EAC273 Introduction to Childrens Literature

A social issue can be referred to as a discrepancy which exerts its influence on the citizens within a society. It can also be referred to as a group of common problems which are present in the modern societies and that it should be solved. Social issues are often the consequences of factors which extends beyond the control of an individual. These are the sources of major conflicts perceived over morally correct or incorrect situations in life. There are wide ranging disagreements which arises from social issues and they must be solved to provide a suitable life to every individual in society. The role of Art in this section is immense. What does art do to serve towards the social issues? As it is evident that art creates an artistic Instinct for the individuals who are the audiences or witness to the art, it conjures up a secondary world through which various social issues are addressed and often with elevated intensity. As art and literature works more on the psychological realm of an individual, the effect it creates results to a metamorphosis in many people (Hermeren). The specificity of social address induces a transformation in the ones who read or view an artistic expression. Authors all around the world have explored various social issues through novels, stories, drama, poetry, Sculpture, painting and films. This essay shall aim at enumerating the vitalities of art practices while exploring various social issues like divorce, abuse, racism and alcoholism. Two important pieces of art shall be utilised to prove that literature and art has time and again talked about various social issues. The two pieces of literature are “The Paperback Princess” as a fiction and “Hana’s suitcase” as a nonfiction piece of literature.

Abuse is a very common social issue that is prevalent in all sections of the society. As a human being we are essentially hierarchical in our psychology and we give more importance to masculine gender over feminine gender. Modern societies have evolved a lot and there have been considerable advancements in Science and technologies, however primitive psychologies of societal configuration where male dominated female reside strongly today. This issue where the masculine gender always exerts their dominance and aggression over the feminine gender is important issue of discussion. The famous children’s book written by Robert Munsch named “the paper bag princess”, elucidates the masculine Supremacy and the baselessness of the same within the veil of a Fairy tale. The story of the fairy tale is quite simple. Princess Elizabeth is prepared to marry Prince Ronald who according to her is the perfect person in the world. However, the arrival of a dragon and the destruction of a castle along with kidnap of Ronald denudes her Future Plans. She is almost destroyed because the Dragon’s fire had burnt all her clothes as well. In spite of all the adversities, princess Elizabeth is Adamant to get her lover back. Disregarding the mishap with her clothes, she looks out for something to wear and finds a paper bag as an only option. Unhesitant, she wears it and follows the Dragon with the sole thought of rescuing her fiancé from the venerable Dragon. The story mentions that Elizabeth challenges the Dragon and rescues Ronald from his fangs. After such a strife and stride, Ronald accuses Elizabeth of being uncouth in wearing a paper bag and following in a pursuit all around the world. Ronald demands Elizabeth to wear proper clothes and look like a princess before she could approach him. This huge ungratefulness breaks the heart of The Princess and she rejects him as a worthless person. Elizabeth mentions that Ronald looks like a real Prince but is actually a bum (MUNSCH).

This is a very important issue which is still prevalent in society as addressed by the story. Masculine Supremacy and feminine abuse are social issues which is pertinent in Modern Times. Robert Munsch very dexterously draws the social issue and conveys it as a children literature. Every child who reads this book would assume that thew prince is not a good person because he not only disrespects the extreme hardships which her lover Elizabeth takes up for him but also disregards the feminine dignity which she should have got. As it has been mentioned by eminent Scholars and researchers all round the world, the paper bag princess may be a children’s book but it addresses a universal issue of women in abuse by the masculine gender. The greatness of the story is in the fact that it does not stop at the abuse but also talks about the of women emancipation which happens when she rejects the prince. The story had been enamoured time and again by the feminists and had been claimed by the National Organisation for women. Since its Inception in 1980, millions of copies of this story had been sold all around the world showing the vitality of the story line as presented by the writer in this piece of fictional literature.

Vitality of life and universal human values has also been portrayed in a very beautiful story named Hana’s suitcase written by Karen Levine. This story talks about an extraordinary true story exposing the greatest history of Holocaust to the young readers through a suitcase. The story talks about the curator of a small Holocaust Education Centre for children in Tokyo named Fumiko Ishiyoka. she receives a very special shipment where some artefacts from Auschwitz museum reaches her. Among the artefacts is a suitcase which belong to some Hannah Brady and it is dated on May 16^th 1931. This suitcase belongs to an Orphan child and the children who visited the centres were full of questions about the owner of suitcase and the history. The magic of the story is eminently mentioned by the writer Karen Levine where she prepares a voyage to the pages of history and reaches to Czechoslovakia where she meets the young Hannah Brady (Levine and Corey). There after she also describe the manner in which the invasion of the Nazis turns the lives of this family upside down. This story is full of mystery and memories, talk about various perspectives of human life and extensively talk about the torments of the German occupation over Czechoslovakia. As the paper bag princess talks about masculine Supremacy and women abuse, this story speaks about human abuse and Tyranny of autocratic leadership which was present in the world in recent past. The Holocaust and the German occupation not only destroyed innumerable lives and disregarded basic needs of life for the Jews, but also snatched the respect and dignity that human beings should have from fellow human beings. It might appear that Holocaust is over and the German occupation is buried underneath the pages of history, but the abuse of humanity and the implications of Tyranny by the powerful on the powerless is still a very vital question ranging and marking a stigma on the epoch. Human beings have been cruelly diminished by the ones who had been in power. The powerful had always abused the rights and responsibilities of the powerless. History had seen many episodes where humanity was abused and basic conditions of life were disregarded. Literature assumes that position where it addresses such social issues and tries to create a denouncement among the ones who read it (Alexander).

Important question which had been asked by eminent Scholars all around the world is How a literature can address a social issue being just a piece of Creative practice? The answer to this question can be mentioned in this manner that as literature works not in the pragmatic realm of human existence but in the psychological sphere of the person, it is capable of evoking emotions which is a very important part of human existence (Wolff). As literature appeals the heart along with the brain, it can create a balance between logic and emotions and their bye channelize human activities towards best practices in society. In both the chronicles mentioned in this research material, namely “The Paperback Princess” by Robert Munsch (as a fictional piece of literature) and Hana’s suitcase by Karen Levine (as a non-fictional piece of literature), is very successful in addressing an important social issue of universal Human abuse. An important quotation can be referred to from the piece of Karen Levine where she mentions that it is not a question of dreadfulness that the Nazis were cruel but the more vital question is that the Nazis were also human beings (Nisbet). Such a realisation can create reverberation inside the readers.

Therefore, it can be concluded that authors all around the world had been ardent in exploration of the social issues through their respective pieces of creation. Literature had always filled the mind and the brain simultaneously creating a balance between logic and emotions. Due to this important phenomenon of literature, discussions of social issues have become very important to literary pieces. Both the discussed literature talks about important social issues of human abuse in two different manners. The fictional piece narrates a story for the children through a Fairy tale whereas the second piece of literature talks about the incidents in a direct correlation Manner and gives all the requisite information about Holocaust and German occupation of the Nazi aggression. Both the piece of literature is successful in conveying the message to the readers which makes them famous all around the globe.

References:

Alexander, Victoria D. Sociology of the arts: Exploring fine and popular forms. John Wiley & Sons, 2020.

Hermeren, Goran. Influence in art and literature. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Levine, Karen, and Corey Coates. "Hana's Suitcase." Canadian Ethnic Studies 34.2 (2002): 151.

MUNSCH, ROBERT N. "INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION STUDIES (IJELR)." Proceedings of International Seminar on" Gender Identity and Equality through Cultural and Social Scape. 2018.

Nisbet, Robert. Sociology as an art form. Routledge, 2017.

Wolff, Janet. Hermeneutic philosophy and the sociology of art: an approach to some of the epistemological problems of the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of art and literature. Vol. 4. Routledge, 2017.

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