This is the invisible nonchildlikeness that is often unrecognized by many adults. Behind the childish and less-knowing characteristics of child characters, there is a
mature side encouraging them to be independent. There are three kinds of children’s
independence found from the data: cognitive, social, and psychological.
a. Cognitive Independence
Children love to explore new things and do many activities that they define as something exciting. Many adults define good children as those behaving very well.
However, child ren’s naughty side is undeniable. Their naughtiness is often portrayed
in children’s literature through child characters. Along with the naughtiness of these characters, there are other ones who give responses toward the naughty actions. From
these responses, there is independence implied on child characters. The independence appears in wide ranges of life skills related to both personal and interpersonal
relationship. The findings show that there are three forms of cognitive independence; initiating actions, giving suggestions, and defending arguments.
1 Initiating actions
Initiative comes from human’s mind. Any actions related to thinking process
as the beginning is known as cognitive. This thinking process has an outcome in the form of
an action. The cognitive independence shows children’s ability to think, suggest, understand, and initiate certain actions. Children
’s limitation does not stop them from trying challenging things. Although children have less knowledge and
experiences than adults, they have the courage to explore new things and break their own limitations.
Among three novels used in this research, The Six Bad Boys has more complex problems because it shows the activities and relationship in three families.
The main characters are Bob and Tom. In the story, Bob is described as a lovely child yet a bossy one. He loves his mother very much and tries to show it. For example, he
gives his mother a hug as he sees her in blue about him Blyton, 2012:45. Bob’s
mother has told him that she has to earn for a living because the family budget becomes worse. He rejects her decision because he wants her to be at home and to
prepare his dinner. She thinks that he is too bossy for her for his age. His attitude makes her sad and disappointed. He tries to calm her by giving a hug. He convinces
her that he is a good child. The action when Bob hugs her mother is the sample of cognitive
independence because he initiates an action coming from his mind. At the beginning, he thinks that his mother is sad and he tries to calm her by giving a hug. She never
asks him to do this action. He tries to build his own understanding in a situation where he finds his mother sad. He believes that hugging her will make her feel better.
In another occasion, he wants to make his mother happy by having an idea to buy her some flowers Blyton, 2012:50. He decides to go to a florist alone after
school. He assumes that his mother will like the gift he brings for her. Since he has little amount of money, he cannot buy too many flowers. So, he buys few flowers
only. His mother never asks him to bring her flowers. This is a natural action from Bob to make her glad to have a son like him.
Child characters in the second novel in this research, The Naughtiest Girl Again, also have proofs of the ability to initiate actions. The main character in this
story is Elizabeth Allen. She is popular as a bad-tempered girl even though she can also be pleasant. The ability to initiate certain actions in this story is shown through
the child characters’ actions, either Elizabeth or her friends. Elizabeth has high spirit to welcome the new year of school. She wants to
change to be a better student than she was in the previous term. Therefore, she initiates to help the freshmen so they do not get lost. It is shown through Elizabeth’s
action asking Joan to take care of the new students,
“Let’s go and look after the new ones
… They’re looking a bit lost.” Blyton, 1993:12. She understands that new students often get confused when they first come to school. This is the reason
Elizabeth has an idea to look after them. Instead of letting it to be an idea only, she chooses to make it an action.
The ability in initiating certain actions is proven not only through pleasing behavior or attitude. Sometimes, children love to do naughty things. They are
represented by child characters through the plot or characterization. In The Naughtiest Girl Again, one of the characters, Kathleen, shows her action to play tricks on her
friends. She hides their books and makes a mess with their assignments on the books Blyton, 1993:55.
The datum above shows that child’s naughtiness is something natural. Adults
do not need to force children to perform naughty plans. Kathleen plays tricks on her friends based on her own idea. There are no adult characters interfering her plans. It
makes her doing the tricks not because someone asks her to conduct so. She is independent enough to initiate her own tricks on her friends.
The last novel being studied is Naughty Amelia Jane. The main character is Amelia Jane who is presented as a naughty doll. However, child characters are full of
surprises like children in a real life. They often do thi ngs beyond adults’ thought.
Although they are sometimes naughty, they are able to show brilliant capability to plan something big and initiate an action. Amelia Jane is only one sample among
many naughty child characters. In this novel, she is very famous by her naughtiness among her doll friends. In addition to
Amelia Jane’s visible naughtiness which is very childlike, unpredictably she has an ability to initiate positive actions. The personal
initiative implies the invisible capability that is nonchildlike. It is unpredictable that the naughty Amelia Jane could have a big plan to
rescue her friends. It is shown in the datum below.
“Toys, Toys, I have a plan” cried Amelia Jane from the cupboard. “Let me fly the toy aeroplane out of the window.
It will frighten the goblins terribly, and they are sure to run away. Then, before they come back, the
brownies can get into the aeroplane and I’ll fly it safely back here” Blyton, 1989:24
In that scene, the brownies or dwarf dolls, are in danger because they are
attacked by the goblins. The other toys are so busy shouting and worrying about this action. Then, there comes Amelia Jane cognitively independent shouting her plan to
rescue the brownies. She volunteers herself to initiate her idea by driving the toy aeroplane. The brownies then jump into the plane safely.
Blyton’s Naughty Amelia Jane is dominant with child characters represented in dolls. Thus, the cognitive independence is shown not only by Amelia Jane but also
the dolls in the nursery. Although they dislike Amelia’s naughtiness, they can control
it. It is shown through their action to rescue her. “We must save her” said the golden-haired doll.
“But how?” asked the golly.
“I know” said the clown suddenly. “We will take the children’s toy ship and sail to the rock. We shall just get there in time. Hurry
” Blyton, 1989:52-53
The clown is one of child characters represented in the form of a doll. Actually he also dislikes Amelia’s bad behavior but he can control his feeling. One
day all the dolls are brought to the beach by the Nurse and her children. After playing naughty tricks to other dolls, Amelia enjoys her time by sleeping on a rock in the sea.
As the sea water level gets higher, she gets trapped on the rock and feels unable to save herself. When the clown knows that Amelia gets trapped, he shares an idea to
other dolls to rescue her by taking the toy ship. He leads this action quickly. He says ‘hurry’ to other dolls so they can rescue her immediately.
2 Giving suggestions
Bob in The Six Bad Boys lives only with his mother while his neighbor named Tom lives in a family
with parents and two sisters. Unfortunately, Tom’s
family always nags and bickers everyday. However, he is able to show his independence to suggest his family members to get on together. He can never stand
on the harsh condition at home as his parents always argue each other everyday. “I’m not on anybody’s side,” said Tom, staring miserably at his mother.
“Why can’t we all get on together? I don’t mind this house being little. I
thi nk it’s nice. And I like the school and the children there—especially the
Mackenzies. I don’t know why you turn your nose up at them. They’re clever and
—” Blyton, 2012:32
Tom’s mother always complains everyday about the new house which is smaller than the previous one. She feels ashamed with her old friends because she
thinks the house looks uglier. She always blames her husband because of losing his previous job that was better. Tom always tries to calm her but his mother always
assumes him not to be on her side. He detests having the taking-side thing and suggests her to get on together in the family.
In The Naughtiest Girl Again, t he characteristic of Elizabeth’s bad temper
annoys her friends. There are some of her friends giving her advices and suggestions to control her emotion. One of them is her gardening friend, John. When she looks so
emotional about her problem, John tries to suggest her not to make enemies. “I hope not” said Elizabeth. “That’s quarrelsome, and she seems to think
we are always saying or thinking nasty things about her —and honestly, we
just don’t bother about her half the time.”
“Well, don’t start making an enemy of her too,” said John, beginning to dig again. “Friends are better than enemies, Elizabeth, old thing, so make
those instead.” Blyton, 1993:48
Elizabeth dislikes her classmate’s, Kathleen’s, assumption that she and other classmates insult Kathleen. In fact, she never does so to Kathleen. She tells her story
to John when they take care of the school garden. The datum a bove shows John’s
suggestion to her to make friends. He thinks that making friends is better than making enemies. He states his thought to her without any interference from other characters,
especially the adult characters such as teachers. As Elizabeth is a dynamic character, she is able to change from a bad
character to a better one. Her friends appreciate her effort to change. As the result, they give their support and suggestion to let Elizabeth play in a lacrosse match
representing the school. The news spread round the tables, and everyone was sorry about Peter. He
really was such a good player. And then one by one the children called out something:
“Let Elizabeth play” “What about Elizabeth?”
“Can’t Elizabeth play? She gave up her place to Robert” Blyton, 1993:135 At the beginning, the position as a lacrosse match player is Peter, Elizabeth’s
friend. Since he is sick, the team needs someone to substitute him. Surprisingly, the students altogether naming Elizabeth as the new player of the team and suggest to
pick her to play in the match. It is because Elizabeth’s sacrifice to give her previous
position to Robert. Her friends give sympathy to her thus they propose her name to be in the team. There are no teachers in the school who influence the students to choose
her. Amelia Jane in Naughty Amelia Jane cannot stay naughty in the nursery
since every unpleasant attitude will result in the future. It happens when she cries because of her bad luck after playing tricks. The toys chortle.
The toys laughed. Amelia Jane cried bitterly. The curly-haired doll felt sorry for her. “Don’t cry any more, Amelia Jane,” she said. “Take your shoes off
and you won’t fall again. We played a trick on you—but you can’t complain
because you have so often tricked us You should not play jokes on other people if you can’t take a joke yourself” Blyton, 1999:40
The toys actually play a trick on Amelia Jane because she is very naughty. One of them, the clown, polishes Amelia’s shoes so she will slip when she puts on
hers. Amelia does not know about this idea because she is busy playing by herself. When she runs after putting on the shoes, she slips few times and cries. They suggest
her not to cry and to play tricks on others if she cannot take it as a joke. They independently state this because they do not feel comfortable
with Amelia Jane’s nuisance.
3 Defending opinions
Another attitude of independence of cognitive aspect is to defend the opinions or points of view. This skill helps child characters defend their perspective
upon certain things. In The Six Bad Boys, both Bob and Tom have a problem of
controlling their temper. Bob often gets involved in a serious talk with his mother defending his perspective. Once, Bob speaks angrily with his mother after she tells
something unpleasant about him to the headmaster. She reports him that he has neglected her instruction to have lunch in the school only. Instead, he has lunch in a
canal outside the school. It makes his mother upset.
“Don’t, Bob” said his mother, startled. “Why didn’t you tell you’d been to the school and stopped me from taking
my lunch out?” burst out Bob. “You’re mean. You go behind my back I wasn’t doing any harm, taking my sandwiches down to the canal.”
“Now then, Bob, don’t you talk to me like that,” said Mrs. Kent. “How dare you If your father was alive he’d make sure you were punished.”
Blyton, 2012:69 The dialogue above shows Bob’s effort to state his thought in emotional
way. This tense dialogue between Bob and his mother is undeniable. However, his mother tries to stop it by saying that he should not talk to her too emotionally. Since
Bob is still a child, he often gets lost to control his emotion or his effort to defend his opinions.
Elizabeth in The Naughtiest Girl Again also defends her opinion with Robert when she sees one of her friend is tricked by him. Robert swings Peter hardly that
makes Peter look pale. Although Robert hears Peter’s demand to stop, he does not want to. Elizabeth sees it and asks him to stop playing the trick but she fails. As the
result, she shouts angrily to him.
Elizabeth was so angry that she had to blink her eyes to see clearly. She ran to Robert.
“Stop” she cried. “You’re not to do that You’ll make Peter ill.” “Mind your own business,” said Robert. “He asked me to give him a swing
and I’m giving him one. Go away, you interfering girl. You’re always poking your nose where it isn’t wanted.”
“Oh I’m not” cried Elizabeth. Blyton, 1993:24
From the expression above, Elizabeth and Robert get involved in a serious dialogue. Elizabeth asks him to stop his action while Robert asks her not to interfere
with what he is doing. They have their own perspective. They independently stick to their own stance. However, this is not the only debate of Elizabeth and her friend. In
another occasion, she gets involved in a similar situation with another friend, Kathleen.
“No, don’t Elizabeth,” said Belinda. You are such a little spitfire. Don’t interfere.”
But Elizabeth had already marched out of the room. She saw Kathleen and went up to her.
“Look here, Kathleen,” she said, “if you don’t stop saying unkind and untrue things that Jenny, I’ll report you at the Next Meeting”
“And what about the unkind and untrue things that Jenny said about me in front of you all” said Kathleen in a low and trembling voice. “How
dare she mock me like that” Blyton, 1993:55
Actually, in the scene above, there is another character named Belinda who reminds Elizabeth not to interfere Kathleen’s business. However, Elizabeth has a
really strong effort to stop Kathleen and she chooses to defend it. The similar conditions also happen in Naughty Amelia Jane. One of them
happens between the golliwog and Amelia Jane for scissors.
“Give me those scissors,” said the golliwog sternly. “Shan’t” said Amelia jane, twirling them round in her big hand.
“I said, ‘Give me those scissors’” ordered the golliwog, his black hair
standing all on end with anger.
“I said ‘Shan’t’” said Amelia Jane, “and if you talk to me like that, Golly, I’ll cut all your hair off Then you’ll look like a black Chinaman” Blyton,
1999:15-16 The toys are afraid of Amelia’s snipping everything she finds. Seeing this
action, the golliwog feels like he has to stop her. He tries to take the scissors from her as shown in the datum above. Both golliwog and Amelia Jane has a strong opinion.
Golliwog defends his stance in asking Amelia Jane to give the scissors while she defends her position not to give it. To end it, she threatens him that she can cut his
hair off. Another moment is when the toys are having fun together by building their
own home from snow. They do not want Amelia Jane to come because their fun time will be ruined by her. As she has a strong will, she also wants to be in the same snow
home with the toys. Knowing that she is bigger, the toys forbid her to come because she will ruin the home. It results in a debate found below.
“But I’m very, very cold,” said Amelia Jane, and certainly she was shivering.
“Well, you should have been sensible and put on your coat and hat as we did” said the curly-haired doll.
“Oh, do let me come in” begged Amelia, who hated to be left out of anything. “Oh, do let me”
“NO, NO, NO” shouted the toys. “Well, I’m coming in said Amelia crossly, and she began to push her way
in at the door. A bit of the doorway fell down at once. “Don’t” cried the clown, in alarm. Blyton, 1999:143
The datum above shows that both the toys and Amelia Jane stand on their
own stance. The toys strongly forbid her to go inside the home while she angrily defends her will to come. The
emphasize is when the toys shout together ‘NO, NO, NO’.
Based on the data performed in this research, there are some proofs showing that the child characters are capable to be cognitively independent. They are able to
think of, understand, and initiate actions. They do all these actions purely based on their own effort. There are no adult characters dictate what they should do when they
find problems, such as one’s naughtiness.
b. Social Independence
