GoodReads discussion: Racism in children's literature

[bobquasit]

A couple of comments I made on a discussion of children's literature and poetry over on GoodReads:

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I wonder, are modern editions of A Child's Garden of Verses censored? I grew up with it myself, and I remember some expressions that might make some modern readers uncomfortable. Let me see, I suppose it's probably in the public domain now...

Ah yes:

Poem XXVIII
Foreign Children

Little Indian, Sioux, or Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo,
Little Turk or Japanee,
Oh! don't you wish that you were me?

You have seen the scarlet trees
And the lions over seas;
You have eaten ostrich eggs,
And turned the turtles off their legs.

Such a life is very fine,
But it's not so nice as mine:
You must often as you trod,
Have wearied NOT to be abroad.

You have curious things to eat,
I am fed on proper meat;
You must dwell upon the foam,
But I am safe and live at home.
Little Indian, Sioux or Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo,
Little Turk or Japanee,
Oh! don't you wish that you were me?

http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/a-childs-garden-of-verses/ebook-page-06.asp

Personally I can't stand censorship in any form, but I wouldn't be surprised if expurgated versions are the only ones being sold these days!

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Personally, I prefer to read the original versions to my son, and then discuss any troubling issues that might be raised. He's eventually going to be exposed to racism no matter how much I try to shield him, and this way I can make sure that he both understands the historical context and knows that racism isn't appropriate or acceptable. If I try to maintain a cordon sanitaire around his mind, he'll risk being swept away by the first appealing presentation of racist ideas that he encounters!

For example, I've read the unexpurgated editions of the Doctor Dolittle books to him, and discussed the characters of Prince Bumpo and the various "savages" and "natives" in the books (not to mention the always-recidivistic Matthew Mugg, the Cat's Meat Man). I think it's also important to note that the actual intent of Hugh Lofting, for example, was NOT racist. Prince Bumpo may be comic relief, and a stereotype of the colonialist Englishman's view of "savage" Africans, but he is clearly represented as good-hearted, loyal, and brave; he is, in fact, a member of the Dolittle family.

My son loves Bumpo, but he also understands that Bumpo is a comic, silly character, and that he is not a representation of "real" people of African ancestry. And for the record, we've had no problems at all with his interactions with schoolmates of other ethnic backgrounds; the issue of race is essentially meaningless for him.

I can't help but think of the many who have censored Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn over the years, entirely missing the profoundly anti-racist nature of that work.

Comments

[akicif.livejournal.com]

There's a Kipling poem of similar initial flavour:

WE And THEY

FATHER, Mother, and Me,
    Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
    And every one else is They.
And They live over the sea,
    While We live over the way,
But—would you believe it?—They look upon We
    As only a sort of They!

We eat pork and beef
    With cow-horn-handled knives.
They who gobble Their rice off a leaf
    Are horrified out of Their lives;
And They who live up a tree,
    And feast on grubs and clay,
(Isn’t it scandalous?) look upon We
    As a simply disgusting They!

We shoot birds with a gun.
    They stick lions with spears.
Their full-dress is un—.
    We dress up to Our ears.
They like Their friends for tea.
    We like Our friends to stay;
And, after all that, They look upon We
    As an utterly ignorant They

We eat kitcheny food.
    We have doors that latch.
They drink milk or blood,
    Under an open thatch.
We have Doctors to fee.
    They have Wizards to pay.
And (impudent heathen!) They look upon We
    As a quite impossible They!

All good people agree,
    And all good people say,
All nice people, like Us, are We
    And every one else is They
But if you cross over the sea,
    Instead of over the way,
You may end by (think of it!) looking on We
    As only a sort of They! 

Sadly, the online source of the complete Kipling that used to be at whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au is now gone, but there are chunks of it at http://www.di2.nu/files/kipling/

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard that poem - thanks! It's interesting that it's quite similar to "Foreign Children" in many ways. Both are gently mocking the insularity of the attitudes taught to English schoolchildren during the colonialist period, unless I miss my guess.

There must be a complete Kipling somewhere online - perhaps the Gutenberg Project? He MUST be completely in the public domain by now!

[akicif.livejournal.com]

My feeling is that the Kipling is rather more mocking of the stay-at-homes (although this may have been greatly helped by having heard Leslie Fish sing this and other Kipling poems - she's no time for any kind of discrimination, that one).

I've done a bit more Googling, and the link above does seem to connect to as much online Kipling as you'll get nowadays.

I wonder - how close is Sebastian to Dan and Oona's ages?

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Now I'll have to do some searching. Hmm...how's this?

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/k#a132

Sebastian turned 7 on October 5th.