en241

[en241]

Monday, 27 April

Well, I guess the term is over. It was good while we were together, and then it was still good until we left the garden for the snows of rural Quebec. If you didn’t want to leave the warmth and beauty of that spring garden, I understand. 

I don’t give final exams; I only give a final opportunity to gain points, and since we stopped counting points when we left the classroom, I have nothing more to ask. I would value hearing your thoughts about the term and what you gained from it (as a reader and student of culture); I hope such a reflective exercise would have value for you as well. 

I do hope you got better at understanding the issues of children’s literature, though, and that you now understand that the beauty of these books lies in the fact that they are about adults and adulthood as much as they are about children and childhood. And that books are gardens, with secrets inside, and that readers have to look for the robins and the keys and the magic in order to find those secrets. 

To those of you who kept sending in your thoughts and comments, thank you very much. It made a huge difference to me. And to all of you, best wishes for safety, sanity, and subversive growth. 

[en241]

Friday, 24 April

Last Friday of the term. I can’t believe it. All weird things have to come to an end. On Monday, some final thoughts & suggestions for a reflective exercise (not. an. exam.) 

The picture above shows “ Roch Carrier at age 10, in the Toronto Maple Leafs sweater that spawned his classic children's story The Hockey Sweater. The photograph was taken by Carrier's mother in his hometown of Sainte-Justine-de-Dorchester, Quebec, Canada.” Does it make a difference to you, knowing that this was a true story, told by the guy who actually lived it?

Your comments: 

Watching "The Sweater" a second time from the viewpoint of the adult character flashing back to his childhood memories. He realizes it was a turning point in his life that taught him that you are more than just being like everyone else or "part of a herd". He is now more accepting of his mother's actions even though as a child he may have thought they were selfish and unreasonable. He also better understands the meaning of practicality and money. Three dollars might not mean much to a child but it means a lot to a responsible adult. Maybe it was unreasonable and selfish of his mother to make him stand out from his friends but in the end it taught him a valuable lesson. 

More about The Hockey Sweater & Roch Carrier:

Puckstruck: the hockey sweater: buyer beware

Before E-Commerce: A History of Canadian Mail-Order Catalogues: Roch Carrier and the Hockey Sweater (Canadian Museum of History)

Why “The Hockey Sweater” Is Canada’s Answer to A Christmas Story

Montreal student asked to remove Sens’ shirt on Habs’ jersey day

The Story is so beloved in Canada that for years a quotation was on the five dollar bill: 

[en241]

Wednesday, 22 April

Extra Textra 

Here are your Questions & Comments on The Sweater.  But first, my assignment for Friday:

Please watch The Sweater again. This time, instead of watching for the maturation plot, consider the identity problem (the adult’s recognition that they were once someone different, as well as the child’s recognition that adults are different from who they are -- and that someday they too will be an adult). 

Also, try try try to look beyond the didactic reading to the subversive reading; beyond the lesson reading to the message reading. Flip the burger. What if the kid is actually the mature one? No really. The one with fresh batteries in his bullshit detector. (You’ll enjoy the story much more the second time! Have fun!)

Now, on to the comments:

I thought that by the end of the film, the kid would learn a moral lesson like what his mother told him but he didn't. It just ended with him in the church praying that his sweater got eaten by moths. It felt a bit like a letdown but I understand since kids are like that. He is very immature while the mother is the opposite. She is very mature. This makes sense, as adults are usually the mature ones. The kid acted like a typical child. He didn't care about morals he just wanted the right sweater. I think if the film extended beyond 10 minutes, we would see the child eventually mature and realize that what the mother said was correct. 

This was definitely cheerier!I can appreciate how well the introduction is able to portray the overall concept despite it not being in English.Like in Treasure Island there is this idea of a role model or someone to aspire too. Where Long John Silver and Billy Bones were not necessarily healthy role models for a young boy, this hockey player seems much more innocent.Not going to lie, the part where the priest comes in to play was a little weird and kind of did not fit with the narrative in my opinion.It reminds me of the discussion we had about "Where the Wild Things Are" and the idea of teaching lessons through narrative. While WTWTA does so in a less obvious way, "The Sweater" is obvious in its message. The idea of respect and consideration comes into play when the mother explains that if the boy would not wear the blue sweater that Mr. Eaton's feelings would be hurt. The boy is punished for if he does not wear the sweater just as much as if he does which is where this story kind of loses me. The church scene comes off as a kind of easy way out.A salvation story maybe, I don't know this one was a little odd for me.

I believe that was a very good illustrated video. I really enjoyed the story line as well. My first reaction to the video was this kid is just like everyone else. They love the game and love the player. Once the video continued it seemed he was ungrateful. The player everyone looks up to actually took the time to send him something. He did not want the sweater because he did not fit in with the rest of the kids. He did not value what he received because it was not what he wanted. The kid having a blue sweater also showed a form of discrimination. They did not let him play in the game because of the color of his sweater. They did not consider who gave it to him and how much that person meant to him. In relation to our maturation plot, I feel he never made it to that second house. He got lost in the woods and is still trying to find his way.

In watching this video, that character never matured. He still in the end refused to be happy with what he had. In a way, this is what happens in many children's books. Children are never happy with what they are given and just wish everything would work out for them. This is similar to "Where the Wild Things Are." Max just got his way in the end. He was not happy about what happened and what he was given, so he left. When he come back, he was the same as before and was even given his meal after all he had done. In the end, this character is not maturing. He is staying near the very low levels on the mature-meter. 

Moving onto the short story on youtube there's a lot of things happening with this boy, but I think this short story mostly relates to the secret garden because of the effect of negative thinking. I didn't come to this conclusion until he got the wrong sweater and spoke a lot of negativity into existence which brought him a lot of trouble the following time wearing the sweater like getting benched, getting a penalty, breaking his hockey stick then getting yelled at by his mom. His mom said “if you make up your mind before you try it you wont go very far in life,” and “its not what you put on your back its what you put in your head.” I’m stuck between feeling like she’s a wise lady and meant well by writing the letter and getting her son the sweater, and feeling like she noticed how unhappy he was and she could’ve written another letter so he could get the right one but if that happened then he would never learn. 

"The Sweater" is a story about a young boy who started out being a part of a group of boys all wearing the same red white and blue hockey sweater. The group mentality ruled and each individual couldn't see their identity beyond the group. When the boy received the new sweater and was forced to wear it, marked a changing point in his life. He had live with the embarrassment and disgrace of not being like the rest of the group. He had to mature so that he could break away from the group mentality and find his own individual identity.  The mother in the story the driving force because she refused to to return the sweater and made him wear it. You can't get angry and lose your temper. Growing up means taking what you have and learning from it. At the end this boy's efforts were symbolically rewarded by a handshake from the treasured hockey player. 

Well, the video left me at a cliff hanger. I feel as if the lesson wasn't executed very well and had a very abrupt ending . I am not entirely sure what exactly the lesson was,  there could've been a few such as teaching children the importance of not idolizing objects, a healthy balance between your thoughts and your friends. But I do also agree that this could teach adults a lesson, at the end of the video this big scary lady tells him to go to the church and pray for forgiveness and he prays for his shirt to be eaten up by bugs. Sometimes as adults we do a lot of finger-pointing and give a lot of chores and we don't really get that full instruction on how a child should go about it and why which creates a huge gap leading into a place for miscommunication. 

(that’s actually the town priest, wearing his surplice)

After watching the short film "The Sweater" I would like to address the concept of a maturation plot in relation to the short film's storyline. The film portrayed the boy as one who is ungrateful with the gift he received from his mother. This is definitely a realistic possibility for children who do not get what they want. As the story progresses he becomes so concerned with what others will think about him because he did not maintain the socially accepted appearance. This is also a reality for many in society. Just when I thought he would go to church and realize that he was being ungrateful, he instead prayed for the sweater to be taken from him. He failed in his own maturation. This is why I do not see the story having any sort of maturation plot.

The boy did continuously look up to an adult figure as his idol however he did not act as an adult but rather maintained his childish ways. He did not display any sort of personal growth throughout the story but considering his age (10), this is expected.

The plotline of the story set the viewer up to think that after the boy went to church to pray for his sins, but then twisted it and didn't actually resolve the problem at hand. I thought this was interesting because most of the children's literature we have covered resulted in growing, maturing and/or learning some type of lesson throughout the story. I also found it interesting that throughout all of the material we have covered, the children have looked up to and admired an adult figure of some sort and aspired to be like them (coming of age/growing into an adult) and this still reigns true for this story as well (a common theme throughout each reading).

I think the short film was good and the accent was a little hard to understand in the beginning. It seems to me like someone walking into a high school, wearing a rivals team jersey then being shunned. There is a lesson in it and I caught on. I wonder why children shun others, even if it is a rival. Everyone should still talk to you, because it is your preference on what you like. No one should discourage you from something you love.

In this story, the children all wanted to be someone else. Often times children want to be someone famous and well known. This is what the children do in this story. They are looking for a form of identity that all children look for. They never understand that they are all different and that even though they can all be the same person their is nothing wrong with being different. Children look for identity and when they find it, they cling to it. This is what the main character did. The adults in the story have a form of identity but they are not fully aware of it yet. Some laugh at the child for his reaction to the sweater. It shows that even when you become an adult, you still struggle with identity. The lesson in the story at first seems to be don't be different and that children often struggle in accepting that they will grow and change. The reader would learn the lesson of how people will always try to be like others and society often ridicules people for this, but also ridicules them for being different. 

[en241]

Monday, 20 April

Extra Textra

Please watch this short film. I would love to hear your questions & comments about this as a maturation plot, and any comparisons to our earlier texts you may observe. 

[en241]

Friday, 17 April

Week 11: The Secret Garden, Chapters 19 - end of book.

First, More of Your Comments: 

I am just catching up to the end of the book so I thought I would check in. As most said in the comments you shared on Tumblr I would have to agree it takes a lot for me to get into a book so it did take me a bit for this one but I was surprised how much I liked this book. The ending was really surprising as well it was very sweet and just made you feel good. I have noticed that the author uses sensory imagery throughout this novel which allows the characters and reader to connect with nature making you rethink your own life in positive ways, I really enjoyed this aspect. Mary’s positive thoughts and attitude makes you want to be the same. This even makes Colin interested in the outdoors as well despite his illness. I did really enjoy this book!

From this weeks reading, I have observed how the garden is changing People and things as a way of resurrection.  Not only are Mary’s waxy features changing but, Colins skin is changing as well. Colin is no longer ivory skinned, he looks like he has flesh. It seems that the garden is bringing life back to them after all of the bad things that have happened to them. It may also be helping things like the tree his mother fell from. Although the tree is dead, new roses will cover its outside. I feel the new roses symbolize the spirt of the children and Colins mother who have never really left the garden. Colin planting the single rose represented ownership not only of the garden but of the spirits left there. 

We all have that one place where we want to be, or think is our fairy-tale.  The garden is the fairy tale in this story. The flowers create the fairy-tale. The tale or what it once was and what it could be. This has become such a part of Mary’s life she claims to have stolen it. I have experienced this situation as well. I have claimed a horse that was not really mine. I had so much pride in her I did not realize I was stealing her like Mary.

Now, some Thoughts from Me: Please bear with me and read them . . .

I’m so glad that so many of you liked the book so much. I love this book & I love teaching it, but it’s never been as meaningful as it has been this semester. And that’s because of all your comments. 

One big thing: the way all the book’s major characters are on their own maturation plots, and how each of them help the others, so that in the end they all overcome their own personal traumas and grow. (And the garden itself is one of those characters -- maybe because it’s Mrs Craven’s spirit or maybe because Nature.) 

I wish we could talk about all the details of this book and how they work together in order to make a coherent narrative argument. And I wish we could talk about this book -- especially its characters -- and compare it with the other books we’ve read this term. I could write up notes for you about this, but that wouldn’t be the same as discussing it together. It wouldn’t be fun.

I also wish we could come back to the big issues of the course -- the maturation plot, the adult/child identity problem, the three modes (nonsense, realism, and fantasy), and all the thematic patterns like food and appetite, indoors vs outdoors, reason vs imagination, sorting, stacking & counting, adventure vs safety, honesty vs dishonesty, etc. Because, you know, that’s the point of the class. 

I also wish we could talk about all the different ways we can read Children’s Literature from a cultural perspective -- not just its history, or its connection to things like theories of psychology and education, but also its relationship to issues like race, gender, dis/ability, and ecology. Because, well, college. 

It would also be really interesting to think about issues like illustration (have you spent time with the illustrations I’ve been posting?), book design, and adaptations into other media. Because words are great, but words are not enough. (Although tbh the new movie version of The Secret Garden looks like absolute shite imho.) 

Aaaand it would also be fun to talk about more recent children’s literature and how reading these books together might go

 But we only have one week left. 

And we are all dealing with a lot of stuff. 

So next week, if it’s ok with you, I will finish out the term by giving you a couple of new things to read and/or watch. (Kinda like what we did at the beginning with Struwwelpeter, the Gashlycrumbs, and the Wild Things. Only nicer. Much nicer this time. Happier. I promise.) And I’ll ask for your comments, and post them, just like we’ve been doing. With a final reflective assignment at the end. 

Meanwhile, read this article: 21 Ways The Secret Garden Prepared Us For Adulthood . If you hadn’t read the book, it would look like a list of 21 cliche phrases . . . but now? 

Take care, stay safe, be kind, and wash your damn hands. 

AAAAAnd one more comment:

I just finished the book , absolutely loved it. Heres some thoughts...

So I think Mary is a super super interesting character. Most child fantasies start their adventures with a likable, honest and pure protagonist. At first, Mary isn't the most likable of characters .. She’s privileged, kinda annoying and just isn't the most relatable. This made it really hard for me to like Mary in the beginning but to slowly realize no - she's just damaged, really flipped the whole narrative for me. Life as a neglected, lonely orphan must have caused a lot of internal dysfunction in Mary and left a hole of hurt and pain she wasn't able to deal with and heal.

- I mean she is a child; she doesn't know how to handle these things. Imagine having your parents die at that young an age? Must be a horrible thing to deal with. Then getting sent off to the middle of nowhere to live with your weird uncle? that would suck - I definitely would cause a scene too -

I think Mary was destined to find the key to the garden and I think the robin - yes! i also think this is symbolic of Colin's mother - specifically chose to give it to her because she needed to see the garden. She needed a physical thing to take care of and nurture so she can see how attention to something leads to blossoms and beauty .. this helps her accept how important it is to give attention to herself and how planting a seed of self-love and acceptance will lead to strength and happiness.

The garden helped Mary heal wounds of the past, understand human failure, forgive herself and her circumstances to grow. Mary needs to go through this transformation to achieve maturation which is a super super prevalent theme here .. pretty much the whole book focuses on the healing and growth of Mary, and Colin later in the book. The garden is her “Wonderland” - it’s her safe place that wants to instill some sort of lesson or narrative in Mary that she absolutely needs to hear.

Mary and Colin are very alike at the beginning of the story and they get along best because their relationship is so honest .. they’re both at Stage I of childlike naiveness, with no self-awareness. I think maybe they were also destined to meet and their growth together is a beautiful thing to witness. I think the friendship they share is so important and fundamental to both of their growth. Mary and Colin aren't romantically engaged either - well because they are cousins - but this makes their bond even more special and important - definitely a relationship that’s important to have irl too .. a true friend , someone to grow with - I kinda wonder how the story would unfold if they weren't written as cousins .. would they have fallen in love??

The garden is an important place for Colin too - it gives him the motivation to want to live .. a super powerful and almost magical thing.

Anyways I'm kinda obsessed with this book now , the journey to learn how to love and accept yourself - at least that's what I took out of it - also how beautiful and valuable a strong relationship is.. definitely an important thing to note.

illustration by Inga Moore

[en241]

Wednesday, 15 April

Week 11: The Secret Garden, Chapters 19 - end of book. 

Your Questions & Comments without interjections from me this time:

I have a lot of thoughts on this novel so I apologize in advance for how much I am going to ramble. As far as the analysis of the text, I thought it was interesting how Colin wasn't always referred to by his name and instead by titles such as "the orator" or "the Rajah". What is the significance of this? Watching Colin go from a miserable boy that let fear control him to happy and full of life was so satisfying. The first half of the novel seemed to be Mary's transformation while the latter half focused on Colin's. I still wonder on the symbolism of the robin. Does this represent Colin's mother? I believe it does. In chapter 22, Colin claims the garden as his. It has been passed on from Mary who originally discovered it to Colin, who is the rightful owner as it belonged to his mother. When he plants the rose, this officially marks the garden as his. It is a physical marker of the symbolic passing on of the garden. In chapter 23, Colin asks if he is rude. The lack of self-awareness shows that at this point, he still hasn't fully transformed. He still is childish. He probably isn't aware that he is rude because he has been catered to his whole life and that behavior is normalized in that type of environment. I also thought it was interesting that like their parents, both Mary and Colin become beautiful by the end. Them being beautiful on the inside makes them beautiful on the outside. 

As far as my personal thoughts, I have to say. I was very pleasantly surprised. I went into this book not liking it and came out by the end having all sorts of feelings I wasn't expecting. I am shocked to be honest. Just reading all the happiness that occurs at the end started to make me feel happy and nice. The past couple months have really been a struggle for me so the parts on not letting bad things get to you and finding the magic really spoke to me. At some points, the author would write something and it would seem like it was for me (though obviously I know it wasn't). It's been awhile since a book I've read has made me feel like how The Secret Garden did. I was legit yelling out loud near the end because it was just so cute and wholesome. This book feels different to all the other books we have read. Like I liked Alice, but it didn't make me feel like this book did :) It feels really important and I feel almost changed in a way? I don't know if it's just me and that's why I'm having such a strong reaction but I want to know how you felt after reading it for the first time.

It was a surprising ending, but exciting. I loved when Colin plants a single rose in the garden, that he could call his own. When they all sat around the tree, it reminded me of being in the quad after it snows and doing homework with friends. The one thing I wonder most is who’s relationship was rekindled at the end of the book?

I noticed while reading chapters eighteen through twenty-seven of The Secret Garden that Colin is going on the same journey of maturation that Mary went on throughout the book in a very similar way. This parallel between characters became extremely evident to me during chapter eighteen via several quotes. The first quote is said by Martha and reads “Mother says as th' two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way—or always to have it.”. This quote stood out to me because I noticed that both Mary and Colin grew up fairly spoiled and always got their way. They both were low on the mature-o-meter due to their lack of balance between attention and discipline from the people who raised them. The second quote, "I wish I was friends with things, but I'm not. I never had anything to be friends with, and I can't bear people." was said by Colin and reminded me of Mary and her disdain for for the people around her in the earliest chapters of the book. She immediately thought that people were disagreeable and did not believe that they deserved respect because she did not realize her own character flaws. This is the same with Colin where he had no tolerance for people who don’t line up with his own selfish motivations and intentions. The final quote, also said by Colin reads “I hated you when you said he was like an angel and I laughed at you but—but perhaps he is.". This quote further enhances the parallels between Colin and Mary   due to the fact that Colin seeing that people can potentially have positive traits and be thought about positively shows that he is taking steps upwards on the mature-o-meter, and this acknowledgment was also one of the first steps that Mary took towards maturation in the beginning of the book. This parallel between character journeys highlights maturation as a theme overall within The Secret Garden as well as demonstrates how much Mary has developed, matured, and changed throughout her character arc next to the lesser developed Colin. Thank you.

The book seems to stop to include different perspectives. It includes the robin's perspective and the father's perspective. It also takes some turns to just describe the events and not actually show them. This makes the book grab the reader's attention in the end. 

Dickon transformed long before he was introduced to Mary. When Mary met him she was inspired to transform to the state of mind he was in. Positive thinking and self awareness transformed Mary and relating to Colin encouraged him to transform as well. Soon after The gardener ben transformed, and the whole manor eventually blossomed like the garden did as well. The authors emphasis on contagious magic and positive thinking is written with a religious air about it. He highlights children’s needs of nature, imagination, action and connection to either a parental figure (Colin) or friends (like Mary pursued). Colin has to work for his transformation unlike his dad in which his transformation just occurs and wakes him up. I think this means that the author believes children are capable to pursue the changes they need more efficiently where as adults cannot find it inside themselves so something in the external world must move them to transform them again or else they stay the same. I think the author wants people to recognize what happens in nature and imitate it hence the Robin’s perspective and the garden’s ultimate profound effect on everyone.

Why choose of all places in the story, now to include the adults? Is the reason that the children talk about magic because the adults writing this want to believe in magic as well?

"Magic" is developing into a very important character during these chapters. Mary, Dickon, Colin and even Ben seem to be gaining strength, health and confidence through their interactions with "Magic". "Magic" is color-white, blue, purple, crimson. "Magic" is sound-buzzing and chirping. "Magic" is talking animals and sprouting plants. It is mysterious and a secret that these characters share. "Magic" is a healer. Colin, especially seems to think that "Magic" is going to work for him and carry him into a more adult state. If he keeps calling on "Magic" he feels things will happen, like he is "going to live like a man"and show the adults that he is not weak but "straight and strong". With his scientific experiment "Magic" will be in his mind forever.  

illustration by Julia Sarda (again) 

[en241]

Monday, 13 April

WEEK 11: The Secret Garden: Chapters 18 to the end of the book.

1. The last third of this book moves quickly and covers a lot of events. It’s easy to get caught up in it -- and react. Please go ahead and just read it and experience all. the. feels. 

2. But also, ask yourself if those feels are different from the feels you got from Treasure Island or Alice. 

3. If you can manage it, do notice if you see any of the themes or patterns we’ve been tracking. (They’re listed on earlier posts.)

4. Comments & Questions for Wednesday. 

illustration by Adelina Lirius 

[en241]

Friday, 10 April

WEEK 10: The Secret Garden, Chapters 9-17

I thought the questions & comments this week were wonderful. I hope you take the time to go back and read through them all. Next week we will be finishing the book. 

Here are some of the themes and patterns that you’ve been noticing: 

Illness & Death: still surprising to some of you in a children’s book, but it’s there so often in so many of the great books. Children’s lit can be dark AF. Because adults, honesty, subversion. In this book we have to ask why a child, Colin, has become convinced he will die rather than get better. Where does health come from? 

Trust & Secrets: Colin trusts what the grownups tell him, but he shouldn’t. Mary doesn’t trust anyone, but should. Actually, you have to know who you should and shouldn’t trust. How do you learn, though? And secrets . . . they are no good unless you tell someone, but if you tell someone then they aren’t secrets anymore, but what good is a secret if it isn’t shared?

Anger & Joy: Mary is very very good at anger, but she’s not good at happiness. Colin isn’t good at happiness or anger. Dickon and Martha and their mother are very good at happiness, and don’t ever seem angry. Is anger wrong? 

Work & Play: We think of these as opposites, but are they opposites? Is doing better than not doing, regardless? 

Nature: the Natural & Human worlds seem like opposites, but (like Maturity), they are on a spectrum. This spectrum can be charted by the book’s settings. 

Hold my beer. 

Nature = Outdoors 

Big to Little: Moor > Estate > Grounds > Garden > House > Room 

Human = Indoors 

Little to Big: Room > House > Gardens > Grounds > Moor

Get it? the Moor is the opposite of a Room . . . 

and . . . RooM is MooR spelled backwards

!!!!!!!!!!

Colin’s Room is one extreme: closed off; always the same; dark; a place of unhealthiness; learning without meaning; isolation; (adulthood)

the Moor is the other extreme: open; always changing; bright; a place of healthiness; learning with meaning, playing; (childhood)

and the middle ground, literally as well as figuratively, is the Secret Garden, which is

A ROOM THAT IS OUTDOORS

!!!!!!!!!!

so when Mary finds the Secret Garden, she starts working that is also playing, and she feels joy in spite of all the anger & sadness around her, and she has a secret to share with someone she trusts, and she is rediscovering life instead of being stuck the life of an old woman when she is still ten years old

yay! 

so why isn’t the novel over now? 

(because Colin)

Next week we could also talk about boundaries, transitions, and subversion. 

Have a good weekend. Get outside if you can. While maintaining appropriate social distancing. Sigh. Look at some flowers. Listen to a bird. Share a secret with someone you trust. 

Or, as one of you put it: 

No wonder Mary had such a push to see the garden. I would have been exactly like her to see rosebushes as tall as trees. When Mary starts working in the closed, dead, and overgrown garden she becomes healthier and have something to look forward too as well as something to keep her busy and show affection too. I do relate personally to this garden. I think that most of us are experiencing a since of depression and looking for something to do.  I have been working in my gardens every day because it’s something to do, and if done with a little luck you will create life. I can really relate to what Mary is feeling.  

illustrations by Julia Sarda

[en241]

Wednesday, 8 April

WEEK 10: The Secret Garden: Chapters 9-17

Questions & Comments: 

So much this:

First, I would like to make a note about the garden. No wonder Mary had such a push to see the garden. I would have been exactly like her to see rosebushes as tall as trees. When Mary starts working in the closed, dead, and overgrown garden she becomes healthier and have something to look forward too as well as something to keep her busy and show affection too. I do relate personally to this garden. I think that most of us are experiencing a since of depression and looking for something to do.  I have been working in my gardens every day because it’s something to do, and if done with a little luck you will create life. I can really relate to what Mary is feeling.  

On the darker side, though:

Why does Colin constantly talk about death? A lot happened during these chapters. Many emotions were coming to mind while reading, but one part that made me happy was when Dickon became friends with Colin.

Illness and death is certainly something that comes up a lot. Seems wrong for a child to be obsessed with it, tho, amirite?

In these few chapters, you can see the turn of some of the adults. At first Ben is startled by the beauty and closeness of the robin. Then more of the adults start to turn to Mary to calm down Colin. This shows a real change in who is learning and depending on who. 

OK wait -- the adults are changing? I thought this was about the children, about Mary and her growth? 

Mary immediately trusts Dickon with the secret garden. It seems like children are better at reading what people are really like. She knew to trust Dickon and Martha but knew to wait on trusting Colin. Not only does this show children are able to see the truth, but she learns from the animals and how they trust Dickon. This shows that often animals are better at determining who to trust than humans. 

Trust. And if you were Mary wouldn’t you have trust issues? I know I would. And then Colin . . . 

I love the relationship between colin and mary chapter 14 was the most cutest moment when he tells the doctor that he forgets he is ill when he is around her. Mary used to be a colin like a figure and now she has shown him you don't have to be like that. It shows that there is really someone for everyone 

It can clearly be seen that Mary and Dickon were foil characters but then what does that make Colin. He is clearly another version of Mary. He is exactly like she was in the beginning and how she was in India. The book is showing that people can be both kinds of people. It also shows that sometimes all you need to understand a problem is to have someone who has gone through it. It took Mary yelling at Colin for him to start behaving and being a real child.

Very cool that you are seeing connections & comparison between Mary and Colin. And while I’m not a fan of the “foil characters” concept (because it tends to flatten characters and their relationships into a plot device) it’s really important to pay close attention to their relationship. It’s making me think of how we used the mature-o-meter in Treasure Island to compare Jim’s options for an ideal grownup. But also, could it be that we are seeing more than one maturation story at the same time in this book? 

Mary has finally made it to the garden and it doesn't disappoint. (I’m so glad!) When she arrives, a lot of the roses are dead. I think this is symbolic of the love that used to be there between Craven and his wife. I am curious as to the significance of Mary being the first one to discover the garden in ten years. I like that within minutes of being there, she refers to it as hers. She is very possessive. (Very true. What’s up with that?) I believe Mary likes gardening because it is the one thing she has control over in her life at this point. (Control issues? Mary? hmmmmm.) Her care for the garden shows that she isn't as sour as people think. She just struggles to connect with people due to her past and connecting with inanimate things is easier. (Excellent point) Another area of interest is the idea of the human interest in secrets? I believe that there is an inherent value in exclusivity so when things are secret, they are viewed as more special. (So how do the special nice secrets differ from the creepy mysterious secrets?) The children in this book always talk so formally that is strange to me. They seem like little grownups. (!!!) At one point, Dickon makes an analogy about how the strongest flowers thrive and the weakest die. To me, this represents Mary's family. She is the strongest since she survived and they didn't. Not only did she only survive, but she is becoming a better person in the process. (What kind of strength is this, and where does it come from? Certainly not from her parents.)  I find the contrast between Dickon and Colin interesting. Mary likes both of them, but they are quite different. With Dickon, she can work on her garden and more casual. (Work vs. Play. Aren’t kinds supposed to be playing?) With Colin, they share more deep bonds. Both boys provide her with different types of relationships. Dickon is more easygoing and happy while Colin is cynical and miserable. Mary gets along with them both well despite having issues liking people which is ironic. (A good kind of ironic, yes?) 

A central theme that seems to be devolving more in this section of the book is the theme of "trust". Trust is shown between Mary and Dickon, Colin, and even the robin. Mary seems to thrive on developing quick but solid trust to ensure that her secrets remain a secret and her friendships are genuine. Trust allows her to feel safe, confident and alive. Somehow she has trust "radar" because she quickly decides who to let in to her innermost thoughts and desires. Trust is symbolized by mere physical gestures such as putting her hand on Dickon's arm, for reassurance as well as things like the missel thrush and it's indication that Dickon will keep her secret as well as return to the garden. She develops a trust with Colin, on the night she goes to his room because she relates to his situation because of the similarities to her life in India. Even though she didn't reveal that she had actually been in the garden, she trusted Colin enough to tell him a version of the story that she felt he could understand.  She devised a plan on how he and she could get in sometime if he kept the whole idea a secret for now.  Mary, Dickon and Colin seem to share the same understanding of nature, secrecy and loyalty.

Nice! trust, reassurance, relating, revelation -- nature, secrecy, loyalty -- and making plans -- these are all good things to notice.  

In chapters nine through seventeen of the secret garden you can see Mary moving up on the mature-o-meter since she discovered the garden. This development is highlighted be two quotes from chapter ten of The Secret Garden. The first quote "Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it.” shows Mary maturing because she has the motivation and focus to work on something and to work hard like an adult would rather than put no effort in and give up like a child would. Another quote from chapter ten ”because she disliked people and things so much. But now the world seemed to be changing and getting nicer." shows Mary maturing because she is noticing change in the world and showing positive feelings to other things and people than herself. She’s also becoming less quick to judge and showing interest in learning about a person or topic before judging it. She is not even close to fully mature as shown by her increased curiosity, but Mary is significantly less selfish and negative, and has higher work ethic than she did at the beginning of the book.

I really like the use of quotations as evidence here -- and the careful attention to maturity as something with multiple dimensions. Maturation doesn’t all happen at once, does it? That’s too simple. 

It seems that Mary is really fond of Dickon sense she speaks of him all the time and at one point mentioned he was beautiful. I like how keeping secrets is such a thrill, like with the garden and the visits with Colin until soon later the staff finds out. I believe that Colin thinks he's going to die because everyone believes he will. His imagination is running wild like the hunch back idea but is soon cleared by Mary stating that his back is straight. The question is, is he really sick or are they keeping him inside making him sick? If that makes any sense... It doesnt help when Colin uses his " sickness" as an advantage of what he wants and getting it, like the incident of becoming jealous with Dickon and Mary spending more time with each other. Mary is helping him in a way to see that he is acting like a spoiled child and that he is not going to die, all he needs is some sunlight and fresh air. In a way their friendship is really close to a point where they are both helping each other out in so many ways. 

Yes -- yes -- Mary & Colin are helping each other! 

another illustration by Inga Moore 

[en241]

Monday, 6 April

WEEK 10: The Secret Garden: Chapters 9-17

OK, so there’s a lot to read this week, and there’s a lot to think about. 

I really want you to be like Mary, and to explore and discover in this section of the book. Think about the places she goes and the things she sees and the secrets she uncovers. Think about the things she does and the people she encounters and the kinds of relationships she is building. Look for patterns and connections.

Let me know what you find and what you are thinking about. I’ll post what you send me on Wednesday. I’ll do my best to answer questions if you have them. Let me know if you want more “teaching” from me.

...

Also: as I reread this book myself, at home, shut in the house, with spring unfolding all around, I’m thinking of this book in some new ways. I hope that reading this book, right now, this spring, in these circumstances, is helping you think about home and family and friends, and about Magic. 

Top illustration by Brigette Barrager. Can you find the robin?

[en241]

Friday, April 3

WEEK 9: THE SECRET GARDEN Chapters 1-8

First off, I truly enjoyed reading all the questions and comments! As you keep going into next week, please try to remember the things you’ve been talking about as well as the suggestions I’ve been making for what to notice. It’s hard for me to reinforce all this without class discussion, but I’ll do my best -- because one of the greatest pleasures of this book (or any really good book) is seeing how well everything fits together -- like noticing how the illustrations and the words and even the typography and page design are all involved in the story and meaning of Where the Wild Things Are. 

What you’ve been seeing: 

how odd Mary is -- and the (many) reasons why she is so odd

what Mary seems to need (affection, attention) 

Mary’s curiosity 

how much there is for her (and us) to see -- how much detail there is in the books descriptions of setting and behavior

there is some serious ironic and symbolic stuff going on . . .  

Some ideas from me:

Mary is an abandoned child who is sent from one place to another; that’s very different from what happens to Alice and Jim, yes? 

The mature-o-meter can’t get a clear reading on Mary -- she’s an old woman and a young child at the same time. WTF? 

The setting is very complex -- there are lots of different parts of the setting, and all of them are very carefully described in very specific and concrete detail. 

Also, this place is creepy, right? And if I were Mary I wouldn’t trust anybody.  I mean, seriously, how close are we to real horror movie stuff?

Good thing Mary is a noticer. She looks at things a lot. She is curious. And for good reason. 

This is not a “what will happen?” book -- it’s a “what are the answers?” book. So is that a different kind of maturation plot? 

And why is figuring things out so interesting and appealing to us as readers? 

I don’t give quizzes any more but if I did:

how old is Mary (really)?

list the things Mary does not know

what are the Four Good Things that happen to Mary?

where in England is Misselthwaite Manor?

why is Mary able to find the key?

which is better, indoors or outdoors? why?

so far, is this book more like Struwwelpeter, Where the Wild Things Are, or The Gashleycrumb Tinies?

For Next Week: Chapters 9 through 17. 

Don’t forget the list of things to look for -- add to it, if you want. 

Illustrations by Adelina Lirius 

[en241]

Wednesday, April 1

WEEK 9: THE SECRET GARDEN Chapters 1-8

Your Questions & Comments:

Well, I find it so ironic that it begins with a pandemic -- that actually made me laugh...In each book, we read there was a common theme in this book I feel as if that theme is loneliness. All of marys life she had been neglected by her parents. the ones who are supposed to nourish and love you the most. Even when the caretaker died the others forgot and left the child. mary is described as scrawny and has a bad attitude -- is the author attempting to teach a lesson that children are the product of how you interact with them?

I have read the first section of the secret garden and was intrigued by how much it focuses on the setting. It seems each chapter she is exploring a new place. The author never allows the reader to explore one place too long and always changes Mary’s ideas into exploring other places. It is almost unsettling knowing that she never really gets to know a place before she moves onto the next. I also think this allows her to enhance the secret garden. When Mary finally finds it the author can focus on it to keep the readers interest.

My thought for this week's class on the first 9 chapters of The Secret Garden is that the maturation rate for Mary is forced upon her rather quickly. Like the previous stories, the child is forced to adapt and learn from their new environment which we rationalize as growing up. Does the tragic tone and portrayal of the young girl (horrid, beastly, awful) inthe story change the way we percieve the growth. Seeing as the girl has never truly known authority up until this point, her age and her level of maturity do not align because she has not been taught or disciplined. So rather than a narrator that feels sorry for her, we are given one who paints her in a foul manner despite it all.

In chapters one through eight you can see exactly how low Mary is on the mature-o-meter due to the point of development she’s at and the life she has had thus far. This is evident in chapter two with the quote “She did not know that this was because she was a disagreeable child; but then, of course she did not know she was disagreeable. She often thought the other people were but she did not know that she was so herself.”. This quote demonstrates that Mary is not yet understanding herself or thinking that she could also be disagreeable. Chapters one through eight of The Secret Garden also highlights Mary’s appetite for attention and affection and her lack of understanding that she may be selfish and is the one only thinking about herself not the

Is the robin a representation of Mary as a real child? The robin is curious and wants to interact with people, as many children do. Could it be the inter child in Mary that is curious about her surroundings? Chapter 4

As Mary is walking through the house, she sees images of many people, but seems to focus on the children. The children all seem to be dressed and acting like adults. Could it mean that Mary is aware she always acts like an adult even as a child? Chapter 6

Mary seems to notice many things that the adults are ignoring or can't hear such as the crying, and the robin. They also refuse to talk about the garden, even when Mary brings it up. Is this story focusing on how a child sees things others do not? Is it showing that adults don't talk about many ideas even though they want to?

What is on the girl's finger in the portrait? I was amazed at how much detail they explain in the book. It made me imagine being there and looking at everything. Martha's comments are fun to read and I feel as if she is having conversations just across the room.

Just like Mary, I am very curious to know exactly why she's not supposed to go looking around the house except for where her room is and in the main gardens. But why is everyone in the house so distant and cold towards Mary's curiosity for the house and the garden?

Mary (especially in the early chapters) has lots of pent up frustrations. It isn't explicitly stated, but I think it is likely due to the neglect from her parents. Her own mother refers to her as ugly and doesn't want people associating Mary with herself. This begs the question; how much influence does ones childhood have on their behavior and temperament? Would Mary be less angry if her parents gave her care? Most likely. I also thought the passage where Mary discusses the beauty of her mother being immediately followed with the mention of death has symbolism. To me, this symbolizes that her mother is ugly on the inside despite her exterior. I also like the atmosphere of mystery in the novel. I want to know who was crying, more about the secrets of the various rooms, Craven, and the secret garden itself.

UPDADTED w ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS, Monday 6 April

Mary is a strange child who was spoiled all her life and left alone most of the time. In movies usually rich children who are spoiled and left alone grow to like themselves only and nobody else. Although in Mary’s case she doesn’t even like herself. That surprised me. Also, She never grew to be fond of anyone. At her uncle’s house she grows to become interested in her maid’s mom along with Dicon. How did she go from liking nobody to all of a sudden becoming kind?

Your point about irony was eye-opening and I believe it also reflects Mary's state of maturity. Burnett creates this character who at least perceives herself to be superior in her maturity and her knowledge over others but who is actually experiencing her life with a fundamentally flawed world view. Mary lacked developmental support her entire life and projects her own feelings and insecurities (“You know nothing about anything!” Chapter 4) onto others. It seems like Mary is learning how to define herself in relation to other people for the first time, but because she's older she's fixated more on matters of superiority rather than empathy.

I can really relate to the pandemic in this book. I can defiantly feel staying inside being lazy, sleeping lot then finding no one outside.  Mary than experiences the deaths of her parents. Mary then finds herself in the care of the salors wife who she does not mind at first. Mary finds herself of a boat going to Yorkshire. The sailor’s wife is heading there to drop her own children off at a boarding school. Mary is then locked into a room in Yorkshire. She is instructed not the leave the room and not explore the horse. Latter Marry and Martha have a house keeper come into the room. Martha offends Mary by saying “such a lot o’ backs there”. Mary leaves the room on a rainy day. She finds herself looking more and more like Martha. She does not expect to be stopped until Mrs. Medlock finds her and brings her back to her room. Later on a robin finds Mary with a key. Mary thinks the may be the key to the garden she wants nothing more then to see.

For secret garden, I noticed that the weather and nature play a huge roll in moving the story along. It is intrinsic in her getting out of the house and into the garden. The Robin is crucial to her finding the key to the garden, and the rain is what keeps her in the house to hear the cries of her cousin. Nature manipulates and thrusts Mary and the story onwards!

[en241]

Monday, 30 March

WWEEK 9: THE SECRET GARDEN chapters 1-8

1. This week: Monday: Things to Look for; Wednesday: All the Q&A stuff you’ve sent me, plus new things; Friday: Summary and Suggestions 

2. What We Skipped: Peter Pan & The Wind in the Willows (I’ll cover this below the “keep reading”): Anti-Realist and Anti-Maturation Fantasies: so weird

3. Things to Look for in The Secret Garden, chapters 1-8

use the mature-o-meter on everyone 

narrative point of view

changes in setting

changes in language

doors and keys

the moor / houses

playing / doing

looking / exploring

knowing / understanding / thinking

illness / health

appetite

magic

4. Fantasy: 

For purposes of this class, I’m dividing things into three basic types of narratives: Nonsense, Realism, and Fantasy. 

Fantasy is a hybrid of Nonsense & Realism

Fantasy combines nonsense elements and realistic elements, and can do so in a huge variety of ways

this makes Fantasy perhaps the most common and beloved (and profound) mode of children’s literature

in many (though not all) cases, Fantasy sets up a contrast or conflict between Nonsense / Childhood / Imagination and Realism / Adulthood / Practicality

it’s often seen in setting, but also in character psychology 

in psychological terms: acceptance vs resistance to maturation 

always reflects cultural assumptions about BIG ISSUES like gender and social class and all that $hit -- and every time they are retold (like movie versions) they reflect the cultural assumptions of the time which is doing the retelling 

Example of this: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the 1971 movie version (Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and the 2005 movie version (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

This is why we have to read the original book, no matter how popular or iconic the movie version may be  

Harry effing Potter -- don’t even get me started 

contemporary YA -- nope nope nope -- you go ahead , ‘cause we could talk about that forever but maybe we are too close to it to think clearly about it? 

What we Skipped: Conflict Fantasies 

Fantasy: Realism / Adulthood / Practicality / Home 2 -- vs -- Nonsense / Childhood / Imagination / Wonderland

Resistance to Maturation vs Personal & Cultural Imperative

Peter Pan

Wendy wants the whole story: she sees Wonderland as the path to Home 2, and Home 2 is her goal

Peter wants to stop with Wonderland; he has no interest in Home 2

Peter vs. Hook = who wants Wonderland more? 

Peter: refusal; Hook: regression

Pirates cf Children (again) 

the indians -- Brits can be so clueless about Native Americans -- just embarassing and cruel

animals

the Neverland: Stasis 1 (refusal) = endless adventure w/out goal

flying

appetite & eating (of course) 

medicine

mothering

gender

SEX 

DEATH

SEX & DEATH

The Wind in the Willows

Home 2 as permanent Wonderland

But Home 2 without Family, Children, Sex

Mole as inexperienced adult, not child

Home 2 as Stasis: endless goal without adventure

Internal Danger is Regression: Toad

External Danger is Children / Lower Classes: stoats & weasels

safety

domesticity as system

the status quo 

appetite & satisfaction

river bank vs big world vs forest

episodic plot structure

NO SEX NO DEATH NO SEX NO DEATH NO 

illustration by Inga Moore

[en241]

Friday, 27 March

WEEK 8: COURSE REBOOT & REVIEW: Treasure Island & the Maturation-Identity Problem

In this post I’m covering Realism, and Treasure Island as a Growing Up story focused on conflict, choices, consequences, and survival.

Together, this week’s three posts are a review of everything we did in the first half of the term. Instead of doing it by discussion and discovery (my preference, always) I’ve been doing it by a systematic explanation (which is fine, just as good, I guess). Next week we’ll move on to The Secret Garden.

I hope you don’t find all of this too dull. Writing it up as a systematic explanation is a lot of work. 

Now then, let’s set sail . . . 

1. Realism

For purposes of this class, I’m dividing things into three basic types of narratives: Nonsense, Realism, and Fantasy. (Fantasy is a hybrid of Nonsense & Realism).

Treasure Island is a work of Realism. (Long John’s parrot talks because it has learned to talk, because parrots can learn to talk -- not because it’s a magical talking bird, or a human character that happens to look like a parrot 

As I am using the term, Realism doesn’t mean factual or non-fictional; it means a story-world that largely seems to behave more-or-less the way we ourselves experience the world. If inexplicable things happen, there’s a reason behind them that we can figure out, provided we get the necessary information. 

For this reason, Realism makes it easier to analyze a story and its meaning. It’s still a lot of work, because life is so complicated; but that’s a challenge we tend to enjoy and/or find reassuring.

2. The Realistic Growing-Up Story

A Realistic Growing-Up Story has a stable setting that acts as a foundation for the actions of its characters. 

These characters are “round,” not “flat” -- or, more precisely, they are “dynamic” instead of “static.” This means that we actually perceive the process of growing-up in much greater detail and complexity than we do in Nonsense. 

The plot of a Realistic Growing-Up Story is more complex and typically involves conflicts -- both external and internal. These conflicts tend to revolve around choices, especially ethical choices, not just arguments and swordfights. Nonsense stories, on the other hand, are usually episodic; no one event is more important than another; no one event actually needs to precede another. 

3. The Realistic Maturation Plot: Choices, Consequences, Conflict, Problem-Solving 

The choices made by characters in a Realistic Growing-Up Story  determine whether they gain more knowledge, status, power, freedom, and so on. If they do, they become more mature; if they do, they survive. (If they don’t they remain in stasis, or they regress, or they die) .

The choices made by characters in a Realistic Growing-Up Story are not single, and not simple; characters are typically required to make lots of decisions, different types of decisions, and difficult decisions. 

These choices all have consequences -- both harmful and beneficial.

Making choices means deciding which consequences we prefer -- but our preferences may be at odds with those of other people. Thus, in a world full of choices we inevitably have conflict 

The Realistic Growing-Up story is usually a series of choices, each with its own causes and consequences, often centered around conflicts with others whose choices are different; a successful outcome is one in which we learn from our choices and make better ones -- ensuring that we survive.

4. Treasure Island as a Realistic Growing-Up Story

This is obviously a book about survival; it’s not just realistic -- it’s full of death. 

Choices in this book center around questions of desire: wanting, gain. Success is getting and having and keeping. 

Choices are also about who you align with. 

Conflict between two principles: (1)  get what you desire, get it now, get it often, get it any way you can, and don’t let anyone else get it; (2) what you desire is to see others get what they desire, because they will see that you get what you desire -- you may have to wait for what you want or even go without while others get, but it’s ok if you trust the others

principle 1 = a continual state of conflict: you vs all others; temporary alliances 

principle 2 = a state of community; you, but you with other people; permanent alignments

you know, basic playground stuff

5. Treasure Island: Break it Down

I’m leaving out all the details because there just isn’t time; I’m just doing the issues. But if you think about the book, you’ll see how all this applies.

following principle 1 = immaturity and following principle 2 = maturity (duh)

principle 1 = pirates; principle 2 = professionals (duh)

but hey, it’s hard; we’re all a little bit pirate, aren’t we? who doesn’t want pickles and wine?

and principle 1 is short-term powerful AF 

but the principle 2 people gots cheese (and when you come down to it, cheese is everything, amirite?)

what happens when we’re stuck on a rock with a bunch of people following principle 1 and another bunch of people following principle 2?

what skills and knowledge do we need in order to make the right choices again and again and again?

Can you follow principle 1 some of the time and principle 2 some of the time, so you can have cheese, pickles, wine, and  live long enough to enjoy them?

Is it possible to steal, sneak off, lie, and even freaking kill someone and still be following principle 2?

Is it possible to be helpful, faithful, and trustworthy when you’re following principle 1?

And can you figure out who to trust and who not to trust; who to help and who not to help? 

6. Double Perspective

In Alice we had a 3rd person narrator -- Lewis Carroll -- who told us everything about Alice but wasn’t Alice.

Jim is a 1st person narrator -- we’re in his head and we know what he’s experiencing first hand, because he’s the one telling us

Or do we? Because the story is being written by a Jim from the future of the story who is (obviously) older and wiser

Old Jim has (obviously) survived, so that’s good. 

But can we trust Old Jim? Can Old Jim really remember being himself as a child? 

Really, he doesn’t seem to like Young Jim very much. 

But if Young Jim wasn’t young, he wouldn’t have done all those impulsive things that clearly saved the day, over and over again! Does Old Jim not realize that?

Again, this is the identity problem caused by aging: once we are older we can’t truly know the young self; when we are young, we can’t know our older self. 

The only place they can co-exist, at least symbolically, is in a story like this. Wonderland is where the two aspects of ourselves can encounter one another, even if they can never be together

7. Didactic or Subversive?

Does the child reader want to read what the adult narrator is writing? Why would anyone want to? Old Jim is only writing the story because other people asked him to (principle 1) and would really rather be sorting money into piles.

Can the book have a double meaning? Excitement and enjoyment and lessons. 

Can the book be didactic AND subversive at the same time? 

Why does Long John Silver get away? 

And come to think of it, why is Long John Silver famous and Jim Hawkins isn’t? 

Jim = Alice, gone into have tea?

Squire, Dr = Alice’s sister?

LJS = Cheshire Cat?

Sooooo many questions, yes? But that’s what it’s all about. Questions. Sorry, not sorry. Survival = making choices based on information and knowledge gained from asking good questions. On behalf of the community. (And ourselves.)

now, how about a nice cup of tea? Or maybe, seeing as it’s Friday, something a bit stronger?

[en241]

Wednesday, 25 March

WEEK 8: COURSE REVIEW & REBOOT: Alice & Narrative Models

OK wow, so it’s hard to review two weeks of classes in one post, so this is just a quick summary. If you need more depth or clarity, you know what to do. 

In this post I’m covering Nonsense, the Growing Up story, and Alice as a Nonsense Growing Up story with a Double Perspective. 

1. Nonsense

For purposes of this class, I’m dividing things into three basic types of narratives: Nonsense, Realism, and Fantasy. (Fantasy is a hybrid of Nonsense & Realism).

In Alice in Wonderland we are talking Nonsense. I mean, um, we are talking about Nonsense.

As I am using the term, Nonsense does not mean no-sense (or chaos); it means a sense that does not match up with the sense we expect. A work of nonsense takes us to a world with its own logic -- which makes us feel alienated, but not insane. And when you think about it, this happens in real life a lot. 

So Nonsense takes a familiar experience and represents it without explaining it. That’s what I call honesty, I think.

Nonsense is common in Children’s Lit; not so much in adult lit. Adults don’t like it because it’s upsetting. Take Spongebob Squarepants for example. Some people go all Squidward when they watch it, if they watch it at all; other people are like Sandy Cheeks and even though they don’t belong there, they move right in. 

Nonsense in adult lit is often parody or satire. Parody compares the real world to an imaginary world for amusement (Galaxy Quest); satire does to point out how disgusting and stupid we can be (Animal Farm). 

2. The Maturation Plot (the “Growing Up” story) 

The maturation plot, or growing up story, (or Bildungsroman) is a familiar type of narrative in both children’s and adult literature. 

The idea of narrative as a process of growth and development from one state to another seems universal to us  -- almost the basic meaning of narrative. 

Obviously since our general sense of maturation, or growing up, goes in a straight line from childhood to adulthood, there are a lot of stories that use this as a basic plot structure. 

The most obvious example is a standard fairy tale: young person goes out into the world, has an adventure, solves the puzzle, meets a sweetie, and settles down into a happily-ever-after. 

My oversimplified model (home 1 -> wonderland -> home 2) describes this as a change of settings -- but those settings are also psychological states.

(Yes, it’s like the hero’s journey, but that’s a formula and mine is a model. And all of this is part of a different course I teach & so never mind for now.) 

home 1 is childhood where the protagonist lacks knowledge and agency; wonderland is an environment where knowledge and agency are gained; home 2 is where knowledge and agency are used to benefit others.

A lot of growing-up stories are didactic AF, and many are dishonest. 

A lot of really good growing-up stories are honest and subversive. 

Alice is a growing up story, but it’s complicated.

3. Alice as Nonsense Growing Up Story

Simplest way to put this: when you start to grow up you have expectations of what it’s going to be like: orderly, stable, responsible, maybe dull. But when you actually get there, it’s like entering a nonsense world -- grownups act like children, or worse, all the time. Your options? Go Crazy? Settle Down? Run until the Crazies Get You?

4. Double Perspective

Alice is the main character, the protagonist -- but the most important and unseen character is the narrator. Who is Lewis Carroll. Who is an imaginary identity created by Charles Dodgson. Who wrote down the story he made up for a little girl, named Alice Liddell, one afternoon. 

So in the story we see things from Alice’s perspective BUT the story is all from the narrator’s perspective.

Alice is a child; the narrator is an adult. So we have a double perspective from two points of view -- that of a child and that of an adult. 

then there’s Alice’s sister, who hears Alice’s story, so there’s another perspective buried in there, but she’s really a projection of the author

and the Cheshire Cat . . . 

are you dizzy yet?

it’s ok

5. Alice in Wonderland: break it down

we begin in the “real” world -- where a child asks for a story and a grown up makes one up for her

this grownup prefers children to adults, and the story he makes up is full of exaggerated parodies of people and types of people he knows; it’s the truth, but disguised. 

the child listening to the story doesn’t give a fork about that -- it’s a funny story and it’s about her, or a her she can imagine being but doesn’t have to be -- so it’s a funny story full of silly and maybe scary things but she isn’t scared because she’s not really in it: it’s make-believe

in the story, Alice goes from one state to another and then on again (home 1, wonderland, home 2) on multiple levels:

bored - adventure & frustration - escape

sleepy - asleep & dreaming - awake

child - adolescent - adult 

identity 1 - confusion & loss of identity - identity 2

her dream-adventure takes place in wonderland -- world of nonsense, a disorderly order full of rules and rituals without clear purposes or outcomes (games, songs, poems, parties, trials) 

*cough* high school *cough*

the people she meets there are either animals (stable but dim) or humans (confident but unstable) -- different ways of existing in the stable instability of wonderland 

it’s interesting and fun for a while, but quickly gets frustrating for Alice, and eventually it’s too much -- 

Alice would just like some quiet time in a sunny garden, maybe some tea, yes, a nice quiet cup of tea, and perhaps a biscuit to go with it

and she wakes up to go and have one, and then go on to an orderly ordinary life

but Alice’s sister . . . she’s a bit bored with this ordinary life, and wishes you could have it both ways at once 

Was Alice in Wonderland didactic? subversive? or both? 

I’ve left out all the fun details so as to concentrate on the maturation plot; the details are fun but it would be impossible to go into all of them for you, and I couldn’t possibly choose just one or two. And in a way, they’re all the same; there aren’t any evolving patterns of imagery the way there are in Treasure Island. 

Next time, in Treasure Island we’ll explore the maturation plot in a world with real adventures, real challenges, real consequences, (real suffering, real death) and the questions of how to get what you want, and how to choose what you want.

meanwhile, that was a lot of work, so 

illustration by Helen Oxenbury 

[en241]

Week 8 Q&A Compendium

I’ll be adding to this all week, so keep checking back! Don’t sit at home sucking your thumbs (haha). Send me your comment or question via email or twitter. 

If the dishonest books are the ones that contain specific lessons and morals, would all books be dishonest? Every book no matter the material can be simplified to a lesson. So if what makes a book honest is the idea of going further into the situation, why would we not consider books with lessons in them to be honest?

Very interesting question! If I’m being honest, it’s not just the book -- it’s also how we read it. If we take a complex book and reduce it to a simple message, it’s not really honest. If we take a simple book, or a book that seems simple and make it complicated (I’m afraid I do this a lot becuz it’s kinda my job) what are we doing? 

Anyhow, I want to argue that when we simplify the complexities of life into moral lessons we kind of get Struwwelpeter: follow the rules or you’ll end up without thumbs. 

On the other hand, if we accept the complexities of life, we get Peter Rabbit: if he’d followed the rules he’d be having bread and milk and blackberries with Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, instead of being sick in bed with chamomile tea. But because he didn’t follow the rules he had -- an adventure!  You can read Peter Rabbit and turn it into a lesson -- Peter disobeyed and got sent to bed; or you can read Peter Rabbit as a subversive challenge to authority. I hope that makes sense!

For more questions & comments & stuff, please keep reading

So I understand that the adults write the book based on their fears and outlook on life. I get the children don’t understand what’s going on, But why don’t they try and make it about the children instead of making them full of gore like treasure island or nonsense like Alice?

So if honest books the ones that follow the basic fairytale plot of house 1 -> adventure -> house 2 then how do nonsense books fit in to the honest/dishonestness of them?

When I entered this class I envisioned it would be completely different from the way it is actually run. I never really knew and understood how dark or sexual or twisted a children's book could be. I mean yes adults write them but it was difficult for me to really truly notice "Wow Adults really are writing these".I think it is so difficult to catch because you expect innocence, and that is because you hear the world children... but it actually is kind of humorous because children are the very opposite, so do we let how society is supposed to be blind us from what really is?

I never realized the discrepancy between the two sisters until you laid it out so clearly. The fact that Alice was perfectly content to live a normal life after her incredible adventure whereas her older sister could only imagine what Alice had experienced yet longed for that double life was striking to me. The double-edged sword of maturation means that we can imagine the nonsense -- even more crisply as an adult than a child! -- but never experience it again even though we desperately want to. Except, perhaps, through writing.

dishonest vs honest children's lit - If dishonest children's literature can be defined as simplified, "soothing", and morally focused, what does this mean the adult's writing this perception must be like? Are they totally out of touch with what children are like and can't remember what they would've wanted to read as a child? Or is it more like they just believe simple didactic tales are what is the best suited for children?

What's the in-between of dishonest and honest children's literature? is that the fantasy type of narrative?

I think Alice in Wonderland was ironically didactic and subversive at the same time because she showed growth and maturation at the end but it wasn't in an oversimplified dishonest children's literature kind of way. I don't think Lewis intended for it to be didactic.

[en241]

Monday 23 March

Week 8: Course Reboot & Review: General Approach

Today I’ll cover some of the major concepts I’m using in the course -- our approach to reading Children’s Literature as Literature. 

AFTER READING – send me any comments or questions. Use email, or twitter (@prof_oa). I’ll respond to them in separate Q+A posts.

Come back Wednesday for a review of Alice in Wonderland and narrrative models. On Friday we’ll finish up with a review of Treasure Island and some of the basic themes & tropes of maturation plots. 

now, on to the notes . . . . . . .  

0. We’re not really talking about picture books or issues of literacy in this course; that’s a different side of the topic which I am not qualified or interested in teaching. 

1. Children’s Lit is Not Literature Written by Children. Adults write it. Duh.

surprise: it’s not entirely for or about children

2. Children’s Lit is (really) about the unresolvable identity problem posed by maturation

we are one person, but we know we were once someone else so wtf

we were once someone who didn’t know who we would be now

we will someday be someone who is but isn’t who we are now

& those people can never really meet

& this explains all those missing same-sex parents in stories for and about children -- why Dorothy and Ariel and Belle don’t have mothers, etc. 

3. So Children’s Lit is not simple.  

seriously, some fools think anything labeled “children” is simple 

Children’s Lit is as complex and as profound as any other art form

Children’s Lit deals with truly heavy shit in truly heavy ways

it’s about dealing the issues, not about serving up cliches

4. Children’s Lit can be Honest or Dishonest

it’s honest when it represents and engages with the complexity of the issues

it’s dishonest when it simplifies complexity into “lessons” and “morals”

Honest children’s lit is messy, anxious, unsettling, and subversive

Dishonest children’s lit is tidy, soothing, anodyne, and didactic

Honest children’s lit is about coping with ambiguity

Dishonest children’s lit is about rejecting ambiguity 

this class is about reading honest children’s literature

5. Children’s Literature is Grounded in History

our concepts of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood are not essential; they are historical constructions

in many ways they are products of the Enlightenment’s project of categorizing, defining, and organizing knowledge, its celebration of rationality, order, systems, predictable processes, and science

in many ways they are also products of Romanticism’s response to the Enlightenment, its refusal to give up on instinct, associative thinking, dreams, “fancies” and the imagination, and poetry

the Enlightenment approach to childhood & maturation helped create our modern systems of education as a training system that produces citizens and workers

the Romantic approach helped create our concept of childhood as a special time of life, a golden age that we lose as we decline into adulthood

these approaches can be seen in and are related to the development of schools and education 

they can also be seen in the creation and development of a literature for and about children

6. Children’s Literature has a History

what we call Children’s Literature did not always exist

(baby food did not always exist either)

many early children’s books were really adult books -- either shared with or discovered by children 

in chapter 1 of Jane Eyre, Jane is reading Bewick’s History of British Birds 

in chapter 1 of Little Women, Marmee reminds the girls how they used to playact Pilgrims Progress when they were littler 

later, some of the weirder books (Shakespeare, Gulliver’s Travels) were simplified (or “cleaned up”) for children 

gradually, the idea of books deliberately and specifically for children appeared 

many of these were highly didactic & pushed bourgeois middle-class morals like self-control and the importance of work

Struwwelpeter (I)

at the same time there were plenty of works that could be read by children (or to) and adults simultaneously but satisfied both classes of readers in somewhat different ways 

what we think of as the classics Children’s Literature often come from the latter group 

it’s those books that we are studying in this class

7. In Conclusion

In this course we’re looking at some of the many works of literature that honestly grapple with the contrast between Enlightenment and Romantic notions of childhood and maturation, and we are reading them using the same methods and purposes we would use reading Shakespeare.