ON THE MYTHS OF CHILDHOOD: INNOCENT AND NAUGHTY CHILDREN IN 19TH CENTURY AND CONTEMPORARY CHILDREN’S STORIES

Abstract

Literature for children does more than simply entertain, or create fantastical spaces for children to occupy—children’s literature is instructive. I argue that didacticism in literary tales for children works according to the two main ideologies of childhood, which Marina Warner refers to as “myths” in her essay Little Angles, Little Monsters: Keeping Childhood Innocent (1995). This study analyzes the two main nineteenth-century attitudes regarding childhood and their presence in literary tales—childhood innocence and inherent naughtiness. I argue that these ideologies reveal the struggle to accurately and collectively define childhood. In particular, I discuss naughty children in selections from Heinrich Hoffmann’s Struwwelpeter (1845), and innocent/good children in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, including The Emperor’s New Clothes (1837), The Snow Queen (1844), Dance, Dolly, Dance (1871), etc... In addition, I argue that these attitudes from the Victorian era are still present in today’s discourse surrounding childhood and in the literature of today, which I demonstrate through Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (2008) and Alvin Schwartz’ In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (1984).