The boys have finally reached the age that they can really enjoy chapter books. I've been waiting for this moment for so long, and despite an initial bumpy start we've really started working our way through the bookshelves.
At the moment we're reading an anthology of children's classics that S inherited from a neighbor. I was really enthusiastic when we got it because it includes many stories that I enjoyed as a child.
This book was published back in 1966 and they obviously had different ideas back then about appropriate material for small children. I have been really shocked by the violence, desperation and outright racism in these stories and nursery rhymes!
We read an excerpt from the original Pinocchio yesterday evening and I was completely floored. The guy who sells the wood to Gepetto is a drunk, and they get into a knock-down drag out fight and call each other all sorts of names.
Gepetto carves out Pinocchio and then beats him and gets arrested by the police for disturbing the peace and child endangerment.
Pinocchio is a completely unsympathetic character: kicks people, teases them mercilessly and steals things. And then he squashes Jiminy Cricket with his shoe!
I was surprised that my first reaction was to censor the baser parts of the story. But the rational side of me realizes that kids need to learn at a young age that people are often horrible to each other-- I wouldn't do them any favors by sheltering them.
So now S and B are getting the unedited, unDisney-fied introduction to children's literature; warts and all.
Would be interested to hear other people's experiences and how you've reacted to this issue.
4 comments:
Liked we talked about yesterday - I know I'm not a parent and that children do tend to take things literally but I can't help but think that the gorey details can be assimilated as the stylistic/narrative flavorings that they are. I mean, how James & the Giant Peach is more fun once you know his step-mom beat him! How far do you sanitize without watering the whole story down, you know? I say, read on, sister!
Hi L! I had to read this one twice because the first time through it really sounded like you enjoyed reading about his hardships. I know what you were trying to say, though, that his revenge in the story is that much sweeter because of the awful conditions he had to suffer under with his stepmother.
And you're right-- I don't want to sanitize too much, if at all. Do you remember back in the late 70's when someone decided to remove the overtly violent scenes from Bugs Bunny cartoons? There was nothing left at the end, they didn't even make sense anymore!
I'm still reading the hard parts to them as well but am making sure we have talks afterwards to make sure they understand my take on the issues.
My gut says that this is the right thing to do-- but only time will tell...
I have mixed feelings--but I guess my answer would be, if it scares the child, then I'd omit the gorier details. If the child seems unscathed, I'd leave the story as the author wrote it. And I definitely agree with talking things over afterwards--kids can have such varied reactions to events, even fictionalized ones! Interesting question.
The funny thing is that I'm realizing that it's bothering me a heck of a lot more than it is them!
I'll be reading a passage from Kipling's "Just So" stories where the characters are beating each other or an Andersen's fairy tale where the mother is dying and will notice it's affecting me negatively but not them. (at least not visibly)
I think it's because I'm viewing these stories from the standpoint of being a mother and the inherent losses they represent. Maybe I'm lending it more depth than they do?
It's such a complex issue!
Post a Comment