Symbols and Archetypes
in Children’s Literature
by Alleen Nilsen
and Don Nilsen
Children’s literature is a good place to look for
symbols and archetypes that are important to a
culture because:
1. Authors and artists use simple concepts so children will
understand them.
2. In old folktales and rhymes, the “wisdom” of the ages has
been collected, condensed, and polished for a new
generation.
3. The “classics” of children’s literature are shared by parents,
teachers, and various media so that nearly all children are
“taught” the symbols of their culture.
4. Creators often rely on common objects, especially
personified animals, that fascinate children.
Here is a parade of animal-related sayings from a 1969
New Yorker cartoon by Lee Lorenz
• LORD LOVE A DUCK
• A BEAR FOR PUNISHMENT
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I’LL BE A MONKEY’S UNCLE
IN A PIG’S EYE
THE CAT’S PAJAMAS
SEE YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR
IT’S A DOG’S LIFE
DRUNK AS A SKUNK
YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO
WATER, BUT YOU CAN’T
MAKE HIM DRINK
• SNUG AS A BUG IN A RUG
Advertisers, broadcasters, cartoonists, politicians and
bloggers often rely on these exaggerated characters:
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CHICKEN LITTLE to represent alarmists.
PINOCCHIO to stand in for liars.
THE BIG BAD WOLF to warn us of danger.
GOLDILOCKS to point to the challenge of
finding things that are “just right.”
• THE FROG PRINCE to give hope to
discouraged women of all ages.
Many symbols don’t match real life as in this
Hershey “Care Bear” delivering a candy kiss.
OTHER IMAGINARY BEARS
IN CHILDREN’S LIVES:
• Teddy bears
• Goldilocks and the Three
Bears
• Getting “a Bear Hug.”
• Some children even think
that going “Bare Naked”
is dressing like a bear.
Because of the lovable CURIOUS GEORGE
in H. A. Rey’s picture books
• Children know what
monkey bars are for,
• And they know what
the teacher means
when she says, “No
monkey business !” or
“Stop monkeying
around!”
There’s something cheerful about a smiling Humpty
Dumpty sitting on a wall, but still he portends disaster.
• Our emotions are stretched
in both directions.
• In cartoons, after his fall,
there is usually a
sympathetic crowd trying
to put him back together.
• But a surprising cartoon in
2009 showed him being
shunned by a donkey and
two wizard-like characters
shouting “Salmonella!”
This New Yorker cartoon is more typical.
• In hinting to a Wall Street
banker that the stock
market is about to crash.
• The “Humpty Dumpty”
nursery rhyme is so famous
that even without the
image, the phrase “And all
the King’s men…” delivers a
warning. Our ASU library
has over 100 books that
include these words in
their titles.
Letters of the alphabet can take on symbolic meanings as
when people talk about learning the ABC’s as in this Steve
Benson cartoon about Arizona’s former school Supt.
Here is another example of letters of the
alphabet taking on extra meanings.
• A TV commercial for
Geico shows an old
farmer in a spelling
bee.
• He is supposed to spell
COW.
• He almost gets it right,
but then is expelled
when he confidently
adds “E-I-E-I-O.”
Dorothy and her friends from The Wizard of Oz are
popular cartoon characters as shown in this 2014
Steve Benson cartoon in the Arizona Republic.
Over the years, the same characters are alluded to
with totally different messages.
• In the 1980s, AZ Public Service used Dorothy
and her friends dancing up the yellow brick
road with the message, “We’re on our way to
more efficient fuel alternatives.”
• In a recent cartoon, The Wicked Witch is
saying “Forget the slippers. I want the Tin
Man’s oil.”
• In another cartoon, Dorothy and friends have
sold the Tin Man to a recycling center in
exchange for bus fare back to Kansas.
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children
She didn’t know what to do.”
• Actually, we all live in our
shoes, but just not as
interpreted in the old
nursery rhyme.
• In the 1980s, she was
featured in a cheerful
advertising campaign for
Hawaiian punch, which
was such a bargain she
could afford it for her
whole family.
But cartoons in 2012 had different messages fitting
with changes in the real estate market.
• One drawing showed
the shoe all boarded up
with a “FORECLOSURE”
sign on it.
• In another one, a real
estate broker is
standing in front of the
shoe and saying “It
looked kinda dumpty,
but appraised at a
million-two.”
Peter Pan from Sir James Barrie’s play of the
same name Peter Pan.
• Lives without growing
older in a never-never
land.
• His name is now in
dictionaries to refer to
an adult who does not
want to grow up, or
who hangs on to
adolescent interests
and attitudes.
IN
CONCLUSION:
IN SMALL GROUPS,
LOOK AT THE BOOKS
WE HAVE BROUGHT TO
CLASS AND MAKE
SOME OBSERVATIONS
ABOUT THE SYMBOLS
IN THEM.
Here are some ideas to think about.
Others are suggested on a paper in
each book.
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Color symbolism,
Exaggerated characters,
Events readers can relate to, and
Evidence of a dual audience, i.e. the adult who is
reading and the child who is listening.
• Is the book teaching stereotypes?
• How are stereotypes a kind of symbolism?