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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Happy Reading!
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