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The Resisting Monkey: “Curious George”

In June Cummins’ article, The Resisting Monkey: “Curious George,” Slave Captivity Narratives, and the Postcolonial Condition, many interesting comparisons between George (the monkey) and slaves and children are made. Cummins states that the children’s book Curious George is actually a story about slavery and slaves relationships to their masters. Cummins compares George to slaves and the Man in the Yellow Hat to the masters. She also goes one step further, and states that George also represents children and the Man in the Yellow Hat also represents parents.

When I was younger, I grew up watching Curious George and I never once associated George with anything but a monkey that was taken from his home and brought to the city, where he encountered many adventures and caused mischief. Cummins, however, argues that even the title of Curious George is a pattern that reinforces the notion that there is deeper meaning behind the book than meets the eye. Cummins states that curiosity is George’s most notable trait and that George’s curiosity is a result of his deep desire to escape from the city and return home. George’s acts of mischief and trickery are compared to the acts of trickster slaves who also used their “intelligence and cunning to outwit their masters.” I think Cummins, here, makes a great comparison of the similarities of George and slaves. She points out how both the actions of George and slaves are a result of their confinement and lack of freedom, and not an unexplainable need to just cause trouble.

George can also be seen a representation of children, because both are childish and possess great amounts of curiosity. Children can easily relate to the character of George because of their shared mischievous and presence of adult figures in their lives, who try to teach them something. Both George and children have an imbalance of power relationship. For George, humans represent the more dominant and superior presence in his life, while for children, their parents represent the authority figure to them. George is much like a rambunctious child who does not always obey the superior figure in their life, instead they need to be disciplined and taught to listen.

I believe that Cummins makes many valid points of comparison between Curious George to slaves and children. Despite this, I also believe that children such as three and four year olds, should enjoy their innocence and watch t.v or read books for the pleasure of doing so. Of course, being raised to learn the importance of being kind, or understanding, or any moral is valuable and necessary. However, to learn about slavery and how George is comparable to a slave and the Man in the Yellow Hat can be seen as a slave’s master, is more than I could have comprehended as a young child. I do agree though with her statement that adults can take this book as an opportunity to better inform their children about the issues concerning discipline and control.

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Inanimate Objects and their Significant Role in Our Imagination’s

We talked a bit last week about how Little Black Sambo seemed to have this “familiarity” to it and I feel the same can be said for The Pasteboard Bandit. As I was reading I found myself remembering the book (but honestly, mostly its movie adaptation) The Indian in the Cupboard, and how its central fantastical theme was this idea of bringing inanimate objects to life. In psychology there’s this term known as “animalistic thinking”, which denotes that children within a certain age frame believe that inanimate objects are real. This theme is rampant when it comes to children’s entertainment, especially when we consider television and movies (Barney, Toy Story). We can reach a little further with this idea when it comes to myths and legends. When we are told as children that Santa Claus exists and that the Boogieman lives under our bed, we, as children, are quick to believe it, even with no proof. This resonated with me as I read “The Land Behind The Sun” within The Brownies Book, and remembering my irrational fear of something living in my closet just because my older cousin told me it did.

Obviously, as we get older we realize the folly of our thought processes as children, but we never forget what it was like to believe outlandish and fantastical ideas. I honestly believe that if this was not the case, that literature and entertainment of the more ‘imaginative” sort would not be possible. Having moments in life in which you believe the impossible is possible, whether it’s believing that the tooth fairy exists or that your dolls or figures are real, is a requirement to having, let alone developing, an imagination.

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Partial Sample of Scholarly Analysis Paper

I emailed this handout to you all because there is no more room to upload material on the site. I’m pasting it here, but the comments I put in the side bar are not visible.  For the fuller handout please consult the document I sent out via email.

 


Sample Scholarly Analysis Paper (not full):

This sample includes a full introduction with thesis and redaction and then outline of supporting paragraphs (commentary in the site notes).
While Sanjay Sircar’s arguments against the presence of racism in the story seem  problematic and contradictory, his essay importantly invites us to consider the source and power of pleasure in (even racist) children’s literature. Rather than refuse and completely throw out these racist stories, we might do well to ask what is so captivating about them?   In particular building on Sircar’s brief mention of barter and consumption, I argue that what is particularly pleasurable here is the terror and titillation of consumption which the story invites its middle class British, American, and (apparently when they exist) Indian readers to adopt.  This pleasure is particularly fitting for middle class children whose class existence depends upon a market economy and the increasing globalization of capitalism.

As a whole Sanjay Sircar set out to make a case for The Story of Little Black Sambo a story which he, an Indian man very much liked as a child.  Sircar’s defense for the story seems to have two main thrusts:  1) Assuming that the problem with the story is its alleged racism towards black peoples of African descent, Sircar sets out to debunk the idea that the story is racist namely by proving that it was never about black peoples of African descent.  2)  Much of his argument relies on the intense fondness for the story he had as a young Indian child (and what seems to be equally intense nostalgia about that experience).  Announcing the joy the book brought him and his sister is something the essay comes back to again and again, and it is also part of Sircar’s argument that though Bannerman’s story might not have been wholly accurate in its depictions of India, it did not portray a character with whom Sircar and his sisters negatively identified.

Interestingly though if we explore the pleasure of consumption which Sircar mentions but does not elaborate on, we might begin to see that while indeed these above reasons are the stated trust of his argument, what Sircar is really bringing to light here is a fantasy about consumption that’s pleasing to middle class children (even to the point of making them immune to any potential racist identifications). Both the story and Sircar’s essays seem to generate and revolve around a pleasure of consumption.

 

Possible Paragraph Break Down

  1. In the text we see the pleasures of consumption in Sambo’s acquiring new garment
  2. That this consumption speaks to (if not largely so) notions of economic consumption can be seen by the fact that we start off first with the market (the bazaar), then by the fact that bartering is not a satisfactory solution. Yes it does allow Sambo his life, but the story can’t end with him going home safe proud of being shrewd but learning not to walk in the jungle with new clothes. It has to come up with the ending where his commodities are properly returned to him. And then also the numbers in the pancake again suggest that the pleasure of consumption here is deeply tied to economics.
  3. So too with Sircar’s account of his attachment to the books.   He talks about not wanting to let the book go even to charity, even after he himself is growing into other literature.   He is also particular in his fondness not for the story per say (even though purportedly he is making a case for Bannerman’s original) but he is really clear that his fondness comes from the particular edition of the story which he received through BLANK.
  4. Especially when we consider that Sircar’s claim that the text isn’t racist b/c it’s not referring to people of African descent and because he didn’t negatively identify with it are fraught (the first because there are plenty reference which he say are not African but are, and the latter because he ultimately lets us know the reason he doesn’t negatively identify is b/c he doesn’t identify at all), this notion of the story as a middle class fantasy of consumption becomes even more clearly part of what animates both the story and Sircar’s desire.
  5. Conclusion
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How to punctuate titles of literary works

(This grammar note and other notes can be found under the “workbox” section of the class site.   It’s hard to see in the top tab section because it appears on the white part, but you can also access it via the left side bar).

 

6.   All titles should be capitalized.  As a rule (unless it is the first word in the title) you do not need to capitalize articles or prepositions.   Titles to novels, newspapers, journals, plays, collections of poetry should  be either underlined or put in italics.  Titles to poems, articles, short stories, or any smaller piece that will be found under the title of a larger collection should be put in quotations.

For Example:  The Adventures of Alice and Wonderland  or The Adventures of Alice and Wonderland

not:  “The Adventures of Alice and Wonderland” (issue with underlining/italics) or the adventures of alice and wonderland (issue with capitalization) or The Adventures Of Alice And Wonderland (issue with over capitalizing).

For Example:  “Little Annie’s Ramble”

not:  Little Annie’s Ramble or Little Annie’s Ramble or “little annie’s ramble”

For more on when to underline, italicize or use quotation marks check out:   https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Punctuating_Titles_chart.pdf and  http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/italics.htm (this site thinks about when to use italics in general, which can be helpful)

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Time Going By

In Hughes’ poems, I think he has a strong connection with time. He talks about winter in one poem and them Spring in another, and then Autumn in another. Also, in his poems “Winter Moon”, he talks about how “sharp” the moon is and I found that kind of interesting. How can a moon be sharp? It’s round in shape to the naked eye and doesn’t look to have any edges. As far as children goes, they probably will only link the moon with “round” rather than “sharp.” Hughes also says that we need to hold onto our dreams in his “Dreams” poem because once they are gone, are life will seem as if its missing something. In a way I think he is trying to tell children to cherish what they have now and to indulge in their imaginations because once they grow older as time passes by, shown by the seasons changing, they will no longer have the luxury of indulging in their imaginations and will be forced to face reality and lose their dreams. The idea of children growing older and having to face reality rather than indulge in their dreams is further supported in his “After Many Springs” poem. In this poem, he says that he cannot find the fairies anymore and wonders if he is “too old to see the fairies dance.” So that is to say, if children cannot cherish their dreams now and let loose their imaginations, as time goes by, and they lose their luxury to these dreams and fantasies, they will feel as if a part of them is missing and their life wouldn’t feel complete so it’s better for them to cherish all of that when they can.

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Scholarly Analysis Paper Handout

The class site has exceeded it’s upload capabilities, but pasted below is more information on a scholarly analysis paper.  Please read and come to class on Monday with questions.   Note:  If you have an idea for a paper, it might be easier to figure out questions if you start mapping your idea along with the requirements listed on the handout.

 

Scholarly Analysis Paper

Scholarly Analysis: A scholarly analysis paper takes the sustained reading of a close reading paper and opens your singular reading of that text up to a larger dialogue with another scholar. In this paper your thesis while it may originate more from your reading of the text will in some way engage what another scholar has said about this text.   Indeed your thesis may originate as a response to what a scholar has said about the text, in which case you may use a close based reading of the text to respond to the scholar’s argument.

Overview & Objectives:  One of the goals for the course is for students to strengthen their ability to engage with the work of other critics and writers, using and citing such sources effectively.  This third paper is an opportunity for students to practice engaging literary scholarship and putting their own ideas about a text in conversation with other scholars.

I am particularly interested in your ability to join a scholarly conversation in written form.  Joining a scholarly conversation means that you 1) acknowledge another scholar’s argument and how they made it 2) you share (by reading and studying) one of the primary literary text’s the scholar was focusing on and 3) using your own reading of the primary literary text, you engage the scholar’s original argument.  It is in many ways just like having a dialogue in person except that because you are engaging someone’s written text the claims made are more complex or more thoroughly supported than sometimes we are able to do in a quicker real time conversation.   You should make your own response thoughtful and thorough as well.

Building on past assignments: Like your other papers, this paper is still at heart a close reading based paper.   The difference is that where in the history paper, you found some outside history to expand your perspective and how you could interpret the literary text, in this assignment you will find some other (scholarly) conversation about this text that will expand your perspective and how you interpret the text.

What you need before you write:

  1. Literary text from the syllabus
  2. Some idea (whether it’s a small section or scene or a small recurring element or a major theme you see emerging in a particular way in one aspect of the text) of what you ultimately want to focus on in the text.
  3. Two “peer reviewed” scholarly articles addressing that literary text

What your paper should include:

  1. A clear and cogent thesis (argument) that stems from a close-reading based engagement with the text and a critical but respectful engagement of at least one of the scholarly text you read.
  2. A clear summary of the article(s) you are using. Your summary should let me know the author’s central topic, main thesis (argument), and the major way they support that argument
  3. You should clearly identify the specific aspect of the scholarly argument that your thesis and paper are engaging.
  4. Accurate and clean citations for the scholarly article you use.
  5. Your bibliography should include both of the scholarly texts you read, even if your paper only really engages the arguments one text.

Engaging Scholarship

  1. There are many ways to engage a scholarly argument.
  2. You may confirm all or some part of the argument by offering another point that strengthens or adds depth to the argument.
  3. You may highlight a small hole (or maybe even a major fissure) in the argument. (If you identify a problem, you must spell out the implications of such a problem).
  4. You may point out how one part of their argument actually connects to another part of their argument if they consider aspect Z in the story.
  5. Even when you want to challenge a part of the argument or add to it, you should be respectful of what the scholar is doing and acknowledge the validity of the points.
  6. Even when you want to confirm and agree with where the scholar is going, you should acknowledge the argument’s scope and the limitations of its and your potential claims.

Engaging Scholarship Don’ts

  1. Don’t simply quote a fact that the scholar uses. For instance in the Sanjay Sircar argument it would not be enough to use the essay to cite the fact that Bannerman was Scottish or that the story had many different reprints.  You need to make sure you are engaging the scholar on the idea (not just the material) they are presenting.
  2. Don’t try to say the whole essay is wrong, evil, sexist, racist, or stupid. Even if you think so. Even if you’re right. You need to be more specific. You simply do not have time/space to demolish a whole article (itself easily 15-35 pages).   Neither do you have time to take on the whole literary text. Your argument then needs to be about a specific part of the literary text and about a specific part of the scholarly text. Even if you believe you argument extends to other or all of the texts, your paper for this assignment needs to focus in on a specific aspect.   You might develop the argument more in your Choose-A-Book project if you wish.

Paper Format

  1. 5-7 pages
  2. double spaced
  3. 12 point size
  4. Times New Roman font
  5. 1-inch margins
  6. page numbers
  7. MLA inline citation and work cited page
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Readings, Extensions, and Handouts

 

A few things:

1)  I will be emailing the readings for next week as I scan them.  I have emailed The Pasteboard  Bandit  in two separate emails to you (part 1 and then part 2).

2) Please read The Pasteboard Bandit for Monday.  I have taken the Gwendolyn Brooks off the syllabus, so we will discuss the The Brownies Book and the Langston Hughes poems on Wednesday.

3) I have extended the deadline for the third paper by a week.  The paper is now due on Saturday morning [9:00am] December 6th.  (Yes, this deadline is in the middle of presentations, so if you are presenting please plan accordingly).

4) I am in the process of creating a hand out on the third essay and how to engage scholarly criticism in your (still close reading based) analysis of one of the literary texts on the syllabus.   The main thing you need to know is that you should have a literary text from this syllabus, and you should read two scholarly articles on that text.  (Note: You must read articles that come from a peer-reviewed journal. Journals will say in their description if they are peer-review.  If you use JSTOR to find your article, it will more than likely be peer-reviewed.)   I will post the handout sometime today or tomorrow.

5) Please look over the handout for Monday as we will start where we left off, and I will specifically try to model a scholarly paper.  It will be a more useful demonstration if you come prepared with your questions.

Have a good weekend,

Allison

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Picaninny

When we look at early children’s texts that involve African Americans, the African Americans were usually depicted as a picaninny. A picaninny is an African American character whose features are over dramatized by either illustrations or descriptions of the character. Most picaninnies are drawn/described as very dark in color, having a large red mouth, being poorly dressed, the girls would have “kinky” braided hair and the boys would mostly be bald with a shines head, and lastly most picaninny characters were aged infant-teen. Picaninnies were originally founded for the purpose of emphasizing the harm of slavery and how it effects children both physically and mentally. One of the first picaninny characters was actually Topsy frm Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Through Topsy, Stowe wished to depict how slavery could currupt an innocent child. The story of Little black Sambo is a bit controversial when it comes to the question whether it is racist or not. Many believe that Sambo is a picaninny, it’s hard to tell since he does share some traits of the picaninny (such as the big red mouth, dark skin color, and age), however, some of his traits are completely off (such as his expensive clothes, intelligence, and hair). What’s even more interesting, is that there are other versions of little black sambo, which were not written by the original author, that are unarguably racist. These other authors and many others after them took this image of a picaninny and currupted it; they made it into a joke, which we can clearly see in our previous reading, the coon alphabet. http://http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/74/2b/1c/742b1cee7ed4c0f7b097a75a500c6758.jpg

 

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Little Black Sambo Looks Familiar

I read through Little Black Sambo, then took a second pass through it… Something looked familiar. The illustrations of Sambo & his family are somewhat similar to the characters depicted in A Coons Alphabet. A quick Google search confirmed that the two were published around the same time in– Little Black Sambo was published in 1899. However, the authors are a continent apart. The forward in Little Black Sambo notes that this was written by a Brit traveling with two little girls in India.

 

When I saw the illustration below of Black Mumbo I got the impression I’d seen this before. By flipping through A Coons Alphabet I confirmed that there are some similarities. But, how can this be believable? One mom is from India and the other is American. They’re from very different cultures, and the Caucasion storytellers are also from distant parts of the world.

                               MISSING IMAGE

 

The characters in both stories also share qualities of facial structure– they don’t look quite human. Even in Sicar’s essay he notes that the original illustrations were “grotesque” (136). So, now I’m curious… How come these ideas of what a “negro” looks like are so similar? How is this impression in both British & American Caucasian minds so much alike?

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Little Black Sambo

“Once upon a time there was a little black boy, and his name was Little Black Sambo.  And his mother was called Black Mumbo.  And his father was called Black Jumbo (Bannerman, 2-6).”  It doesn’t take long, the first line of the story in fact, for the reader to realize that these are some unusual names, that come across as demeaning to black people.  To me, these sound like either slave names, or one’s that only an uneducated group would come up with.  These characters are depicted in the drawings as very animal-like in their appearance.

Little Black Sambo was given some very nice clothing and an umbrella from both of his parents, which he cherished.  After this he went out for a walk, in his new gear, when he was suddenly stopped by a tiger.  The tiger threatened to eat Sambo, but Sambo was able to negotiate with the beast and give it his coat instead.  Later Sambo was stopped by three more tigers, one after the other, and he had to give away all of his clothing and his umbrella in order to avoid being eaten.  I felt that this was similar to slavery, in the sense that the tigers took something that did not belong to them and that they had no right in doing so.  Blacks were taken from their home lands and brought to the U.S. to work for free, under horrible conditions.

I’m sure that it wasn’t the author of The Story of Little Black Sambo, Helen Bannerman, intention to have such a dark message.  It was probably meant to be a cute and funny story that a parent could read with their young child, but it dehumanizes black people with the silly names and odd looking drawings.