Childhood, Childrearing and Children - Book Report/Review Example

Running Head: childhood, childrearing and children An analysis of legal and political changes over time in governmental attitudes to childhood, childrearing and children [Name of the writer] [Name of the institution] An analysis of legal and political changes over time in governmental attitudes to childhood, childrearing and children Introduction Violence is an element normally not immediately associated with children's literature. It is not assumed to be a common focus f stories written for children, and is subjected to informal, but powerful, societal constraints. Exposure to excessive or inappropriate violence during the formative years f childhood has long been thought to be harmful by parents, teachers, and society generally. The definition f what constitutes appropriate material, however, has varied considerably through the century. Violence f different forms and degrees has therefore remained a recurrent factor f numerous popular books for children in Britain throughout the twentieth century. Its presence in such successful works implies a significant degree f social acceptance and approval, and consequently offers useful insight as to British norms and values at different historical periods, and their relevance regarding children. The concept f childhood in British society has been an evolving one. The centrality f children in modern culture was not always in evidence, nor were the particular needs f children always considered to be distinct from those f adults. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, literary and artistic evidence depicts a world in which children were viewed primarily as smaller, less capable adults. Artwork containing children reflected such views through images f undersized men and women with oddly miniaturised features and tiny adult attire. Recreational books for children began to emerge in the late seventeenth century, but this material was heavily coloured with religious and moral instruction, often grim in nature. In the late nineteenth century formal changes to the position f children in society began to emerge that distinguished childhood as a critical stage f life. Although the factories f the Industrial Revolution had saved the working classes from starvation, they came to be a condemnation to life f unrelenting toil and deprivation. The worst f their legacy was represented by the plight f children sent to work at ages as young as seven or eight years, under the same often appalling conditions as adult employees. Successive government inquiries and regulation through Factory Acts reflected a growing tendency to define child welfare issues as distinct from those f adults, resulting in gradual improvements and a lessening role for child labour. The reduction in child employment was also conducive to the growing movement in favour f a nationwide system f mandatory education. Subsequent Education Acts f 1870 and 1880 introduced free schooling for children, which became compulsory to the age f ten. By 1918 the state had assumed a more protective role in the lives f children, providing medical examinations, free school meals and maternity and birth services for women. Rapid technological progress and shifting political dynamics continued the transformation f the role f the child in British society into the twentieth century. Literature intended for children forms a useful barometer f the changing cultural expectations f this period. Deliberate moral and instructive messages often immersed within violent text reveal much about society's perceptions and expectations f childhood. Also telling, however, are the hidden, and perhaps unintended, forms f socialization posed by the relationship f conflict with aspects f gender, class and society generally. Material provided for children has often at its core the purpose, or at least the effect, f transmitting appropriate norms and values. The presentation f violence amongst these provides critical evidence f prevailing cultural attitudes. Educational techniques and aims One f the most obvious reflections f changing attitudes towards childhood is displayed by the manner in which children are taught and disciplined. At the beginning f the twentieth century, conformity and disciplined behaviour were educational goals as desirable as literacy and numeracy. For boys the enforcement f these was largely through corporal punishment, considered an appropriate way to prepare boys for the rigours f real life. In the British Empire at its peak, real life potentially included some form f military endeavour, particularly for the middle and upper classes. A wave f stories f the early 1900s set within affluent boys' public schools consequently held physical strength and "backbone" in high regard, with heroes regularly engaged in fistfights or other aggressive behaviour. Factual accounts f boarding schools f the time correlate the descriptions f harshness and violence in these stories. As home secretary from 1910 to 1911, Winston Churchill was famously known to have declared that his prison reforming sympathies were largely the result f his own boarding school experiences. Similarly, the experiences f Roald Dahl in three British schools, documented in his autobiography, Boy, indicate strongly held convictions and traditions f brutal methods for control and direction f boys. The frequent acts f violence that emerge in early boys' school stories were nevertheless frequently portrayed in a casual, sometimes light-hearted manner - a stance that testifies to its social acceptance within the period. The relaxed accounts f beatings like those throughout Martin Clifford's (aka Charles Hamilton) St Jim's tales f The Gem magazine, are merely necessary components f plot rather than a dramatic focus. The routine quality f the punishments bears witness to the view f corporal punishment as necessity for boys in the early 1900s. The wry narrative style f the author takes a more humorous tone for his long-running Billy Bunter stories, but both series describe an environment in which physical punishment was a perfectly acceptable and edifying force for boys. Similarly, the fictional victims f harsh punishment displayed little serious resentment. The 1923 Martin Clifford story, Cardew the Rebel, combines formal punishment with peer aggression when a beating is ordered for Cardew by the Form captain and publicly administered by fellow students. The effect f the event is to see Cardew immediately doing "some serious thinking" about his idleness and disregard for football practice. Hours later he has determined to reform, and excel in the sport, furthermore expressing a greater respect for his captain for undertaking such action. Such a storyline in the 1990s would have undoubtedly received significant criticism f the level f inappropriate violence, but in 1923, the confrontation simply provides a vehicle for the promotion f values such as duty, loyalty and honour. The differing perceptions f violence held at the beginning f the century are further illustrated in Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co., by the students' consistent preference for caning as punishment rather than being "gated" (detained), or forced to write lines. Despite becoming progressively less abundant following each f the world wars, the popularity f the school story format has endured. The highly successful Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling, however, provides informative divergences from the styles f earlier authors. The public school setting and adventurous storylines hold many similarities to those f previous decades, but in glaring contrast to the works f Kipling and Hamilton, outright corporal punishment is unmentioned. Physical confrontation remains an element but is presented as an undesirable measure and a last resort for the heroes f the stories. The contrast between Rowling's works and pre World War II school stories, illustrates a notable change in approach and expectations f children's schooling. Corporal punishment was officially banned in British state institutions in 1986, and in 1998 for the private system, although many schools had voluntarily discarded the practice years earlier. There remains some dissent regarding the ban, but even amongst opposing bodies it would be difficult to find advocacy f the practices f the first half f the century. Educational ideals have shifted from total obedience and resilience, to protection, self development and the instillation f a thirst for knowledge. The description f a state school in the late 1950s in Barry Hines' novel, A Kestrel for a Knave, illustrates a turning point for the older educational beliefs. The teachers are shown to have little reluctance to doling out cuffs, canings and often sadistic punishments, but the students exhibit scant respect for authority, and academic achievement is not enthusiastically presented or sought. Though set in a working-class environment, and certainly not a school story as such, Hines' novel provides an informative comparison to early twentieth century educational attitudes. The expectations f the majority f the teachers echo the sentiments f the masters f Charles Hamilton's creations and those f Kipling's Stalky & Co. The author's interpretation f the school's practices however, is overwhelmingly negative, and gives an indication f rising popular concepts about education from the 1960s. Shifting gender roles The conspicuous differences between the violent content apparent in boys and girls literature are powerful clues as to society's expectations and perceptions f gender at different times. Boys, typically labelled as more active, aggressive and physically resilient than girls, have attracted a far greater share f books containing fighting, warfare, physical chastisement, and even gore and horror. Meanwhile general trends in society toward female equality after World War II led to greater attention to socialisation factors and a lessening f the power f traditional assumptions and stereotypes. Despite these developments, British literature for girls has ordinarily displayed far less physical confrontation and violence featuring in boys' books. The division f the sexes, is most clearly indicated in children's literature in the first half f the 1900s. Women were not granted full franchise until 1928 and the very distinctly separate cultural expectations f males and females were openly transmitted. Physical altercations were the realm f boys. Girls, the softer, weaker sex, were easily subdued by harsh words. The famous girl's school stories f Angela Brazil, spanning the early 1900s to 1946, share a number f values with their masculine counterparts, such as the exaltation f loyalty, duty and discipline. In contrast to boys' stories, however, these attributes are imparted to female students through the power f persuasive words and softer (yet apparently effective) punishments to correct misdeeds. f the canings, fighting and brawling f boys stories, girls books showed little trace. The role f the female in British society altered progressively following, and during, the world wars, including when women undertook traditionally masculine duties on the home front. Children's literature over these years reflects gradually changing perceptions f the female entity, but also to some extent the controversy surrounding these shifting values. As behavioural expectations for girls began to change, characters like Jane, f Evadne Price's 1930s Just Jane series, were more acceptable. Unlike her more sedate predecessors, Jane enjoyed all manner f boyish pursuits, including fist fighting. In Jane the Unlucky, Jane is also shown to suffer the form f punishment normally relegated to boys - being struck with a "threepenny bamboo". The reactions f other characters to Jane's antics, however, together with the author's dry narrative, strongly suggest that Jane is an aberration from 'normal' British girls. The conflict Jane engages in serves to emphasise her departure from the standard female model. Conversely, William's skirmishes, in the Just William books that inspired Jane's creation, highlight his adherence to society's expectations for boys. It is the extremity f William's behaviour that draws attention, rather than the perversity f gender role reversal apparent in Jane's. Enid Blyton's many children's books have been the subject f criticism in recent decades for their perceived sexism. Despite being written at a time when women were adopting a new, more independent and capable role in British society, the females f Blyton's works appeared to perpetuate many stereotypical views f feminine behaviour. While not a feature f Blyton's writing, there are instances f violence scattered throughout her work and irrespective f some obvious gender stereotype they provide some evidence f the evolving role f females in British society. In The Folk f the Faraway Tree, the girls suffer at the hands f the aptly named Dame Slap in an unfortunate tree-top land as much as the males do. Similarly, the main character f Blyton's 1943 Amelia Jane Again!, a female doll, delivers a number f assaults on the other toys as well as receiving occasional physical retribution. Blyton's books also tend to involve both sexes in dangerous or violent situations, and girls, while not throwing punches, are often portrayed as actively useful. In Five Have a Wonderful Time, the gypsy girl Jo, bites her attackers and later sets a circus python against them . Even Anne, the youngest and most timid f the girls, is at least present and involved in their adventures. Though hardly discarding traditional expectations for girls, Blyton's work shows evidence f significantly less adherence to the blatant separation f the sexes displayed by turn f the century imperialist fiction, f authors such as G.A.Henty. Changing defining children's needs The style and content changes f popular children's books, particularly in the area f violence, owe much to society's ideas regarding the needs f children. The nurturing and development f the young, early in the century, were arguably as highly prioritised then as nine decades later, but varying notions f childhood have seen that process defined in different ways over time. At the height f British Imperialism before the First World War, obedience was an essential organisational element f households that were large by modern standards, particularly amongst the working class. Unquestioning acceptance was necessary to cope with long working hours and hard conditions, when options for change were limited. Physical correction provided a rapid and effective means f eliciting desirable behaviour and submission to authority, and was an accepted technique f control for children, as it was for adult offenders within the justice system. The strength f religion in society further enforced values f hierarchy and discipline. Raising children to be "good" was considered necessary for their eternal salvation irrespective f class, and this was a significant motivation for strictness. While overt religious content is rare in popular British children's fiction, associated messages f good and evil are ever present, and assumptions f Christianity were particularly evident in the first half f the century. A notable exception to religious understatement is C.S.Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, f 1950, in which the author draws on the sacrifice f Christ through the powerful and violent submission f Aslan to the White Witch. Children living in the years surrounding the First World War and leading up to the Second also experienced a period in which the ability to cope with violence was a useful asset. Boys in particular were seen to require some level f aggression to perform adequately as men - defenders and protectors f home, family, country and self. The onset f the nuclear age however, has questioned the wisdom f physical solutions to disagreement. Parents, educators and children's services professionals focus on the need to deter children from violence. Children are ideally encouraged less to resort to brute force to achieve their desires and more commonly to adopt peaceful methods f persuasion. By the last years f the twentieth century, skills f communication, negotiation and understanding, had come to be prioritised more than rote learning and the absorption f rigid rules f conduct. Altered role f children in society The place f children within the family and society altered significantly in Britain through the twentieth century. A version f the modern, child-centred concept f the family in Britain has been thought to emerge from the mid-eighteenth century , but the popular works f the early 1900s suggest that children had not universally come to be viewed as a source f pleasure for adults. Their schooling and entertainment were areas distinct and separate from family interaction. The production and rearing f children was manifestly a duty: social, religious and personal. The gradual transformation f the position f the child in British society from worker to pupil can be seen to commence in the nineteenth century. Legislation restricting child labour and introducing compulsory schooling was influenced by changing attitudes about children, and in turn had its own impact upon the reshaping f society's views generally. The two catastrophic world conflicts in the first half f the twentieth century also considerably affected the cultural landscape for children in Britain. The value f human life in itself came to forefront f society's concerns. In practical terms the loss f such a huge swathe f the young male population impinged significantly upon the British birth rate. Children were therefore not the life certainty they once seemed for a large number f women, who were destined to remain single by the forces f demographics. Notably, other factors affecting the numbers f Britain's young included economic circumstance. Families suffering through the depression f the 1930s, followed by the rationing and hardships f the next two decades, were simply less able to provide for great numbers f offspring. For the working classes, the increase f the mandatory schooling age from age 10 to age 14 through the 1918 Education Act greatly effected their ability to support large families. The 1900s also brought generally better living standards and lower mortality rates amongst children, thereby lessening the dependence upon concerted reproduction to ensure the survival f the species. The trend for smaller families was also influenced by a greater role for women in the workplace and away from the home, as well as the later popular reliance the female contraceptive pill from the 1960s. Some f the consequent effects f the altered position f the child in society are present in the changing role f violence in children's literature f corresponding periods. Despite a continuing violent element in writing for children, a greater caution with regard to the impact f confrontation on young sensibilities was in evidence by the century's later decades. Violence over this time was not presented as simply a reflection f an aspect f society, nor did the justification f moral instruction necessarily excuse images f aggression and harm. Instead, educators, publishers and parents, the screening agents through which successful children's works must pass, evaluated violent content for its cathartic and developmental potential, weighed against harmful psychological impact. Conclusion Children's literature in Britain throughout the twentieth century encompasses a wide range f styles and genres. Despite the variety, the substance f children's books at different times within the period provides insight to the prevailing hopes, convictions and beliefs f the originating environment, particularly as pertaining to the young. The fact that these books were written specifically for children suggests that the development f a realistic reflection f society was not the primary motive f authors and publishers. Rather, the awareness f a target audience f young, impressionable minds would most likely inspire the promotion f values and characteristics representative f society's ideal. The violent content within children's books is therefore the more revealing by its apparent incongruity with the image f a perfect society. It is difficult to conceive f any author in modern British history seeking to actively promote violence to its children. Instead, the violence f children's literature seems to have been consistently connected to the transmission f moral codes and social norms. The plainly didactic punishments f boy's school stories, the triumph f good over evil in the guise f Imperialism, the success f the will and effort f children over dark forces - all seek to prepare or inform children for life. The most valuable information about society's attitudes regarding children is supplied not by the overt messages f fictional conflict, but by the underlying clues within context and detail. The treatment f violence in British children's books during the 1900s describes a society that has substantially altered its perceptions f the young. From a time when blind obedience, duty and sacrifice were useful and desirable traits, Britain moved progressively to a period that more highly and generally values qualities like curiosity, initiative and self-advancement. The evidence f this change within the violent content f children's literature appears to be the manner through which conflict is used and considered successful in society. References Primary Sources Blyton, Enid. Amelia Jane Again! Reed International Books Australia. Melbourne. 1990. (originally published by Darrell Waters Limited in 1946) Blyton, Enid. Five Have a Wonderful Time. Brockhampton Press Ltd. 1974. (originally published by Hodder and Stoughton, 1952) Blyton, Enid. Happy Hours Story Book. Dean & Son Ltd. London. 1964. Blyton, Enid. The Folk f the Faraway Tree. Dean & Son LTD. London. 1972. (originally published by Darrell Waters Limited, 1946) Clifford, Martin. Cardew f St.Jim's. Howard Baker Press Limited. London. 1972. (The Gem 1923, 1924) Crompton, Richmal. More William. George Newnes Limited. London. 1922. Dahl, Roald. Boy and Going Solo. Penguin Group. London. 1992. Dahl, Roald. The BFG. Jonathon Cape Ltd. London. 1982. Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. Modern Publishing Group. Australia. 1991. (originally published in 1906) Henty, G.A. With Kitchener in the Soudan. Blackie & Son. Glasgow. 1903. Hines, Barry. A Kestrel for a Knave. Penguin Books. Middlesex. 1969. (originally published by Michael Joseph, 1968) Johns, Captain W.E. Biggles f the Camel Squadron. Thames Publishing Company. 1934. Kipling, Rudyard. Stalky & Co. Wordsworth Editions Ltd. Hertfordshire. 1994. (originally published in 1899) Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Collins. London. 2001. (originally published by Geoffrey Bles, 1950) Price, Evadne. Jane the Unlucky. Robert Hale Limited. London. 1939. Richards, Frank. Billy Bunter's Big Top. Paul Hamlyn LTD. London. 1967. (originally published as Billy Bunter's Circus in Magnet magazine 1928) Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury. London. 1997. Secondary Sources Aries, Philippe. Centuries f Childhood. Vintage Books. New York. 1962. Butts, Dennis: Imperialists f the air-flying stories, in Richards, Jeffrey (ed). Imperialism and juvenile literature. Manchester University Press. Manchester. 1989. Cadogan, Mary. Frank Richards: The Chap Behind the Chums. Penguin Group. London. 1988. Dixon, Bob. Catching them Young 2. Pluto Press. London. 1977. Eyre, Frank. British Children's Books in the Twentieth Century. Longman Group Limited. London. 1971. Muir, Percy. English Children's Books: 1600-1900. B.T. Batsford LTD. London. 1954. Pickard, P.M. I Could a Tale Unfold. Tavistock Publications Limited. London. 1961. Schama, Simon. A History f Britain: Volume 3, The Fate f the Empire, 1776-2000. BBC Worldwide Ltd. London. 2002. Townsend, John. Written for Children. Scarecrow Press. Lanham. 1996. Internet References Fantastic Fiction: Enid Blyton. FantasticFiction.com. 2003. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Enid_Blyton.htm Hendrick, Harry. Children and Childhood. ReFresh. 1992. http://www.ehs.org.uk/society/pdfs/Hendrick%2015a.pdf Know Britain. Education in England (II). September 2003. http://know-britain.com/general/education_in_england_2.html Kuusankoski Public Library. Enid Blyton. Finland. 2003. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/eblyton.htm Reed, Lawrence W. Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution. The Liberty Haven Foundation. 2003. http://www.libertyhaven.com/countriesandregions/britain/childlaborbritish.html Repeal 43 Committee. Canada. 2003. http://www.repeal43.org/schools.html Science Friday. History and future f contraception. Samanna Productions. 2001. http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2001/Jul/hour2_072001.html Simkin, John. Spartacus Educational. November 2003. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ Taylor, Karen. Disciplining the History f Childhood. Digital Archive f Psychohistory. 1988. http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/dishis.htm The Corporal Punishment Archive: a historical survey f juvenile corporal punishment in Britain. November 2003. http://home.freeuk.com/mkb/mainpage.htm Read More