The Mythology of Childhood Innocence in Potter's and Carroll's Stories - Book Report/Review Example

26 August The Mythology of Childhood Innocence in Potters and Carrolls Stories Childhood innocence can either lead to enlightening experiences or catastrophes. Beatrix Potter is known for her numerous childrens tales about wayward children animals, while Lewis Carroll draws fame for his “Alice in Wonderland.” This paper compares the plot and characters of their stories and how they relate to the myth of childhood innocence. Cultural images of childhood innocence are projected as myth, because they have extreme consequences, both good and bad. Carrolls and Potters plots depict the cultural power of the established mythology of childhood innocence, where innocence is good, because it can lead to courageous acts and improve knowledge through curiosity, but Potter asserts that innocence is also bad, when children go against social norms, and so they deserve punishment too; furthermore, Carrolls children characters are innocent in a good, lovable way, where they simply lack knowledge and enjoy silliness, but Potters children characters are more arrogant and foolish, and they would not have escaped dire consequences without pure luck. Carrolls and Potters plots demonstrate the cultural power of the established mythology of childhood innocence, where innocence is good, because it can lead to courageous acts and learning. Alice is innocent enough to not think of the dangers of her choices. She is bored sitting with her sister, and when she sees a white rabbit, she follows it at once: “...but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on...” (Carroll Chapter 1). Alice even jumps into the rabbit hole, without thinking of how it may endanger her. She just wants to “jump” into something new so badly, she would rather experience it first. The same also happens to Potters Peter Rabbit. His mother already forewarns her children to not go to McGregors garden, but curiosity makes Peter brave. He dashes to the garden and enjoys several treats. Truly, curiosity can push bravery, which motivates children to be desirous of new experiences. After coming from a mad tea party, Alice sees a door with a tree. She decides to enter a new phase of her adventure, even if much of her adventure has been quite odd. She thinks that the Hatters tea party is the silliest of all parties, but she tells herself: “But everythings curious today. I think I may as well go in at once” (Carroll 7). Benjamin Bunny is also curious of experiencing the garden for himself. He wants to follow his fathers footsteps, even though he does not know the precautions that his father takes. For these children characters, their innocence has made them courageous and eager to try new experiences. What is good is that they learn from these new experiences. Peter learns that McGregors farm brings too many dangers, while Alice learns fantastic stories that she will pass on to other children as an adult. She also learns more about human behavior and being sensitive to other people or creatures. Potter asserts that innocence is also bad, when children go against social norms, and so they deserve punishment too. She has several stories, where the main characters are not just innocent, but naughty, so they end up getting in trouble. This shows a culture that admonishes too much curiosity; for her, children should not be allowed to be “too” free, because they end up making bad decisions. For instance, in “The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin,” Nutkin, “who had no nice manners,” either makes fun of Old Brown by singing him riddles or does not offer him presents for his generosity (Potter “Nutkin”). In the end, Old Brown gets enough of him and almost kills Nutkin. “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” and “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” further show naughty rabbits who do not follow their parents. Benjamin and Peter would have suffered longer, if Benjamins father had not arrived to help them. The father beat Benjamin though for being too brave for his own good. In “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” Peter suffers numerous ordeals, before he escapes McGregors garden. He loses his clothes and shoes and comes home tired and scared. As a “bad” boy, he only gets “some camomile tea,” while obedient siblings like “Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper” (Potter “Peter”). Potter tells her audience that innocence is not altogether the mark of good children. Good children follow social norms and work hard to be good. Bad children, no matter how innocent they may be, get the worse end of life. The punishment for innocence and connected actions of courage and curiosity in “Alice in Wonderland” is less severely portrayed. Alices curiosity is punished when she has a hard time adjusting in Wonderland. But again, this is because she has not yet emotionally and intellectually matured enough to know how to fit into a new culture. For instance, she keeps on hurting the feelings of her new acquaintances and she thinks: “I wish the creatures wouldnt be so easily offended!” (Carroll 5). She keeps on mentioning her cat and neighbors dog and how they are good at catching mice to the Mouse. She forgets to check her words and behavior first. Additionally, as an innocent child, she fails to realize her own easily-offended nature, such as when she asks silly questions and gets angry when she gets silly answers. In a tea party with the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse, the March Hare asks Alice to have more tea, to which Alice replies angrily: “Ive had nothing yet, so I cant take more” (Carroll 7). The Hatter says: “You mean you cant take less, its very easy to take more than nothing” (Carroll 7). Alice rudely replies: “Nobody asked your opinion” (Carroll 7). It can be seen from this scene that Alice is still a child, who has yet to learn from and respect the social norms of her new society in Wonderland. In addition, Alice is not at all physically punished like Benjamin and Peter for her rudeness and boldness. Instead, she only feels fear for her life, since the Queen kept on commanding people to be beheaded, but Alice does not actually get her head chopped off. She also fears not regaining her right size and not enjoying the beauty of the garden. Other than her fears, the ending of her story is quite charming, where she thinks of the fantastic stories she will tell her children due to her dreams of Wonderland. Carrolls children characters are innocent in a good way, where they simply lack knowledge and enjoy silliness. Alice is already falling into a long rabbit hole and all she thinks of are silly thoughts, such as measuring the length and latitude of her fall and her cat, Dinah. Carroll injects humor in this scene, where Alice goes through several subject matters already, before she lands on the bottom of the rabbit hole. Alices thoughts reveals how she would like to be perceived as intelligent, even when she is merely a little girl. The more she projects her knowledge, however, the less knowledgeable she seems, which shows situational irony. Furthermore, Alice merely enjoys silliness for its own sake. She is innocent of true evil and sees positive dimensions in her multitude of experiences. For example, when taking care of pig baby, she thinks: “If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think” (Carroll 6). It is interesting how she finds beauty in ugliness. In addition, as a child, she keeps on contradicting herself. She hates “arguing,” which seems to be the norm for the creatures in Wonderland: “Its really dreadful, the way all the creatures argue. Its enough to drive one crazy”(Carroll 7). But she herself loves arguing with others too. She argues with the Dormouses tale of well of treacles and asks about where the treacles come from. In this case, she is also arguing against the lack of logic of Dormouses tale. She also contradicts herself when she tries to listen to others, but she keeps on asking questions that disable them to finish their stories, the way she does with the Mock Turtle. She also does the same with the Dormouse and the Mouse. Carroll shows that children are innocent enough to not know even themselves. Alice lacks knowledge of herself, not just others, which Carroll shows in an amusing and ironic ways. Potters children characters are more arrogant and foolish than Carrolls Alice, and would not have escaped dire consequences without luck. As Benjamin and Peter try to evade the cat, they hide under the onions, but “...because the smell of onions was fearful; it made Peter Rabbit and little Benjamin cry” (Potter “Benjamin”). They already suffer together, because of being too nosy. When Old Benjamin gets rid of the cat: “Then he came back to the basket and took out his son Benjamin by the ears, and whipped him with the little switch” (Potter “Benjamin”). Nutkin also gets almost skinned alive, but he deserves it, because of his arrogance and disrespectful actions against Old Brown. The endings of these stories demonstrate that they could not have escaped death, if they were not lucky. Potter seems to say that children should not rely on luck to save them, and that they can be seriously wounded or even die for being too naughty and curious. These stories also show dire consequences for violating social norms. Potter dispels the myth that all forms of innocence is good. She underscores that there is a fine line between innocence and disobedience and the latter offends society and deserves punishment. The more brutal the punishment is, the more Potter argues that no childrens sin will go uncovered and unpaid for. Parents, which means the older people in society, have a right to punish wayward and arrogant acts. Carroll paints a myth of a lovable innocence and forgivable rudeness in Alice. Alice says something that hurts other people, but she does so because she is a child. She tells the Pigeon: “ “I have tasted eggs, certainly,but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know” (Carroll 5). She fails to understand that by saying this, it makes her as worse as the serpent, which the Pigeon points out to her. But the way that Alice speaks and thinks does not invite scorn, like Nutkin. Potter makes Nutkins arrogance and openness as detestable. Potter shows that Nutkin is “excessively impertinent in his manners” and would rather anger than please Old Brown, whose hospitality and patience he should be thankful for. Old Brown has been an exemplary adult icon, who has remained admirably calm despite Nutkins vicious and callous words and actions. Potter tells many instances that Nutkin violates social norms of respect and gratitude, so that she can also motivate readers to hate such vile actions. Alice, on the contrary, may appear rude at times, and even arrogant, such as when she says to the Queen: “Stuff and nonsense! The idea of having the sentence first!” (Carroll 12). Alice does not remember her position in the court and speaks her mind too easily. Carroll, nevertheless, has made the Queen so evil and stupid that this excuses Alice to act rudely too. Alice also keeps on cutting other people as they speak, which is rude and against social norms. Like Potters naughty characters, Alice further dislike taking orders from others. She says: “Everybody says come on!....I never was so ordered about in all my life, never!” (Carroll 9). But the way she speaks and acts remain likable enough. She remains a “little” child to her readers, a child whom they can easily forgive rather than hate and punish. In this, Carroll successfully preserves the myth of childhood innocence- one that is pure and lovable and ready to grow into maturity. Carroll preserves the myth of goodness in childhood innocence, while Potter questions the perfection of childrens innocence. Potters characters learn lessons like Alice, but always in much more brutal ways. Her characters also act foolishly and arrogantly enough to be hated, because Potter wants to stamp out the negative effects of too much innocence. Carroll, on the contrary, paints a happy childrens story filled with silly dialogue and events. Alice is the perfect example of childhood innocence- curious, impatient, rude, and arrogant, but still lovable and forgivable. Her fantastic adventures truly underscore the beauty of childhood innocence. Works Cited Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland. n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2011 . Potter, Beatrix. “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.” n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2011 . ---. “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2011 . ---. “The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.” n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2011 . Read More