Moral Lessons From Childrens Literature - Essay Example

Children’s Literature Children’s literature is an important aspect in encouraging the young ones to develop their creativity. Children who are exposed to literature at a tender age are likely to be more creative. Moreover, children’s literature also serves as a tool to sharpen the thinking capacity of children, who often have to use their mental capacity to decipher the meaning of the story, as well as analyzing the moral lessons in each literature piece. Children’s literature helps children to become conversant with a diverse range of cultural values. This paper will discuss two short stories categorized under children’s literature. The discussion will center on the plot summaries, literary devices, themes and moral lesson exhibited by each story. Snow White is one of the intriguing stories available in the classic library of children’s stories. The story describes a queen who had never been lucky to have children, but wished that she could give birth to a daughter with the whiteness of snow, redness of blood and the hair that had the color of ebony (Daltow and Windling 3). Apparently, this imagination resulted after she saw how a drop of her blood had a beautiful appearance on snow. Luckily, she gave birth to a daughter who possessed such attributes, but the queen died after the delivery. The king remarried after the death of his wife, but the new wife exhibited a lot of jealousy. She wanted to be the most beautiful lady in her era, and did not like the fact the mirror who always told the truth revealed that snow white was much more beautiful. This revelation stirred up her jealousy and sought to have Snow White killed. However, several of all attempts to kill Snow White failed, with the mirror reminding the wicked stepmother that Snow White was still alive. After escaping into the forest, Snow White met the seven dwarfs who extended their kindness to her. Even when the stepmother had the conviction that she was dead for a long time after having been chocked by the poisonous apple, she came back to life in the company of a prince who had convinced the dwarfs to have her body. The story ends as she marries the prince and her wicked stepmother faces her death (Daltow and Mindling 2). The ‘Selfish Giant’ by Oscar Wilde is an additional story that has a strong moral lesson for children. The story describes how a giant discovered that the children had been playing in his garden. It happens that when children played in the garden, the trees blossomed. After forbidding them from playing in the garden, the trees stopped blossoming. However, one day the children sneaked into the garden despite the wall barrier, and the trees blossomed. As he looked outside he saw a boy whose small size prevented him from climbing the tree, and decided to help. In appreciation, the boy kissed him, a factor that attracted the other children to continue playing in the garden. This episode altered the selfish attitude of the giant, but he never saw the little boy again. When the boy returned, he had come to invite him to his garden, and on acceptance, the giant died (Wilde 6). Themes in the short stories In the story ‘Snow White’, the wickedness of stepmothers comes out as a main theme. All the events in the story surrounded her wickedness and jealousy. Instead of taking care of her stepdaughter and appreciating her, the stepmother allowed jealousy to influence her, wanting to get rid of Snow White. She made several attempts of killing Snow White, disguising herself. This story reveals that jealousy can motivate people to hurt even family members (Daltow and Windling 9). On the other hand, selfishness is the outstanding theme in the story ‘selfless giant’. The giant was very selfish, a factor that saw him forbid children from playing in his garden. This act of selfishness caused the trees to experience winter always, without blossoming. He wondered why that happened, only to realize that his selfishness was the reason why the seasons proved different in his garden. After dropping his vice and adopting the virtue of kindness, his tree blossomed (Wilde 5). Literary Devices In the story, ‘Snow White’ the author uses powerful imagery to create emphasis of the beauty exhibited by Snow White. With the use of similes, the author describes the whiteness, redness, and the blackness of her hair, in a manner that helps the reader visualize her beauty when he say ‘as white as snow’, ‘as red as blood’ and’ as black as ebony’ (Daltow and Windling 4). Moreover, the author also uses the metaphor ‘paragon of beauty’ to place emphasis on the extent of beauty Snow White had. In the story ‘Selfish Giant’, the author uses personification widely when describing the blossoming of the trees and highlights that the trees flowers returned back to the ground. This accords them the ability to decipher things in the surroundings and act, which is atypical of trees. Moreover, the seasons winter, spring, autumn, and summer are personified as he expresses the idea that in the giant’s garden season behaved differently. Wilde describes the seasons as if they were people (3). Moral lessons The short story ‘snow white’ has a powerful moral lesson that jealousy can trigger immense evil in the society. Therefore, the story advocates that people should accept that others can be better, and appreciate the good in others instead of letting jealousy develop. Evidently, sowing the seed of jealousy has painful results as shown at the end of the story, where the stepmother faces death as punishment for her cruelty. On the other hand, the ‘selfish giant’ emphasizes the value of virtue and discourages vice in the society. People should focus on developing virtues that can help them, and that have the potential of fostering healthy relationships in the society. Vices have their consequences, and the author shows the effects of the giant’s selfishness (Maeyer 56). This story advocates for kindness, selflessness, and love. It shows that with kindness the world can become a better place as the giant’s life changed. Conclusion As highlighted above, children literature is an important tool in helping children of different ages sharpen their ability to think and perceive ideas. Moreover, it helps them learn certain moral and cultural values through the characters in different literature pieces. In the stories described above, both the giant and the wicked queen can serve as warning examples to children, encouraging them to develop virtues. The themes promoted are easy for children to understand, making them enjoy literature. Datlow, Ellen, and Terri Windling. Snow White, Blood Red. New York: Avon Books, 1993. Print. Maeyer, Jean . Religion, Children's Literature and Modernity in Western Europe: 1750 - 2000. Leuven: Leuven Univ. Press, 2005. Print. Wilde, Oscar. The Selfish Giant. London: Electric Book Co, 2001. Print. Read More