Deconstruction on the Conventional Images of Children in Jacqueline Wilson’s The Illustrated Mum.
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of a Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Language and Literature
By:
Tiara Dewi Panduwati NIM. 12211141031
ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY 2016
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PERNYATAAN
Saya yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini:
Nama
NIM
: Tiara Dewi Panduwati
: 12211141031
Program Studi : Sastra Inggris
Fakultas : Bahasa dan Seni
Menyatakan bahwa karya ilmiah ini adalah hasil pekerjaan saya sendiri sepanjang sepengetahuan saya, karya ilmiah ini tidak berisi materi yang dituliskan oleh orang lain kecuali bagian-bagian tertentu yang saya ambil sebagai acuan yang mengikuti tata cara dan etika penulisan karya ilmiah yang lazim.
Apabila terbukti pemyataan ini tidak benar, hal ini sepenuhnya menjadi tanggung jawab saya.
Yogyakarta, 6 September 2016
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MOTTOS
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
“Indeed, Allah will not change people’s condition until
they change what is in themselves,” (Al Quran, Surah
Ar-Ra’d: 11)
“What cannot be said above all must not be silenced but
written.” (Jacques Derrida)
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DEDICATIONS I dedicate my “masterpiece”to:
My pair of angels,
Bapak
Sabar Triatmoko and
Ibu
Tugi
Haryanti
My strong Grandma, Uti.
My pair of loveable sisters, Mika Mahatma Sura Karlina and
Maharani Tata Bhanuwati
My pair of helpful and patient mothers in campus, Dr.
Widyastuti Purbani, M.A and Nandy Intan Kurnia, M.Hum
My partner in crime, Faiz Zakiy Yamani
LITERATROOPS’12 and ENGLISH LITERATURE 012
Those who concern o
n children and children’s literature
All children in the world, and
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Alhamdulillah, all praises to Allah SWT that has given me all guidance, help, and patience. Without Allah‟s blessing, mercy and grace, this thesis will never be finished well. I would like to express my best appreciation and gratitude for those who have helped me a lot during the process of writing this thesis.
Firstly, I would like to thank my super consultants, Dr. Widyastuti Purbani, M.A as my first consultant and Nandy Intan Kurnia, M.Hum as my second consultant, who have shared their time, knowledge, and guidance patiently. I would like to thank them for all of the support and encouragement they have given to me. With them, all impossible things seem possible when dealing with this thesis.
Secondly, my gratitude goes to all lecturers of English Literature study program who had shared their knowledge and made me fall in love with literature in every single explanation they gave in every class.
Thirdly, I would like to thank my incredible parents, Bapak Sabar Triatmoko and Ibu Tugi Haryanti, who have supplied much support featuring with their never ending love, care, and prayer for me without asking when I will graduate.
Fourthly, I would like to give my gratitude to my silly but loveable sisters, Mika Mahatma Sura Karlina and Maharani Tata Bhanuwati who always support me with their laughter.
Fifthly, I would like to express my thank to my partners in consulting this thesis and in spreading spirit while dealing with this thesis, Ulik Chodratillah,
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Sixthly, my gratitude goes to my girlband members who always share thesis spirit with laughter, Eri PUrWanti, Ridhofarianti, Adelita Anindya, Maisarah Aryana, Selvia Fitriani, Sushanti Ningsi Itta, Fulan Nisyaroh, Izdihar Az-Zahra Haris, Mudrikah Swandhani, and Ghina Kumiafi.
Seventhly, I would like to give so much thanks to my small family at campus, LITERATROOPS'12 and ENGLISH LITERATURE CLASS F 2012. I am sure the memories we made will be unforgettable forever.
.
The last but not leas( I would like say bunch of thanks to my loyal partner in crime, Faiz Zakiy Yamani. I know this thesis will never be finished literally without your advance.
Finally, I understand that this thesis is far from perfection since there are so many mistakes here and there. Therefore, I would like to accept gratefully any further criticism, suggestions, and comments for the betterment of this thesis.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
PERNYATAAN ...iii
MOTTOS ... iv
DEDICATIONS ... v
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ... vi
TABLE OF CONTENT ...viii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ... xi
ABSTRACT ... xii
CHAPTER I ... 1
INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Research Focus ... 10
C. Research Objectives ... 11
D. Research Significance ... 12
CHAPTER II ... 13
LITERATURE REVIEW... 13
A. Post-structuralism ... 13
B. Deconstruction ... 20
1. Binary Opposition... 22
2. Logocentrism ... 25
3. Ideology ... 27
4. Deconstruction in Literature ... 30
C. Children‟s Literature ... 34
1. Conventional Children‟s Literature ... 40
2. Unconventional Children‟s Literature ... 46
3. Conventional Images of Children ... 53
4. Deconstruction in Children‟s Literature ... 56
D. Previous Research Findings... 60
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CHAPTER III ... 65
RESEARCH METHOD ... 65
A. The Research Design ... 65
B. The Data and Sources of Data ... 67
C. Research Instruments ... 68
D. The Technique of Data Collection ... 69
E. Data Analysis ... 71
F. Data Trustworthiness ... 72
G. Analytical Construct ... 73
CHAPTER IV ... 75
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 75
A. Findings ... 75
1. The Unconventional Images of children in Jacqueline Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum ... 75
a. Unconventional Traits of Children... 78
1) Caring ... 78
2) Sensitive ... 83
3) Unselfish ... 87
4) Responsible ... 90
5) Independent ... 92
b. Unconventional roles of children ... 95
1) Parenting ... 96
2) Protecting One Another... 101
3) Doing Household Responsibility ... 105
2. The Ways of Deconstruction are Used in Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum ... 107
a. Creating Complicated Plot ... 108
b. Using Different Point of View ... 114
c. Employing Sensitive Issues... 123
d. Subverting Adult/Child Image ... 126
e. Subverting Good/Bad Image ... 131
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g. Denying Logocentrism ... 138
B. Discussion ... 142
CHAPTER V ... 151
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 151
A. Conclusions ... 151
B. Suggestions ... 153
REFERENCES ... 155
APPENDIX I ... 158
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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 1: Framework of Thinking ………..………...……… 64
Table 1: The List of Data 1 ...………...………..……... 69
Table 2: The List of Data 2 …………...………..………….. 69
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DECONSTRUCTION ON THE CONVENTIONAL IMAGES OF
CHILDREN IN JACQUELINE WILSON‟S THE ILLUSTRATED MUM
by
Tiara Dewi Panduwati 12211141031
ABSTRACT
This research has two objectives. The first is to reveal the unconventional
images of children deconstructed by Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum. The second is
to show how deconstruction is presented in Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum. This
research applies Derrida‟s deconstruction and children‟s literature theory.
The researcher used qualitative analysis. This research‟s main data were words, phrases, sentences, clauses, and discourses taken from Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum. To analyze the data, the researcher used content analysis. This is a technique of gathering and analyzing the content of the text. The content refers to a means of communication using various media such as novels. To ensure trustworthiness of the data, the researcher used triangulation.
The result of this research is that there are two unconventional images of children shown by the unconventional traits and unconventional roles of children. The unconventional traits include caring, sensitive, unselfish, responsible, and independent. The unconventional roles are parenting, protecting one another, and doing household responsibility. The second result is that Wilson uses seven ways to deconstruct the conventional images of children and children‟s stories. Those seven ways are creating complicated plot, using different point of view, employing sensitive issues, subverting adult/child image, subverting good/bad image, subverting male/female child image, and denying logocentrism.
Keywords: Deconstruction, children‟s literature, logocentrism, conventional images of children.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
“In her anger she clutched Rapunzel‟s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off…And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in a great grief and misery.” (Grimm, 1972: 107)
Rapunzel‟s beautiful hair is cut off because she wants to escape from the enchantress who has imprisoned her in an attic of a high tower. When the enchantress cuts her hair off, what she can do is nothing and she is exiled in a forest in which nobody knows where she is. Later on, the prince finds her and takes her to his kingdom. Finally, they live happily ever after. From the story of Rapunzel, it can be seen how weak and passive the character of Rapunzel is.
Another weak and dead character in fairy tale is shown by Cinderella. She is rewarded by a fairy godmother named Mother Holle after being exiled by her mother and comes to a strange place. Cinderella is very happy because of her kind heart and patience; she can finally go home and is given a reward. Gretel, in Hansel and Gretel, is another example. She is punished by a wicked witch because she does not want to do what the wicked witch commands and she is afraid that the wicked witch will eat her, too.
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From the above examples of traditional fairytales and other stories, especially in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, it is seen clearly that those traditional children stories have brought logocentrism that is commonly understood as the winning of speech and thought as the center of truth, especially in
constructing children‟s images. The first logocentrism is that children
characters in those stories are made to be weak, innocent, dependent, and unknowledgeable. The other one is that children are exposed with only easy plot where there is no meaningful conflict and suddenly the story is ended with a beautiful conclusion. This characteristic of plot in traditional literature influences the readers when reading the stories. They will have less effort in thinking critically about the correlation of the conflict and suddenly beautiful ending presented to them.
Even though those fairy tales have been written long time ago, they are still read and enjoyed by many children and their parents until now. Moreover, some of them have been reproduced with some nicer illustrations and some of them have been filmed, too. This situation can be problematic if children are always given those kinds of stories. There will be certain ideology that is penetrated in their mind as readers from those everlasting fairy tales and other same typical stories.
As people know, literature is believed as the reflection of society or a real life which possibly brings an ideology. Oxford English Dictionary (in Hollindale, 1988: 3) defines ideology as “…a systematic scheme of ideas,
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usu. relating to politic or society, or to the conduct of a class or group, and regarded as justifying action….” In society, ideology is a common sense or universal truth that is unconsciously accepted and agreed. It also happens in
children‟s literature that often brings ideology on gender, race, class, and
even children‟s images. Based on Hollindale (1988, 8-17), ideology can be
presented in children‟s book in three ways. The first is explicitly told as a
didactic medium, just like children‟s literature in the past that is used to be
didactic media. The second one is by hiding it implicitly; and the last is by unconscious way that even the writers are not aware of the ideology‟s existence inside their stories. This ideology brings conventional children‟s images which are often depicted as weak, innocent, dependent, selfish, and unknowledgeable.
Conventional image is derived from the word conventional and image. Based on Oxford English Dictionary (2006: 320), conventional is “tending to follow what is done or considered acceptable by society in general; normal
and ordinary.” Therefore, conventional image is defined as someone or
something that is widely accepted in a society or something related to a convention. It is considered as acceptable since society agrees. The examples of conventional images can be: a) a bride that wears white on her wedding b) people wearing black for funeral c) women who are depicted as weak and the second class in society and d) children that are perceived as inferior, incapable and innocent human beings. It means that conventional images are perceptions
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that have unconsciously been taken for granted by society. Martalock (2012: 3-4) says that conventional images of children refer to what people and society believe, understand, and assume about children‟s role in society. The images
include how society thinks about children‟s development, motivation, and
purpose. The conventional images of children also include incapability of speaking for themselves.
The conventional images of children have been presented in most
children‟s stories where society sees children as inferior and as the “second
class” that are ruled by the “first class”, adults. As stated before, the first
possibility is that children are controlled by adults in the way that they are depicted as weak, dependent, innocent, and unknowledgeable characters. The other possibility is that they are not introduced to the stories that expose complexity of life. What they receive in the stories is only a nice, good, and beautiful plot. Sensitive issues, such as sexuality, divorce, diversity, racism, etc, are forbidden to be introduced to children as adults believe that those issues are not appropriate for children.
Nevertheless, if they are not introduced to these sensitive issues, they will
„depend‟ their curiosity on adults and it makes them defined themselves as
innocent and unknowledgeable. This situation is in line with Nodleman‟s statement, as he (1992: 30) states that “…we produce children‟s literature that is almost totally silent on the subject of sexuality, presumably in order to allow ourselves to believe that children truly are as innocent as we claim….”
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This statement affirms that adults hide those sensitive topics from children‟s stories as adults thought that children are really innocent.
People, including parents, who are not well aware about the danger of these situations might simply agree and will hardly question how and why those conventional images can be created. This case will create problems for children since, compared to adults, they are lack of experiences in reading. If it happens, the absorption of any ideology to their mind will be easier. Some conventional images even contain discrimination on race, gender, and class. To make it even worse, both for children and parents who do not have
awareness in reading children‟s stories, conventional images of children in
children‟s stories can perceive a misleading perception about those
conventional images since children‟s literature plays roles in developing
child‟s character and lead young readers to the new ideas and concepts. It can
create unconscious “truth” that will be penetrated deeply in their mind and later will be agreed by them as society does.
Related to the sensitive issues in children‟s stories, people must
understand that children have opportunity as well as need to read and learn more about literature. Children need to read literature to get and learn about life lesson including the complexity of life. However, the form of literary works intended for children must be different from the ones for adults. Lukens (1999: 9) clarifies “children are not little adults. They are different from adults in experience, but not in species or to put it differently, in degree but not in
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kind.” It means that just like the adults, children also need to know about love, laugh, happiness, sadness, death, divorce, mental illness, loss, pain, etc. Nevertheless, the author has to use different ways to tell the story to the children.
Children need to know about sensitive issues such as death, divorce, pain, loss, mental illness, sadness, etc. Mostly in the past, children are only provided with one topic of literature which is very limited. They are only introduced and provided with stories about kingdom, princess, prince, magic and happy ending things. Those topics are good, but children need to be introduced to various kinds of topics, too, such as fantasy, realistic story, and many more genre. By giving children various kinds of topics to read, their capability of reading and thinking critically will be improved since they have abundance of different things to discuss. They also will have a wide horizon that life is not that simple and easy. Thus, they have to struggle to gain a better life.
However, nowadays, children and their perception have developed as culture develops, too. There are unconventional images of children that are strong, independent, responsible, and knowledgeable and those new images can be introduced to the children in order to strengthen their characters. Jacqueline Wilson as one of the greatest children‟s literature writers in U.K shows those positive images of children in her stories. Mostly, she writes about the reality of life and sensitive issues that can be possibly experienced
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and faced by children in today‟s era. There are some novels that she has
produced, for example, The Suitcase Kid which portrays the life of a child who has to be separated from her parents because they have divorced; Vicky Angel that discusses about death and children‟s response on it; and The Story of Tracy Baker which is focusing on the issue of abandonment. In her novels, Wilson introduces emotional and sensitive issues that were once considered as taboo by the society.
Another example of Wilson‟s well-known novel is The Illustrated Mum
which was published in 1999 in Great Britain. This novel has been filmed by Film4Schools in 2003. It was directed by Cilla Ware and starred by Michelle Colins as Marigold Westward, Allice Connor as Dolphin, and Holliday Grainger as Star. Though The Illustrated Mum is considered as the darkest and the most depressing novel, according to a review from Jill Murphy (2014) in The Book Bag, it is also perceived as the best work of Jacqueline Wilson. It even won some awards, such as, the Annual Guardian Children‟s Fiction Prize that is judged by a panel of British Children‟s Writers, the 2004 BAFTA Award for the best School Drama, the Winner of Children‟s Books of the Year in British Book Awards 2000, the Winner of the Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal in 1999, and was voted as “The Book I Couldn‟t Put Down” in the Bleu Peter Book Awards. Starting from 2001, The Illustrated Mum has also been translated into many languages such as Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, etc.
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The Illustrated Mum is a story about a dyslexic girl named Dolphin and her sister, Star, who have to deal with a bipolar mother named Marigold. Every day, they have to cope with many difficulties and problems of life caused by their mother. It happens because, as a parent, especially as a single parent, Marigold is not responsible enough to take care of her daughters. Dolphin and Star have to protect their mother from society and authorities, they have to provide their needs by themselves, and indirectly, they have to switch the role as „parents‟ for their mother.
The main characters, Dolphin and Star, are different from other children characters in most children stories. Although in several children stories there are children characters who are strong, smart, independent and knowledgeable, the characters of Dolphin and Star do not only possess those positive traits, but also significant roles of being “adults” while they are only 10 and 14 years old. It can be said that they are more mature than children commonly. This novel shows new images about children and it has deconstructed the conventional images of children that are unconsciously accepted and agreed by society. It captures things that many children today live with. Although this story seems so desperate, it is told in smooth and funny ways to make children interested in reading it. At the end of the story, the readers are given hope, too, after struggling against problems that seem impossible to solve. This story teaches without preaching children how to cope with difficulties in the real life. This kind of realistic story needs to be
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introduced to children in order to make them understand that life is not that easy.
Children‟s story like The Illustrated Mum is a good example of a literary
text which introduces deconstructed pattern especially the one which is related to children images, and how the writer deconstructs the conventional images
of children‟s stories. By presenting deconstructed images of children in a
novel, an alternative way of reading a text can be accepted in smooth ways by people who are not aware of the importance of seeing from another perspective. Thus, The Illustrated Mum‟s story is an interesting novel to be read, not only for children but also for adults since it offers new ways of reading for readers by deconstructing the conventional images of children.
Therefore, the researcher uses Derrida‟s deconstruction theory to reveal the unconventional images of children in the novel. In addition, the researcher
intends to show how deconstruction is presented in Wilson‟s The Illustrated
Mum in order to see and offer a new perspective in reading children‟s stories,
especially for children. Deconstruction is the best approach to analyze this novel because by using this approach, readers, especially nowadays children can be more aware that they can be strong, independent, and knowledgeable in solving their problems where there is not too much adults‟ interference. Deconstruction is a method which makes a new foundation to see a story and an attempt to unveil the unseen to be accessible to be seen. Children‟s literature theory is used to show how deconstruction is presented in the
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intrinsic elements of children‟s literature. It is hoped that readers, especially children, can be more aware that there is a new perspective in reading children‟s stories in which children are not always depicted as weak, innocent, dependent, and unknowledgeable.
B. Research Focus
The Illustrated Mum is a story that reveals how conventional images of children have been deconstructed and they have been replaced by a new alternative of seeing the images of children. It breaks the logocentrism in which children are seen as being incapable of having positive traits and roles. The researcher‟s prior assumption is that there are some new positive images of children that are different from the conventional images of children. The logocentrism of children traits and roles are no longer depicted as incapable, weak, dependent, innocent and unknowledgeable. This assumption is shown by the main characters of the novel, ten-year-old and fourteen-year-old children named Dolphin and Star. This research focuses on those two characters, Dolphin and Star, who reveal the unconventional images of children. Besides, this research focuses on how the deconstruction works in the novel as well.
To prove this assumption, Derrida‟s deconstruction is used to show that there are unconventional images of children that are no longer seen as inferior. Deconstruction works to show that the ideology or belief of society
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sometimes cannot be proven in all contexts. It also challenges that there are certain possibilities to show what they have hidden behind the unhidden one. By revealing the unconventional images of children in the novel that have been deconstructed and how the deconstruction is presented in this novel, it is possible to offer new perspective and new way of reading, especially children literature texts. Besides, there is possibility to empower children themselves to be the ones who are strong, independent and knowledgeable. Based on the background and the focus of the research, the researcher formulates the problems of the research as follows:
1. What are the unconventional images of children deconstructed by
Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum?
2. How is deconstruction presented in Wilson‟s The Illustrated
Mum?
C. Research Objectives
This research has two objectives. It is intended:
1. to reveal the unconventional images of children deconstructed by
Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum.
2. to show how deconstruction is presented in Wilson‟s The Illustrated
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D. Research Significance
Hopefully, this research can be advantageous:
1. to create awareness about the unconventional images of children which are positive and no longer seen as always inferior.
2. to enlarge the readers‟ way of seeing on how deconstruction works in the
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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Post-structuralism
Talking about post-structuralism is almost impossible without looking back at the previous view, structuralism. As a movement which challenges structuralism, post-structuralism tries to fix the error of structuralism view. Structuralism believes that human being‟s knowledge of reality is not only coded, but it is also conventional. It is because language is conventional and the job of structuralism is to group the signs and the codes based on their characteristics.
Klages (2013: 31) describes structuralism as “a way of thinking that works to find the fundamental basic units or elements of which anything is made.” For example, if people are given three characters: a prince, a princess and a stepmother, their mind will relate to Cinderella. Even though they make up a story using those characters with different title, the stories have the same pattern: a princess who is persecuted by her stepmother and finally saved by a prince (Klages, 2013: 33). The other example is that when people are given three characters, a man, a woman and two hostile families, they will think about Romeo and Juliette. That same pattern and foundation becomes the concern of structuralism.
As the movement after expressive realism, structuralism can be said almost similar to formalism. Both of them see a literary work from its
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structure, not from the moral value of a literary work. The way structuralism analyzes work is by having objective criteria. Nevertheless, what makes structuralism and formalism different is that structuralism pays attention more on the deep structure. It is the pattern of a thing, for example, myth, folktale, culture, knowledge and truth (Klages, 2013: 32). It is not something related to grammar, syntax, and semiotic.
Such pattern or the structure can have similarities in different cultures spread in different geographic areas. That is why people need to be aware that myth such as a princess hated by her step mother, a couple from different classes or a princess saved by a price has existed everywhere in the world, even in different parts of countries. Castle (2013: 28) in his book entitled The Literary Theory Handbook says that cultures such as kinship, structure of family, and gender role are also the same in all parts of continents. This kind of “pattern” or “structure” is the concern of structuralism.
The key in structuralism is that there has been a system that controls humans and their activities and it is believed by structuralism as
“structure”. However, there are several beliefs of structuralism that have
been criticized by post-structuralism. That is why “post-structuralists are actually the structuralists who see an error of their ways” (Selden, et al, 2005: 144). It can be said that post structuralism believes there are some basics of structuralism beliefs which needs to be seen deeper.
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Castle (2013: 28) says that post-structuralism is not like postmodernism which tends to ignore the importance of “structure” that is made by structuralism. Instead, it keeps criticizing the problems created by the structure itself. The first thing criticized by post-structuralism is that structuralism always tries to create meanings that are not essential. Derrida (in Sarup, 1993: 33) believes that when people read one sign, “meaning is not immediately clear to us; signs refer to what is absent, so in a sense meanings are absent, too.” In other words, the meanings created are arbitrary in which they stand for common usage as well as constructed since the only differ themselves from others (Eagleton, 1996: 84). When there is a “sign” which creates “signifier” (the sound of an image) and “signified” (the mental concept), actually, there is no essential meaning from its signifier.
Eagleton (1996:112) in Literary Theory: An Introduction gives an example from the word “cat” that has meaning as “four-legged furry
animal” or “malicious woman”. The meaning will depend on the context.
However, “cat” is not a “mat”, “bat”, “pat”, or “fat” not because of its meanings, but simply because it does not have quality as “mat” or “bat” or “pat” or “fat”. It happens since the word “cat” , as explained before, differs themselves from other signifiers, “mat”, “bat”, “fat” and “pat”. The above explanation is supported also by him by giving the binary
opposition between man/woman. He explains that “Woman is the
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chiefly negative value in relation to the male first principle.” It happens quite irrational, why man should have positive quality or meaning while woman does not (Eagleton, 1996: 115).
Another thing is that structuralism, as the name suggests, tries to create “structure”. After creating structure, it builds “center” which holds the
“structure” itself. Rather than becoming a specific truth, the center is used
as a common or a universal truth. However, it is questionable for post-structuralism, if the “center” is the one that holds and governs the structure, why it can be both excluded and included as the part of the
structure. Therefore, it seems that the “center” is within the structure, as
well as outside of it. Thus, according to Derrida, post-structuralism believes the concept of structure with center is not absolute as it is contradictory coherent (Klages, 2013: 56-57).
The third thing is that structuralism is satisfied with binary opposition that creates coding and that binary opposition then creates a hierarchy (Venturino, 2013: 231). Moreover, structuralism gives the privilege for the first term. Binary opposites such as good/evil, man/woman, nature/culture, white/black, adult/children, right/left, strong/weak, and up/down create a hierarchy as structuralism places good, man, nature, white, adult, right, strong, up over evil, woman, culture, black, children, left, weak, and down. Nevertheless, post-structuralism argues that structuralism cannot give reason for this „privilege awarding‟. Simply, the one over opposition
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that man is given privilege over woman not because of its meaning, but because man does not possess woman‟s quality. It is because man differs
himself from “the other” of man, and it is woman. It is acceptable when
good is placed over evil, but why man, white, adult are put over woman, black, and children is something that is questioned by post-structuralism (Klages, 2013: 54). After all, it is believed by post-structuralism that it only makes the pair of the binary opposition is never equal.
Based on some arguments from experts, it can be concluded that by creating a hierarchy, there will be no justice sinceone of the parties will be subordinated by another. Therefore, Derrida suggests particularly, deconstruction reading in which people should fail or re-observe the pair of binary opposition where they are accustomed to believe as well as think in the metaphysical thinking (Sarup, 1993: 38). It can be argued that people need to re-think about the structure of binary opposition which has no reason why one should be over “the other”.
The other thing is that structuralism builds the meaning from the “deep” structure that becomes the universal truth of human‟s knowledge. Klages (2013: 31) writes in her book that structuralism is “a way of thinking that works to find the fundamental basic units or elements of
which anything is made.” It can be said that the units or elements of a
thing, for example a myth, is what builds the deep structure itself. For instance, Cinderella is a story about a stepmother and a stepdaughter. Structuralism finds the deep structures from Cinderella are “mother” and
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“daughter”. Those pairs are related to superior/inferior and strong/weak. The other example is Romeo and Juliette. It is a story of a man and a woman. The elements are “man” and “woman” which are related to powerful/powerless, strong/weak, superior/inferior, and major/minor. Those elements which create deep patterns are the results of binary oppositions and they create universal truth for people everywhere in the world. People, as a result, believe that daughter and woman are weak.
Klages (2013: 48) also mentions in her book entitled Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed that structuralism shakes the idea of humanist theory. She (2013: 50)writes that humanism believes human, as the source
of all the things including meanings, has “self”. Humanism as well
believes that the “self” has two characteristics: it is unique to different individual, but it contains as well some characteristics which are same in common and universal. That is why “self” becomes the “center” of all truths, meanings, and knowledge. Language, then, helps “self” to express feelings, perceptions, and thoughts.
On the contrary, for post-structuralism, that human has “self” is no longer the “center” of all meanings, truths, and knowledge. It is the structure that becomes the “center” which decides the source of meanings, truths, and knowledge. The “structure” itself shapes all of activities. In other words, it is not the “self” of human that decides the activity and way of thinking or seeing but it is the “structure” that does (Klages, 2013: 50).
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Klages (2006: 50) adds that post-structuralism deals with language, self, reality construction, and the concept of truth. There are at least three ultimate principles of structuralism. The first principle is that post-structuralism rejects the idea of absolute truth. What people think as something constant and fixed is substantively not stable. Truth that people perceived, such as gender and national identity, is rather socially constructed. It is changing and unstable. When people think about gender role, for instance, it is in fact constructed by language and metaphysical thinking from Western philosophy (Klages, 2013: 50-1). It can be concluded that when people think man is associated with power, knight, authority, while woman is associated with domestic, weakness, obedience, is rather shaped by society. The society itself is influenced by Western metaphysical thinking.
The second principle is that post-structuralism, mentioned by Klages
(2013: 51), holds a belief that “language speaks us” and language plays
role in shaping people‟s conception towards themselves, life, world, truth, even literary texts. It believes people are the products of language itself (Klages, 2013: 51).It is supported by Sarup (1993: 3) saying that “While
structuralism sees truth as being „behind‟ or „within‟ the text, post
-structuralism stresses the interaction of reader and text as productivity.” In other words, what influences people to build their identity and characteristic is language and discourse, not purely them. Language constructs discourse, text, and narration whose power is high. It creates
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action and perception about a thing. That is why language is the driver of reality. It means that the one who will win is actually the winner of the discourse struggle. It is affirmed by Castle (2013: 168) in his book:
“Post-structuralism questions the ability of language to designate a
center, to guarantee a stable and stabilizing authority, to provide an absolute criterion for assessing the truth, to construct a discourse in science or politics that could presuppose universal validity.”
The last principle of post-structuralism is that it believes that truth, rather than absolute, is relative. People think that what they do and think is new ideas. Nevertheless, those that have been thought and spoken are only those that have been already available.”Everything one thinks or does is in some degree the product of one‟s past experience, one‟s belief, ones
ideologies” there is no such things as objectivity” (Klages, 2013: 51). It
emphasizes that there is nothing objective because people only mask their ideology. Stories like Cinderella, Snow White, Romeo and Juliette can be re-created in other era and other places.
B. Deconstruction
As previously explained, post-structuralism, rather than ignoring “structure” which structuralism constructs, concerns on the “structure” itself. One method which is used by post-structuralists is deconstruction. Deconstruction is often perceived as a practice that is confusing and complex as the job of deconstruction is:
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“…to seek out of the contradiction, gap, errancy, play, or aporia that
defines and undermines the „structuralization of structure,‟ the
transcendental signified that stands behind and authorizes the very possibility of stable and centered structures” (Castle, 2013: 160). In other words, deconstruction looks for the problems that are created by
“structure”, “center” and “fixed truth” that have been constructed by the
Western philosophy.
As a new movement in the U.K and U.S in late 1960s, deconstruction challenges the Western philosophy in basic metaphysical assumption. In Western philosophy, there has been constructed “structure” and that structure creates a “center”. However, the center itself, though governs and holds the structure, “it is not the subject of structural analysis (Selden, et al, 2005: 164).”
Derrida insists that to deconstruct does not mean to destroy. It never intends to destroy the structure that has been created by structuralism and Western philosophy. Yet, it means to construct or to distract. Since the center, belief, truth and binary are constructed, it means that it can be deconstructed. Eagleton (1996: 115-116) argues that
“Deconstruction tries to show how such oppositions, in order to hold
themselves in a place, are sometimes betrayed into inverting or collapsing themselves, or need to banish to the text‟s margin certain niggling details which can be made to return and plague them.”
It means to say that deconstruction intends to show the problem that is caused by the structure itself, the logocentrism, binary opposition, and fixed truth which structuralism insists in order to show there is a falsity.
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The other job of deconstruction is to reveal the deconstructed pattern of a text in order to break the traditional belief.
The leading figure of deconstruction theory is Jacques Derrida. However, Derrida himself insists that Deconstruction, rather than a theory, is a strategy or a method of reading (Klages, 2013: 53). Derrida proposes a method of reading and seeing something that is perceived as “the other” or
“the unseen”. Therefore, Deconstruction offers alternative ways of
reading.
Western philosophy has promoted some beliefs by giving privilege to speech over writing, man over woman, light over dark, adult over child, white over black, etc. That kind of belief, called as binary opposition, can cause a hierarchy that is dependent on the dominant values over the marginal values. In addition, Derrida challenges Western philosophy on this by saying that binary opposites are inseparable; even they depend on each other, on the dominant that stands against the marginal (Venturino, 2013: 231).
1. Binary Opposition
Structuralism has created binary opposition such as good/evil, white/black, man/woman, adult/child, light/dark, speech/writing, etc. Selden, Widdowson, and Brooker (2005: 166) explain how the distinction between good and evil. “Good” is placed over “evil” as “good” is
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perceived as full presence or original fullness of being; therefore, “evil” is thought as the secondary. “Evil” is perceived as contaminating “good”. What is problematic about this is that when people try to find “good” without “evil”, there will be long depressing and unstoppable end. People must remember when they attempt to find good without the presence of evil, they must remember that before the Fall, before Satan‟s Fall, and
before Human‟s Fall, there is Pride. In addition, the one who creates Pride
is God. Derrida (in Selden, et al, 2005:166-167) also adds that God creates humans and angels free to sin. Humans can do good things if they are given chance to struggle to fight against evil. That is why “goodness”
comes after “evil”. Thus, people cannot say someone is good without
knowing the concept of evil.
Derrida (in Selden, et al, 2005: 165) argues the binary opposition between good/evil, just like speech/writing, creates violent hierarchy. Speech is perceived as an activity that includes “presence”. The opposite
of “presence” is “absence”. When people are speaking, it means that they
are present, they are there. Yet, writing is thought as not so. When people write, they cannot interact to the readers because they, as writers, are absent. Here, speech/writing relates to presence/absence. Writing is impure, only the transcript of speech and it contaminates speech.
Derrida (in Selden, et al, 2005: 166) then, uses the term “supplement” to convey the relationship between couplets or between binary oppositions such as speech/writing, good/evil, man/woman, adult/child, light/dark, etc
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.„Suppléer‟,in French, means „to substitute‟ or „to take place of‟. As added
by Castle (2013: 161) in his book entitled The Literary Theory, Derrida believes supplementation is more than simply adding something. “It means also, and perhaps primarily, a substitution, something that
“insinuate” itself in-the-place-of.” When something becomes a suppléer,
that „something‟ will not only substitute the role of its “other”, but also to take place of that role. In other words, that something also replaces the role or the place of the “other”.
For example, structuralism believes that writing is impure since it can be reprinted, reproduced, and repeated that causes interpretation and re-interpretation (Selden, et al, 2005: 165). While, Derrida (in Castle, 2013: 161) argues that writing does not only act as a supplement, but also a substitution. It means that writing can replace or take place of speech as speech actually is written already. He explains what structuralism (Plato as well) worries is that writing is vulnerable to be read and re-read by anyone else. He argues, behind this, there is a traditional logic that writing is an exterior of speech and speech itself is an exterior of internal thought of human beings. Therefore, Derrida believes “writing is no more external
than speech is” (Venturino, 2013: 229). What Derrida emphasizes, as a
result, is that writing should not be underestimated because it is the product of speech. In addition, speech is not pure as well, since it is the exterior of thought. Thus, it is clear that in Derrida‟s perspective, writing
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is as important as speech because it can complete, even, take place of speech.
If speech is believed as trusted and has authority, this statement can be correct if the speakers cannot write as the speaker will rely on the conventions and grammar rules to make sense of their spoken language. It is only the matter of rules and conventions which have developed over
time in society (Venturino, 2013: 228). In Deconstruction‟s view, each
term in binary opposition has meaning because it does not have meaning of its opposite. Man, for example, is not woman. What makes man perceived as different from woman is because man does not possess
woman‟s quality and trait. This is proven by Klages (2013: 55) statement
that:
“Each term has meaning…only in reference to the other, and only as what the other is not. Being is what is not nothingness, reason is what is not madness, word is not what is not silence, etc. The binary opposites are inseparable in their opposition, because the term on one side of the slash only has meaning as the negation of what‟s on the other side of the slash.”
This statement clarifies that it is only “NOT” which differs each term of binary opposition. Each of term negates “the other” in order to create its meaning.
2. Logocentrism
Deconstruction cannot be separated from the term Logocentrism. Besides binary opposition, logocentrism also satisfies structuralism and
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becomes the heart of structuralist foundation. Logocentrism is often known as word-centerness. Eagleton (1996:113) describes logocentrism as “…a belief in some ultimate „word‟, presence, essence, truth, or reality which will act as the foundation of all our thought, language, and experience.” It is structuralism desire to make some ultimate „word‟, presence essence, truth, or reality as a center of human activity.
Selden, et al, (2005: 164) explains logocentrism as well. It is derived
from the Greek word “Logos” which means word that includes speech,
though, and law as the central or fundamental principle. Logocentrism holds belief that it is speech that becomes the central to language, not writing because speech is associated with presence, while writing is NOT associated with presence. It is associated with absence. That is why speech becomes the primary (Klages, 2013: 54-55). However, the center which is believed and held by structuralists is something that deconstruction questions.
Structuralists believe the center of all the things is word because it is the beginning of everything. God creates world by speaking (as command). God‟s speech and command are poured into Bible. God‟s speech is related to “presence”, that is why it is considered as the origin of all the things. Speech from God and speech that has been poured to Bible are considered as closer to thought. Deconstruction questions, if it is so, the system, the world as well as the reality have a center and it is God. If God is the center, God is, then, the creator of those binary oppositions and
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the structure where one is superordinated by the other which is divided by slash (/) (Klages, 2013: 55).
As formerly explained, logocentrism places a privilege speech over writing. This privileging system, Derrida argues, is called phonocentrism. However, he believes that there is an ambiguity. Derrida, (in Selden, et al,
2005: 165) “invests the term „différance‟ to convey the divided nature of
the sign. In French, the „a‟ in „différance‟ is not heard and so people hear
only „difference‟. The ambiguity is perceptible only in writing…”
The ambiguity of „différance‟ can only be seen in writing. The verb „differ‟ can have two meanings. They are: „to differ‟ and „to defer‟. When
it is „to differ‟, it is related to a special concept where something, for
example, is divided then placed into some groups that are placed in, for instance, different „spaces or „places‟. While, „to defer‟ is a temporal concept because it means „to postpone‟, „to delay‟ or „to put off‟. However, phonocentrims rejects the idea of „différance‟ and still emphasizes on the importance of self-presence from the speech (Selden, et al, 2005: 165).
3. Ideology
Ideology is perceived as a language game. People often do not realize that ideology is a common sense that is used to win the battle of ideas. Ideology is different from idea. Easthope and McGwan (1992: 41-2)
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believe that idea is used for individuals‟ need and it is for them only. Whereas ideology is used to be spread silently and unconsciously and it “specifies meanings in so far as they are social and collective.” It means to say it can be categorized as ideas when people use their “ideas” for the sake of their need. Nevertheless, when that “idea” is for many people and I is hidden but „spread‟, it is ideology.
Hollindale (1988: 15) believes that it is the power of ideology which is inscribed in the text, within the words, the codes, and the rule system that constitute the text. The power of ideology also controls the texts and human beings who are not aware. Though it is inscribed in the text, ideology is more powerful when it is not “told” or “spoken” or “written”. Hollindale believes that ideology can be also present in literary texts. Easthope and McGowan in their book entitled A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader argue,
“Another is that, in the prevailing tradition, the concept of ideology can be accused of ignoring issues of gender or subsuming them in traditionally masculine concerns such as the economy and the outward institutions of political power. And a third, as briefly, is that ideology does not so obviously address the exercise of discursive power in the arenas of empire and race (Easthope and McGowan, 1992: 44).”
Eagleton (in Easthope and McGowen, 1992: 42) also adds the power of ideology in the cause of wife and husband‟s quarrel between who needs to burn the toast for the breakfast. It does not need to be an ideological matter but when it is related to gender role and sexual power, it becomes so. It can be concluded that ideology often spreads beliefs about gender
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role, gender identity, social class, even race. It can act as well as an expression of class interest, subjectivity and hegemony.
The first thing is that ideology is an expression of class interest. Usually, it is used by bourgeoisies to win power. To win the power, they need to win the ideas by performing some maneuvers. They can step aside from the religious value and they can represent their own class interest as democratic and universal values. The worse is that people often do not aware that ideology is a false consciousness (Easthope and McGowen, 1992: 42-3).
The other is that ideology performs as hegemony and subjectivity. “Hegemony specifies ideology as ways of ruling group, bloc, or class must rule by winning consent in conjunction with the threat of force, the effectiveness of hegemony depending on how rarely force, always present, actually has to be used.” (Easthope and McGwan, 1992: 43). It means that ideology here is used by a certain group which intends to
„rule‟ the other groups. The way this group rules and then dominates the
other group is by threatening. If the threat is used then the hegemony will be effective and the group using that hegemony will achieve its power.
That group, the rulling one, tends also to be „dominant‟ and finally it will take control or lead the other group. Moreover, ideology is closely related to the binary opposition in which it likes to give rigid boundaries between something acceptable and something not acceptable, “between self and non-self, truth and falsity, sense and nonsense, reason and madness, central and marginal, surface and depth” (Eagleton, 1996: 115).
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Very often, ideology acts as the “ruler” of what can be seen as acceptable and good by society and what is not. It divides as well the one which should be over the other one such as the central one and the marginal one. That is why often people do not aware that they might be in the false consciousness where that ideology can be false but acceptable easily by society because of the construction of that metaphysical thinking from Western philosophy (Eagleton, 1996: 115).
4. Deconstruction in Literature
As previously stated, Derrida proposes Deconstruction as a new method of reading in which it offers another alternative. When reading a text, sometimes people are not aware that there is a certain ideology in literary works. Structuralism has tried to “construct” human beings with its concept of center, binary opposition, and logocentrism. If there is no awareness in analyzing literary works, people often get the universal pattern and commonsense in the text. Therefore, as what Derrida always emphasizes, the job of deconstruction is “to discover…”the other” of
philosophy” (Selden, et al, 2005: 169). In other words, deconstruction
offers readers texts which show and raise the marginalized one to be seen, discovered and perceivable. It also shows how the marginalized one is dominated and superordinated by the dominating.
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There are so many possibilities that texts are ideological. Certain ideology such as binary opposition, logocentrism, and centerness can create injustice. The ideologies about man over woman, white over black, Western over Non-Western, adult over children, etc, can win their places in constructing people‟s ideal in seeing and thinking about something. Sarup (1993: 40) emphasizes, Derrida “…questions the structure of the binary opposition. He invites people to undo the need for balanced equations, to see if each term in an opposition is not, after all, an accomplice of the other.” Deconstruction helps people to shake the structure of binary oppositions, logocentrism, and the “center” of the truth where they do not neatly stay in their positions divided by the slash (/). Derrida invites readers of the texts to see the term in that binary opposition as a supplement of one another.
If it is good/evil, good might be acceptable to be chosen over evil. However, if it is man/woman, white/black, adult/children, light/dark, the question is that why should be man, white, adult, light over woman, black, children, and dark (Klages, 2013: 54). Deconstruction in literature tries to challenge the readers of any literary texts to open their arguments and see
what is “hidden”. It asks the readers to give, for instance, woman, black,
children, writing, and dark, (the ones that are perceived as secondary or supplement), the same privilege as man, white, adult, speech, and light get. It is so as Deconstruction, as post-structuralism, always believes there is a relation between a text and the reader (Castle. 2013: 29). It can be
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concluded that reader can openly think and re-think about the other alternative possibility including showing and giving the same privilege to the marginalized or under-repressed terms.
What deconstruction does in literary work is doing two ways. The first is reading the texts against itself, “…looking for the holes or shaky parts
of the system of stable meanings the text tries to set up” (Klages, 2013:
60). Therefore, the first tactic of deconstructionists, confirmed by Eagleton (1996: 116) as well, is to show that the texts come to discomfit the ruling system and the structure of logic that they have built. It is done by showing there are possibilities that the texts get to trouble and they are even contradictory themselves. In other words, deconstructive way of reading shows the fault of a traditional belief that has become universal truth.
For instance, one character in a literary work is seen by society as the one who has done mistake or the one who needs to be blamed. However, by employing deconstruction, the readers can challenge whether that character is truly wrong. If there are some reasons and evidences showing he or she is not the one to blame and showing society‟s construction is not always true, and then the method of deconstruction has worked.
The second way of deconstructive reading is to reveal some literary works that have deconstructed form. It is “a made of experience, the
possibility of experiencing the impossible, which is „never a stranger to
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(Castle, 2013: 163). The examples of those texts are the ones „giving privilege‟ to the secondary term or the marginalized one of binary opposition like how woman struggles and survives in patriarchal society, how children do effort to fight against life without too much adults‟ roles and how blacks show their identity that might be better than whites. Those
are “new experience” of the texts which were once not written. It happens
as, so far, people are busy with a text that has binary such as masculine/feminine, private/public, rational/irrational, true/false, etc where the first term is given privilege. It also shows that the binary can be broken through and the binary is „inside‟ the text. Not only that, people need to rethink that the first term actually depends on the second term. The identity or the meaning of the first term is got from its way of excluding the second term only (Sarup, 1993: 50-1). People do not aware that the term given privilege is in fact dependent to the secondary term. By revealing the strengths that the secondary term of binary opposition possess, readers can be aware and re-think that in fact, those terms are worthy to have the same rights as the first terms. Moreover, they are worthy as well to be seen and discovered. Texts talking about Black, child, person with disability, Asian, are texts which try to deconstruct the society‟s universal truth in seeing them.
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C. Children‟s Literature
When people are asked what children‟s literature is, they will mostly answer it is children‟s books with some nice illustrations, colorful drawings, easy language, easy vocabulary happy ending, or books without romance story, sexual or racism theme (Gapalakrishan, 2011: 4). Those answers might be correct since some children‟s books are presented with some illustrations and drawings. Others have easy vocabulary and happy ending and some others do not put any sensitive issues on race, gender, sex or disabilities. It is actually quite difficult to define what children‟s literature is. However, the ultimate and most important thing about children‟s literature definition is that it has children as its main target or main audience.
Some practitioners on children‟s literature such as Martinez, Temple,
Naylor, and Yakota (in Gapalakrishan, 2011: 4) believes “children‟s literature is the collection of books that are read to and by children…from birth to about age fifteen.” It affirms that children‟s literature is any literary works whose main audience is no more than 15-year-old children. However, again, there is still one debate saying that even children around 16 to 18 years old are still categorized as young adult, not yet adult. People then ask what the difference of children‟s literature to other types
of literature such as adults‟ literature. To end the debate, there is one
ultimate indicator; children‟s literature needs to prove all experiences of children (Gapalakrishan, 2011: 5).
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Those experts argue that it is not important to distinguish children‟s literature to other types of literature as some children‟s stories are not written with children mind. Gapalakrishan (2011: 5), in her book entitled Multicultural Children’s Literature: A Critical Issues Approach, gives some examples. The first example is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
is considered as children‟s literature. It has a character of 8-year-old child.
Nevertheless, the story is not written with children‟s mind. The way the child character in the story thinks and perceives something is not like
children. Other example is J.K Rowling‟s Harry Potter Series. Although it
is intended for children as its main readers, it is now still debatable because most of the readers who enjoy it are more adults. The other example is The Catcher in the Rye that is adult‟s book but widely read by
children as well as young adults (Hunt, 1999: 6). It can be said that
defining children‟s literature is a complex task. Rather, people should
understand that whether the book is read by children or adults, children‟s books are always intended for children.
In addition, since children are categorized into some stages, such as younger children, children, adolescence, and young adults, the books for children are categorized, too. There are picture books which are primarily for children under five years old since they are still learning about words and pictures to build ideas. The pictures and illustrations help them to get the image of a character or a setting, how it looks like in detail, what the
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characters do, and how it can be believable or imaginative (Nodelman, 2008: 11).
Different from picture books, children‟s books for six to nine year old child will be different. The illustrations are minimal and replaced by more sentences. The vocabulary, sentences, and form are not complex. It does not mean that children only understand simple words and they have limited abilities to understand some complex ideas, but it is more that children have shorter span of attention compared to adults. Again, they are still one step higher process in learning language. Therefore, by using simple language, it will make them easier to understand and get the whole idea in the story (Nodelman, 2008: 198).
The next step is children‟s books intended for ten to fourteen year old
children which are more complex because they have collected some better reading experience. In this stage, they are given more complex words and sentences as well as more complex ideas. The last is young adults‟ books that are more advanced. The words, sentences, forms of stories and ideas are more complex. Besides, the issues discussed in the stories are also advanced. Pictures are no longer used to deliver some information. It is affirmed by Nodelman (2008: 13) saying that:
“The older and more experienced the intended audience, the less visual information is offered by pictures. Readers…are expected to fill in on their own the sort of information that the pictures in The Snowy Day
actually provide. Suggesting that the more experienced readers become, the less they need in the way of pictorial information.”
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It is why, for instance, Harry Potter series have more sentences, less
pictures except the cover, and more book‟s thickness since they are
intended for young adults, not five or seven year old children. Nodelman also supports this opinion as the books having less pictures or without
pictures for older young readers, “require a reader to fill in—how much
they do imply a shadow text (Nodelman, 2008: 13).”
Leaving that debate, Lukens (1999: 9-10) believes that the most important thing about literature for children which makes it different from literature for adults is “in the degree but not in kind”. Also, she believes children, just like adults, need to get both “pleasure as well as understanding”. It means that children have the same needs with adults in which they have to read and learn as well about life, happiness, pain, death, difference, diversity, sadness, etc. However, the way they get those things is different. Children should be given literature which uses a smooth and soft way in telling the stories. Lukens adds another plus side
of children‟s literature which children can get is that they enjoy the
process of reading the book, and they get “something else and something
new” from it.
Lukens‟ opinion is supported by Hunt (1999:11) affirming that
children‟s book might be entertaining but it must have something that is
useful as a lesson for children as readers. That is why children‟s literature,
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to attain its role. The first thing is that children‟s literature must have simpler language and forms as children, compared to adults, have less reading experience. Therefore, the vocabulary and form of the literature must be easier and simpler. It is to make them easier to understand, too. It is, again, rude to say that it is because children are incapable of understanding not-simpler language or sentences. Nevertheless, it is because children, by nature, have shorter attention span than adults do.
The second requirement is that the stories must be told directly (Lukens, 1999: 9). Writers of children‟s literature should understand that too complicated plot such as progressive regressive plot of flashback will likely confuse them. It happens since they are still in the reading learning process. That is why they need to go through step by step in getting to know the plot. The stories they read will help them “to develop comprehension abilities, expand vocabularies, and expose young readers to new concept and ideas” (Serafini and Moses, 2014: 465). In other words, to attain those abilities, children need to be interested in those stories. If they are given too complicated words, plot, language, they will end up leaving the page of the book. Then, the mission of developing children‟s ability and exposing them to new concepts and ideas will fail.
Next, children‟s literature must content and represent children themselves. It means, children‟s experiences and behaviors must be there in the stories (Galapakrishan, 2011: 5). It is used to make them identify themselves and to give the examples that the characters in the stories could
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be them as well. Here, if it is attained, then children‟s literature can be the
“mirror” as “…children need to see themselves reflected so as to affirm
who they and their communities are” (Botelho and Rudman, 2009: 1). Sometimes, there are some children‟s stories that do not show how children behave, think, and act. Some others also only show majority of race, ethnic, gender, and culture that children who read them might feel the race, ethnic, gender, and culture in the stories are not theirs. In addition, by reflecting them in the stories, they will feel worthy and valuable since there is a book talking about them in a special way (Mankiw and Strasser, 2013: 85).
Another requirement is children‟s literature must provide understanding. This role is often perceived as “windows” for them as books are one of some ways to get to know about world and various differences (Bothelo and Rudman, 2009: 1). Children‟s literature can give children different human conditions, human nature depiction, and different kinds of human types and traits. Children will see that there are different traits of humans; kind, evil, envious, brave, greedy, etc; and there are, for instance, certain people who become minority. They can as well understand how girls‟ and boys‟ roles in the stories.
The other requirement is children‟s literature should be seen as the
“door” for children themselves. Amancio da Silva (2014: 56) says, “The
children‟s literature for children must be built with the participation of child as its protagonist…” Here, children are hoped to be critical readers.
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By reading good children‟s literature and being critical readers, they will engage in social practices functioning as social justice in their own society. It is hoped children will not stop only being passive reader, but the active ones who are aware about social issues related to them, for instance, injustice and discrimination.
The last requirement of children‟s literature is that it is better to have unique characters and setting. The characters such as personified animals and any other creatures as the representation of human beings are attractive for children (Lukens, 1999: 9). Also, better setting found mostly in fantasy will be good for them as they love imagination and experience of something impossible. Though the setting is impossible and imaginary, the plot must be plausible. Lukens (1999: 21) gives clear example for imaginative and fantastic story for children written by Mary Norton. It is the story of the Borrower books telling about the tiny people that face some problems just like the problems that people nowadays can face. It tells how a family lives in greed and that family becomes disrupted.
1. Conventional Children‟s Literature
Conventional children‟s literature, or commonly known as traditional
children‟s literature, has been popular everywhere in the world, especially
for children. Stories such as Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk,
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have become popular and read by almost all generations. Though they were produced, told, and written in the past, their popularity continues until now. According to some children‟s literature practitioners, conventional or traditional children‟s literature has some genres. They are folktales, fairy tales, myth, fable, legend (hero tales), and folk epics. They are relied on the oral tradition in which the stories are told to one generation to the next generation (Lassen-Seger, 2006: 28). After the development of technology, they are then written and produced as mass production.
People who are well aware will recognize that the genre of conventional children‟s literature is very limited. Hunt (1999: 5) believes “Children‟s books have a long history around the world and they have absorbed into themselves elements of folk and fairy tale, and the oral tradition” and the elements of conventional children‟s literature seem constructed already. Lukens (1999: 142) writes in her book that “Tales told over and over, told in one land to another, tales complex in structure for older readers or simple in outline for younger readers—most have themes that state a universal truth.” It can be said that the genres and the theme of conventional children literature have pattern and they are built already to be the universal belief in society.
The characters in the conventional children‟s literature are often flat and static characters. They only have fewer traits and they do not change from the beginning until the end of the story. The characters are only black
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and white. If there is a jealous step sister, she must be ugly and wicked. If there is a princess, she must be beautiful and kind. They never change until the story ends and they seem flawless. Besides, there are stock characters such as fairy godmother, handsome and brave prince, wicked step mother and step sister, etc (Lukens, 1999: 95).
However, Hourihan (1997: 11), in his book entitled Deconstructing the Hero, believes that the power of myth and fairytales is very strong. As the elements of myth and fairytales are constructed already, they are apparent often in other generation stories. The stories have different title, character and setting, yet the essence is exactly the same. For example, the story of
Oddesy written during the second millennium of BC has the same pattern with Where the Wild Things Are that is written in 1963. The essence of pattern is just the same, regaining position, freedom and domination. Roland Barthes adds that myth and fairy tales function as shaping people, as well as children, “perception of reality” (Hourihan, 1997: 12).
Another example is the setting in conventional children‟s literature
which usually uses “Once upon a time” or “Long time ago”. The setting is backdrop where it can be everywhere even happens again here and now to people nowadays. There is no specific time and place because there is only little time to describe place and time (Lukens, 1999: 169).
Furthermore, the theme in conventional children‟s literature is very general and universal. Almost all folk tales in different cultures have similar theme about human nature and life. Lukens (1999: 142)
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No. Code Category Quotation Page Meaning Road. Please. Will you come?
70. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„OK, OK, I‟ll go and get you a birthday cake,‟ said Star. „Marks and Sparks opens early on a Saturday. You wait.‟
She took the housekeeping purse and rushed out…
9 Logocentrism spreads a belief that children are selfish human beings. Here, Wilson denies that belief by creating an unselfish child character named Star.
71. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„You can have the rest of my Mars if you like,‟ said Star, thrusting the last piece of hers in my hand.
31 Wilson denies logocentrism saying that children are selfish. Here, Star wants to share her last piece of chocolate to her sister.
72. 2.g Denying logocentrism
I trudged on towards Holybrook Primary. Nearly everyone got taken by their mothers, even the kids in Year Six. Marigold hardly ever took me to school. Mostly she stayed in bed in the morning. I didn‟t mind. It was easier that way.
31 Wilson creates a child character who is not selfish named Dolphin. She does not follow the mainstream of the children stories authors who write a story with selfish children characters.
73. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„Stop eating yourself. OK. You go and see Mark tonight.‟
„But you‟re scared on your own.‟ „I‟ll be all right.‟
„Oh great!‟ Star gave me a big grin and then ran to our room to get ready. „You‟re sure, Dol?‟ she called, as she change out of her school uniform.
„Sure I‟m sure,‟ I said. „So long as you‟re not gone for ages.‟
77 Wilson denies logocentrism saying that children are selfish by proving that not all children are selfish. She creates a ten year old child character named Dolphin who thinks about other people‟s need. She knows she will be afraid of staying at home alone, but she cannot be egoistic to ask Star to stay only to look after her.
74. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„Oh Star! You scared me so,‟ I said, leaping up and giving her a punch—and then a hug. „What are you doing back?‟
79-80 Wilson presents Star as a child character who is not selfish. She does not want to leave Dolphin alone at home. Logocentrism believes that children do not
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200
No. Code Category Quotation Page Meaning
„I got to the end of the road and then I felt a bit mean about leaving you.‟
„I‟m all right.‟
„Oh yes, sure! You‟re practically wetting yourself. Come on.‟
„What?‟
„You come with me.‟
care about other people‟s feeling when they leave their friends. Here, it is proven that Star cares and she asks Dolphin to come with her to McDonald.
75. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„What are you doing?‟ Star hissed. She hooked me into McDonald‟s and sat me down at a table in the corner. She put her ice cream sundae in front of me.
„It‟s yours,‟ she said. „I‟m over there with Mark, right?‟
She ran back and snuggled up close to him. She didn‟t have anything to eat for herself.
82 Wilson creates Star character to be an unselfish child character. Star knows that Dolphin never goes to McDonald, while she often goes there enjoying McDonald‟s food. Therefore, she gives Dolphin sundae ice cream while she does not have ice cream herself. It is because Mark who buys the ice cream for Star. She cannot ask so much food.
76. 2.g Denying logocentrism
Star! You‟ve been such a long time, sweetie!‟
„Sorry. There were heaps of people. And I had to walk back carefully because I didn‟t want the cake to get bashed. I do hope you like it. I didn‟t know whether to pick the fruit or the sponge. I got the sponge because it was cheaper—but maybe you like fruit more?
12 The way Wilson denies logocentrism saying that children are irresponsible is by creating a child character that is responsible. Star takes care of the cake presented for her mother‟s birthday. She walks very carefully to make sure the cake is still in a good condition when she gives it to her mother.
77. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„Me too,‟ says Star. „Good idea, eh? Right, you come and wait for me outside school this afternoon, OK?‟
31 Wilson gives Star character as a responsible child who makes sure that her sister will be safe going home with her.
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No. Code Category Quotation Page Meaning „OK,‟ I said. I did my best to smile.
78. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„Well, you don‟t. I can look after myself. I looked after Marigold too.She got all stroppy and weird but I handled it. I knew just what to do to get her sorted out.‟
120 After being left by Star, Dolphin takes Star‟s responsibility in looking after their mother. Dolphin proves that she can do it by handling her mother when Marigold gets stroppy and weird.
79. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„Well. See what happens. I‟ll leave the mobile phone here and phone you everyday to make sure you‟re all right. Any time you want to come just say.‟
138 Star is still responsible for her sister and mother‟s condition by phoning her every day.
80. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„I can‟t come. Don‟t make me feel even worse. I‟m sorry, Dol, I‟m so sorry. I‟ll phone you every day. I‟ll keep in touch. You‟ll be OK. I had to cope with her right from when I was little, I looked after her and you…‟
147 Logocentrism believes that children will not care about people whom they leave. However, Wilson denies that logocentrism by presenting a child character who is still responsible for her sister and mother though she is away from them already. 81. 2.g Denying
logocentrism
She got money off Marigold the minute she got it out the post office and went to the school‟s special uniform sale and go herself a hideous grey skirt and blazer and white blousesand even a tie.
28 Logocentrism spreads a belief that shopping is not a child activity. It believes that children need their parents to do shopping, especially school stuff. Here, Wilson denies that logocentrism by creating a fourteen year old child who is independent to buy her school uniform by her own.
82. 2.g Denying logocentrism
I trudged on towards Holybrook Primary. Nearly everyone got taken by their mothers, even the kids in Year Six. Marigold hardly ever took me to school. Mostly she stayed in bed in the morning. I didn‟t mind. It was easier that way.
31 Wilson gives Dolphin character as an independent child who goes to school by her own. She knows her mother cannot take her to school, that is why she walks to school by her own.
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202
No. Code Category Quotation Page Meaning
83. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„We have cornflakes. But there isn‟t any milk,‟ I said.
„I can go round to the corner shop,‟ said Star. „I think it opens early on Saturdays.‟
„You can‟t go out and do the shopping,‟ said Micky fondly.
He looked as if he thought she was too little to shop. I wanted to tell him that Star had done the shopping ever since I could remember. She was much better at it than Marigold.
93 Wilson denies logocentrism where children are dependent on the adults for household stuff. This is not proven since she creates a child character named Star who is very independent in taking care of household responsibilities such as cooking.
84. 2.g Denying logocentrism
„I‟m often out without an adult.‟
„I‟m not. In fact, don‟t laugh, but this is the very first time.‟
„Now that is weird. Well. Don‟t worry. I‟ll look after you.‟
181 Wilson shows Dolphin‟s independence by creating her as a child who often goes without an adult figure. This is not usual since children are perceived by society as the ones who depend on the adults, especially when they go out of home.
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PERNYATAAN
Saya yangbertanda tangan di bawah ini:
Nama
: Ulik Chodratillah
NIM :12211141003
Universitas
: Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta
Program Studi : Sastra Inggris
.
Fakultas
: Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
Menyatakan bahwa sesungguhnya saya telah melakukan triangulasi
data sehubungan dengan analisis data mahasiswa bernama Tiara Dewi
Panduwati
dalam
penelitian
DECONSTRUCTION
ON
THE
CONVENTIONAL
IMAGES
OF
CHILDREN
IN
JACQUELIN'E
WILSON'S
THE ILLUSTRATED MUMApabila terbukti bahwa pernyataan
Inltidak benar, hal
1msepenuhnya
menjadi tanggungjawab saya.
Yogyakarta, 24 Agustus 2016
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PERNYATAAN