consider children to own certain capabilities gained through their education and experience and make stories more difficult, challenging and complex.
Moreover, they should represent children with the “real” description and
powerful characterization.
b. Inherent femaleness
Adults become the representation of children in order to speak and write for them. Adults try to define children and the childhood by recalling their
own childhood or by interpreting what they see and observe. Yet, Nodelman 1992: 30
states that “there is no representation can be truly objective”. It happens in the some children’s literature where children are represented
subjectively: they are charming, passive, cute, docile, kind, innocence, honest, irrational and so on. Children in the stories exist to please adults and are
manifested as what adults’ want. However, children should be empowered by empowered with strong but critical characters.
c. Inherently adult-centered
Nodelman 1992: 30 suggests that “we encourage in children those values
and behaviors that make children easier for us to handle: more passive, more docile, more obedient
—and thus, more in need of our guidance and more willing to accept the need of it”. The researcher believes that children are
represented to benefit adult. Thus, they want children to imitate what children in the stories do. Child empowerment
puts children’s literature as the child-
centered idea —for the benefit of children. Child empowerment is not to
dictate children but to give children opportunities to discover and explore their own selves.
d. Silencing and inherent silence
Speaking for children means that someone tries to silence them. In fact, adults speak for children. Nodelman 1992:
30 states that “we produce a children’s literature that is almost totally silent on the subject of sexuality,
presumably in order to allow ourselves to believe that children are innocent as we claim
—that their lives are devoid of sexuality”. It proves that adults try to make limitation on which subject should be discussed and applied in the
stories of children’s literature. It shows that adults want to keep children silent
in certain subjects. Child empowerment tries to encourage children to be able to speak, criticize, decide and act by their own. They have not only weakness
but also strength.
e. Power and domination
Knowledge especially “knowledge of „childhood’ Nodelman, 1992:31”
becomes adult’s source of power to justify their doing in order to dominate
children consciously and unconsciously. Children’s literature may be
classified as the subtle way for adult to dominate children. They try to shape children with lower-position and passive fictional characters which they create
