Voicing the silenced : between pleasures and therapeutic effects of children`s literature in Judy Blume`s selected novels.

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ABSTRACT

Nuraini Fahmawati. (2016). Voicing the Silenced: Between Pleasures and Therapeutic Effects of Children’s Literature in Judy Blume’s Selected Novels. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Judy Blume was in controversy that her novels were banned and at the same time were loved for vividly uncovering the silenced issues of sensuality and sexuality, brute realities, and unexpected manners to young readers.

As the novels voice the silenced, this study observes, at first, how childhood and its literature are viewed through them. In doing so, this research addresses some children’s literature experts who draw insight from the post-structural and postcolonial for reexamining the common beliefs around silencing in children’s literature. Secondly, post-structuralism is also borrowed to analyze the relation between voicing the silenced and the delights of the novels. Meanwhile, the last aim is to reveal the functions of sensuality and sexuality, brute realities, and the unexpected manners in implying literature’s roles in children’s life by using the cathartic reading perspective.

The results of this research reveal that, firstly, through voicing sensuality and sexuality, children are trusted and their innocence is disproved of. This study also finds out that the pleasures of words and understanding are present as the issues are voiced. In addition to this, the practical benefits in giving detailed information and in building connection are found when dealing with such sensitive topics. Secondly, by presenting topics relating to the dark sides of life, this research shows that children are empowered when their other-ness is ignored. At the same time, the pleasures of escaping, newness, and recognizing gaps are performed with the appearance of the issue. Meanwhile, the practical role to help children cope the difficulties signifies the presence of topics about difficult life. The last result shows that children are placed in the center of the stories when the unexpected behaviors are depicted through the fictional characters. As it is, the pleasures of the organized stories are found by the presence of their behaviors. Finally, the role of literature to help readers to cope with the trouble with their personal and social development is found as the texts deal with the unexpected manners.

Key Words: Silencing,Pleasures of Children’s Literature, Cathartic/Therapeutic Reading

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ABSTRAK

Nuraini Fahmawati (2016). Voicing the Silenced: Between Pleasures and Therapeutic Effects of Children’s Literature in Judy Blume’s Selected Novels. Yogyakarta: Magister Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program Pasca Sarjana, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Judy Blume menuai kontroversi dimana karyanya ditolak namun, di saat yang sama, karya tersebut disukai sebab isu dan realita yang dibungkam seperti sensualitas dan seksualitas, realitas pahit, dan sikap tidak terpuji dengan jujur disuarakan di dalam novel-novelnya.

Dengan disuarakannya isu tersebut, studi ini memiliki tujuan, pertama, untuk menganalisa bagaimana novel terpilih memahami anak dan sastranya. Dalam hal ini, peneliti merujuk pada para ahli sastra anak yang mendasarkan pemikirannya pada pendekatan poststruktural dan poskolonial guna mengkaji ulang asumsi umum mengenai pembungkaman dalam sastra anak. Kedua, pandangan poststrukturalisme juga diapresiasi dalam menganalisa hubungan antara disuarakannya isu-isu terheningkan dengan kesenangan yang ditawarkan dalam membaca novel-novel tersebut. Di samping itu, dengan menerapkan fungsi katarsis dalam membaca, bagaimana novel terpilih bermanfaat dalam kehidupan pembacanya juga menjadi tujuan terakhir penelitian ini.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, pertama, dengan menghadirkan isu sensualitas dan seksualitas, anak diberikan kepercayaan dan karakter inosen dikesampingkan. Studi ini juga menemukan bahwa adanya isu sensitif tersebut memperkuat bahasa dan penceritaan; sebagaimana juga bermanfaat dalam memberikan informasi tepat dan membangun koneksi dalam membahas hal yang dianggap sulit dibicarakan. Kedua, dengan menyuarakan tema tentang kenyataan pahit yang dianggap sulit untuk dimengerti anak, studi ini menunjukkan bahwa anak tidak dianggap sebagai Yang Lain. Terkait dengan ini, ditemukan pula adanya kepuasan dalam menemukan hal baru dalam sterotip tema yang beredar dan keluar dari realita serta kesenangan mengisi celah-celah dalam membentuk makna teks. Isu tersebut juga bermanfaat dalam membantu anak mengatasi kenyataan pahit dalam kehidupan mereka. Terakhir, hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa anak ditempatkan sebagai pusat cerita dengan mengangkat isu tentang sikap-sikap yang dianggap tidak terpuji yang mana cerita diterima sebagai sebuah kejujuran dan kesatuan struktur. Ini sekaligus membantu anak menghadapi masalah dengan perkembangan diri dan sosial. Kata Kunci: Pembungkaman, Kesenangan dalam Sastra Anak, Fungsi Katarsis

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VOICING THE SILENCED: BETWEEN PLEASURES AND THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN JUDY BLUME’S SELECTED

NOVELS

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Magister Humaniora

in English Language Studies

Nuraini Fahmawati 116332029

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2016

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VOICING THE SILENCED: BETWEEN PLEASURES AND THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN JUDY BLUME’S SELECTED

NOVELS

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Magister Humaniora

in English Language Studies

Nuraini Fahmawati 116332029

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2016

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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and bibliography, as a scientific paper should. I understand the full consequences including degree cancellation if I took somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.

Yogyakarta, 13 Mei 2016

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Nuraini Fahmawati

Nomor mahasiswa : 116332029

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

Voicing the Silenced: Between Pleasures and Therapeutic Effects of Children’s Literature in Judy Blume’s Selected Novels

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Pada tanggal: 13 Mei 2016

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank God for giving me strength to finish this study, for His infinite blessings and love that I receive in my life. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis advisor Ibu Dra. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons.), Ph. D., for the useful comments, remarks, and engagement as well as her expertise, understanding, and patience through my learning process of writing this thesis and in my graduate experience.

I also acknowledge Bapak Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph. D., Ibu Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D and Ibu Dr. Widyastuti Purbani, M.A. who have willingly shared their precious time and vast knowledge during the process of my writing. My acknowledgement also goes to the other member of my committee Ibu Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. for the assistance provided at all level of this research. I also send my gratitude to Sanata Dharma University that provides me place and facilities to study, all my lecturers, and the administrative staff of KBI department who have devoted themselves to help me during my study in Sanata Dharma University.

My special thanks go to my loved ones: My husband and my daughters Nina and Jihan, Bapak and Ibuk who supported me throughout entire process, both by keeping me harmonious and helping me putting pieces together. My gratitude is also due to my wonderful friends and classmates of 2011 KBI Sanata Dharma University especially Dyah, Satrio, Mbak Luluk, Christo, Ruslinah and all people that I cannot mention one by one, who have given me supports in finishing my thesis. Thank you.

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Table of Contents

TITLE PAGE i

PAGE OF APPROVAL ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi

ABSTRACT x

ABSTRAK xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION xi

1. Background of the Study 1

2. Problem Limitations 8

3. Definition of Terms 9

4. Problem Formulations 12

5. Objectives of the Study 12

6. Benefits of the Study 12

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 14

1. Review of Related Studies 14

2. Review of Related Theories 26

1.1. The Problems of Generalization and Common Assumptions in Understanding ‘Childhood’ and Children’s Literature 27 1.2. The Other, Colonization, and Children’s Literature 33 1.2.1. Inherent Inferiority, Opposite, Contradictory, and Declined 35

1.2.2. Inherent Femaleness and Danger 36

1.2.3. Inherent Adult-Centered 37

1.2.4. Inherent Silencing 38

1.3. Silencing, Censorship, and the Innocence of Childhood 39 1.4. The Pleasures of Children’s Literature 45 1.5. Therapeutic Effects in Voicing the Silenced in Children’s Literature 47

3. Theoretical Framework 55

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1. Childhood’s Romance, Sensuality, and Sexuality: Against Childhood

Innocence 57

1.1. Romance (Crushes) 58

1.2. Sensuality 58

1.3. Puberty 61

1.3.1. Menstruation 62

1.3.2. Breast Development 63

1.3.3. Wet Dreams 64

1.3.4. Masturbation 65

1.4. Sexuality 67

1.4.1. Teenage Sexuality 67

1.4.2. Birth Control 69

2. Pleasures of Words and Understanding in Romance, Sensuality, and Sexuality 70 3. Romance, Sensuality, and Sexuality: Providing Information and Building

Connection 81

CHAPTER IV Bad Sides of Life 99

1. Bad Sides of Life: Disproving Other-ness to Empower Children 99

1.1. Parental Conflicts 100

1.2. Divorce 102

1.3. Uncertainties 104

1. 4. Illness 106

1. 5. Problem with Religion 107

1. 6. Death 108

2. Bad Sides of Life: Pleasures of Acknowledging Newness, of Escaping, and

Recognizing Gaps 110

3. The Bad Sides of Life: Coping Difficulties through Literature 120

CHAPTER V Unexpected Manners 139

1. The Unexpected Manners: Children as the Centre 139

1.1. Bullying 140

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1.3. Disobedience 144

1.4. Back Talks and Gazes 146

1.5. Dishonesty: Cheating, Snooping, Lying 150

1.6. Impudent Teases 152

1.7. Swearing 152

2. Unexpected Manners: Building Organized Stories 154

3. The Unexpected Manners: Assisting Children Deal with Problems of Personal

and Social Development 163

CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION 176

BIBLIOGRAPHY 187

APPENDICES 191

Synopsis 1: Deenie 191

Synopsis 2: Forever 191

Synopsis 3: Tiger Eyes 192

Synopsis 4: Then Again, Maybe I Won’t 192

Synopsis 5: Blubber 193

Synopsis 6: It's Not the End of the World 193

Synopsis 7: Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself 194

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ABSTRACT

Nuraini Fahmawati. (2016). Voicing the Silenced: Between Pleasures and Therapeutic Effects of Children’s Literature in Judy Blume’s Selected Novels. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Key Words: Silencing,Pleasures of Children’s Literature, Cathartic/Therapeutic Reading

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ABSTRAK

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the Study

As one of children’s literature writers, Judy Blume has been an important figure in the United States since 1970s. One of the reasons for bringing her popularity was that she has received plenty of complaint about her books from parents and educators that in 2004, the American Library Association labeled her the second most censored author in the past 15 years1. In the beginning of that decade, Blume was called as a Communist by one of parents for writingAre You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret2. In the late 1970s, she had heard anecdotes about people who were offended by her books. There was also a mother who cut the pages of her work Then Again, Maybe I Won’t3

. Her work Deenie4 was taken off from the bookshelf for discussing masturbation and Blubber5 was labeled as “lack of moral tone” while Forever6 was cursed as being a pornographic novel7. Here might be the example of the statement taken from Deenie which has created tension among parents for discussing a girl’s masturbation.

Mallory Szymanski, “Adolescence, Literature and Censorship: Unpacking The Controversy Surrounding Judy Blume.”NeoAmericanist 3.1 (2007): 1–10.

Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (London: Piccolo, 1980). All subsequent references to this work, shortened Margaret, will be used in this thesis with pagination only.

Judy Blume,Then Again, Maybe I Won’t. (New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1971). All subsequent references to this work, shortened Then Again, will be used in this thesis with pagination only.

Judy Blume, Deenie. (New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1973). 5

Judy Blume, Blubber. (United States: Dell Yearling Book, 1974). 6

Judy Blume, Forever. (United States: Bradbury Press, 1975). 7

Elisa Ludwig and Dennis Abrams, Judy Blume, Second Edition (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009) 74.

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As soon as I got into bed I started touching myself. I have this special place and when I rub it I get a very nice feeling. I don’t know what it’s called or if anyone else has it but when I have trouble falling asleep, touching my special place helps a lot (Deenie, 59).

Censorship or silencing has likely been part of regulation when dealing with children and the media including books and literature. Nodelman connects the censorious attitude when dealing with children’s literature asthe result of, at first, the common assumption about children’s books. The assumption believes the world of childhood should be simple, colorful, full of happiness; children’s appropriate books are those appropriate to their age; children can only enjoy stories with typical childhood experience in which sex is excluded; their stories should not describe unacceptable behavior; children’s books should also not contain depiction of frightening things; and children’s stories should contain positive role models8.

As a result, issues related to sexuality, brute sides of life, and the unexpected behaviors are so often absent from books for young people. These common assumptions have led authors, publishers, parents, and teachers to make these ideas becomes ideological and a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy9. These ideas might be inaccurate and incomplete. However, as how ideology works, once they are believed, believers act to help them the whole truth. They assume the ideology to be the way things obviously are.

Another factor leading to adults’ controls toward the books that can be consumed by children likely has somethingwith the tendency of adults’anti-children attitudes. Borrowing Said’s powerful descriptions of the history and the structure of 8

Perry Nodelman,The Pleasures of Children’s Literature(USA: Longman, 1992) 73. 9

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Orientalism, a brilliant investigation of European attitudes towards Arabs and Asians, Nodelman is astonished by how often they suggest parallel insights into the most common assumptions about children andchildren’s literature in the sense that what it is called as “the Orient” has little to do with the actual conditions in the East. In similar relation between adults and children, Nodelman sees what it is called as “Children” is more significantly the adults’ invention that has had a powerful influence of how adults have not only thought about but also acted upon children.

Child psychology and children’s literature can be discussed and analyzed as the

corporate institution for dealing with childhood-dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling

it, ruling over it; in short, Child psychology and children’s literature as an adult

style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the childhood10. As well as seeing the object as inferior and incapable of difficult topics, Children’s Literature is then adult-centered that it is in adults’ hands the decision to determine which books children can read and which cannot with values they approve. Sarumpaet sees so often books with adults as the center offer problems of shackling and conquering children’s characters in their books.

Writing for children is both about exploring and filling them with adults’ interest. Guiding them from the other side means educating children to gain civilization (maturity) under adults who own the power to define who they are. Then, how child characters are treated? Where are they placed in the Postcolonial theory? They are everywhere because they are the group which is actually investigated, explained, explored, and exploited by adults, the colonizers who need an object: the other11.

Perry Nodelman, “The Other: Orientalism, Colonialism, and Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature AssociationQuarterly 17.1 (1992): 29–35

Riris K. Toha Sarumpaet, Pedoman Penelitian Sastra Anak (Jakarta: Yayasan Pustaka Obor, 2014) 112.

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With such views, silencing occurs as the impact of how adults as the definition givers of ‘childhood’ and therefore ‘Children’s Literature’ whichperpetuates controls over children’s rights to read or not to read in their books. Frequently, they meet adults’advantages: the feeling of security by preventing children from the exposures of difficult topics of sexuality or painful life and the easier tasks as well as the maintenance of power relation by displaying only ‘good’ and submissive characters instead of the bad or rebellious ones.

In different perspective, Heins reported the unchecked arguments to say children as uncorrupted, asexual, and psychologically vulnerable have also been the causes12. In her sight through history, children’s innocence is in fact a recent historical phenomenon and culturally invented instead of being naturally inherent. It is not until 17th century that children have been considered asexual. It is also only in the modern era childhood has been seen as peculiarly vulnerable state that their life and freedom is deprived from those ‘troublesome’ themes13.

Unfortunately, as these all unquestioned arguments are massively believed to be applicable to all children, children are then seen as a group of people with general similarities not differing each other. They are a general class without specificities in gender, race, cultural background, or abilities. As a result, the assumptions imply that individual children are generalized to be more like each other than to be individual. This also means that when children are understood in the term of limitation, they are

Marjorie Heins,Not in Front of the Children:“ Indecency,” Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth. (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2007) 20.

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all seen as less knowledgeable, less resistance, and less resilient in stereotypical fashion.

Nodelman continues that the most significant effect that common assumptions about childhood has on children’s reading is to deprive children of access to books14. Many adults are far more interested in determining what children should not read than what and how they should. By using a harmless-sound name of book selection, adults carelessly perform silencing and censorship on children’s books. Blume herself likely realizes that she prevents herself from being a pro-censorship author that she was named by the American Library Association as the second-most censored author15. Yet, as the spokeswoman in the National Coalition against Censorship in America she views:

I believe censorship grows out of fear, and because fears is contagious, some parents are easily swayed…Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if children do not read about it, their children won’t know about it, it won’t happen16.

However, the fact that Blume has become significant writer because she has achieved her fame as a writer from children who became her readers and fans must prove something significant about pleasures for reading honest stories with kinds of existed-yet-silenced problems of childhood. Blume’s works have collectively been sold more than 70 million copies. Fourteen of her books are on the Publisher’s Weekly Lists of the top-350 all-the time bestselling children’s paperbacks. She also won more than 90 awards and her books have been translated into 26 different 14

Nodelman, The Pleasures 85. 15

Ludwig, et al., 76. 16

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languages.17 Even after more than 30 years of publication, some of her books still endure today18.

As a matter of fact, with the spirit of liberating young readers, the appearance of the so-called taboo matters in Blume’s novels also provides positive impacts as a therapeutic reading for the readers. An expert like Ethen promotes the approach of bibliotherapy as the beneficial integral relationship between the dynamics of the personality and the nature of vicarious experience19. This can be seen from the valuable representation of Blume’s appreciative and adoring fan basethat can be seen from her book Letters to Judy: What Your Kids Wish They Could Tell You (1986) as a compilation of letters from readers of all ages thanking her for addressing difficult issues. Here is one of the letter examples

Dear Judy,

My Mom never talks about the things young girls think most about. She doesn’t know how I feel. I don’t know where I stand in the world. I don’t know who Iam. That’s why I read. To find myself.

Elizabeth, age 1320

Blume’s controversy since 1970 for being the most banned then becomes the starting point of this research.The reaction of 70s’ toward the obscenity and difficult knowledge in children’s books is as great as what it is in Indonesia where this research is conducted. Moral panic has become the respond of parents and educators when ‘inappropriate’ topics are discussed in media and printed materials. For

Ludwig, et al., 18-19. 18

Ludwig, et al., 21. 19

Ethen Newell, “At the North End of Pooh: A Study of Bibliotherapy.”Elementary English 34.1 (1957): 24.

Judy Blume, Letters to Judy: What Your Kids Wish They Could Tell You (New York: G. P. Putman’s Sons, 1986)73.

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example, one of second grade worksheets (LKS) created a great furore as parents complain to find a short story entitled Bang Maman dari Kali Pasir mentioning about a mistress21. The labels have been all the same. These are always about inappropriate issue for kids, the psychological effects to children’s future life, and the belief that children are innocent on the issue.

Most of experts of children’s literature in Indonesia like Winarni (2014), Nurgiyantoro (2013), and even Sarumpaet (1976) exclusively distinguish children’s literature from adults’ by presenting the fixed characteristics about literature for young readers to eliminate prohibited issues (sex, love and eroticism, revenge, negative feeling, evil, death). When they have to exist, the moral values need to be simplified and they end with happy ending. Children’s stories also have to be short and to the point, to be dynamic, and to have obvious cause and effect. They posses clear one-dimensional characterizations which emphasize the bad and the good with black-and-white personalities. Children’s fictions then have to be informative and beneficial for children’s development, knowledge, and specific skills22. This lead the children’s literature authors silence the out-of-category issues even before they write the stories.

Such discourse brings this research to consider the fact that, through Judy Blume’s novels,there are pleasures behind voicing the silenced is indeed important to observe. In addition, the novels’ practical uses as healing stories also necessary to 21

Ratih Prahesti Sudarsono,“Tarik BukuBang Maman dan Istri Simpanan!” 12 Apr. 2012. Edukasi. Kompas.com.Website. 26 Mar. 2014.

<http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/2012/04/12/13025135/Tarik.Buku.Bang.Maman.dan.Istri.S impanan>.

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analyze. By implementing perspectives grounded on the poststructuralist and postcolonial point of views which sees the pleasures in Children’s Literature as the pleasures of all literature, this research tries to relate the pleasures found in Blume’s selected novels to the silenced issues which are voiced through the texts. This research also applies the approach of bibliotherapy in order to see the therapeutic uses of literature implied in her novels to show kinds of healings and helpsBlume’s novels can offer to young readers.

2. Problem Limitations

This study mainly focuses on silenced realities oftenappear in Blume’s novels. The voicing of the silenced frequently occurs through the intrinsic elements of the novels. It is searchable in characters depiction and the characterization because through the dialogues, the comments, and the appearance of the main characters, the operation of identification can be seen. This also means that it is because in the identification lies the ideology or beliefs in viewing childhood, Children’s Literature, and its silencing.

From the 27 works written by Judy Blume, the researcher makes a selection based on the consideration that the books (or the main characters) are popular as well as controversial. They include Blubber, Forever, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, Tiger Eyes,Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Deenie, andIt’s Not the End of the World, andThen Again, Maybe I Won’t23. This selection helps to analyze the pleasuresand the importance of voicing the silenced through Blume’snovels.

Mark I. West, Trust Your Children: Voices Against Censorship in Children’s Literature (New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1988) 3.

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This study also focuses on drawing insight the perspectives of Poststructuralism and post-colonialism to break down the very basic of understanding childhood which also constitute the understanding of CL pleasures. Bibliotherapy which connects fictions to their function to help readers dealing with reality is also employed partially, in which the study highly uses the healing functions or the cathartic effects suggested; however the practical treatment involving readers and trainers to measure the successis out of this research’s purposes.

3. Definition of Terms

In order to have a shared understanding as well as to consistently refer the important definitions, this part of research explains the following terms:

A. Child/Children

There is no single meaning in giving definition of ‘children’ and this influences the constitution of multitude understandings on ‘children’s literature’. Andrews argues that the portrayal of children and child readers is in fact the social construction of the dominant culture24. As a result, the definition of ‘children’ in a particular culture depends on how it understands‘children’in its reign of truth.

Oberstein also suggests that the range of ages of childhood differs from one place to the other and therefore it is barely said that the standard to define ‘children’ can be universally formulated25. According to Travers in Oberstein, the limit between

See Andrews in Widyastuti Purbani, Ideologi Anak Ideal dalam Lima Fiksi Anak Unggulan Indonesia Akhir Masa Orde Baru (Studi Kasus tentang Fiksi-fiksi Pemenang Sayembara Penulisan Naskah Fiksi Anak Depdiknas dan Penerima Penghargaan Buku Bacaan Anak Nasional Tahun 1996-2001). diss., University of Indonesia, 2009, 24

See Oberstein in Peter hunt, -ed.,International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. (New York: Routledge, 2005) 19.

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when the childhood is over and when maturity starts is not clear not cut. He adds it is probably true that childhood never ends26.

Even though the limit is blurred, there is one thing confirmed by the experts saying that children are not the miniature of adults or the small version of adults. Children differ from adults in experiences not in species, in degree but not in kind. In short, it can be said that the definition of ‘children’ is not universally fixed.

Developmentally and biologically, childhood refers to the period between infancy and adulthood. In the legal system of many countries like Indonesia, there is an age of majority when childhood officially ends and a person legally becomes an adult. The ages range from 16 to 21, with 18 being the most common. Therefore, to take a stand, this research refers to the age range of 0-18 yeas old to address ‘children’.

B. Child Reader

The unclear-cut limit when the childhood ends might be the cause why some books intended for adults become children’s books and vice versa. Importantly, Jan suggests that children’s literature is intended for children. However, most importantly, it has to bein children’s side27.

A child reader, as well as the other readers, is then understood as a reader who has specific knowledge, comprehension skills, and tastes as a child. As this readers are usually categorized by the western discourse of human development based on the range of ages to gain inappropriate reading materials; however, in post-developmental

Oberstein in Hunt, The Companion 18. 27

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point of view, their skills and ages are not classified for thought and intellectuality including the comprehension, tastes, or reading experiences are learned and trained instead of evolutionary.

As a result, in this study, the readers of Judy Blume imply the readers who have taste for exploring bad realities, who take pleasures and have the ability to make sense of the portrayal of bad mannerism, and who are not annoyed by the inexperience to the exposure of difficult knowledge.

C. Children’s Literature

Many experts, in short, believe Children’s Literature is the oral and written literary texts whose implied readers are those who enjoy the pleasures and can make sense to have children point of views. It can be created both by adults and children themselves. Children’s literature is commonly characterized by the fictional characters which are close to children’s life. It does not only use children’s voice, children’s literature can also have adults as its characters. The settings are also taken from the places that children are familiar with as well as imaginative places they want to visit. The themes in children’s literature include the problems and the interests of childhood28.

However, since the difference between ‘adult’ and ‘children’ is understood to be less significant,it is noted that the pleasures of children’s literature are essentially the pleasures of all literature. As well as the adultliterature, children’s literature also demands enjoyments, knowledge, and understanding. Therefore, sophisticated or complex themes and issues can be one of the characteristics of this literature.

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4. Problem Formulations

Based on the background elaborated in the previous sub-chapter, the research focuses the formulation on how the commonly silenced realities including sensuality and sexuality, bad sides of life, and unexpected behaviors are disapproved and silenced by adults yet shown in Blume’s novels; and how those silenced, on the contrary, empowers the book aesthetically and practically. Therefore, the problem formulation is in what way Blume’s selected novels yield pleasures in Children’s Literature as well as their therapeutic effects in voicing the following silenced issues:

1. Sensuality and Sexuality 2. Bad Sides of Life

3. The Unexpected Manners 5. Objectives of the Study

In the attempt to investigate pleasures and the practical uses of voicing the silenced brute sides of life, sexuality, and the unexpected behaviors, this research has an objective formulated to elaborate how Blume’s selected novels yield pleasures in Children’s Literature as well as their therapeutic effects in voicing the following silenced issues:

1. Sensuality and Sexuality 2. Bad Sides of Life

3. The Unexpected Manners 6. Benefits of the Study

The results of this study may contribute to share the conceptual understanding about the existence of common but unchecked assumptions about childhood and

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children’s literature as well as the power relation between adults and children which have led into silencing in creating stories for children so that the single definition about how children is so long understood in society is possible to question and to criticize. Especially in Indonesia, this research is expected to be beneficial as

children’s literature is mostly silenced from themes like brute sides of life, sexuality,

and unexpected behaviors in childhood and their literature.

While practically, this study is aimed at sharing knowledge to children’s

literature critics, writers, educators, and parents (including local and general) about the

benefits of being aware of silencing in the production or understanding children’s

literary works. This, then, enables the presence of more honest authors and caring adults who put children, their life, and their problems as the subject in their own literature so that pleasurable stories can be achieved to encourage wider number of young readers and the practically useful stories can be used to help children learn about their real life through literature.

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Review of Related Studies

As one of prominent authors, Judy Blume has her works been studied and analysed in many ways. There are plenty of admirations come to appraise her works despite the complaints. Yet, an interesting constructive critic by Nodelman shows the cultural arrogance in Blume’s Superfudge in a journal article entitled Cultural Arrogance and Realism in Judy Blume’s Superfudge29. Young readers and students respond to this book that they are reading a realistic novel. Surprised by this fact, Nodelman explains the objection to label Blume’s novel as a realistic one when he found several oddities which lead the book to be more fantasy instead of realistic.

At first, he argues that the North American soul depicted in Superfudge displays some cultural arrogance and blindness because the novel makes the behaviour and the environment typically North American and thus less realistic due to the inevitable stereotyping: the large houses surrounded by lawns with the typical middle class family and circumstances. Also, in Nodelman’s observation the protagonist Peter is a typical child who does typical things without random experiences. He (Peter) does exactly what eleven-years-olds are supposed to do: claiming to dislike yet love his younger brother, finding modern art to be an example of the ridiculous adults’ pretension, believing his own parents are insufferably stupid, 29

Perry Nodelman, “Cultural Arrogance and Realism in Judy’s Blume’s Superfudge.” Children’s Literature in Education19.4 (1988): 230–241.

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and is embarrassed by but beginning to be interested in girls. Nodelman also sees the oddity addressing to the analysis that Peter is supposed to be telling his own story, but he often sounds less like a child than like a middle-aged woman with a keen eye for the cute silliness of kids.

Saying that Blume’s novel is realistic, Nodelman argues, means forgetting millions of children who have diversity life to face problems like what Peter does. In addition, the author is likely to use typicality to replace reality. It means, in order to be identified with, the character must be devoid of any distinguishing characteristics alien to the readers. As a matter of fact, Nodelman sums up books like Superfudge helps to foster personal and cultural blindness - an unconscious but dangerous form of arrogance.

In accordance to Nodelman’s critic discussed above, the writer of this research finds it true to know that Peter the main character is not as real as the other of Blume’s characters. This supportsher concern that Peter is not included as the data source though for different reason from what Nodelman suggests. Related to this research, it is because beside taken from the popular books of Blume, the data is also taken from the adorable characters to meet one of the purposes of this study i.e. to see the implication of the voicing the silenced to the pleasures of the books which requires the honest, close, and successfully identified to be loved by the readers. Even though Superfudge remains to be one of popular book, yet the hilarious ‘little brat’ Fudge seems to be the attractive point of this work instead of Peter as the protagonist. More than that, Superfudge does not share significant controversy for voicing silenced and important issues to defence in this research.

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In a different study, Manning et al. in “Questioning the Self, Questioning Others, Questioning Relationships: A Qualitative Inquiry into the Pedagogical Value of Judy Blume”observe the responses from on-line message forums focusing on both positive and negative reactions to Blume’s novels30. Differing from this research and with their feminist perspectives, the major themes found to be most discussed are Blume’s novels play as learning tools and as connection, the issues of religion and sexuality, and the problems with punishment and disdain for reading her books.

The analysis shows that as the learning tool,Blume’s novels do not only share sexual self-awareness. They also share the awareness of the life lesson, especially self-empowerment including self-concept and self-esteem establishing that one can feel good about themselves regardless of how they look and their intellectual level. The sexuality themes in the novels can be comforting parents, too, as they can be the learning tool to allow them exploring what their children may be facing despite to be the ice breaker of discussing sensitive topics.

Playing role as connection,Blume’s novels become a channel of commonality where people can discuss or share things obtained from her books. Her books enable discussions like sexuality to enter the public realm even though it is not always to be a serious nature.

Sexuality is also the other major theme for discussion among the respondents. Blume’s novels create depictions of sexuality which falls to be a part of life filled with joy. Even though some called her books as pornography, Manning et al. see that 30

Jimmie Manning, et al., “Questioning the Self, Questioning Others, Questioning Relationships: A Qualitative Inquiry into the Pedagogical Value of Judy Blume”. MP: A Feminist Journal Online (2007): 7–15.

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the works, from the feminist viewpoint, are not necessarily simply seeking for pleasure nor degrading women.

The issue relate to religion is also found to be the other issue debatable in Blume’s novels that is considered having problematic implications for children to read. Even though some parents and educators have been nervous talking about the piety of religions and how sacred it is to be presented in child characters of Blume who question faith, Manning et al. suggests that her works are largely faith-positive since it is not that the character like Margaret in Margaret wants to abandon faith, on the contrary, it is because she needs to understand about it.

The fifth or the final theme discussed is about the problem with punishment and disdain in reading Blume’s works. This last theme deals with the negative responses regarding consequences and rejecting ideology. Some respondents express that Blume has crossed the lines. She enters into sacred territories which are commonly unwanted. The rejection towards ideological content of Blume’s novels indeed carries feminist understanding that the works might not be essential, but they are helpful because they provide supports and solace of the issues kids are facing without forcing to engage with such issues in the real life. Most of all, her works suggest it is normal to question things in life from sexuality, racism, to religion.

In a quite similar way to the analysis of Manning et al, this research also wants to find howBlume’s novels which are problematic with their sacred issues are indeed influential in giving practical usages for her readers. The main difference is that the study of Manning et al. is conducted under Feminist viewpoints while this research applies poststructuralist and postcolonial perspective in seeing Children’s

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Literature especially when dealing with the power relation of adults to children and also censorship in Children’s Literature whichcausesBlume’s novelsto be kept away from the intended readers. The other difference is that this research presents the mechanic of the initial problems why censorship. This research also presents the relation between those ‘sacred’ issues to pleasures and benefits they provide in being existed in children’s books.

It is true a lot has been said about censorship and silencing in Children’s Literature. “Censorship and Children’s Literature in Britain Now, or, The Return of Abigail”by Hunt, for example, demonstrates the problem of simplistic censorship in children’s books31. Taking the case on Pirani’s Abigail at the Beach (1988), Hunt claims that the prerequisites of censoring this picture book in Britain was led by the government policies, which have cut school library budgets and school library services, and the selection procedures of those powerful bookselling companies dominating the market. Hunt mentions that the censorship was done as a result of a primitive, simplistic, literalist, cause-and-effect concept of reading and common sense. This implies the simplistic relationship between text and the reader so that when the alcohol or violence is wrong, they should never appear in the books because the readers will be automatically and directly affected. As the consequence, government policy wiped out the excellent School Libraries service that individual teachers in individual schools have no freedom to select books their own; and this means a narrower selection occurred.

Peter Hunt, “Censorship and Children’s Literature in Britain Now, Or, The Return of Abigail.”Children’s Literature in Education28.2 (1997): 95–103.

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Hunt also adds that Children’s Literature has been seen as a commodity. Four complaints attacked Abigail at the Beach were found to be enough to take the publisher withdrawing the book from the market. Hunt believes that there have been plenty of books never reached the intended readers because they are censored by the buyers-adults-who put little sympathy to Children’s Literature and merely see it in term of generality and minority.

Working with similar issue of censorship (note: the researcher puts‘silencing particular issues’ to falls to this term), this study helps to understand how censorship works in the publication of a children’s book. Importantly, it might be used to represent what happens in the books withdrawal from bookstores. This strengthens what this research tries to imply. That is to battle the act of silencing and censorship in children’s booksbecause it creates loss to the rights of authors who create, readers who are the target, and teachers who present.

Not only presenting the case of censorship existence, this study also needs to refer to a previous study which elaborates the strategies to deal with it. Fanetti suggests several points for teachers who are in their effort to walk in the fine line about engaging students with challenging and challenged literature in order to have less fear and make a space for healthy controversy of any book contain ‘inappropriate’ issues or language32.

It is important for, firstly, conceiving children as capable of understanding complex and challenging ideas by encountering the deeply-rooted conception of

Susan Fanetti, “A Case for Cultivating Controversy: Teaching Challenged Books in K-12 Classrooms.”The ALAN Review 40.1 (2012): 6–17.

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children and childhood which tend to accept children as lack of numbers of capabilities. The second is that teachers need to be aware to differentiate the nature of censorship and controversy. In this case, educators have to be highly confident in discussing controversial issues to their class because so often they are over fearful about censorship that might arise when they present the uncommon topics and eventually decide to teach safely by doing self-censorship even without any trials which makes children’s access for healthy discussion degrade. The third strategy is that it is important to see with clear eyes that the real challenge in cultivating controversy superseded the individual teacher’s ability to combat them. Laws can be used as reasons for some communities to threat or to call names the teachers using controversy to educate. The fourth one is that Fanneti elaborates the appearance of hope through open and genuine discussion or dialogue which can be the space for teachers to answer parental attacks toward controversial issues in their children’s learning materials. In doing so, the comprehension policy and supportive school administrators are necessary in building the mutual trusts between the teacher as the experts in education and parents who are experts about their own children. The last strategy is gaining supports from students’ parents from the start. The ideas on updating parents on current or upcoming events in class can be valuable to connect with them. Teachers can notify them if their children are about to read a controversial book by for example giving reading list for the whole semester with brief summaries and teaching focus. In enabling the involvement of parents, teachers can minimize any sense of disenfranchisement that is so often the root of most parental protests.

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Such study helps this research to put suggestions that there is something can be done in fighting with censorship as this research’s finding implies.They are useful in bringing the implication of the research to be more practical and logical when fighting against censorship is surely not an easy task for authors or educators of children’s literature especially when it regards how experts and Blume herself struggled for defences from those who attacked her novels.

Moving from the discussion about censorship, reviews on Children’s Literature as a genre is also necessary to address. The first theoretical perspective comes from Rose’s “The Case of Peter Pan: The Impossibility of Children’s Fiction”33 as one of foundational studies recently significant to the concept of Children’s Literature. In her writing, Rose uses Barrie’s Peter Pan (1904) to have far argument that rather than addressing children’s needs, children’s literature appears to be a form of seduction. A book like Barrie’s which in fact has been named as classic literature for children does not reflect the desires, interests, or characteristics of actual children. On the contrary, children’s literature perpetuates adults’ fantasies about childhood. For Rose, Barrie’s novel exemplifies the impossibility of children’s fictions because it is neither for nor about children. In this situation she adds authors unconsciously “seduce” or “colonize” children by writing books reflecting the adult ideal of children. Both children’s authors and critics both persist in conceiving of young people as a unified group of people defined by all their simplicity and

Jacqueline Rose, “The Case of Peter Pan: The Impossibility of Children’s Fiction.”The Children’s Culture Reader. Ed. Henry Jenkins. (New York: NYU Press, 1998) 95–109.

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primitivism. Children’s books are then seen as vehicle which shows innocence not as property but as a portion of adults’ desire.

Importantly, Rose also considers the impossibility of accurate representation through the instability of language. As well as Saussure as mentioned, Rose believes the fact that language does not simply reflect the world suggests but rather the manipulation adults present in the narrative that this lead children’s literature to be problematic. While denying this eliminates any barrier to offering definitions on the nature and perception of childhood and production of children’s literature.

Rose’s idea precedes Nodelman’s argumentation about colonialism in Children’s Literature in which his approach is used in this study. Though both Rose and Nodelman agree in seeing that there is always a ‘hidden adult’ in children’s literature, the difference lies on the fact that Rose tends to emphasize the seeming innocence and evasion of adult concern in children’s literature texts, while Nodelman considers the adult concerns to be more overt but less negative about the nature of the adult presence. Yet, Rose’s study has proven something important that Children’s Literature is always problematic with the presence of adults as the writes. However, it does not mean something impossible about that. Nodelman’s argument applied in this research shows the possibility by usingBlume’s novels which are written with adults’ mind yet respecting children as the readers.

Necessarily, the other related study is also taken locally from Indonesia in order to give a portrait of the life of Indonesian Children’s Literature so that the results of the research can provide its benefits in advance. It is quite unfortunate that in Indonesian academic studies on children’s literature are rarely produced and also

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trivially viewed as well as doubted for its significance. Luckily, Purbani as one of critics finds the important fact that the child characters in five best Indonesian children’s fictions (winners of 1996-2001 National Children’s Book) are under several ideologies: perfectionism, paternalism, patriarchy, and instant ideology.

The texts worship perfect heroes who are religious, intelligent, well-mannered, nationalist, brave, environmentalist, and leading. The texts also place children under ideologies that they celebrate freedom for boys but marginalize girls and hinder them from really learning through process. Those ideologies work through employment of adults as narrators and focalizers in the authoritative ways. They also operate using legitimation, fragmentation, and dissimulation strategies in order to make the ideologies appear explicitly and to strengthen the didacticism as the purposes. In doing so, Purbani observes, the texts establish the power relation in which children are seen as inferior beings and treat them more as the objects instead of subjects. The research also finds that building the perfect children is in fact the important agenda of the new Order Government. Even in the late of the era, children were still viewed as tabula rasa or blank sheet of paper which eventually leads them to be always in need of parental guidance. Another prominent view is the way how Children’s Literature is considered as the source of wisdom that didacticism is more than vital.

Purbani’s dissertation which is entitled “Ideologi Anak Ideal dalam Lima Fiksi Anak Unggulan Indonesia Akhir Masa Orde Baru”(The Idealized Child in Five Best Indonesian Fictions Written in the New Order Era) is used to support this research because it uncovers the hidden ideologies, power, and interest behind the

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common assumptions about childhood which have been long believed in Indonesia as ‘common’ and unproblematic. This research says something important about Children’s Literature that it is ideological. Therefore, to uncover hidden ideologies becomes necessary to help critics to problematize the common beliefs. In other words, it is used to initiatethe problematization of silencing in children’s books.

Since this research also deals with the practical uses of delivering sensitive topics in literature for young readers for their daily life, Bott’s journal article entitled “Why We Must Read Young Adult Books that Deal with Sexual Content” might explain why conducting this research can be simply significant34. Bott observes several controversial books for young readers including the issues of rape in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Target by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson, Inexcusable by Chris Lynch, and Jailbait by Leslea Newman. He finds the books offer variety of plots and solutions in which the protagonists have to cope by the power of story in which it can validate readers’ special experience and condition and give them hope and comfort in their loneliness and invisibility. This also has relation to the fact that many of young people do not find themselves in the pages of curriculum mainly used. As a result he suggests that it is necessary to consider that those often-controversial books, because such books may exactly what kids need.

Brinda in her journal article“Can you name one good thing that comes out of war?”: Adolescents’ Questions about War and Conflict Are Answered in Nonfiction Literature”also claims that young people have questions about what is right or wrong

C. J. Bott, “Why We Must Read Young Adult Books That Deal with Sexual Content.”The ALAN Review 33.3 (2006): 26–29.

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and what is true or false, and what is really behind wars, ethnic or cultural hatred, and conflict of political and cultural leaders around the world exposed in media, journalists, teachers, parents, and peers35. Yet, they also expect answers from the point of view of those who can tell the truth about it. Brinda names literature as a media to respect, acknowledge, guide, and inspire them with resources that accurately, aesthetically, and authentically address their questions, curiosities, and concerns.

She proves that the answers toward several questions and the concern given by her students about war and conflict can be found in literature ranges from memoirs of Holocaust survivors, comments of Hitler Youth, diaries of a thirteen-year-old girl in Sarajevo, and an eighteen-year old girl in Baghdad, to images and accounts of an author who traveled with children into the more contemporary war zones of Lebanon, Mozambique, El Salvador, and Washington, DC.

She argues it is due to individual human stories within situations of persecution and genocide has the ability to engage students due to the deeply human aspects including the passions and emotions that are communicated. She adds that in these stories of suffering humanity, readers may at times hear above the cries of despair, the faint, constant murmuring of the compassionate heart that will lead them out of the darkness and toward the light.

White in Brinda suggests nonfiction literature about teenagers, or books with comments from teenagers facing these horrible sorts of conflicts, enables students to

Wanda Brinda,“‘Can You Name One Good Thing That Comes out of War?’”The ALAN Review 35.2 (2008): 14–23.

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read, hear, and feel the impassioned pleas, rages, and cries of young people like themselves in situations of anger, fear, loss, and hope. Identification leads to empathy, and empathy leads to understanding. The provocative, personal questions of kids are answered in accessible, honest, and relevant ways by people they will listen to because those people matter.

The questions posed were only a glance of how young readers perceive conflict whether in the world or in their community. The books presented were gateways to help young people hear, see, and vicariously experience truths not from the media, websites, or history texts, but from the souls of those who have lived through war. Readers want and deserve answers to their provocative questions that go beyond mere facts, figures, maps, and political rhetoric. They need meaningful words and inspiration from those who have experiences to which they can relate.

The last journal article written by Brinda surely adds the significance of this research since it proves how nonfiction literature can provide information and engagement of feeling at the same time about scarce topic like wars. It confirms the role of literature to address the questions of young people, not only about the specifics of certain topics like war, but how the characters or the survivors found inspiration and support to live, to hope when facing difficult life and envisioned a future in the confusion of their present circumstances.

2. Review of Related Theories

As this study conducts the relation of voicing the silenced to the enjoyment of reading and the practical usage of literature, it is necessary to clarify some terms used as well as to support the research with the related theories. The related theories

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discussed in this part contribute to be the bases in understanding the factors promoting the act of silencing or censorship in Children’s Literature. The factors include the problem of generalization in understanding children, the common assumptions about childhood, and the colonial attitudes when dealing with them. It is then also important to discuss dulce de utile which is about kinds of pleasures should be met in reading literature and the relevance of having literature read related to the real life.

1.1. The Problems of Generalization and Common Assumptions in Understanding ‘Childhood’ and Children’s Literature

Understanding “children” is inevitably needed to constitute the understanding of ‘Children’s Literature’. Some prominent scientists and psychologists have engaged in laying the foundation for understanding ‘children’. The theorists whom ideas have been widely applied when dealing with giving answers on “who are children” for examples are: Freud, Piaget, and Erikson. The three of them had developed significant studies particularly on children’s developmental stages in their various ways. In a short explanation, Freud (1856-1939) developed a general study of psychological development from infancy to adulthood. Erikson’s psychosocial (1902-1994) based on Freud’s psychosexual took broader view of the social and cultural components of an individual’s developmental stages. While Piaget (1986-1980) described the development based on children’s cognitive, how children think.

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As well as the other theorists, Piagetian theory on developmental stages has been continually developed and expanded to help literary experts determine the best and the most appropriate education, including literature, for children.

However, Nodelman observes that the empirical study of Piaget seems to lie on the serious underestimation in seeing children which supposed to be misled by his own unconsciousness assumptions about childhood in general: the assumptions that thought develops in an evolutionary process in which what comes later is superior to what comes earlier36. Piagetan theory sees the stages through which childhood thinking pass as imperfect approximations of an ideal adult standard of mental functioning, and assumes that the worlds children invent at earlier stages of development are false and deficient of an objective truth that is only available to mature adults.

It is then unfortunate that such classification leads to the inevitable generalization in which children are understood to be a class of people which are so often seen to inherent inferior qualities which distinguish the imperfect children from the perfect adults. These are contrast to what Purbani believes that children are in fact heterogeneous in personality, interests, characteristics, and talents37. Coles in Nodelman also demonstrates his disagreement to the generalization in defining children since he reported his experiences with the ‘out-of-categories’ children who are never involved in the Swiss and white middle-class children observed by Piaget38.

Nodelman, The Pleasures 76. 37

Widyastuti Purbani,. "Sastra Anak Indonesia: Kegagalan Memahami Siapa Anak." Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta. 2003. Children’s Literature Seminar.

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It points out that the intensity and maturity of their moral attitudes contrast with the categories of some theorists who have moral development all figured out because life is not always a matter of neatly arranged academic hurdles, with grades given along the way. This implies that some kids have various experiences with life while generalization never applies to all cases because it sees children only to be typical and more like each other of being children than unlike each other in being individuals. In fact, some of them have witnessed ‘adults’ matters’ like violence or sexuality, which according to Piaget do not included inchildren’s experience.

As how it is not easy to give definition about who children are, defining Children’s Literature then also becomes problematic. Nodelman strongly criticizes that the developmental stages have led the book selection to almost exclusively and seriously limit children only with literature which fulfils the characterizations Piagetian stages discovered until these children enter the new stages. For example, children are avoided of treating content which is considered too far removed from the child’s limited horizons, optimistic, and active world. This means that applying Piaget’s classifications rigidly shackles children from richer literature since they are kept away from them until they enter the suit stages39. Nodelman adds, believing that ‘this is a book that six-year-old will enjoy’ is not only disregarding; but it is also active campaigning against anything distinct or individual in both children’s books and their readers40.

Nodelman, The Pleasure 78. 40

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However, it is also problematical to see the fact that Children’s Literature is understood as ‘literature for children’, crucially, what means by ‘literature for children’ is in question since the educators, experts, authors, and publishers of this literature are adults. Noticing that a border lies between adults and children, children’s literature becomes bias in essence.

Adults read and write Children’s Literature as the observers who are ‘spying’ across the border that divides them from children. Nodelman explains this always means they disengage on how the texts might be read by and thus affect child readers41. Therefore, adults tend to focus on how the events described in a book might teach them to have bad manners or good values or whether the language might be too complex to them. This also means that adults assume to know how child readers generally will respond, that is, creating the themes, characters, or plots, which are assumed to be favourable for children.

On his observation, Nodelman finds it surprising that the university students, parents, librarians, and other adults often agree with each other about such kinds of assumptions. The good children’s books should provide simple texts, bright and colourful pictures, and end happily. Too long and too difficult books frustrate children and ruin their interest in reading literary works. It is also commonly assumed that it is important to do books selection based on age because children can enjoy and understand the books that are appropriate to their age. Children are also generally seen to be always excited to the fantasies about animals acting like human.42.

Nodelman, Reading 235. 42

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Robinson Kerry H. Innocence, Knowledge and the Construction of Childhood: The Contradictory Nature of Sexuality and Censorship in Children’s Contemporary Lives. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print

Rose, Jacqueline. “The Case of Peter Pan: The Impossibility of Children’s Fiction.” The Children’s Culture Reader. Ed. Henry Jenkins. New York: NYU Press, 1998. 95–109. Print.

Sarumpaet, Riris K-Toha. Pedoman Penelitian Sastra Anak. Jakarta: Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, 2010. Print.

Schor, Edward L. Caring for Your School-Age Child, Ages 5 to 12: The Complete and Authoritative Guide. New York: Bantam Books, 1996. Print.

Schulz, Kathryn. "Ode to a Four-Letter Word." 5 June 2011. New York Magazine. Website. 25 August 2014. <http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/adam-mansbach-2011-6/>.

Sullivan, Lena. "Myths and Facts About Masturbation." 20 January 2011. Georgia Newsday. Website. 7 September 2013.

<http://www.georgianewsday.com/health/teen/60708-myths-and-facts-about-masturbation.html>.

Szymanski, Mallory. “Adolescence, Literature and Censorship: Unpacking The Controversy Surrounding Judy Blume.”NeoAmericanist 3.1 (Spring/Summer 2007) (2007): 1–10. Print.

Tucker, Nicholas. The Child and the Book: A Psychological and Literary Exploration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Print. West, Mark I.Trust Your Children: Voices Against Censorship in Children’s

Literature. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1988. Print.

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APPENDICES Synopsis 1: Deenie

Deenie is an attractive seventh-grader. Her mother determines that her good looks should not be wasted that she pushes her toward professional modeling even though Deenie is not sure she really wants it. For several times, she has to lie to her mother when trying out for her real dream to be in a cheerleading team because she knows her mother will not let her. In one of the try out, Deenie's gym teacher notices her slightly crooked posture and refers her to an orthopedist who diagnoses adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Even worse, it is because the doctor assures her that wearing a Milwaukee brace for four years is the appropriate treatment.

Wearing the brace becomes a source of her embarrassment, frustration, and anger. She needs to adjust every physical movement that even attaching a pad is not easy to do. For some times masturbating makes Deenie relaxed. Yet, she gets the fear that it is masturbating that makes her spine crooked as she has heard. However, her gym teacher clarifies that both case are unrelated. During the hard time of wearing brace, Deenie are connected to people with handicaps which create sympathy. Her relationships within the family and among friends shift because of this new self-awareness and of others' varied capacities to accommodate to her new limitations. Through many times debates with her mother who hardly accepts her daughter’s condition, Deenie declares that wearing a brace does not define her. Later she also discovers that the boy with whom she has been developing a first romance does not find the brace a barrier either to friendship or to the tentative intimacies of early love. In fact, the family, friends, and she herself begin to forget about the brace.

Synopsis 2: Forever

Katherine, heading for her senior year in high school, finds herself strongly attracted to Michael, in a friend's friend, after a party. As their relationship unfolds, the issue of sex comes up early on. Michael has been sexually active, Katherine has not. Their sex relationship progresses slowly as Katherine says she is not mentally readyso that she rejects Michael’s invitation to have sex on their early dates.

On a ski weekend, Michael and Katherine are involved in mutual masturbation. She learns about male’s body as well as the premature ejaculations. As the times go by, Katherine wants to do more than that with Michael that she prepares for safe sex by taking birth control program. She finally makes the sexual intercourse through some unsuccessful processes. Katherine realizes that sex should be done through practices. Only with someone who loves, a person can take this practice patiently as what Michael does to her. In this stage, Katherine finds something so final about love that she declares for really loving Michael forever.

However, separated for the summer by work that takes them to two different states, Katherine finds herself aware of the limitations of the relationship and ultimately attracted to a tennis instructor, Theo. She rejects Michael’s invitation to sex as she feels the love has gone as the reason she gets involved with Michael

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sexually. Katherine takes her responsibility for breaking the news to Michael when he comes on a surprise visit and the ‘forever’ business is forsaken. Her sexual experiences do not bring miseries to Katherine’s life for all is properly set. Yet, the pain for letting Michael go is so clear that she wants to keep the special moments with him in her mind but never regrets to ever love him.

Synopsis 3: Tiger Eyes

Davey Wexler has just attended the funeral of her father who was shot to death in his store in Atlantic City. After lying in bed for days on end and not eating, Davey starts her tenth year of school, but ends up passing out on her first day from anxiety. The night when her father died remains in her mind so that she longs for her father so much.

Being in a great trauma, Davey's mother, Gwen decides they need to get away for a while. They take up an offer from Adam's older sister, Bitsy, and her husband Walter, to come and stay with them in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

While there, Bitsy and Walter, who do not have children and were never able to have them, start treating Davey and Jason like their own, which eventually creates tension between Davey and the two of them. They do not let her do a number of things because of fear of her getting hurt or killed, and more so when her mother just sits back and allows it to happen.

Meanwhile, as Davey explores the town on her aunt's bicycle, she goes to a canyon and after climbing down, she runs into an older boy who calls himself Wolf. Davey calls herself Tiger when they introduce each other. She also becomes a candy striper at the hospital and meets a cancer patient who turns out to be the father of Wolf. The inspiration from Wolf and his father changes Davey for the better. Her meetings with Mirriam the psychiatrists also brings Davey to decide to remember her father in happiness not in sadness or trauma of the night she witnessed her father dying asking her for help.

Synopsis 4: Then Again, Maybe I Won’t

Eleven-year-old Tony Miglione likes living with his family in Jersey City. He has hard-working parents, a brother and a sister-in-law with a baby on the way, and a grandma living together. The Migliones' financial worries end suddenly when the father sells his invention, an electrical cartridge, to an electronics company.

Tony, his parents, his brother’s family,and his grandma move to a large home on Long Island. In his new days arriving, Tony meets Joel, who lives next door. As days pass, Tony discovers he can watch Joel's 16-year-old sister, Lisa, through his window and hers, as she changes her clothes. Tony's voyeurism becomes his favorite activity. He lies to his parents as he asks for binoculars for watching birds for he knows the real reason is to get closer look of Lisa in getting undressed.

Overall, life on Long Island makes Tony anxious. Mom becomes increasingly concerned with appearances and social standing. She defers to the new maid who insists Grandma who joyfully cooks stay out of the kitchen. Grandma becomes

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depressed and rarely leaves her bedroom. Ralph, the brother, quits his teaching job to work for Dad, which Tony sees as "selling out." Joel repeatedly shoplifts in front of Tony, and Tony wrestles with his conscience about whether to report the boy. On top of everything else, Tony's hormonal changes plague him. He starts having wet dreams and getting erections, even in class. Overwhelmed with unanswered questions and unspoken concerns and anxieties, Tony begins to have stress-induced stomach problems. He assumingly relates his wet dream to the activity of watching Lisa and to the stomach problems.

As finally Tony's stomach pains cause him to collapse on the sidewalk after witnessing one of Joel's shoplifting sprees, Tony is hospitalized and tested for medical problems. The physicians find nothing like Tony assumes and refer him to a psychologist named Dr. Fogel. With him, Tony is finally able to speak openly about his stress and confusion. He begins to learn to deal with his anxiety, stresses, and the changes in life and manage his anger to eventually reduce the stomach pain.

Synopsis 5: Blubber

Blubber delivers a relevant view of bullying, from the perspective of fifth grader, Jill Brenner. As the pudgy Linda presents a classroom assignment on the whale, she is nicknamed “Blubber” by Wendy, the most popular girl at school. Starting from that day, a daily ritual of abuse begins. When Wendy first writes a note using the name Blubber, Jill smiles, not because she thinks it’s funny but because Wendy is watching her. After that, she participates wholeheartedly.

Over the next few weeks, most of the kids laugh at Linda, call her names, spit at her, and trip her. They even physically hold her down to mess with her clothes and later, to force her to eat something unappealing. Linda lets it happen, doing very little to resist or fight back. In the end, they lock her in a closet and declare that she’s on trial to find out who tells on Jill about the vandalism she does in a Halloween night. Wendy is the judge. She forces Linda to admit. Yet, Jill, who initiates the trial, requires it to be fair. This disagreement leads to the ruined relationship with Wendy. Unfortunately, Wendy decides that Jill is now in Linda’s shoes. For the next weeks, Jill is the target of the bully. However, different from Linda, Jill does not let other people decide what is going happen to her. She stands for herself by getting Wendy’s gang disbanded and that is how the bullying ends.

Synopsis 6: It's Not the End of the World

Karen Newman has soured on the idea of marriage. In her diary, she gives each day a letter grade. Yet, her days have not been graded higher than a C-minus. They have been bad days for her. Her parents, who have been quarreling more and more each day, announce that they are splitting up. The father moves out of the family home and plans to go to Las Vegas to file for divorce, much to Ellie's delight and Karen's worry.

(5)

. With the support from her grandfather, Karen tries every possible way she can think of to stop the divorce from happening, including sending anniversary cards and feigning illness, but her efforts are ultimately fruitless. Even with her brother’s case of runaway, instead of bringing her father closer to her mother, Karen’s parents quarrel more violently than before.

At this point, Karen begins to learn about divorce through The Boys and Girls Book about Divorce as well as to learn about accepting it. In the end, Karen decides that, in spite of her parents' impending divorce, things will get better. The last diary entry in the book has Karen giving the day a B-plus.

Synopsis 7: Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Sally J. Freedman moves from New Jersey to Miami, Florida with her brother and their mother and grandmother at the end of World War II. In her new school, she meets new friends for example Barbara, who teaches Sally all about the school. Later, she meets Andrea, a sixth grader, and Shelby, a girl in a different class than Sally. Sally has a difficult first day at school, but after a while, she begins to make more friends. There, she meets Peter Hornstein, a so-called 'Latin Lover', who seems to like Sally, but Peter ignores Sally when Jackie, a new girl, arrives at the school. It troubles Sally that Peter is going after a different girl, and she begins to like Peter back. Sally kisses Peter at their teacher's wedding at the end of the story.

A central part in the story is when Sally meets a man named Mr. Zavodsky, who lives in her building in Miami. He offers Andrea and her candy. Sally refuses the candy even though Andrea accepts it, which makes Sally upset. Sally, who is Jewish, notices that Mr. Zavodsky looks similar to Adolf Hitler and comes to believe (because of her active imagination) that he is actually Hitler, in disguise and retiring in Miami.Sally frequently narrates stories about Hitler’s cruelattitudes.

Sally writes (but never mails) a lot of letters to Mr. Zavodsky, always saying she will get him someday. She spies on him, secretly listening to their phone conversations on a party line. She worries at one point Mr. Zavodsky killed her friend Shelby, and she believes the rock candy he offers is actually poison. In the end, Mr. Zavodsky dies of a heart attack.

Synopsis 8: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

Margaret Ann Simon is an eleven year old who is entering sixth grade. Though she has been raised with no organized religion, she talks to God on a regular basis. Her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey, the week before Margaret begins school. Margaret’s first friend is Nancy Wheeler, another sixth grader who lives six houses away. Nancy immediately recruits Margaret to join her secret club that includes two other girls. The club decides to make rules about always meeting on Mondays, wearing bras, writing weekly entries in the “boy book” of crushes, and reporting the moment when they get the first period.

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At school, Mr. Benedict, the teacher, assigns the class a yearlong project to research any topic they would like, as long as it is meaningful to them. Margaret decides to do her project about finding a religion, since she has been raised without one and wants to decide if she should join the YMCA or the Jewish Community Center like anybody else in the town.

As Margaret quickly becomes acquainted with the role of the students, she meets Laura Danker, the tall, beautiful, developed girl who is the source of bad-reputation rumors of going behind a store to make out with a boy Margaret likes, Moose Freed.

Through the novel, Margaret is told to have trouble finding God to decide the religion. She becomes increasingly frustrated in her search. The days get worse when Margaret’s estranged grandparents pay a visit, her disdain for organized religion grows. Her grandparents, whom Margaret has never met before, are focused only on Margaret being a Christian and attending Sunday school. The rift the argument causes in Margaret’s family puts distaste in her mouth toward aligning herself with any religion, so she gives up her search and are mad to God.

The madness is also strongly driven by the emotional turmoil in understanding her pre-teen sexuality and individual voice in the book. Like her friends, Margaret is desperate to start her period and develop breasts. She asks her mother for a bra, exercises to make them grow bigger, and stuffs her bras with cotton balls in a party. She also purchases sanitary pads for herself to try. Importantly, she even prays to God to let her, again, be like anybody else to ensure that she is normal. Yet, she does not notice God’s answer to her prays. It is not until the days when Margaret learns from the facts how Nancy has led rumors about Laura just because how she looks should not define one’s appearance. Margaret also comes to understanding that waiting patiently for her period is much better than lying about it like what Nancy does. Her mother also helps a lot to answer questions about getting period.

As the school year ends, Margaret has emerged a more confident, self-assured twelve-year-old with excitement about starting junior high school. In the final pages of the book, Margaret gets her period as well as gladly acknowledges that a story about Moose Freed is another Nancy’s lies. First she tells her mother about the period. Then she goes to God with the good news, saying that she knows he was there because he wouldn’t have missed it.

Voicing the silenced : between pleasures and therapeutic effects of children`s literature in Judy Blume`s selected novels.

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Voicing the silenced : between pleasures and therapeutic effects of children`s literature in Judy Blume`s selected novels.

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