Literature and Child Development

When a child learns to read for the first time, they, depending on the books they read, are slowly introduced to the culture around them. These parts of culture can include gender roles in society as shown in fairy tales in which the prince saves the princess. The values of the parents may also be instilled in the child, for it is the adults who choose what books go on their child's bookshelf.

Cinderella is a classic example of this very thing.

In Cinderella, Cinderella was enslaved in her own home by an evil stepmother and her two ugly stepsisters. It's implied that Cinderella is beautiful compared to all of them. A fairy godmother intervenes and hands Cinderella the chance to go to the ball as she wanted, pretty much handing the main character the very thing she wanted. (Her step-family would not let her go.) At the ball, the prince (unnamed) falls in love with her, but Cinderella's fantasy ends at the stroke of midnight. She leaves her glass slipper behind when she runs home in shame. Later, the prince is looking for her, and he eventually finds Cinderella despite how the stepsisters tried to cheat their way into marrying the prince. (Those two did some weird things to their feet...) In the end, Cinderella and the prince live happily ever after. The end.

A child reading Cinderella may assume that the prettiest of girls, even if they have hardships, can have anything they want handed to them by someone from pity or admiration. Cinderella is given a night of romance in a fancy dress (possibly from pity) and a life of luxury (most likely from the prince's admiration of her). This child will then grow up thinking, because she is beautiful, that she can have or obtain anything she desires.

Boy, is she up for a major wake-up call in her future!

Choose Your Words Carefully

When it comes to writing, any word can either make a piece greater or pull it down the ranks. One has to be careful when writing, because too many fancy and "intelligent" words can make him sound like a snob. No one wants to read a book written by a snob who shows off his use of language, making it seem as though he believes to be smarter than his readers.

For example, look at the following sentence:
The man ran through the entire house in which he lives from the man running after him.

Now, that sentence doesn't really describe anything. The man ran through the house, but who was running after him? Just another man? Why? Is this supposed to be a chase?

Look at the sentence again. This time, it has been revised and shown below:
The male scampered through the residence from the unwanted male intruder pursuing him.

This version of the sentence is far too eloquent, using larger words and making it seem like the writer believes he's smarter than anyone who reads it. Plus, with such a multitude of words, it looks kind of like a train wreck. It could be much cleaner than this.

Take a look at the sentence one last time:
The man scrambled through the house from the intruder.

Much better. This sentence brings a much better balance of eloquence and simplicity, and it's more precise than both of the other sentences. It can be assumed that the intruder is chasing the man, and the sentence itself implies that the writer didn't tear apart a thesaurus in order to write it.

Writing is an art, and too much of something can really hurt it. Watch your words, and make sure that there isn't an overload of "intelligent" words. You know what they say: too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Odysseus and the Slaughter

In Book 22 of Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus reveals himself and slaughters the many suitors that have been taking advantage of Penelope's hospitality for the longest time. After he slaughters them, he disfigures Melanthius and has his disloyal servant women hanged. In his preliterate culture, this is acceptable, yet it is not morally sound.

Back in Ancient Greece, there were no written laws. Even if there had been, Odysseus is the king of Ithaca. Not to mention, Odysseus has been away from home for twenty years. He comes home to find that his house is overrun by rude suitors trying to court his wife, and he also finds that a good number of servant women and other citizens are disloyal to him. If that wasn't bad enough, the suitors continually disrespected his wife, Penelope. Odysseus, as a husband, would not appreciate anyone treating his wife in such a way. These suitors also plotted to kill his son, Telemachus, which puts the icing on the cake of vengeance. As a strong and powerful war-king, this can drive a person to a slaughter such as when he killed all of the suitors.

Meanwhile, that doesn't make Odysseus's actions morally correct. Today, this would be all over the news as one of the biggest disasters in history, but it's more about the culture and how the Greeks looked at it. The ancient Greeks praised Odysseus and sang songs about his triumph, and the story itself, in Book 22, shows how the gods actually aid Odysseus in killing the suitors, giving him strength and courage. Despite how moral it is or not, the Greeks praised his actions and hailed him a hero.

It's Everywhere!

Some people seem to think that literature is only found in novels and other books (prose), but this isn't entirely true. The actual definition of "literature" is a written work made up of words, and words can be found everywhere!

• Poetry- The words in a poem are often put together in ways that are beautiful, and (most of the time) they rhyme. Poetry is actually one of the two major classifications of literature; an uneducated person may or may not even know this!

• Music- Song lyrics often have a deeper meaning to them, or they are describing something like an event, such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2. This song is mainly about Bloody Sunday, an event in Russia that took place in 1905. Other songs link to all sorts of aspects of life; like love, death, friendship, and being yourself.

• Speeches- Words in a speech are brought together in order to share opinions or persuade a group of people to act in a certain way. People are usually moved, to tears or to sheer happiness, when they hear certain speeches. A perfect example of this would be "I Have A Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• Movies- Do you believe actors make up their lines with nothing to follow? I'm sorry, but you're wrong (for the most part; some improvise). There are screenwriters who put together multiple pages full of movie lines (some of which are still memorable today) and the way a character acts. It's like reading a book without actually reading the words. What you're reading are the actions and the plot of a film, and some people don't give enough credit to the screenwriters.

A Unique Writing Exercise

Most writing exercises involve one writing by themselves, and some people are not motivated enough to work at these exercises to improve. If he or she wishes to improve his writing, but he can't keep his focus or gets bored too easily, there is something else you can do.

I like to call it "Joint Writing." This exercise is when you and at least one other person get together and write a piece of literature together by taking turns. The piece can be fictional or nonfictional, depending on your mutual interests. Each person takes turns and adds on to his partner's response, each from a difference perspective.

This exercise helps with character development, for your responses would be in response to your partner's. Your partner would have his own perspective and his own "character" that responds to your replies. (This is also known as a form of "role-playing.")

What you do to complete this enjoyable, simple exercise is very easy:

1. Get a partner (or more).
    - You're going to need at least one other person to complete the exercise. Having a partner keeps you motivated and interested.
2. Come up with an idea.
    - You'll need an idea to spark up the piece in which you and your partner will write.
3. Keep it unpredictable, if possible.
    - If you and your partner keep to a mundane topic that both of you expect certain responses to, neither of you will want to continue when you've barely gotten half-way through the exercise. Keep it interesting.
4. React, react, react!
   - The point is to improve your writing skill by trying to use your "character" to respond to a situation you'd never think of yourself. If your partner comes up with a situation, then react! In a chain of events, your partner will reply to your response, and soon you'll have a very interesting plot going; one you may have never even thought of!

To complete the exercise, you only need three things: something with which to write (pencil and paper, a computer, etc.), a partner, and an idea. All of these things put together give you the opportunity to improve your writing and ability to develop characters.

Hey, guys! What'cha doin' ta our language?

In literature, words are shown as they're spelled. We know what an author is trying to convey through his words, and the author introduces his ideas through syntax and diction and uses the correct grammar.

Today, a lot of English-speaking Americans have adopted a new way to use speech. We've reached a point in our society where shortened "slang" makes up our daily lives. Some very popular examples are as follows:

• Wa'sup? - What's up?
• What'cha - What are you...?
• Gotta - Got to
• Wanna - Want to
• Gonna - Going to

And these are just a few examples. One can also see the way we've shortened our words and conversations through text messages and emails.

Examples of the above include "u," "lol," "r," "brb," "g2g," "b4," "gr8," and "rotflshmsfoaidmt." (Kudos to you if you know what that last one stands for! And don't use Google to cheat!)

When people speak, some also skip the last syllable in many -ing words, such as "runnin'," "jumpin'," "nothin'," and other words of that nature. "You" becomes "ya," and "to" becomes "ta" when incorporated with the rest of this shortened language.

Speech like this is extremely informal, and it is most common among children and teens. This is mainly because these two groups were born into a world where texting and emails have become more and more popular over the years. With this kind of technology, it would seem optimal to shorten the messages for more efficiency and to save time.

Personally, I think we're just lazy.

Storytellers and Tailors

Telling a story is just like sewing.

A tailor (or seamstress) is able to weave the fabric and string at their disposal together in order to create something worthwhile and of use to others. Examples of this include clothing, fabric storage bags, and the like.

An author can do the same with his/her words. The words are arranged in such a way that a story is created, bringing a whole world to life. The imagery and other figurative language used in a story have the potential to create an entire world in your mind. (This makes it worthwhile and of use to others.)

The tailors provide the clothes on our backs, whereas the storytellers provide the "clothes" for our brains. The imagination and creativity brought to us through stories lets us express ourselves, like the clothes we wear on our bodies do when we wear them.