Children's Literature week nine

Term explanation

Onomatopoeia: is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound it describe. It refers to the property of such words. Common occurances of onomatopoeia include animal noises such as ''woof", "meow", and "chirp". Sometimes thing are named after their sound it describe such as "zip".

Nonsense: It is a communication that lacks any coherent meanings. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity. Many poets, novelists, and songwriters have used it in their works for the reasons ranging from pure comic amusement. For example, the nursery rhyme, "Hey! Diddle Diddle" and the poem, "Jabberwocky". 

Fantasy: It is a genre of fiction. It commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Fantasy is a popular genre and it may be found in almost every medium, not only in literature. For example, The Lord of the Ring, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Harry Potter.

Essay

1. What is children's literature? Are there certain specific characteristics detaching children’s literature from adult’s books? If yes, what are they? If no, why are we here to study this subject?

          In my conception, it is a kind of literature which is suitable for children’s understanding. Children’s literature can help children develop their reading skills and extend their level knowledge and they can enjoy in reading as a amusement.

         In addition, as for the second question, my answer is yes. First of all, the vocabularies in children’s book are easier and some authors would even use some “incorrect ” words intentionally such as “hunny” and “aker” to fit in with their lower capability of spelling. Second of all, the illustrates in children’s book would be relatively more than which in adult’s book since colorful pictures or beautiful illustrates can attract children’s attention. In a nutshell, it is simple for adults to read children’s books and they may discover some lesson behind the text but to children, there would be necessary to have their own literature called “Children’s Literature” because of their lower level of congnition. That is also the reason why I don’t agree with Mr. Harold Bloom ‘s opinion.

2. We’ve watched an enchanting film, "Miss Potter," based on the life of Beatrix Potter, the bestselling author of children's books of all time, this semester before the midterm. One of the phrases that opens and ends the whole movie is the voice of the title protagonist, “there's something delicious about writing those first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you. Mine took me here, where I belong.” Could you paraphrase what that means in the context of your understanding of Miss Potter’s works, life, as well as your life experience and expectation?

         As I know, Miss Potter let her “story”, which I defined as destiny, lead her to the Hill Top farm in the end. Before this, due to loneliness, she devoted to draw some animals regarded as good friends of her such as bunnies, goose, and so on. If she hadn’t kept accompany with those friends, she wouldn’t meet her fiance and she wouldn’t stay in the Lake district for the rest of her life. Life is unpredictable, so was Mr. Potter’s, especially her “story”. However, In my opinion, under some circumstances, she seems to face a dead end, but, in fect, the final decision was to her. Miss Potter took herself to where she belong.   To me, life is so unsure as well. I will never know what would occurr to me at the next moment, but my story will take me there eventually. My experience told me that I can’t trust what I got now but I can trust who I am now. What I have to learn is to face it, to feel it, and to cope with it. I hope that one day I can say it out loud : “ I, not anybody else,  led myself here, where I belong.”

3. The climax is the high point of the story, where the culmination of events creates the peak of the conflict. In the plot of narrative work, a resolution consists of a series of events that follow the climax, and thus serves as the conclusion of the story, even though not all stories have a resolution. Could you (1) relocate where the climax of Charlotte's Web is and (2) analyze your resolution that (3) associated with the idea of conflicts?

          After my deliberate, I think the climax of Charlotte’s Web appears when it dawned on Wilbur that he could do something for Charlotte perhaps. The first conflict was shown here as well. Because before this part, Wilbur always waited for Charlotte to figure out some ways to keep him away from slauttered, but now it’s his time to assist his ture friend. I am glad that Wilbur awared this and really helped Charlotte take care of her kids. As for the resolution, I think it was not so obvious in this book but I found it there when Wilbur was true to what he promised to Charlotte. He looked after her egg sac carefully and patiently waited for the coming of the new babys. Apparently, this was not the stupid Wilbur anymore, on the other hand, the true-to-friend and responsibe Wilbur took the old one instead. These are what he learned from Charlotte and this is another conflict.