Child's play: Blood-stained stories in children's literature.

摘要

Blood has indelibly marked the genre of children's literature in numerous ways. This thesis examines the meaning and roles of blood in the genre. Through fairy tales and texts which follow fairy-tale plot-arcs, I demonstrate that one of the most important characteristics of blood is its transformational power. Blood changes the individuals it touches. Through the staining power of blood, girls become women, knowledge is gained, and characters are forever altered. Although the presence of blood carries great symbolic meaning, the absence of blood in certain situations is as relevant to the discussion of children's literature. Blood is glaringly absent from scenes describing even the most gruesome experiences. Utilizing Holocaust texts that follow fairy tale motifs, the disparity between actual events and literary accounts is illustrated via the absence of blood. Cultural silence is largely to blame for the absence of blood in these situations. Children's literature scholarship all but abandons the importance of blood. Just as the characters in the included texts are forever changed by blood, so is the study of children's literature.