Nature of Violence in Children's Literature

Nature of Violence in Children's Literature


Violence in children's literature is purposeful in that characters are challenged, experience difficulty, may or may not receive help, and eventually learn from their difficulty. Stories are often a warning to children in the form of a contract or a promise. If you don't do exactly as told or your morals are lax, you may be punished, hurt, or even killed. Children's literature provides both escape and education, often using violence as the vehicle. Imagined violence allows children to work through emotions in the safety of an imaginary story land, providing children a safe outlet for their own violent urges, destruction, and aggression. Violence comes in stereotypical roles with feminine characters all too often represented as helpless victims.
Bluebeard is stereotypical of ugliness and deformity, the epitome of the fear of that which is different, perceived as unnatural, evil. Perrault's tale reinforces that difference ...