It Takes A Village...

It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child. The view in the text of The Wide, Wide World is no different. In today's society we count on many different people to shape and raise our children on many different levels, shapes, and forms. We expect teachers to shape children in a way that parents can't. We send our kids to things like Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to get the Spiritual upbringing they need. (Although I feel like parents should play a role in this as well, but this is not often the case today.) We send our kids to other people's houses to embark on "play dates." This also helps to shape the type of young adult a child grows into. In this story Mrs. Montgomery sends her daughter on an errand that no eight year old would be expected to handle in today's world. This proves to be a daunting task for young Ellen. Yet, someone steps up to help her. This same gentleman continues to shower Ellen with the things she needs. If the only people we ever received opinions or advice from were our parents we'd all be running around as carbon copies of our parents. I do not think any parent wants that for their child. It takes a village...

I think parents are viewed as providers and figure heads to a certain extent in the context of this text. I get the feeling that Ellen's relationship with her mother is an exception to the rule, not the way that most daughter's and mother's feel about each other. Mr. Montgomery seems to have no problem just shipping Ellen off. She was a responsibility of his. He handed the responsibility off to someone else when he could no longer manage it.

Continuing on my previous statement, the text really puts the relationship on the mother. She is the one who is teaching the life lessons, and preparing Ellen to enter the wide, wide world. Mr. Montgomery is absent, but he is still feeling the burden of having a child. He provides food, shelter, clothing and a roof over her head, until he of course ships her off to his sister.

Ellen views her mother as her everything. She is the person she serves from the moment she wakes up until she goes to bed. Some might say that Ellen's mother is her God. She adores her, she worships her, she hangs on her every word. Ellen wants nothing more than to please her mother and to give her everything she needs. Ellen seems to fear her father. She waits until he has left before she will show her face. She dare not have him see her cry. I don't see Ellen viewing her father as her "daddy" in the respect that she sees her mother as her "mama." The relationships are completely different. Her father is well simply just her biological father. He simply just takes her of her well being.

Ellen is going to be raise by the village, not by her own parents. Her mother is soon going to, well, die and her father will presumably continue to be absent. I see those around her rising up to help her along and continue on her journey to become a young lady.

Constructions of Childhood

After doing the old "I don't know what to write, I don't know what to write!" for a solid five minutes, well I still don't know what to write. So hang in there with me, this might be a bumpy ride.

"The focus of the stories was extremely narrow. They were written to teach, and specifically morality. " -MacLeoud

There always seems to be a lesson in children's literature, according to MacLeoud. The stories were about children and were even written in a simple way for children, but they were geared at adults. There is often humor and other things found in selections that only an adult would understand.

The tone about children was optimistic. MacLeoud says that the children in the stories were "most part good." This represents how society's view of children is changing. Before it was often thought that children were evil creatures. The literature that emerged in the 1800s changed this opinion.

Sanchez-Eppler suggests that adults have "increasingly sought" immanence and innocence in children. Children are innocent. Literature somewhat gives them the benefit of the doubt. Although most may be innocent, many children characters found in literature are quite opposite although the adults in the story still seem to consider them innocent.

MacLeoud also elaborates on the predictability of children's literature. The good usually wins out. The plot lines are often the same plot lines found in other stories, but the names and settings were changed to fit America.

According to MacLeoud most of the American children's literature was separate from British literature. It was given American settings, names, and was also written by Americans. There was a great split between the American and Bristish culture. America was starting to figure out who she was. She was a new country and she was separate from her previous ruler of Britain.

I hope this post wasn't too hard to follow. Happy reading!

Introductions

Hello readers!

My name is Katelyn O'Quin. I am from Enid, OK. It is a small town in northwest Oklahoma. About two hours straight West of Tulsa. I am a freshman at TCU and am majoring in Early Childhood Education. This is my blog that will feature my responses to my Major American Writers class at TCU.

I came to TCU to tour in February of my senior year in high school, not really knowing where I was going to attend college. During my tour I fell in love with TCU. Everything about it just felt so right. I new before I was even out of Texas that TCU was the place I would be calling home for the next four or five years.

If I was the chancellor of TCU there is probably not a whole lot that I would do differently. I really love this university and the way it is run. There are not a whole lot of things that bother me or that I wish were done differently. One thing that I might add would be some type of grocery store that students could shop at with Campus Cash or Frog Bucks. There are some things at the Union Grounds, but things like cases of Coke or paper towels are not found there.

A good teacher is someone that makes his or her students absolutely fall in love with learning. He or she is so passionate about his/her subject that his/her students simply fall in love with it as well. He/she communicates in a way that is more than just barking out facts. He/she is simply sharing knowledge with the students and is excited about it. A good student is also excited about learning. They want to get as much knowledge as possible from a teacher and do not give up until their thirst for knowledge is satisfied. The brain is always able to learn something new. Students should embrace this.

Three people I would like to have dinner with are Mary (from the Bible), Sarah Palin, and my best friend Erin that moved to Japan during our freshmen year of high school. I would love to have dinner with Mary because she was such a woman of courage and faith. She trusted God with something that I would have totally said, "Uhm, no thanks God, can you find someone else for that?" I would also like to meet Sarah Palin. I know she kind of went a little crazy after she and Senator McCain lost the election. But I still think she is an amazing woman. She has so much on her plate and handles it with style and grace. Finally I would like to just meet up with Erin to catch up. I have not seen her since 2006. That is a very long time for best friends to be apart.

Some things you should know about me... I am so in love with my God. I believe that the Bible is living and active and that the Word of God will never come back void. My church is a huge part of my life and without Christ I would be totally and hopelessly lost. I absolutely love children. I love watching them play, learn, and grow, hence my major. Children have the ability to just melt my heart. Having a small child fall asleep on me is perhaps one of the most precious and amazing things in the world. I love to just sit and watch them sleep. One last thing about me: I am addicted to Sonic's 'Happy Hour.' I absolutely love getting a Route 44 Diet Coke with easy ice from Sonic!

Things I would like to know about you all... What are your interests and hobbies? What are some fun things around Ft. Worth that you like to do? And where is everyone from?

I chose to take this course because my major requires me to have six hours of Literature. I chose this specific one because I do not particularly like British Literature. I had a horrible experience with American Lit in high school, and I wanted to take another shot at it. I am really excited about this course. Ms. Irvin seems like a phenomenal person and teacher and I am really pumped to study with her!

In high school I took Honors American Literature and Honors World Literature. I took Composition I & II concurrently my senior year. This is about all the academic experience I have with writing. I do however keep my own personal blog (katelynoquin.blogspot.com). I enjoy ranting on it every now and then. I also am a big journal-er. I find writing so freeing. Paper will never judge you, so you can say whatever and know it is safe. I think email is a great form of communication as well as texting. I do quite a bit of both of these. I really enjoy writing and it comes naturally to me. I also enjoy helping others improve their writing.

I chose the polka dot them for my blog because I thought it was cute. I like to make things, well cute. I think I introduced myself well and that this blog will be a big reflection of me as a person. I am really excited about this part of the course. I think it is a neat and innovative assignment and a great use of the vast resources available on the Internet.

Until next time,

Katelyn

I have read, understand, and agree to the syllabus for ENGL 20503.