Early history
Until about the 17th century, there was very little literature written specifically for children.Butler, Francelia. (1972) Death in Children's Literature. ''Children's Literature'' v.1(1), 104-124. Oral storytelling and music accepted death as a matter-of-fact for both children and adults alike. Since mortality rates for children were much higher then, the subject was not taboo. The restoration of life, life as a preparation for death, death as a form of sleep, immortality, animals sacrificing themselves for humans, love as a conqueror of death, and inanimate objects that come to life were all common themes. Examples of the changing approach to death include: '' The Juniper Tree'' by the Brothers Grimm, in which a boy is murdered by his stepmother, but comes back as a bird and kills the stepmother. The bird then turns back into a boy and is reunited with his father and sister. The stepmother, though, does not come back to life.Morality lesson
''Early humor
Often death has even been the subject of jokes, such as in the various versions of ''The Girl with the Green Ribbon'' in which a young girl wears a green ribbon around her neck and a young boy asks her about it, but she puts him off. The two grow up together and eventually marry with the boy/man often asking her about the ribbon, but she continues to disregard the subject as "not important" or "not the right time". Finally when they are very old, she consents to have him untie the ribbon, and her head falls off. In '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', she jokes that if she falls and dies, she will be "quite a story back home". There is also the Mother Goose rhyme in which Humpty Dumpty falls and dies, because he is an egg that breaks and can not be re-built.Scientific approach
Later this somewhat philosophical or spiritual approach would be replaced by a more scientific approach wherein the illusion of death as a form of sleep is denied and the decomposition of bodies is discussed. This viewpoint may have been popularized by Puritan beliefs that death is a punishment for sin. In favor of this argument would be such texts as James Janeway's nonfiction ''A Token for Children: An Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several Young Children''.Gibson, Lois Rauch and Zaidman, Laura M. (1991) Death in Children's Literature: Taboo or Not Taboo? ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly'' v.16(4): 232-234. While life is still shown as fragile, emphasis is placed on the importance of salvation rather than on fantastical alternatives of rebirth as animals, immortality and such. Louisa May Alcott's well-known ''Little Women'' alludes to the story of John Bunyan's ''20th century to present
Death as plot device
Death becomes more of a plot device at this time, such as in Frances Hodgson Burnett's ''A Little Princess'' and ''The Secret Garden''. Sarah Crewe's parents die while she is in England and, as a result, becomes maid. Mary Lennox's parents are killed and she is sent to live with her uncle, who is still grieving for his wife and unwilling to even meet his son for fear that he will die as well. In ''Bambi'', the focal point of the story is the title character's survival through his mother's sacrifice. In these examples, death is treated much more subtly, alluded to as something that happened previously, not something to discuss frankly with children. In 1958, Margaret Wise Brown published ''The Dead Bird'', a simple picture book in which children find a dead bird. Just a few years later, children would hear about the deaths in the Vietnam War and the various political assassinations. These historical events may have had an effect on why some parents and educators now agree that death is a "fact of life" that is acceptable for children to be introduced to. At the same time, the cold, impersonal treatment of death begins to disappear in favor of the previous themes of leading a good life, love overcoming death, immortality, inanimate objects having or obtaining life, sacrificing one's life for others, and other such moral or "uplifting" themes. Still, even in the death-related books published in the 1970s and 1980s, feelings about death are discussed with children only 35% of the time and comfort was slightly more likely to be physical (54%) than verbal (48%).Seibert, D. and Drolet, J.C. (1993) Death Themes in Literature for Children Ages 3–8. ''Journal of School Health'' v.63(2), 86-90.Continuance
In ''The Giving Tree'' by Shel Silverstein, a tree sacrifices itself for a boy it loves. Then later, the boy returns as an old man to the tree stump and the two comfort each other. In ''Charlotte's Web'' by E.B. White, the pig Wilbur is afraid of death and the spider, Charlotte, spends her life creating messages in her web in order to save him. When she dies, "she lives on through her 500 offspring" and through the love of Wilbur. In C.S. Lewis's ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'', an allegory to the Christianity, Christian belief in Jesus, the lion Aslan sacrifices himself for the Pevensie children and later resurrects in time to vanquish the White Witch. In Natalie Babbitt's ''Tuck Everlasting'', the Tucks have the fountain of eternal youth, but Winnie Foster chooses not to partake in this "life without death". Katherine Paterson's character Jess in ''Bridge to Terabithia (novel), Bridge to Terabithia'' is confused over the accidental death of his friend, Leslie. In ''A Taste of Blackberries'' by Doris Buchanan Smith, a child dies from an allergic reaction. In ''Admission to the Feast'' by Gunnel Beckman, and in ''Kira-Kira'' by Cynthia Kadohata, a young character dies of cancer. In ''The Tenth Good Thing about Barney'' by Judith Viorst, the last good thing about the deceased cat, Barney, is that his decaying body helps the flowers to grow – a sort of "natural immortality".Corr, Charles A. (2003) Pet Loss in Death-Related Literature for Children. ''Omega-Journal of Death and Dying v.48(4): 399-414.Introduction of death concept
The death of animals with or without human personalities is a popular way to introduce the topic to younger children. The death of an animal or inanimate object such as a plant made up 2% of the deaths in literature for children ages three to eight written in the 1970s and 1980s. In Hemery's ''Not Just a Fish'', a young girl's fish dies and the girl deals with both her grief and the sympathy or disregard of others. This book actually shows a new Fads and trends, trend that exists in society: adults disregard for, or ignorance of, the grief of children. In ''Tough Boris'' by Fox, a character shown previously as a gruff, fearless pirate is grief-stricken when his parrot dies. In Viorst's ''The Tenth Good Thing About Barney'', a child is challenged to think of good things about a lost pet named Barney, while he and his family prepare for memorial activities. The use of animals allows the authors to broach the subject of replacing a loved one, such as in ''Charlotte's Web'' when Charlotte's memory lives on through her children. More examples are available in ''The Yearling'' by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, ''The Black Stallion'' by Walter Farley, ''Old Yeller'' by ''Fred Gipson'' and ''Where the Red Fern Grows'' by Wilson Rawls. One hypothesis for shielding children from death is that with the advent of modern medicine and changing attitudes about family, death is more removed from our lives than ever before. For example, in Zolotow's ''My Grandson Lew'', a mother must admit to her six-year-old son that his grandfather and namesake has died and she did not tell him.Corr, Charles A. (2003) Spirituality in Death-Related Literature for Children. ''Omega-Journal of Death and Dying'' v.48(4): 365-381. Despite all the above examples having more the feel of the earlier themes of death, there are still scientific or formulaic approaches to death available for children, such as in the workbooks, ''They're Part of the Family: Barklay and Eve Talk to Children About Pet Loss'' and ''Saying Goodbye to Your Pet: Children Can Learn to Cope with Grief''. Religious perspectives still play a role in the treatment of death. An estimated 40% of literature for children ages 3 to 8 written in the 1970s and 1980s gave indications of religious beliefs. While only 16% included affirmation of those beliefs, none include disapproval. In one instance, a text even came under fire for being too vague in its description of the religious aspect of death: some readers took offense to Maria Shriver's ''What's Heaven?'', because it did not specifically mention Jesus and because it did not dwell on whether or not everyone went toRealistic approach
Since the 1960s, literature for children is increasingly more realistic and "problem oriented", so death is just one of many topics approached.Moore, Timothy E. and Mae, Reet (1987) Who Dies and Who Cries: Death and Bereavement in Children's Literature. ''Journal of Communication'' v.37(4): 52-64. For example, John Gunther's ''Death Be Not Proud (book), Death Be Not Proud'' is more realistic than many of the death-related texts written prior.Walker, M.E. and Jones, J. (1986) When children die: death in current children's literature and its use in a library. ''Bulletin of the Medical Library Association'' v.74(1): 16-18. However, some studies have shown that there are gender factors affecting how the characters react to death and the experiences they have. According to the article ''Who Dies and Who Cries'', by Moore and Mae, males are more likely to show no visible signs of grief while females are more likely to express grief, particularly by crying. However males are slightly more likely to show anger and both are equally likely to social withdrawal, socially withdraw at first. Also, the reactions to long-term grief are less likely to be shown in all cases. This can be seen in the more graphic details of deaths often depicted in texts aimed at males such as in ''My Brother Sam is Dead'' by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier (historian), Christopher Collier. Not only are the responses to death not even, neither are the subjects of death. In the literature for children ages 3 to 8 written in the 1970s and 1980s, where someone died, 51% of the deaths were adults, 28% were animals or plants and only 9% were children (six books). Of the adults who died, 91% were "grandparent age" and 9% were "parent age". However, when children died they were more likely to be elementary school age (67%) than high school age (33%). Of the deaths described, 74% were relatives, versus 21% who were non-relatives. The gender of the person dying was about even. Often, the place or cause of death is not mentioned (42% and 49% respectively). Though it is estimated that at least half of actual deaths occur at a hospital or nursing home, hospitals were the location for only 12% of deaths in the studied books. Diseases such as heart disease or pneumonia, accidents and old age were the most likely causes, while seasonal changes, suicide and war accounted for three deaths.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Death in children's literature Children's literature Children and death Death in art Fiction about death