'll be looking at. 

PETER PAN seems like the obvious place to start with this one. Peter Pan's plot revolves around emotionally abandoned children who run away from growing up by going to a magical land to live with Lost Boys who were literally abandoned. The Darling children love their mother and feel emotional support from her but do not feel that from their father who doesn't seem to understand them. It is their father's obsession with the children growing up (presumably so they can become more self sufficient) that drives the children to escape reality. This is the first act of abandonment within the novel. 

The story then continues on with the idea of abandonment by having Peter look for a mother figure for the Lost Boys. Because they have never had a mother (that they can remember, anyway), they look to Wendy who can tell good stories, to perform the role of "mother".  As much as the children have fun playing and doing childlike activities with each other, they crave the attention and affection of an adult parental figure and at first project this onto Peter and Wendy who play at being parents. The Lost Boys embody abandonment and evoke this feeling in their name alone. 

In the original play, Peter tries to convince Wendy that she has been abandoned by her parents by trying to lock her bedroom window, showing that they do not care if she returns.  he believes that this will be enough to convince Wendy to stay in Neverland with him. This shows that Peter feels he is being abandoned by Wendy and will do what he thinks is necessary to keep her with him. But when he sees Mrs. Darling's anguish over her missing children, he decides not to follow through with his plan and Wendy returns home feeling loved and wanted by her parents.

The theme of abandonment is then resolved (for Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost Boys at least) when Wendy brings the Lost Boys home with her and they are adopted into her family where they will finally have parents in Mr. and Mrs. Darling. 

Abandonment is also a major theme in both of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novels. In THE SECRET GARDEN the story opens to Mary, a little girl who lives in India with her wealthy and physically and emotionally unavailable parents. Mary rarely sees her father and her mother is more concerned with parties and flirting than attending to the needs of her only child. Instead the child is vetted out to caretakers who don't speak English and indulge the child's every wish. The emotional abandonment is then made more concrete (literally being a physical abandonment) when both of her parents die due to an outbreak of cholera (along with most of the people in the area). Mary then survives on her own for several days, sipping wine and eating the food that has been left on the manor's table. When she is discovered and the fact that she is an orphan announced, she is sent to live with an uncle (Archibald Craven) she has never met. 

After weeks of living in her uncle's manor in England, she discovers that she has a sickly cousin named Colin. He is equally as abandoned by both of his parents. Colin's mother died when he was very young and his father spends as much time as possible away from his son and his home in Misselthwaite Manor. Even when Mr. Craven is home, he never goes to see his son when he is awake and feels conflicted about whether to become attached to the child (because of Colin's weak constitution and Mr. Craven's fear that his son will die, creating an even deeper wound in his heart). Instead, Colin's wellbeing is left in the care of Mrs. Medlock who doesn't know what to do about Colin's bad health and in attempts to treat the boy, basically tortures him with ice baths and other hurtful remedies. 

This theme is also portrayed within the garden itself. Mary goes to great lengths to show the reader that the garden has been neglected and abandoned by its owner. She then takes responsibility for it and it flourishes under her care, creating a parallel between it and the two neglected children. 

Mary and Colin also become full of life when they find each other and gain Mr. Craven's affection. Mr. Craven is shocked to see how much Mary resembles his late wife (Mary and Colin's mothers were twins) and feels an affinity with the girl. He allows her to have her "bit of earth", which Mary uses as permission to open the Secret Garden (though Mr. Craven is unaware that this is the plot of land Mary had chosen). With Mary's help, Colin makes a miraculous recovery from his illness (which is not specified in the story though the symptoms include lumps, weakness of the bones, etc). Once he is healthy, they create a ritual (a bonfire where they ask for things they want) and Colin asks for his father to return and see him in good health. Once Mr. Craven returns and sees that Colin is cured, he is beside himself with joy and thanks Mary for everything she has done. The story ends with the understanding that he will be more present in Colin's life and that he will care for Mary as a father, satisfying the children's need for parental intimacy and erasing their feelings of abandonment. 

The characters in WINNIE THE POOH also experience this idea of abandonment. The most obvious case of this is Pooh's constant waiting for Christopher Robin to return to the 100 Acre Wood. The story was written by A.A Milne about his son's stuffed animals (and to me is the first "Toy Story" ever created). Milne creates a world where all of these teddy bears have lives and stories of their own, separate from his son, until Christopher Robin decides to play with them (which is represented by when he visits the Hundred Acre Wood). 

In The House at Pooh Corner, the novel ends with the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood throwing Christopher Robins a farewell party. Though is it isn't outwardly stated, it is suggesting that the farewell party is actually Christopher Robins saying goodbye to his stuffed animals as he out grows them (similar to Andy giving away his toys at the end of Toy Story 3). 

All three novels deal with the themes of abandonment, a topic that is explored seriously. All of these novels deal with emotional and physical abandonment and how the negative feelings attributed to being abandoned can be healed and overcome. 

I hope you've enjoyed this first installment of "Why Children's Literature Is Still Relevant to Adults". In the next installment we'll be looking at the theme of sexuality and relationships in Children's Literature. 

Have a great Memorial Day weekend! 

Happy Reading!

A Beginner's Guide To Planning Your Novel

I've been trying to write a book for the past sixteen years. I haven't been too successful. So why should you listen to anything I have to say on how to plan your novel? Well, planning has always been my strong suit, it's the actual writing that's been the problem - getting the words down in a way that sounds right to me so I don't abandon the project.

Some writers (known as pants-ers) don't believe in planning. They go wherever the story takes them and fix mistakes in the editing process. I admire these people and used to try to write in a very similar way but found that I just rambled for much too long on dialogue that went nowhere and scenes that meant nothing. That's when I began reading books on writing books to help me better understand the components of a novel - what was needed in order to form dynamic characters, a plot that had purpose and direction, and themes that readers could relate to. After a few years of research and planning out several novels, I've found a system that works for me. I do not guarantee that it will work for everyone but I hope that you'll find it useful.

In order to plan a story (and keep in mind that most of my stories are character driven), I separate my planning into three parts:

1. CHARACTER

2. PLOT

3. THEME

These are the three big things that I try to focus on while coming up with a good story. Obviously, there are other parts to story telling (setting, tone, etc) that are equally important, but I find that focusing on these three things give me a good foundation to figure out the rest of what makes a story great.

When using this model, I start with character and usually branch out. When focusing on CHARACTER, ask yourself, who is this character? If they were person (your neighbor, someone at your school or work) how would you see them? How would you label them? A lot of authors use this method as a starting point for their characters. In Harry Potter, for example, Hermoine is the smart one and Ron is the funny/loyal one. Obviously the characters are more complex than that but you can see how this is a jumping off point for Rowling to build her characters. When building your characters ask yourself:

i. What is this character's history?

ii. What kind of personality do they have?

iii. What habits do they have?

iv. What do they look like?

I usually answer all of these questions by setting up a bullet point system where I write any and all facts that come to mind about each of my characters. I then write a  few paragraphs about each of my characters (almost like a psychological study). This should read like a wikipedia page of any important information a reader might need to know. This does not need to be extensive and isn't really necessary to building good three dimensional characters but I enjoy doing it and it helps me really understand my characters.

The next thing I focus on when planning a long story is PLOT. Here you're essentially thinking about what specifically is happening in the story and thinking about where you want the story to go. It's important to know the basics of plot, which state that a plot is broken up into three major parts:

1) Introduction - this is the beginning of the story. It shows who your character is and where they are in life. Keep in mind that your character should feel like there is either something missing in their lives that they must gain, an obstacle they must overcome, or they are unassuming and are called upon to do something magnificent. This is because there needs to be some change in the character throughout the book. So this first part is the part where the reader who the character is BEFORE whatever is going to happen, happens.

2) The Middle - This is the biggest chunk of the three. This is where the character is finally called up, realizes what they need to to, etc. This is a huge bulk of the book because this is where you character grows, learns (how to be themselves, how to defeat the enemy, the skills needed to overcome the obstacle, etc). Here the character is learning about their problem and what tasks/ character traits are necessary to fix them. They try and mess up, learning new lessons. And as this section comes to an end, they are almost ready to face whatever the problem in the story is.

3) The End - The end is basically the boss battle at the end of the book. The boss battle can be anything from realizing finally that you've chosen the wrong guy and therefore should break up with the jerk that's been mistreating you (so you can date the nice boy next door who's always been there for you) or it can be a literal battle between a protagonist who is fighting in the name of good against an antagonist who is trying to spread evil across the land. Here the character must wield everything they have learned in order to defeat the big bad.

Now, the way I start with plot may seem a little odd (basically thinking about who my character is and where they are in life) but this is a great place to start when writing a character driven piece or even just helping you piece together where you should start your story at all. So ask yourself these questions:

i. What is my characters life like before the thing that changes everything?

ii. What does my character need to learn by the end of the story?

iii. What does my character want? What motivates them to move forward and change?

iv. You character will come close to achieving the goal but there must be pitfalls. What is your character's setback? What does this mean for the character's growth (and how do they take the loss)? What does this mean to your character's goal?

v. The character comes to a fork in his/her life where they must show all they have learned so far. What does you character need to show they've finally become able to do? What must they give up to achieve this goal?

Finally, it's time for you to think about what THEMES you want to explore in your story. I like to do planning in this order because by the time I get to themes, I already have a lot of content to draw on. Knowing who your characters are and where you plot is (likely going because let's be real, everything is subject to change during the actual writing process), helps to cement what themes you might be exploring and how to bring them out better in your story. When considering themes, look at the (internal and external) challenges your characters are facing and think of how this can be translated into themes which can come in the form of:

--> relationship between parent and child                        --> questioning authority

--> identity                                                                          --> death

--> economic class                                                          

--> gossip/ lies

Once you find these (or other) themes with your story, talk about which characters portray these themes and give an overview of on how each theme shows up in that character's storyline. This may help with some background story for your characters or illuminate some scenes you haven't thought of in detail.

I personally like to do variations on themes in my stories in order to give more depth. For example, one of my stories goes into parent/child relationships. The girl's mother dies in childbirth, she is raised by her uncle, and is forced to move and live with her father when he remarries, giving her a stepmother (a new mother figure). Now there are three different parent child relationships being explored:

1) The relationship between her and her uncle. He is her surrogate father and has raised her for the first 14 years of her life.

2) The relationship between her and her father. Her father was absent for the majority of her life and is distant with her even after she moves in with him.

3) The relationship between her and her stepmother. Her stepmother is very judgmental and nitpicks at how she is though she has the best intentions and has always wanted a child.

This way, the theme is more complex because the reader can see three different version of this relationship and start asking questions like who is the better parent? Is being a parent defined by who births you? Can parents hurt their children even when they have good intentions? Can a parent love a child and be unable to show it? Etc.

After this, you are ready to get deeper into plot planning or to start writing your story. I hope this brief overview had helped you. If your writing process is different please let me know and if you would like more in depth explanations of each section, please let me know.

Happy Writing!