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!