IT TAKES A GRAVEYARD: THE ROLE OF SUPERNATURAL GUARDIANS AND PARENTAL FIGURES IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

1 online resource (77 pages) : PDF

2020

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Children’s literature often has the child protagonist face a problem at home, such as large disagreements with parents or even the loss of a loved one. While realistic novels regularly tackle these concerns, supernatural novels are forced to use metaphor and magic to guide their young heroes. As parental figures or guardians of child protagonists in children’s literature, supernatural guardians and mentors allow the child to experience more agency, and through that agency, act on their own to solve problems for themselves. Unlike real world mentors and guardians, supernatural beings do not directly help the child fix their problems, but instead they give the child the tools and empower them to deal with and solve their problems on their own. Through a journey that is frequently fantastical, the child learns how to face and solve the problem they have at home. Since the supernatural is unrealistic, the amount of agency the child has can also be fantastical. The inclusion of the supernatural permits for the child to come of age, or at least act as an adult, at an accelerated rate.

masters theses

Literature

M.A.

Children's Literature
Guardian
Parent
Parental Figure
Supernatural

English

Basu, Balaka

West, Mark
Rauch, Alan

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

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