Week 2

Sanchez-Eppler states in the beginning of her introduction that children are both “objects of socialization” and “forces of socialization.” As I’ve gathered from the literature we’ve read so far, this is true, and what I take to mean that children’s literature is used to propose a set of values to be modeled and vessels in which to instill these same values. Children will guide the way into the future, but we must prepare them to guide us in the direction that we want to go. Though the value of childhood “specialness” was beginning to be recognized, children were still being seen as “culturally irrelevant” since they were still dependent upon adults. They were not studied or taken seriously because adults believed that children were basically drawings to be colored in with their favorite colors, and such it was reflected in the purpose behind the literature to teach them morals. But at the same time, while they wrote with an emphasis on teaching morality, their writing constituted the importance of children to society by the simple fact that they saw it important to educate them.

MacLeod makes several claims in Children’s Literature for a New Nation, two of which are that the stories are mostly lacking in setting and that they strive strictly to teach morality. Well even in our very first reading this seems to be untrue. Rip van Winkle is filled with beautiful descriptions of the Catskills Mountains which sparked the imagination of even this modern reader. In addition to that, the main character seems to come out on top, waking up to find his shrewish wife deceased and having “arrived at that happy age when a man can do nothing with impunity.” True, many of his friends were gone and his dog no longer remembered him, but the story is lacking in a “dire consequence” that results from the faults of the characters. Rather, this story seems to cautiously advise against the vice of sloth while building a detailed setting to hold the attention of the children it was made to be read to. Morality is important, but it is not overwhelming. Setting is more important than MacLeod gives it credit for because you have to have something to hold your audiences’ attention, and setting does that very well.

As is mentioned several times in our reading, children’s literature is mostly meant to be understood by adults. Adults are the ones writing the literature and are frequently the ones reading it to the children. Therefore it would be prudent as we are reading to think critically about what the author is trying to communicate to the children, as it is most likely going to contain commonly held values or anxieties of the time.