Children Literature is one of my favorite subjects. One of the other reasons is the lecturer who gave me many things that expand my view. Yeah, I'm a big fan of her, one of my inspirational women, Mrs. Aquarini P. Prabasmoro, M.Hum., M.A., Phd. For the very first time, she could make me enjoy writing and this is the result. This is my final assignment and I got a good mark for this. I know, It's still need to be improved, because there are still many parts to be corrected. However, I'm very proud of it. Thanks Mrs. Atwin, you are such a great woman :). Someday, I hope I could be an expert of Children Literature. Amiin...
1. Introduction
1. 1. Background
Literature is one of many other ways that can be used to introduce and teach the children about life. The texts show how representation of the real life. The children may realize the values and norms which are applied in the societies where they live.
In this paper I want to talk about how the literature describe the disabled person in realistic stories for children. I choose realistic stories in order to give an actual sample that represent our real lives as human being. As we know that in our lives, indeed, there are many persons, including children, adults, even the elderly men and women, with disabilities either physical, mental, cognitive, or emotional disabilities. Sometimes, they are considered as weird person because of their unusualness. sometimes we belittle and think that we, as the normal persons, are better in every way than those persons. Whereas, they may have special talents which is could not be shown because they are trapped in our impressions.
That is why the way of representing
the handicapped persons in the children’s stories
is very important to form their mindsets that the those persons have the same rights with us. As Mary Clare Martin said that “children’s literature not only has the potential to influence future generations, but may be more illuminating of contemporary attitudes than theories or histories constructed retrospectively”
(2010).
Comparing the way of building the characters of the disabled persons in those stories is very interesting for me. Besides, the story which contains didactic values about respecting other persons will be useful to form the character of the children. Therefore, when they face the real situation in their daily lives, they will more respect the other persons who have disabilities because they have new experiences from the book that they have read. Those are the reason why I choose to write about this topic.
1. 2. Theorical Framework
There are many ways to delivers the values, especially moral values in the literature for children. In this paper, I only work trough the values which emerge from the representation of disabled characters of the stories. I try to scrutinize the moral messages which contain in the stories.
1. 3. About the Three Short Stories
· Silly McAdam
This story is taken from the collection of Bedtime Stories which is written and retold by Philip Hawthorn. It tells about a man who is extremely silly named McAdam, married to a nice woman. This is about a day in the life of Mr and Mrs McAdam which went on turbulently caused by McAdam’s idiocy. It’s a kind of human disability when someone could not think logically and wisely when solving the problems.
We can see his stupidity from the part that one day, he should go to the junk sale to sell their old stuff because they are out of money. On the way to the junk sale, he exchanged his helmet with a sandwich, then he exchanged the car and the old stuff with eleven coins to the man, then the gold coins was exchanged with the band, and finally, the band is also exchanged with his helmet when he met his friend who had exchanged the sandwich with him. It also contains some rude words while addressing Mr. McAdam as silly man or silly Mc Adam. For example when she gets angry caused by the stupidity of her husband, she said, “Why did he have your helmet, you silly man?”
(Hawthorn, 1997).
· What Kathy Did
This is one of the children’s story in the collection of The Treasury of Literature for Children. This is the shorter version because actually, this is a novel. According to the introduction of the story, Susan Coolidge was the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey.
This story tells about a girl as the eldest child of the family who had been crippled because of an accident. In the beginning, the story tells that she couldn’t walk and have to sit on wheel chair. She couldn’t even go downstair because her house was not designed for the wheel chair. The story shows that Katy, although in such condition, still dominated the household. She called her brothers and sisters by ringing the bell. She ordered the sisters to do the household because she couldn’t do that by herself.
Everyone loves her since her character described to be wise, charitable, polite, and so on. Being disabled girl made her more appreciate the others for weakness. She could manage the family, the household, and her younger brothers and sisters in their lives. She thought that it’s not someone’s fault for her weakness.
In the end of the story, it’s surprising that Katy tried to stand and walk by herself. She practiced to walk day by day. Someday, Clover, her younger sister arranged a special day, which was her mother’s birthday to make a surprise party for Katy. It made her happy because in the same day, she could go downstair for the first time after the accident. The happiest momment was when she know that her lovely Cousin Helen, who was also could not walk, was there to celebrate her recovery.
(Coolidge, 1983) · A Friend for Julia
This is a story which is written by Ellen K. Hatcher in 2006. It tells about the situation that have to be faced by the handicapped girl named Julia as the new student in the school, who could not walk since she was a baby. She was not confident of being handicapped. It made her difficult to make a friend with the others. However, one of the students named Kendall was very curious of her new classmate. She tried to be close with her by visiting her house. Finally, she found that Julia was a unique girl who could speak the alphabet backwards and made many unique songs that other kids may not be able to do such things. Then they became close friends. Kendall bravely introduced her new friends in the front of the class and informed all the students that Julia was a nice friend who had many interesting abilities.
(Hatcher, 2006).
2. Literary Review
2.1. Realistic Fiction for Children
There are many definition of children realistic stories, one of them is the definition from Huck, C. S., Hapler, S., & Hickman, J, “realistic fiction may be defined as imaginative writing that accurately reflects life as it was lived in the past or could be lived today”
(1989, p. 527). The other definition that I got from the anonymous article of the website, describes how the realistic fiction should be, that it “potrays the real world in all its dimensions; it shows the humorous, the sensitive, the thoughtful, the joyful, and the painful sides of life. By its very nature, it deals with the vast range of sensitive topics prevalent in today’s world.”
(2010) From those definitions and characterizations of children realistic fiction, we can conclude that it have to tell the things that may happen in the future and might have been happened in the past. It should represent the real life. Then, there will be a new question, what does the ‘real’ mean? Because as
(Huck, et al., 1989) said that “what is real for one may not be real for another”. Certainly, all people do not have the same abilities when facing the problems in their lives. However, we can generalize the meaning of ‘real’ itself by differ it from fantasy stories which couldn’t be happen, for example, the story about fairies which never exist or the magical wand of Harry Potter.
2.2. Disabled Characters of the Realistic Stories
In our daily lives, we may easily find many persons who have disabilities. Indeed, the children are also have to face that reality. The description of handicapped persons in the literature “can give them windows for looking at different aspects of life, show them how some characters have faced personal crises, and help them ask and answer the questions about the meaning of life”
(Huck, et al., 1989, p. 556).
Huck et al. delivers the classification of the good stories which contains the disabled chararacters should provides two aims. First it should portray the disabled persons as the positive image. The second is that it may facilitate the children with disabilities to be more understand of the difficulties that have to be faced by disabled persons
(1989, p. 557).
According to Huck, et al., the disabled person:
...should neither be exaggerated nor ignored, neither dramatized nor minimized, neither romanticized nor belittled. It is particularly important that stories of disabilities be well written, not sentimental nor maudlin. They should not evoke pity for what children with disabilities cannot do, but respect for what they can do. As in all well-written stories, characters should be multidimensional persons with real feelings and frustations. The author should be honest in portraying future possibilities for the character. (1989, p.557)
I think the purposes of portraying the disabled characters in children literature as what has been argued by Huck et al, is related to the argument that “portrays learning disabilities can be used to promote awareness, understanding, and acceptance of individuals with learning disabilities.”
(Prater, Dyches, & Marissa, 2006). Besides, the representations of disabled persons in children’s stories are also portrayed as what Ann Dowker called as ‘the school of pain’ where someone with disabilities can learn lessons in "Patience" and "Making the Best of Things", and become the "Heart of the House"
(Dowker, 2004). Therefore, from this
learning process, children know what they should do when they face the fact that the persons with disabilities exist around them and for the disabled children itself, it can be a media to show them that they still have a chance to show their potencies instead of their disabilities.
2.3. Values in Children’s Realistic Stories
Children still have little experience about life and need more to be taught about life. Reading or telling children’s realistic stories is one way to introduce the life to them. The good realistic fictions should not be dominated by didactic values
(May, 1995, p. 115). It is because, as what
Huck et al. argue that many possible models, both good or bad, are needed to coping with human condition, so that they can differ the good and bad things in life by themselves
(Huck, et al., p. 529). Besides, the realistic fiction may also give the new experience which they may have never had before. From those explanation, it can be said that it’s fine to attach some bad things in children stories, such as death, which is considered as taboo subject, in case that they are accompanied by the teacher or the parents who will give them the guidance to help them differ which one is good or bad.
By telling the bad things in realistic fiction can also become a method to show to the children that they are not the first and the only one in the world who faced problems
(Huck, et al., 1989, p. 528). It make them realize that there are many other persons who have to face the more difficult life than theirs. Furthermore, it also can help the children to understand about the human relationship and human problems.
Teach the children about life doesn’t mean never show them about the bad deeds or bad behaviour. According to the David Elkind’s argument (1981, p. 84) which is cited by Huck et al.
(1989, p. 557), that “This is the major stress of the literature of young children aimed at making them aware of the problems in the world about them before they have a chance to master the problem of childhood”. We should make them aware of the negative sides in the real life before they know it by themselves, because the effect would not be the same if we inform them first. The children without the learning process before, will consume all they see and reflect them in their behaviour, they can’t filter the good and the bad things since no information before. That’s why the moral messages, either delivered explicitly or implicitly, in the children literature is very important as the media to enrich their experiences. However, Jill P. May argues that “fiction writers often want to entertain their reader more than they want to instruct them about life and they become involved in the story they are telling”
(1995, p. 114) 3. Discussion
In this part, I will explain about how the persons with disabilities are described in each of the three realistic stories.
3.1. Silly McAdam
The character of McAdam as the person with idiocy is represented as cornered character because of his disability. The position as the husband of the family means nothing because his wife who is described as nice and smart woman lord over the family. The wife always cursed her husband due to the fact that he always clutters everything because of his mental impairment. Furthermore, in the very beginning of the story, it tells that the wife worked very hard while the husband seemed to lose their money. It shows the reason why Mrs. McAdam as the wife bravely cursed her husband, and why she dominated the family and marginalized her husband.
We can see the stupidity of Mr. McAdam by what he did, how his appearance looked like, and how he decided something. For example from his habit of wearing flying helmet while he drove his car. It seems uncommon and such a weird behaviour. Then the decision of exchanging the stuffs until there’s left nothing but only his flying helmet, is also the silly thing which he had done. He couldn’t manage his mind of doing anything, he couldn’t do the order from his wife to get the money by selling their old stuffs.
This story shows that being disabled person means being useless and having no mean at all. It also make us think that the normal person which is represented by Mrs. McAdam is more superior than the disabled person which is represented by Mr. McAdam. The mental impairment of Mr. McAdam is exploited by the people around him. They can get what they want from Mr. McAdam by deceiving him and manipulating his stupidity. Overall, the disabled character, in this case Mr. McAdam, is marginalized and belittled because of his disability.
We may consider the cursing words by Mrs McAdam very impolite and rude so that this story becomes inappropriate for the children. However as I have explained before that we may conclude the ‘bad things’ in children literature is attached to let them now that it indeed exists. We help them to differ which one is good or bad. It is used to show the children that such situation exists in the real life, so that when they face the same kind of this story, they will be more sensitive and realize what really happens around them.
From the description of Mr. And Mrs McAdam, we can also teach the children about the relationship of the family. That the husband and the wife of the family should not be authorized by one side, either by the wife or the husband no matter he or she has physical or mental impairment or not. It’s because every human is created with their own potencies and weakness. In this story, the main thing is that the disabled person represented only by his weakness without describing his potency. It seems that the disabilities in this story
3.2. What Katy Did
In this story, the description of the disabled person is hardly the same with the description of McAdam in the Silly McAdam. Katy, as the girl who can’t walk, was discribed as a good person with important role in the family. Although she couldn’t walk, she still the person who took care and managed everything in the family since she was the eldest daughter.
This story is dominated by didactic values such as social values, when the fat old women named Mrs. Worret arranged to visit them one day. Katy’s sister asked Katy to refuse her coming, but Katy didn’t respond it. She prefer to welcome Mrs. Worret. The appearance of Mrs. Worret was very funny becauce of her fat body that could make everyone laugh easily, bu not for Katy. For her, Mrs. Worret was such a kind old woman. She asked her sister not to laugh at her because being fat is not her fault. It shows the children that laughing at someone else weakness is impolite.
From this example, being fat is also a kind of disabilities, because it’s such being different from the others. Katy was aware of it because she, herself was different for being disabled of walking. She could appreciate the others with disabilities by learning from her own experiences. There are still many examples which show that Katy is a very good girl.
The character of Katy, is very dominant, as if she was the angel who had no faults. Everything she do always right and could solve the problems. All people at house asked her first for everything, for example asking if the currants ripe enough to eat or not, if the younger sister could do it or that, and many others.
Besides, the family seems to be over dramatized, when Katy start to practice walking. It can be seen in this part :
“It was droll and little pitiful, to see tall Katy with her feeble, unsteady progress, and the active figure of the little sisters following her protectingly.”
It shows that Katy get special treatment from the family. The family seems to be dramatized too much about this, while Katy herself didn’t consider it either droll or pityful, in fact it’s simply delightful for her.
(Coolidge, 1983).
Being disabled is also considered as the process to reach maturity. As Dowker’s argument that the disabilities could be ‘the school of pain’ for Katy. From the accident that made her became disabled in walking, she could be more patient, respect other people, think wisely, and be grateful for everything she had. It can be seen when Cousin Helen who was also couldn’t walk, came to the celebration of Katy’s recovery.
She saw Katy meet them all pleasantly and sweetly, without a bit of the dictatorial elder-sister in her manner, and with none of her old impetuous tone. And, best of all, she saw the change in Katy’s own face; the gentle expression of her eyes, the womanly look, the pleasant voice, the politeness, the tact in advising the others without seeming to advise.
(Coolidge, 1983, p. 77) From this part of the story, we can see that Katy have changed drastically, that being disabled could make her became wiser than before she got the accident.
3.3. A Friend for Julia
This story seems to be real for present-day children, because the setting of the story is in 21st century which is closer to where we are now. The portraying of disabled character whose name is Julia seems to be more natural in the children’s daily life. It is difficult to face the first day-school in the new place with showing our disability in front of many people. At first, her new classmates thaught that she was a weird person because of sitting on the wheel chair.
It shows the problem which mostly occurs to the persons with physical impairment that many of them are not confident with their weakness. It was so difficult for Julia to adapt with her new friends so that make her do not want to come back to that school anymore. We can see this part:
“All the boys and girls looked at Julia. They were curious about her chair, but nobody said a word.
Julia looked up, and her face was real red. Kendall thought she saw tears in her eyes.”
In this story, the crippled person is not described as superior person as the description of Katy in What Katy Did. Julia, can’t get along with her new friends because most of them belittled her. However, there’s one important character named Kendall who was aware about her feeling. By this character, Julia could change her mind that she had something special instead of her disability.
By this character, children also can learn what they should do if they meet someone in wheelchair. Kendall asked Julia a question which was not questioned by other children because they do not dare to be close with her,
“Why are you in a wheel chair?”
Julia gasped and looked at Kendall. “Nobody ever asks me that,” she said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they think I’m too weird?”
“I don’t think you’re weird,” Kendall said. “I think you’re interesting.”
Since that moment Julia dared to show her unique abilities. She, then, tell the reason why she had to sit on the wheelchair and show Kendall that she could make unique songs and could say the alphabet backwards. It may only an ordinary thing to do such things for us, but for them it’s such a wonderful things because not all children could do that.
This is a good story for children because it shows that not all normal people belittled the disabled person like Julia. For the the disabled persons, it assures them that instead of their weakness, they still have many other potencies. By this story, the disabled persons are given the chance to show their ability, so that they will not be belittled anymore.
4. Conclusion
In this section, I have shown the different ways of portraying the disabled characters that are used in the three stories. From the elaboration in the previous section, I conclude that those three stories build the disabled characters in different way. There are three main points of the descriptions of the stories.
Firstly, in the Silly McAdam, the disabled person, Mr. McAdam is characterized as marginalized person because of his disability in doing everything correctly. It can be seen by the cursing words from her wife, Mrs. McAdam. It’s because he couldn’t do what she ordered. From this story, the teacher or the parnets can inform them that cursing the others for their abilities is impolite and, indeed, it’s such a bad deed. However, It’s little bit difficult to show them that it is wrong to curse other people because in the end of the story, there’s no solution of it. In fact, the wife chased him and tried to hit him with a stick for his faults that he did. In Silly McAdam, the disabled person is represented in humorous tone. We may laughing while reading the story. However, for the persons who have the same disabilities with McAdam it will not be funny stories, because it’s like the story that mocked their weakness.
Secondly, the representation of Katy in What Katy Did, is very different from the representation of McAdam in the Silly McAdam. Katy is representated as a very kind girl who full with affection, who respect, care and love other people. She talked and did everything politely, with the best manner. She have never wanted to disappoint other people, so that she became the central of the family. In this story, disabled person is portrayed as superior character who can be better in every way than the ‘normal’ persons. The portraying of disabilities is too much dramatized. It is also dominated by the didactic values that Katy always told her sister about being respect to other people.
The last one is the representation of Julia, the cripled girl, in A Friend for Julia. Julia as the disabled character is not portrayed as girl either as the superior or the marginalized character. The characterization of Julia is very natural because she appears simply like the children who couldn’t walk. She is not portrayed either as strong as Katy nor marginalized as McAdam. This story shows the balance of portraying the normal and disabled characters. Kendall as the normal person, have the same portion with Julia. If in Silly McAdam, the disabled person is authorized by the normal (in this case the wife), and in What Katy Did, Katy dominated the household, while this story is not either authorized by the normal persons, nor dominated by the disabled person.
From the different ways of portraying the disabled persons, children may know and can differ which one is good or bad deed. From the different way and point of view, children can also learn how it feels to be the person with disabilities, so that the can be more respect them. It is not only to engrave self acceptance to the normal children that there is a persons with disabilities around them, but also to engrave self confidence for the disabled persons that instead of disabilities, they still have many other competencies which may not be owned by the normal one.
Bibliography
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