in the following example which shows a great conflict Karen witnesses between her parents which is the result of the constant fights in It’s Not the End:
My mother shouted, “I should have listened to Ruth a long time ago. I should have listened the first time I brought you home. She saw you for what you
are. Conceited, selfish —“
“One more word and I’m going to take the kids away from you” “Don’t you dare threaten me” Mom screamed.
“I mean it. So help me. I’ll have you declared incompetent.” “You rotten bastard...” 134-135
Another conflict between parents also occurs in Margaret even though compared to what happens to Karen, Margaret’s parents argue for more common
disagreement that exists in their household only as a way of negotiating. One of the examples can be se
en when after fourteen years of never sending letter, Margaret’s mother Barbara gives address to her parents which makes her husband upset.
My father hollered. ‘I can’t believe you, Barbara After fourteen years you sent them
a Christmas card?’ “I was feeling sentimental. So I sent a card. I didn’t write anything on it. Just
our names.” My father shook the letter at my mother. “So now, after fourteen years –
fourteen years
, Barbara Now they change their minds?” “They want to see us. That’s all.”
“They want to see you, not me They want to see Margaret To make sure she doesn’t have horns”
“Herb Stop it You’re being ridiculous---“ “I’m being ridiculous
That’s funny, Barbara. That’s very funny.” 101 Beside children are assumed not to be ready with such horrible view about
their parents’ relationship, it is also the assumption saying that children are not supposed to be acknowledged and exposed to ‘adults’ business’. It is because their
world is ideally and homogeneously playful and happy, while Blume’s novels do not
strengthen the common belief by even disregarding children’s otherness. Unless, as Nodelman claims,
the world in children’s books can only become forever PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
‘nonfictional’ in the sense that the books available for them claim to be true as the writers try to communicate knowledge accurately for the representations of reality in
those books have almost the same status as the ones in fiction: both are always slanted or only partial version of the truth
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. Writers select which facts to provide and which ones to leave out and they still interpret those facts in order to make them
meaningful for child readers. In their claims to be nonfictional, there is strong potential for readers to accept those facts as ‘truth’ as they persuade young readers to
live in a world that is described in surprisingly consistent ways: simple, happy, homogeneous, and hopeful.
1.2. Divorce
When the rate of divorce globally increases, Blume deliberately picked the issue as the main theme in a family to argue that children might cope with a very
hurting situation. Divorce can create impacts to every member of a family, not only to kids but also to parents themselves. This entails that not because they are kids that the
divorce can hurt them. Then, it will not be a surprise if in It‘s Not the End Blume states clearly the idea of separating of Karen’s parents,
Mom took a deep breath and said, “Daddy and I are separating.” “I knew it” Jeff said, looking at me.
I felt tears come to my eyes. I told myself, don’t start crying now Karen, you jerk. Not now. I sniffled and took a long swallow of Coke. I guess I knew it
all the time. I was just fooling myself
—playing games like Amy. “What’s separating?” Amy asked.
“It means your father isn’t going to live at home anymore,” Aunt Ruth explained.
30-31
112
Nodelman, The Pleasures 99.
Through the book, the kid’s sadness is explored a lot considering the grief of the character Karen in facing that reality. It can be seen in the beginning of the book,
in which Karen is told that her mother and father are separating. Then I started crying for real and I jumped up from the table and ran through
the restaurant. I heard Aunt Ruth call, “Karen…Karen… come back here.”
But I kept going. I didn’t want to hear any more. I went to the front door and stood against the sign that said Red Bull Inn, letting the tears roll down my
face. Soon Aunt Ruth came with my coat. “Karen,” she said, “pit this on. You’ll freeze to death.”
“Go away,” I told her. Aunt Ruth wrapped the coat around my shoulders.
“Karen…Don’t be like that. This is even harder on your mother than it is on you. She’s very upset…if she sees you like this it’s going to make her feel
even worse.” 32
Blume ’s novels allow her young readers to be involved in what adults see as
their m atter because there is probably never adults’ and children’s matters until adults
construct to separate them. Nodelman adds, perhaps children are always more like adults than adults are ever able to see
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. The dualism of adults’ world and children’s
world disappears as the novels voice the life experiences associated only to the superior adults.
Blume also consciously understands that situations adults approve for children to deal are
absolutely the mere utopia in the adults’ mind. When such dream world is
created to protect children from the real world, Sendak argues that children’s texts should not be idealized and simplified; rather, they need to honestly offer up the
113
Nodelman, The Pleasures 33.
mysterious confusion of the ‘adult’ world because children know everything. They are living it all the time.
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1.3. Uncertainties
Common assumptions about childhood have led the books to draw attention because kids are desired to be intellectually weak, illogical, and unable to make right
decision without adults’ presence, the uncertain realities can be confusing for them. The clear black-and-white facts as well as the conclusive life are the only choice
given to children. Therefore, as it is generally spoken about children’s literature in which
looking for the meaning and messages from texts remains the most important and classical purpose of reading, this implies that children’s books should end with an
explicit statement of moral. As a result, it becomes a problem when so often Blume leaves the messages to
hunt and so often it is open-ended. She barely ends the stories with obviousness which leads to multi-interpretable conclusions that parents fear the educational
function of reading literature in teaching values might get distorted. That is why clear positive messages should be ones o
f the requirements of a children’s book. The ending of Blume’s Forever upsets parents and educators because after the
main character Katherine decides to have sex with her boyfriend Michael, the relation has to end that she cannot keep her promise to hold her forever love with Michael.
Are you saying its over, then? You said it … just now.
Couldnt we sit on it a little while and see what happens?
114
See Zornado 171-172.
You cant have it both ways. Then its really over, isnt it? Suddenly question number four popped into
my mind. Have you thought about how this relationship will end? I guess so, he said.
I took off my necklace and held it out to him. My throat was too tight to talk. Keep it, he told me.
I dont think I should. Our fingers touched as I handed it to him. What am I supposed to do with a necklace?
I dont know. He picked up my pocketbook and dropped the necklace into it. Neither one of
us said anything on the drive back to camp. 109 Even worse to these parents, the novel ends with Katherine running her
normal life with the appearance of Theo as the guy who becomes the reason for both teenagers Michael and Katharine to end their ‘forever’ love.
Blubber, is also contested by the critics to contain immorality. It is assumed to tell kids they can do wrong peer cruelty and not be punished for it
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. Parents were upset that Blume did not present solutions especially because by the end of the story,
she did not punish anyone for bad behaviour. The bossy Wendy who is depicted as the cruel bully never gets punishment for what she has done. No teacher catches her
doing the bullying actions until the end of the story. Seeing children in a more positive way will make it possible for not
considering the close ending with clear messages as a must. From the data it is clear to say instead of believing in the common assumption that children are incapable as
an absolute truth, Blume offers the alternatives to view children in a more empowering manner. From a different angle, she argues about Blubber,
115
Gay Andrews Dillin, Judy Blume; Childrens Author In A Grown-Up Controversy. 10 December 1981. Christian Science Monitor. Website. 13 March 2015.
http:m.csmonitor.com19811210121061.html.
“It’s life. It’s open ended. It shifts from one child to another child. I think it’s far more important to present characters and situations and leave it open-
ended…But that’s [to punish anyone for bad behaviour] not the way life is. So you have to learn your lessons another way, by becoming sensitive and by
putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. “
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1. 4. Illness
The truth is th e ‘ideal’ life represented in children’s books is really a form of
generalization. Indeed, what adults assume about the ‘ideal’ reinforces the idea about ‘normal’, and it assumes that ‘normal’ equals desirable. This means not only
disregarding but also rejecting anything individual in children as readers
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. If ‘normal’ kids refer to the happy, comfortable, healthy, or innocent, then children’s
literature will exclude the experiences of many children who physically or sexually abused, or who go through painful diseases or trauma. The data supporting this is
taken from Blume’s novel Deenie, in which the main character, instead of lives healthily and normally, suffers from scoliosis.
“Deenie has adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.” ...
“It means she has a structural curvature of the spine which has a strong tendency to progress rapidly during the adolescent growth spurt. Let me show
you something,” Dr. Griffith said, taking an X-ray out of the folder. He stuck it up on some kind of screen on the wall and when he turned a switch it all lit
up and the X-ray looked like a skeleton. He tapped a pencil to the X-ray. “You see here...” he said.
“This is Deenie’s spine. It demonstrates the curve and confirms my clinical diagnosis.” 53
The ill and healthy-impaired characters appear in Blume’s novels like Deenie is in
fact against the ideal protagonists when they are mostly personalized as fit and
116
See Dillin.
117
Nodelman, Reading 237.
having good and normal physical shapes. The binary relation between adults and children as the other in which children are seen as a group that has been in opposition
to the idealized adults has been disqualified and subjugated by presenting the ‘equal’
level of problems.
1. 5. Problem with Religion
Disapproving the prohibition of kids from knowing difficult life as they are assumed to live in a typical simplicity, Blume
’s novels raise sophisticated themes which remain untold in
children’s books. At its first publication, Margaret was met with both criticism and admiration. Arthur argues that Margaret was a very funny
book but damaged by the insufferable self-conscious and arch private talks with God
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. The choice of religion as well as sexual matters two of the main themes in Margaret
were regarded as out of kid’s concern. The ‘adult’ topic such as religion is one of the perfect examples to say that
this area is excluded from children’s life. The faithful child in God and in His religion is assumed to be related to maturity so that before reaching the appropriate
age, they have no obligation to be faithful to God. Here is the example how Margaret is portrayed as a young girl who seems to bother her youth to think of religion
because she does not belong to any religion. I want to be like everyone else. You know God, my new friends all belong to
the Y or the Jewish Community Centre. Which way am I supposed to go? I don’t know what you want me to do about that. 36
On the contrary to her agnosticism, Margaret is also depicted to have strong faith to God in which she can feel Him in her heart without holding any religion. She
118
See Ludwig, et al. 40.
manages a private talk every time she needs God as part of human needs to shelter and to believe to his power in her life.
Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret. I did an awful thing today. Just awful I’m definitely the most horrible person who ever lived and I really don’t
deserve anything good happen to me. I picked up Laura Danker. Just because I felt mean I took it all out on her. I really hurt Laura’s feelings. Why did you
let me do that? I’ve been looking for you, God. I looked in temple. I looked in church. And today, I looked for you when I wanted to confess. But you
weren’t there. I didn’t feel you at all. Not the way I do when I talk to you at night. Why, God? Why do I only feel you when I’m alone? 100
It can be seen that the impossibility kids’ have to consider about religion indeed becomes one of the main topics that Blume encourages to exist in their books.
In fact, it is not simply to make the readers acknowledged but also identified with the childhood experiences in religion.
1. 6. Death
Even in the real life, talking about death to children is considered uneasy. Parents hardly believe children will understand the concept of losing someone from
their life which can be painful that the reality is so often postponed until adults assume the kids are ready. Yet, Blume
’s novels imply that unhappiness does not come from books. They come from life. In Tiger Eyes, Davey is fictionally created to
experience a great lost of a father. Tragically, she is also narrated to witness the bloody murder of her dad.
We ran to the store. I remember the sound the sound of my screams when I saw my father on the floor. He was still alive. He said, Help me…help me,
Davey. And I said I will… I will, Daddy. I held him in my arms while Hugh phoned for help.’…
I don’t know how long it took before the police and the ambulance got there. I heard the sirens from a long way off. And then the flashing lights made a
