Looking at the way the child is portrayed in children’s literature reveals underlying assumptions about a child’s capacity or lack of it to be autonomous and independent.  Attitudes towards authority and learning become evident in the way relationships between child and adult are described, both in the family or in school.

Sudhir Kakar in his book, The Inner World: A Psychoanalytic Study of Child and Society in India  details how hierarchical the family structure  in India is  and how little autonomy children have to make their own choices.  He writes, “We know that if a child is praised and loved for compliance and submission, and subtly or blatantly punished for independence, he cannot easily withdraw from the orbit of family authority during childhood, nor subsequently learn to deal with authority other than submissively.” (1991:119-120.)

In a more recent study about adult-child relationships   Bisht documented responses by parents and teachers when asked about the role of the child.[1] The dominant perspective was that the child is emotionally immature, vulnerable, dependent and incompetent.  Adults largely saw their own role towards children as mentors, protectors and monitors of their behavior. 

The pressure on the child to submit to adult authority and be mentored is reflected in a number of children’s books published in India and comparatively few books position the child acting outside the family sphere. In an interesting unpublished study of CBT books Meenu Thomas describes how the child accepts uncritically the decisions of parents.[2] She cites a number of books as examples of this which include The Toy Horse (1997) by Deepa Agarwal, A Present for Papa (2003) by Sharmila Kantha and Bravo Kamala (2011) by Alaka Shankar.

Typically – but particularly in text books - children are shown conforming to the family’s expectations:  they have ‘good habits’, study hard, say their prayers and do not ask too many questions. They rarely move away from the protection of the surrounding adults in family or community.  There is also a tendency to show the rewards of obedience and conformity so that the explicit moral in   many children’s books is to accept dependence.

 Yet there has been a strong counter- narrative   of a child who is subversive, critical of social norms and poses awkward questions and challenges adults to re-think beyond conventional norms. It is refreshing to  find in ‘the possible worlds’ created by some  adult authors  of children’s literature representations of a child who is resilient, insightful and a receptive learner.

In the long tradition of stories, songs, poems and dramas about Bala Krishna his naughtiness has been celebrated, He crosses every boundary of social correctness. The child Krishna disturbs and disrupts order; he lies, steals, breaks and spills things but it is these same qualities that make him so endearing. The child Krishna reminds adults that there is a meaning beyond a conformist, limited life of being bound by other people’s rules and regulations.

Below I will discuss several books that offer an alternative to the dominant, sentimental view of the child who is dependent, passive and naive.  These include some of the earliest publications of children’s literature in India and also some more recent books.

The Little Big Man, Rabindranath Tagore.  Art by Rajiv Eipe. (2011) New Delhi: Katha.

Tagore’s poem, ‘The Little Big Man’ was first published in 1913 in the collection of poems called “The Crescent Moon”. It is a translation from the original Bengali by the poet himself. The poem has recently been published in the format of a children’s picture book. The illustrations highlight the poet’s capacity to enter into the imaginative world of the child. In this poem the child is momentarily liberated from the authoritarian figures that make decisions for him – the teacher, the uncle, his parents – as he imagines his response as an equal adult. Each time the child is confronted with the expectation of dependency he counters the suggestion with how he is in charge of his own life and the adult acknowledges the justice of it.

The encounter with the teacher is one example.

My teacher will come and say,

“It is late, bring your slate and your books.”

I shall tell him, “Do you not know I am as big as father?

And I must not have lessons any more.”

My teacher will wonder and say,

“He can leave his books if he likes, for he is grown up.”

This capacity for ‘make-believe play’ gives the child a possible world  beyond the present and an opening to forge a new layer of identity. The child enjoys a sense of his own power and the illustrator shows a child full of delight and confidence at a new-found freedom. There is an unexpected reversal in roles and the pictures  revel in representing  a child at ease with his own choices and  the adult disarmed by the child’s logic.

Life with my Grandfather, Shankar Pillai.  (1967) New Delhi: Children’s Book Trust.

This book was the first publication of the CBT and is written by one of the most creative pioneers in Indian children’s literature. One striking aspect of the book is how Shankar captures what is going on in the child’s mind  beyond the external events. The narrative is insightful because it is  very close to the author’s  own  autobiographical experience and this gives the text a rare authenticity. The stories are set in rural Kerala in the early part of the 20^th century.

The book recounts a number of Raju’s adventures  but his mischief is never malicious or destructive.  One of the incidents is entitled ‘The Snake Bite’. The irony is that there was no snake bite  but  only a bee sting. The grandfather  panics on seeing a blue mark on Raju’s finger and fails to listen to the child’s  logical explanation. Instead, he rushes to a healer to get the child ‘cured’ before a crowd of fascinated onlookers. Raju  is a  silent observer of what is happening but it is he who is most aware of the facts. He  notices the folly of his grandfather, the incredulity of the bystanders  and the shrewdness of the healer. There is a strong sense of humour as the child  tolerates the rituals knowing full well that no purpose is served  except to relieve his grandfather’s anxiety. The author, the child and the reader share  the inside story!

 In this book Shankar crystallizes the delight and wonder of the young child as he learns about the natural world and the dynamics of  social relationships. The child, in this narrative,  learns best not through explicit teaching  but through his own ability to observe and reflect. Despite the misunderstandings and even confusions  Raju trusts his family’s affection  but also his own intuitions.

Busy Ants, Pulak Biswas. (1987)  New Delhi: National Book Trust.

There are not many examples  in literature of children actively engaged in learning about the world independently and outside the school context.  Busy Ants is one such book that shows a child  totally absorbed in watching the antics of  ants. The picture book has no words  but the pictures  convey the  child’s  concentrated gaze as  he observes details  of the ants’ behavior. So much of our knowledge is gained second-hand  through books or internet but here we are presented with a child’s disciplined,  patient and careful study  of nature face to face.

The book is particularly appealing because the pictures represent the child’s perspective of the scene. We see the ants from the child’s vantage point as the child  stretches out  on the ground to gain a better view. The child is motivated by his own compelling interest and no rewards or incentives are offered or required. No adult is represented in the book and the whole focus is on the fascination of the child’s interaction with the ants. The boundary between work and play  is blurred and the child’s capacity for engagement  and undivided attention is celebrated.

Night,  Junuka Deshpande. (2008) Chennai: Tulika Publications.

In this unusual book a boy and a girl explore the beauty and the mystery of the night in the forest.  Here too, similar to the child in the  Busy Ants, the children  are  engrossed in the  immediacy of the present moment. The minimal but evocative  text and suggestive forms  capture the  impact of the surprises as they hear the sounds of the night  and  catch fleeting images of wild life. The children are  totally receptive to the sensory experience of  stillness and movement, light and shadows and there is no hint of fear or anxiety.

This journey through the moonlit forest is a time of enchantment but deeply rooted in actual experience. The children are alert and attentive but they do not need to speak to each other to intuitively enter into  this extraordinary experience of the ordinary, natural world.

Malu Bhalu, Kamla Bhasin. Illustrated by Bindia Thapar. (1999) Chennai: Tulika Publications.

Malu Bhalu was first written in Hindi. The author introduces the book as a story written together with her son, Chotu  following a shared reading of another  story about polar bears. This story describes the adventures of an independent polar bear cub.  The author writes, “This book, then, is dedicated to the carefree, fun-loving, whimsical wanderer and seeker hidden  inside each one of us.”

Many texts for children hint at the dangers of taking risks to explore the unfamiliar  world beyond the threshold of the safe home.  Malu Bhalu’s adventures in her attempt “to  see the world” and find  “where the sunbeams danced”  very nearly ended in disaster. The mother bear who pursues her missing daughter  does not scold her when she finds her stranded on an ice floe.  Nor does the mother threaten  to confine her in the future but instead  actually prepares the adventurous  cub to cope with the challenges of  survival  by teaching her to swim.

Rumniya, Rukmini Banerji , Illustrated by Henu. (2007) New Delhi: Pratham Books.

This  book  portrays a child who is confident to find her mother in the midst of a  crowded  wedding celebration. Traditionally a child is not solely the responsibility of the immediate family members but the community as a whole has a caring  role towards its younger members.  The child here seems to sense that she is not in danger  even though she is temporarily separated from her mother. Rumniya sets about the search for her mother in a focused and unfazed way, confident that she is in the midst of a sympathetic but non-interfering  community.

The appeal of the book  lies in the way the illustrator shows the world from the child’s perspective. From an adult’s point of view the normal course of action for a person who is lost is to search for a familiar face but here  we see  the unlikely  but sensible way  the child crawls on the floor to identify the shoes of her mother!

This recent story  is refreshing in showing a child alone and confident.  It is  in sharp contrast to the growing anxiety about the constant need for monitoring children’s movements in the urban context.   Few middle-class children are independent enough to go to school unaccompanied and  parents, for example, often  feel compelled to escort their children to and from the school bus stop. Children frequently are warned to avoid any encounters with strangers and  many families would feel they are failing in their duty  if they did not protect their sons and daughters  from getting lost.  

In another book by Rukmini Banerji called Going Home  (Pratham Books. 2004.)  a young girl  is shown  confidently negotiating  the chaos of city life as she rushes home from school in order to have time to play and to meet her father. In contrast to the sheltered and restricted life of the average middle class, the child in this text is a feisty young girl  who weaves her way through heavy traffic and crowded streets unaccompanied. She shares the same determination and sense of purpose as the young Rumniya  who is engrossed in her search for her mother.

Mohini and the Demon Shanta Rameshwar Rao.  (1990)  New Delhi: National Book Trust.

Mohini and the Demon is a myth re-told. Interestingly, in this version  the young   Mohini is a girl that a child reader might readily identify with.  She is the only person in the village who is not afraid of the demon, Bhasmasura who threatens he can reduce any human-being to ashes  with a touch on his victim’s head.  She considers the situation, “ I’m sure there’s a way out of this. I’m quite, quite sure. If only we could find it.” After careful thought  she  fearlessly  confronts the demon and offers to teach him to dance as a trick to bring about his own destruction. Cleverly Mohini demonstrates the movements and unwittingly the demon destroys himself by placing his own clawed paws  on his head as he follows Mohini’s dance.  

Mohini  begins the journey  back to tell her grandmother  but on the way  is greeted by the villagers who  then “carried her home in triumph”.  In this story all the adults are paralyzed with fear and Mohini acts alone to save the entire village not through magic but cleverness and bold thinking. 

Conclusion

In the books mentioned above each one in diverse ways  portrays  the child as an intrepid, explorer of his or her surroundings. The child  is eager to venture beyond what is safe and known and is resilient even in the face of danger or the unfamiliar.    

 In most of these texts the adult plays a minimal role and even in Malu Bhalu where the mother rescues her cub she  plays a supportive and  not an  authoritarian role. In a couple of the texts  such as Shankar’s  Life With Grandfather  the child demonstrates a surprising maturity  in contrast  to the adult  who seems to lacks sense and wisdom. In Mohini and the Demon  it is the young girl who is  ready to take risks and  in order to defeat the menace of a ruthless monster and so succeeds in savings the community.

In these texts the child is  not represented as a ‘savage’ that needs moulding and shaping, nor is there  a romantic view of the ‘natural’ child unsullied by culture. The child’s innocence and playfulness  is distinct from naivety and there is often a healthy realism that  underlies the child’s view of the world. The child is also not wholly  defined within the context of the family, educational institution  and cultural norms of society but instead maintains a certain confident  independence, curiosity and capacity to learn.