Promoting Socio-economic Equality in Select Children’s Books
Abstract:
Maya Angelou proclaims, “It is time for parents to teach young people that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” A group’s diversification is observed in terms of its varied ethnicity, class, colour, gender, race, religion, language of its members. This diversification is wrongly utilized by so-called ‘high class’ people to discriminate and humiliate the others. Though it is conditioned deeply since childhood, a child has to be made aware regarding these uneven situations and biased, unjust attitude of others towards them in name of such discrimination. Literature plays a vital role in moulding child’s mind in right direction. In specific, recent Indian children’s literature in English focuses on these issues and tries to minimise this discrimination which children may face in their real world soon. The research paper here tries to trace the evidences of this conditioned discrimination present in recent Indian children’s books written in English. At the same time, its efforts are to demoralize and discourage such discrimination in any name. In this regard, this genre creates strong, influential and significant characters from downtrodden social groups, poor economic domains and females. The focus of this paper is not on gender inequality as it may be a big issue to talk. Here the paper focuses on discrimination based on social and economic aspects of a social group and their influences and possible solutions depicted from recent Indian children’s literature in English.
Key Words: Children’s Literature, Socio-economic equality, discrimination, inequality
Literature entertains, it educates and so does children’s literature. All literature in the world started with the art of storytelling. It was originated with oral tradition of imparting knowledge and wisdom through one generation to the other. It had many purposes, like to entertain others, to comfort one another, to prepare the youth for the lessons of life, to pass on their religious and cultural legacy to instruct moral values, to amuse etc. Since ages, children used to listen to the stories of Odyssey, Illiad, Aenied and many other historic creations, legendary tales, epics, romantic tales of their legendary Kings, Knights, Princes, Princesses and Queens. Even today, we are so much influenced by these stories that we mention the references from them like Achilles’ heels, the Midas touch, Herculean tasks, Pandora’s box and ‘sour grapes’, Trojan Horse etc. This tradition bore what we call now as ‘children’s literature’.
Children’s literature is meant to be for children. As per its simplest meaning, its content attracts, instructs and entertains children. In Children’s Literature: A Very Short Introduction, Kimberley Reynolds defines the term ‘children’s literature’ as follows,
newspapers and other media to schools and in government documents, it is understood to refer to the materials written to be read by children and young people, published by children’s publishers, and stocked and shelved in the children’s and/or young adult (YA) sections of libraries and bookshops. (1)
India, a country of multi-lingual literatures, is not an exception. The Panchatantra, the Jatakas, the Hitopadesha, the Kathasaritsagara, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and other classics have always remained roots of stories for the authors writing for children. Apart from the classics, India has a very rich oral tradition which has inspired many books. The genre of children’s literature was christened as almost late as the 18th century. The first story book for children in English was Mrs Sherwood’s Chota Henry (1814), set in India, and experimenting on the bond between an English child and an Indian child attendant who was later converted to Christianity. In Hindi language, BaI Bodhini was the first children’s magazine which began publishing in 1874. The greatest success story of publishing for children in India is the Amar Chitra Katha series of comic books, largely based on traditional stories. It shows the fascination with myths in India. Not a single contemporary Indian writer has ever enjoyed this kind of popularity.
A group’s diversification is observed in terms of its varied ethnicity, class, colour, gender, race, religion, language of its members. This diversification is wrongly utilized by so-called ‘high class’ people to discriminate and humiliate the others. Though it is conditioned deeply since childhood, a child has to be made aware regarding these uneven situations and biased, unjust attitude of others towards them in name of such discrimination. Literature plays a vital role in moulding child’s mind in right direction. In specific, recent Indian children’s literature in English focuses on these issues and tries to minimise this discrimination which children may face in their real world soon.
Not only gender as a ‘reason’ to discriminate, there are many other ways like race, colour, religion, social strata to dominate the oppressed groups. Poverty line divides the society into two. Each stratum is also divided into many. Urban and rural inhabitants also experience a kind of separation ideologically, psychologically and socially. In India, when, ideally, religion unites and unfortunately divides its inhabitants; caste and creed, culture and sect also play a vital role for the upper sections to govern the other ones. From early childhood, a child grasps these things with their deep roots as this dominance is practiced and experienced by them subconsciously. The Why-why Girl by Mahasweta Devi is a small story with big lessons which deals with gender issues as well as class discrimination. The upper class people govern the lower class people in any way, but there is no complaint against it. It seems that this system is digested by the oppressors and therefore enjoyed by the oppressed. A small girl Moyna knows no reason why she has to do a lot of work for someone who doesn’t care and have any concern for her community rather the person is oppressing them like a master. She cries as the story says,
“Moyna, don’t forget to thank the Babu for the rice he sent us,” said Khiri.
Why should I?” Moyna said. “Don’t I sweep the cowshed and do a thousand jobs for him? Does he ever thank me? Why should I?” saying this, Moyna ran off. (5)
Moyna belongs to the Shabar tribe. “The Shabars were a poor tribal group, and they owned no land. But nobody complained” (7). When someone realizes the importance of self-esteem and social justice, the voice for the voiceless is heard. Moyna represents not only the Shabars, but an entire community which is oppressed economically, socially, politically and culturally. She is a voice against the discrimination created and promoted based on gender too. Her revolt gets born with a lot of confusions which lead her to ask several questions. “Only Moyna’s questions went on and on. “Why do I have to walk so far to the river to fetch water? Why do we live in a leaf hut? Why can’t we eat rice twice a day?”” (7). She continues asking questions to her elders, family members, the narrator and all. She asked, “Why should I eat their leftovers?” (7). She has agony to show the bias nature of those Babus as she raises her objection, “Why do I have to graze the Babus’ goats? Their boys can do it” (11). That is the reason why the girl is called “the Why-why girl”. This protest leads her to educate herself and her community later. The narrator describes the why-why girl’s empowered self as the story concludes,
you pass by, you are sure to hear her impatient, demanding voice, “Don’t be lazy. Ask me questions. Ask me why mosquitoes should be destroyed, why the pole star is always in the north sky.
And the other children too are learning to ask ‘why’. (20)
Just like the Shabars in The Why-why Girl, there are many tribal groups who are deprived of basic necessities of life, education being one of them. These children are depicted in stories with a message that education is the right of all which should not be deprived of. Mahasveta Devi in her other book Etoa Munda Won the Battle tells the story with the same message. It is a story of a tribal boy Etoa who fights against all odds in his quest for getting education. Eventually, he won this battle.
Economic condition makes a life better or worse for anyone. A child loves to play with playthings without knowing the price of it or the capacities of the parents. In Kamakshi Balasubramanian’s Mangu’s Top, Mangu is a poor boy whose father cannot afford a top for him due to his financial conditions. The story expresses the agony as it reads,
longed for a toy, for a toy that would be fun – a bright, brand-new toy.
But there was no money with which to buy one. His parents wished they could give him the toy he wanted so much.
Mangu sat outside their hut and watched the other children play. They had tops, marbles, kites ….. They laughed, ran, lost, won.
Only Mangu was alone. (3)
Mangu is alone economically, socially and thus psychologically too. Later in the story, he manages to find a top lying unattended and beautifies it with the help of his parents. But the mental loneliness is a curse for anyone in the world which makes negative influences on a child’s psyche. We live in such a society where a poor child can’t enjoy the childish pleasures of life. A child is suppressed under our social set up and economic inequality. Dipak Praharaj’s A Tale of Two Dogs talks about two dogs, one of a rich boy and the other of a poor one. The story revolves around the issue of unequal social status. The dog of a poor boy behaves very differently than that of the other dog. The story begins with such social inequality as it says, “One boy is rich. He lives in a big house with three floors. The other boy is poor. He lives in a small hut-like jhuggi” (3). This depiction creates a divided picture of a society. This richness and poverty do not belong to boys only but mentally, in the case of the dogs too. “The rich boy has a fancy dog. The poor boy also has a dog. He had picked him up from the street” (5). Subconsciously, it is also shown that being a dog of a rich boy, it learns anything easily and rapidly. The story teller narrates, “The rich boy’s dog knows how to ‘fetch’ and many other tricks. He also knows how to balance a ball on his nose. The poor boy’s dog does not know any tricks! He tries to copy … but fails” (7-8).
The social taboo makes the things worse as depicted in the story. A reader is forced to learn that this is the real scenario in the society. A reader sympathizes with the dog and its owner being economically poor. For the readers, this sympathy turns to be a matter of pride when the ‘poor’ dog manages to catch the robbers who loot the ‘rich’ boy. The story furthers,
robbers try to run. The poor dog barks loudly and runs to catch them. He bites a robber on his leg. The robber tries to stab him with a knife but the dog proves smarter! All the people living nearby hear the dog’s barking and come running. They manage to catch the thieves. (14-17)
This leads the rich boy feel sorry for being mean and he offers money as a reward but the poor, honest boy refuses to have it. His honesty is rewarded with a big bash given by the rich boy and a medal for the bravery to be given to the dog.
Today, the world faces discrimination based on colour of the skin, caste, creed, culture, sect, religion, region, gender and what not; injustice based on social sections, economic conditions; oppression in the name of religion, rite, rituals, etc. The world is full of such examples in real life and in literature too. On the contrary, the recent Indian Children’s literature in English invites all the stakeholders for debate boldly, discusses these issues tactfully, stresses on their rejection and exclusion completely. It works in that direction when certain issues are absolutely forbidden. It is also a strong voice of the minority, the oppressed, the underprivileged which creates the new world. Gita Wolf in her article “The Politics of Voice: Folk and Tribal Art in Children’s Literature” notes the motto with which the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) organized their Congress in 2010 which says, “It may seem, at first glance, that the majority is the dominant force in every society, but those who dramatically change their world, now and throughout history, always belong to the minority” (1). One should never ignore their opinions. A well-known author Chinua Achebe aptly writes, “What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens - whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender” (1).
It is evidently experienced in our society and its surrounding that a lot of discrimination prevails under various names. Though it is conditioned deeply since childhood, a child has to be made aware regarding these uneven situations and biased, unjust attitude of others towards them. Recent Indian children’s literature in English not only focuses on these issues, but also tries to minimize this giant menace. This genre attempts to trace the evidences of this conditioned discrimination in recent Indian children’s books written in English. At the same time, its efforts are to demoralize and discourage such discrimination in any name, to create a world without such conditioned ideology and general biases, to help children change the scenario through their revolution against all these odds. Recent Indian children’s literature in English proves to be a torch bearer on this path to construct strong, influential and significant characters from downtrodden social groups, poor economic domains and females. Therefore, Mohini Rao says, “India can be said to be the cradle of children’s literature” (67).
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