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Saskia van den Broek 0012345
Blankversedreef 99
1616 WS Straatfoort
Academic Reading
American English
16 January 2003
820 words
The Adaptation of Children’s Literature
Children prefer to read about brave protagonists with whom they can identify. Books which
deal with such characters stimulate children’s imaginations. Now, a recent menace to
children’s literature removes features from the stories which might offend politically correct
present-day readers. Firstly, changing a story because of class distinctions and gender roles
changes the story as a whole. Secondly, authors have a legal right to write about the subjects
they want. Thirdly, the perspective of children will be changed due to the alterations.
Therefore, children’s literature should not be adjusted to accommodate its audience.
When a story is modified because of class distinctions and gender roles, the story
becomes a whole different story. This is because an adjusted story affects the reading and the
plot of a text. For example, the fairy tale Cinderella would become a completely different
story, when Cinderella does not have to work anymore because she is equal to her stepsisters.
Another example is Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott. This story deals with the life of New
England during the nineteenth century. As Elfrieda McCauley has pointed out, gender roles
and class distinctions were very important at that time (73). The plot would be very different
if these elements were adapted.
An author has a right to write about various rules and conventions. When a book is
adjusted, the own creation of an author is changed. This can happen to books of authors who
have died and who have nothing to say about their works anymore. For example, Louisa M.
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Alcott, who wrote Little Women, is nowadays sometimes regarded as a proto-feminist
(Fetterley 9-10); but she can also be seen as an author who might offend politically correct
present-day readers since she wrote about differences in gender and class:
“I dare say; but nothing pleasant ever does happen in this family,” said Meg, who was
out of sorts. “We go grubbing along day after day, without a bit of change, and very
little fun. We night as well be in a treadmill.” “My patience, how blue we are!” cried
Jo. “I don’t much wonder, poor dear, for you see other girls having splendid times,
while you grind, grind, year in and year out. Oh, don’t I wish I could manage things
for you as I do for my heroines! You’re pretty enough and good enough already, so I’d
have some rich relation leave you a fortune unexpectedly; then you’d dash out as an
heiress, scorn everyone who has slighted you, go abroad and come home my Lady
Something, in a blaze of splendour and elegance.” “People don’t have fortunes left
them in that style nowadays; men have to work, and women to marry for money. It’s a
dreadful unjust world,” said Meg, bitterly. (219-20)
This shows the structures in society in the time of Alcott, when men had to work and women
were there only for marriage. Today, the position of men and women are almost the same,
they both have to work. This does not mean that such elements can be erased because it is not
politically correct. Therefore, the reader, whether young or old, has to respect the conventions
of an author who wrote about past times.
Stories which are adjusted give children an unreal view of society. This means that
when a story does not tell about how structures were in past days, then children do not know
of past rules, gender roles and class distinctions that have existed. It is important that children
learn things about the past because they hold the future. Otherwise history could be changed
as well because some events were politically incorrect. It is important to see this and to
appreciate the almost classless society in which children grow up. To emphasize this, a
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special preface should be added to a book in which the date is mentioned about when the
story took place. Furthermore, it should be stated in the preface that the conventions and rules
are not relevant anymore.
To conclude, the effect of changing a story is that it makes the story dissimilar to the
original. Secondly, the story by which authors became famous is their product and it is unjust
to oppose rules to the work of an author who does not live anymore. Thirdly, children get an
inaccurate image of society when particular features are changed. Therefore, children’s
literature should remain authentic and it should not be subjected to the yearnings of the reader
of today.
Works Cited
Alcott, Louisa M. Little Women. London: Puffin, 1994. Print.
Fetterley, Judith. “Impersonating ‘Little Women’: The Radicalism of Alcott’s ‘Behind a
Mask’.” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 10.1 (1983): 1-14. Print.
McCauley, Elfrieda. “Women in Nineteenth-Century New England.” Journal of Library
History 15.1 (1980): 71-75. Jstor, n.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2011.