Growing up obsessed with Disney movies I have seen Peter Pan more times than I can count, but I never thought of it as an adult themed story until reading The Case of Peter Pan. The more I read the more it made sense. How would a child truly appreciate the fear Peter has of growing up? They would not have faced the same problems that adults have faced and they have not wished they could go back in time and be a child again. That is the premise of Peter Pan; a boy that doesn’t want to grow up. Most children I know wish they were older, and most adults I know wish they could be a child again. An adult could relate to Peter’s feeling more than any child ever could. Not only was the main story point better suited for adults, but also the history of the author is definitely not fit for children. It bothered me when I realized the author was more than just interested in writing a story about young boys, but that he was attracted to little boys. There is clearly so much wrong with that statement in today’s society, and to discover that a story I grew up adoring had such a twisted background history really affected me. Would the incredible story of Peter in Neverland have ever existed if the author didn’t have a strange obsession with children? As a reader we will never know, but this has made me look at all of my favorite childhood stories in a new light and begin to wonder, are any of these really just for children?
Daily Archives: 11 Sep ’14
The Difference Between Child and Adult: The Same Story with Different Meanings
In the earlier reading Kiddie Lit Beverly Lyon Clark points out that, “immaturity does not seem like a permanent label.” She then illustrates that immaturity is not limited to the child, but also can include social awkwardness and ignorance.
Why then does children’s literature get a bad rap for being immature, beneath, unworthy of the “mature” reader’s effort?
In our class readings so far I keep coming back to this idea of state of the child. The intended audience, children, of children’s literature is supposed to be in this place of innocence of needing to learn how the world works. The adult reader has moved past the need for these stories. The reading selection How to Read Children’s Literature outlined the idea of the “implied reader.” If a children’s book like Goodnight Moon, that I’ve read at least a hundred times with kids I’ve babysat, is intended for children then why do I like it so much? I’m not, I don’t think, I’m the implied reader. Right?
Here’s what I’m stuck on and don’t really have an answer worked out just yet: What if children’s literature has more than one implied reader? And why can’t that be ok in the lexicon of Literature?
In the Jacqueline Rose essay she references the socially unacceptable sexual repression of both JM Barrie and Lewis Carroll and discusses what both writers are likely alluding to.
My first reaction to her pointing this out is, “but I love these stories! Not cool!” I felt like that was too dark, wrong connection to make of a story that I read innocently as a child and with nostalgia as an adult.
I started thinking, after getting over the lured overtones that I got hung up on, what if it’s sexual discovery that’s this invisible line between child and adult? I mean the Bible points out how innocent and good life was for Adam & Eve. Sexual discovery is still that line in the sand between before and after; child and adult. Ok, maybe not the entire line; too Freudian for my taste. But the discovery of how to live in the community and how to navigate more complex gray areas is the mark of one who is no longer a child.
This idea of discovering maturity might allow us to use stories to consider, to explore, the impact this discovery when it’s made at the right time, too soon, or too late. (Anyone read Confederacy of Dunces? Ignatius is a guy that may have been a little late to adulthood based on this whole discovery idea.)
When considering children’s literature it’s starting to look to me like the adult writer, who catering to an implied child reader, is trying to lead that child in degrees to discover the world. But it turns out the adult reader inadvertently becomes the implied reader (in the case of Peter Pan we’d have to “strike that and reverse it”). There’s looking back to a life before discovery a deeper understanding of what maturity brings and what is lost when maturity is gained.
The Empty Vessel known as the Child
Think critically! It’s such an easy thing to say and yet so hard to truly do. Reading The Case against Peter Pan, I was plunged into idea of thinking critically in terms of children’s literature. The idea of packaging a story that came out of a fetish book, seems absolutely insane. Yet, on a daily basis children are being marketed adult content with “child like” themes. As a society, children’s books are promoted by schools, retails chains, libraries, etc, without being critically analyzed to see if their promoting other agendas. Peter Pan has reached iconic status, and is passed from generation to generation. Its troubled past becoming a myth of sorts, It’s disturbing to unknowingly marvel at such a story when it’s brought to life again time after time in books, and to never question it’s origin. It isn’t enough to try and figure out what children’s literature is, without knowing where it came from, and why it exists. In Charles Dickens “Hard Times” children were made to be filled with facts, empty vessels for knowledge being taught to them by adults. This method didn’t work for any of the children in “Hard Times” that later became unfulfilled adults. The analysis of the case of Peter Pan made it apparent that children are still viewed as empty vessels, only facts have been replaced with adult versions of “child like” fantasy.
Two Implied Readers
After reading the document “How To Read Children’s Literature” I never thought about the implied reader being the children and the adult. I have always thought children’s literature was mainly focused on children being the only audience it was intended for. After being introduced to an adult as another implied reader, they have a larger knowledge base than the implied child reader. When I first read the poem I tried to read it in the perspective of a child and it worked out in two cases where the reader requires a “body of knowledge of literature and life”, called repertoire that adults had more of than children did. The first thing was how a cat and an owl cannot be seen together as partners. Such a relationship would be seen in a fiction story or a fantasy, but reading further int the document I remembered how different animals can be close despite knowing such a relationship would not occur. The second thing was the words runcible and bong-tree, and I never heard of these words and assumed they were made up words. I thought they were words a child would be curious about and ask someone older to tell them what the words meant. Obviously, I decided to look up these words after I finished the poem.
Response to Kiddie Lit
In Beverly Lyon Clark’s book, Kiddie Lit, she mentions on page 5 that women “grind children under [their] heels. She also quotes Margaret Fuller who said, “Now there is no woman, only an overgrown child.” With this quote, it explains why women “grind children under [their] heels”. This is because women can’t be acknowledged as an adult until they have not only grown up, but has lost any part of them that would make them seem immature, lacking confidence, irresponsible, and so on. However, if that is the case, then those are the attributes in which we apply to children. Women try so hard not to be associated with children, but in reality, it’s just those attributes in which women do not want to be associated with. However, I believe that it’s not just women who are viewed as a child if they so much as act a little immature and play jokes. I feel that men who are always joking around or saying unintelligent things can also be viewed as a child by other men who have gained respect and by other women who feel that they are mature or have also gained respect. This is seen by interactions around us everyday. With my friends, because I like to play around and joke with them, I am viewed as a child who is immature. But I also view them as childish too because they play around with me as well even though they are older than me. I also feel that though we may play around, when it is time to be serious about things, we can be and we can respect each other as we should.
Thus, I do not believe that just because someone likes to play around or likes to talk in slang or act like children sometimes, that they cannot be overall, mature or respectable. It isn’t simply that not being a child makes you an adult. There is more to that and I feel that if we stop associating terms like “child” or “childish” with things like irresponsibility, naivety, or stupidity, then being called a child wouldn’t be such a bad thing. In fact, that isn’t even what really makes a child if you simply think better of them. Therefore, if we begin to think better of children, give them some respect, acknowledge their opinions and don’t laugh off their questions as they are trying to learn, then women and men wouldn’t need to set aside their playfulness and wouldn’t be afraid to act more like a person with a bright personality, than just as a model figure in society in order to gain a title of respect that they shouldn’t even need to earn.
The case of Peter Pan
Before reading this essay I always think that Peter Pan is a story aimed at children of a young age, however looking closely at the story once again after reading this case have made me realize that Peter Pan is not a story meant for children at all. I did a little bit more research on the author of Peter Pan to gain a better understanding of what was the intended reason for the story Peter Pan. I notice that most of the story written by the author involves children in the story, just like Peter Pan it seems to tell a story that show us the reader that the story was intended to show a deeper feeling the author have towards children. Just as stated on page 58 “Peter Pan has never, in any easy way, been a book for children at all”. I agree with this point that Peter Pan was never meant to be a children book, but was toned down to fit a more innocent role for children to understand. I think that the deeper meaning in Peter Pan is to show the ill side of this children’s classic; to show how the author is in a way a lover of young boys and how he uses the story to write down a fantasy of his. Some books that was never meant to be targeted towards children as seen can be toned down for a younger audience to enjoy, this mean that different age group will see something different in the genre of children lit.
Presentation Assignments
If you are in a November date, you must present on the history paper. This information has been sent as an email and is also pasted in the schedule of assignments.
Best,
AC
History Paper
Nov 3:
___Jaime Chang__________
___Donald Ng___________________
___Jaclyn Torres___________________
___Vanessa Vasquez___________________
___Dominique White___________________
___Christopher Wong___________________
___Oriana Asano___________________
Nov 5
__Maggie Wu____________
__Jasmine Lee___________
__Sherry Zeng___________
__Artem Kovalchuk____________________
__William Lee____________________
__Jackson Marienfeld____________________
CHOOSE A BOOK PROJECT
Dec 3rd
___James Mohan___________________
___Raymond Urrutia___________________
___Charles Parietti___________________
___Jason Perez___________________
___Serena Sooklall___________________
___Annalea Shallcross___________________
Dec 11
Presentation Day
______Kimberly Ayala_____
______Joshua Ross________
______Chiffon Cummings________________
______Mason Chen________________
______Natasia Chancy________________
______Corey Bauer________________
Dec 15
______Christopher Digrazia________________
______Nicole Dillo________________
______Laura Frost________________
______Stephanie Hughes________________
______Kristen Jimenez________________
______Oishi Gomes________________
Response to “Kiddie Lit”, Peter Pan, and Little People.
When we were first asked the question “what do children read?” immediately an image of a toddler reading a touch and feel book came to mind. I admit before reading and discussing any of the articles we read in class I strictly associated the term “children’s literature” with pictures book aimed at ages 2-5. However I was pleasantly surprised after reading “Kiddie Lit” to realize how incorrect that assumption was. I had fallen into the category of people who placed the word child with things small and colorful, not seeing these readers as my peers or equals. Maybe it was my years of working in Barnes and Noble, but many of the novels discussed through the article, such as Where The Wild Things Are, or Little Women, are literary works I have very rarely heard associated with children but instead labelled as “young adult reads.” Which posed the question of who is considered a child? In hopes of coming to a clearer answer to this pondering question I set out to read the New Yorker article entitled Little People. Very quickly I was reminded that our definition of a child has changed rapidly throughout history making it extremely difficult to define the term.
After reading the articles discussed above I have gained no clearer knowledge of who we should define as a child, and who we should not however it is a question I am excited to explore over the course of the semester. Although I have become slightly more confused by definitions than I was before reading any of these articles they have opened my eyes to many things I would never even think to imagine. Frankly hearing that Peter Pan is intended towards a more adult audience and breaking down the concept of the story through the eyes of an adult was completely mind blowing and very enjoyable.