Exploring the Genre of Realistic Fiction - Essay Example

? Realistic Fiction Genre Study Grade (12th, Dec. Realistic Fiction Genre Study Realistic Fiction Genreentails the narration of stories that could have actually occurred to people or animals (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). Thus in this type of genre, there is a high possibility that narrated events or some others which were very similar occurred in the past. The characters applied in these types of stories react in the very same manner that those who were in the actual events did. Realistic Fictions are stories that children of all ages will enjoy, since they help such children to understand the human relationships, thus preparing them for a life in the future, since they will have already understood the human problems (O'Connor, 2010). This makes them understand themselves better, as well as understanding the human potential in them. Through reading Realistic Fiction stories, children are presented with a mirror to see the world, allowing them to understand the complexities that exist in our world, while also preparing them psychologically for things to come. The essence of reading Realistic Fiction stories is not only to help children see the world in a clear view and prepare them for the future, but also to present an opportunity for such children to choose what they would want to be, based on the characters presented by the stories (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). While the children are reading these stories, they engage directly with their favorite characters, closely observing how they dealt with the real world hardships and struggles. This shapes the children’s personality and attitudes towards life, since children can see themselves doing the same things. Therefore, Realistic Fiction Genre helps children to understand different people, places and cultures, giving them an opportunity to understand the world beyond what they see every day, while helping children to discover what they want to become in future. While selecting the books for my genre study, I embarked on defining the criteria to be used to come up with books that truly fit in the Realistic Fiction Genre. The criteria was assessing the books on the basis of evaluating whether they present every day realities that are essential in helping children understand the world. Additionally, the books were selected based on their ability to present characters that are realistic and credible, presenting opportunities that enlarge the readers thinking perspective, and presenting topics and discussions that seems real and consequently believable. Through selecting books that qualify such criteria, the aims of Realistic Fiction Genre are satisfied, making the books appropriate and meaningful for reading by children. The first book I selected was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain, Mark. This novel is about a mischievous and very adventurous boy called Tom Sawyer, who was living along the Mississippi River, in the St. Petersburg, Missouri (Twain, 1990). Tom is an ill-behaved boy, who engages in fights at school, consequently dirtying his clothes and arriving home a total mess. As a punishment for his misbehavior, he is required to whitewash a fence, which he is apparently not willing to do. Therefore, he applies his cunningness to trick his friend into doing it, with a promise of granting him some treasure in form of tickets to a Bible memorizing contest, where one would end up with a Bible as a prize. Despite being cunning and lazy, Tom is also immoral and dishonest. He happens to fall in love with a new girl who had recently arrived in town, Becky Thatcher, and asks her to kiss him, as a sign of engagement. Becky reluctantly agrees to kiss him, only to realize the dishonesty of Tom later on, when she discovers that she had been previously engaged to a different girl, Amy. Consequently, he is rejected by Becky and reverts to his mischievous life, this time in the company of Huckleberry, who was a son of a famous town drunkard. In their adventure to a grave to try out some cure, they witnessed a young man killing another, and later the man blamed another town drunkard for the murder, yet Tom and Huckleberry knew the real murderer but swore to never disclose this. They later free to an island to become pirates, while leaving the villagers and their families looking for them all over, trying to sound the River and see whether they could have drowned. After being bothered by the guilt of their actions, the boys decided to go back home and help comfort their suffering families. They appear during their burial days and are received with joy. From this time, Tom seems to change and even testifies for the murder that happened at the graveyard and helps the innocent drunkard get relapsed. The book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain, Mark, presents a real story that begins with boys being adventurous and cunning at their young age, and end-up accelerating this to some extents that are hurting both their families and the society at large. However, on the turn of events, Twain, Mark presents a point in life where a change of heart and guilt will haunt a person, until they reform and conform to the social standards. Though published more than a decade ago, in 1990, this Realistic Fiction serves to enlighten children on the dangers of engaging in mischief and ill-behavior, which does not only harm the individual and their families, but also the society at large (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). The story emphasizes on the need for reform, when Tom finally transforms (Twain, 1990), showing children that even though they could have gone astray, reform and conformity to social order is essential. The second book I selected was the book Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen. This is a story about a twelve year old boy who was short of money to repair his bicycle, and therefore tries out all ways to realize his objective. He receives a riding mower from her grandmother as a birthday present, and embarks on using it to mow the gardens of his neighbors, so he can make enough money to repair his bicycle. Eventually, the boy generates more money than he had anticipated, and thus seeks financial advice from a stockbroker, who informs him about saving, buying stocks and making profits, with which he can establish a business and become more successful. However, it is only later that the boy discovers that money is not everything, and having much of it does not take problems away. It only means handling different problems and issues, which one did not have, when they only had little money with them (Paulsen, 2009). The best lesson learnt however is the fact that, it is not the amount of money that an individual has which makes him/her happy, but the people who surround him/her in life (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). The story, Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen serves to motivate children to work hard and try to help themselves out of the problems they face, through hard work and determination, as did the boy in the story. The story emphasizes that children should not always depend on the parents to have their problems solved. They can achieve this through doing simple things that can generate them some income to tackle their problems (Paulsen, 2009). However, the story is a warning that children should not over rely on money as the ultimate solution to their problem, since money does not grant happiness. Therefore, Gary Paulsen advises children to value people and relationships, more than money (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). The third book I selected was Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. Opal Buloni, a ten year girl is the focus of this story, where they have just moved to Florida with his father, who is a preacher. She visits the Winn-Dixie grocery store, where she finds a wrecking dog and claims it to be hers, just to save it from the pound. The dog is homeless and very ugly, but nevertheless, Opal opts to have it and take it home. She gives it the name Winn-Dixie, the name of the grocery store where she had got it. Opal immediately develops a strong attachment to the dog, and makes friendship with it. It later turns out that, although the dog was ugly and homeless, thus nobody would have wanted it, it is a bright dog. It challenges Opal’s father to name ten things about Opals mother, whom deserted them after she turned out to be a drunkard. This impresses Opal very much. She also engages in establishing friendships with the people in her neighborhood, including the wealthy Miss Franny Block, who is great in storytelling, telling her many stories about her past, including the stories of the civil war. She also makes friendship with Gloria Dump, who is a market woman that many children fears to associate with, thinking that she is a witch. On top, she makes friendship with Otis, who is an ex-convict pet manager, having been detained for playing guitar in the streets, which he now does on the pet shop to entertain the pets. The story, Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, is an influential book for children, teaching them to appreciate things that may not seem to be of value to others. The book teaches children to embrace the poor, the destitute and the deserted in the society, since everybody has some relevance in this life. Children are meant to learn the value of appreciation and friendships (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009), which are the basis of Opals interaction with her dog as well as the people in her neighborhood. The appreciation and formation of friendships allows her to interact and understand people and their past, and the reason they do things the way they do them, as seen in the case of Otis and Miss Franny Block, who helps Opal to learn many things of the past, through story telling (DiCamillo, 2009). The next book I selected was Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky. This is a story about ducks, which fly from one region to the other to find a place where they can live comfortably. At first, the female duck, Mrs. Mallard, does not appear to be contented with one place, always finding something wrong with any place they decide to settle. This search for a place to live continues, until they finally land at a Public Garden, which they find more habitable. However, before even the decision is reached, she is almost run over by a bicycle, promoting them to continue the search for a better place. Finally, they land at an island in the Charles River, where they decide to settle. While here, they make friendship with a policeman on the shores, who feeds them with peanuts. Mrs. Mallard hatches eight chicks, which she teaches about life, and then they embark on a journey to go back to the Garden, where they decided to live. However, crossing the roads towards the garden is not easy due to the car moving on the road. Nevertheless, the policeman with whom they had established friendship stops the traffic to pave way for the ducks, and request help from more officers to stop the traffic to allow the ducks pass and go to the garden (McCloskey, 2007). The book, Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky is a story teaching children the value of family. The story enlightens children on how living together as a family can influence the outside, through causing public admiration, as happened with the ducks, which were admired by the people for being a family, when they were closing the roads. The story impresses on the need for love within a family, which by extension influences the outside world to admire and copy that lifestyle (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). Finally, another book that I found suitable for this study was Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. This is a book about Jack, a school boy who is resisting working on a year course at school. Jack always applies a negative attitude towards everything, finding it to be difficult, while perceiving himself as incapable. While Miss Stretchberry, Jack’s teacher tries to teach him about poetry, Jack is unresponsive and uncooperative, always telling the teacher ‘I tried’, ‘I don’t want to’, ‘I can’t do it’ (Creech, 2008). Nevertheless, the teacher is patient and kind with him, always motivating him to keep trying. Finally, Jack gains the motivation, and consequently gains answers to questions he is being asked by the teacher. This motivation thrust him to a higher level, where he becomes fond a poem “Love That Boy,” which is precisely what his teacher had been doing all along. This enables him to open up and tell the story of his dog, Sky. This book, Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, is an inspiration to children who are resistant and unresponsive to education. It shows children the whole transformation that can be obtained by being persistent and obedient to the teachers, always following their instructions and advises (Galda, Cullinan & Sipe, 2009). The story prepares children to be more appreciative, respectful and obedient to their teachers, while also motivating them to work hard in school and avoid the negative attitude of ‘Can’t do it’ (Creech, 2008). References Creech, S. (2008). Love that dog. New York: Harper Trophy. DiCamillo, K. (2009). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press. Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2009). Literature and the child. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. McCloskey, Robert. (2007). Make Way for Ducklings. Paw Prints. O'Connor, B. (2010). Keeping it real: How real does realistic fiction for children need to be? Language Arts, 87(6), 465-471 Paulsen, G. (2009). Lawn boy. New York: Yearling. Twain, M. (1990). The adventures of Tom Sawyer. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg. 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