[HPforGrownups] Motherhood as Muse: Fauntleroy, Frankenstein and the Boy Who Lived

Thu Jun 19 05:43:10 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 61029

Arachne:  May I first commend you on your excellent overall writing on 
children's literature?  It's one of my ambitions to complete a Master's 
degree in Children's Lit, and I already have my thesis started (and I mailed 
the outline to myself postmarked about seven years ago, so nobody gets to 
swipe it :-)):  the underlying theme has to do with why certain books become 
'classics' with children themselves, vs. what parents might like to read to 
them or give them to read (although there is some overlap) - the big 
unifying element in popular juvenile literature that I've spotted is that of 
empowerment to the children.  Adults who've forgotten their own childhoods 
may be repelled and put off and speak out against children breaking the 
rules, or the horror of disconnected adults in some of the books (but often 
it's due to illness or travel or death) - but the fact is, kids love a 
vision wherein they make their own choices, the right choices, and come out 
heroes - and often where the adults were blind or wrong or misinformed 
(sound like any series we know, HMMMM?  :-))

[As an aside:  adults who misremember or fantasize how perfectly obedient 
they were in childhood try to choose things for their kids like _Little 
Women_ and _Little Lord Fauntleroy_, which show kids who succeed by pleasing 
adults and asking them for lots of advice.  Interestingly, on the topic of 
_Little Women_, Louisa May Alcott's actual father is romanticized as being 
very wise and remaining poor to do good, but there's actually evidence that 
he really couldn't hold down a job.  :-)]

Anyway:
>
>A major event in the lives of many women has, not surprisingly, influenced
>some the literary "children" of some female authors.  Several of those
>resulting famous works have, in a sense, also been adopted by J.K. Rowling.
>
>Frances Hodgson Burnett's book LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY was a huge 
>best-seller
>in her time, influencing Victorian-era mothers to dress their sons like 
>17th
>century English cavaliers, with long flowing curls (called love-locks), 
>lace
>collars and velvet suits with knee breeches.  Divorced Burnett revived 
>these
>styles for her own two sons, as well as for her book's hero, "Cedric 
>Errol".
>
>Ordinary "red-blooded" boys  were not so enthusiastic; see fictional
>treatment of their reactions in book SPIDERWEB FOR TWO by Elizabeth Enright
>(Chapter 11:  "A Loving Heart").  To get an idea, contrast TOM SAWYER with
>his brother Sidney; in film versions of book, Sid is often depicted as
>rather prissy.
>
Indeed - I love the film of Little Lord Fauntleroy, but being dressed like 
that as a boy had to have been horrifying.  And how wonderful you've read 
_Spiderweb for Two_!  One of my favorite books, I know exactly the scene and 
story you're referring to - *great* book, excellent series.

>If you've never read FAUNTLEROY, it's the story of how the trusting
>innocence and beauty of "Ceddie Errol" eventually transforms a selfish
>crusty Earl who disowned his son when the latter married a poor American
>orphan.  Former tyrant becomes the loving  grandfather espected by the boy
>who has only known love in his short life.
>
>Cedric Diggory is also described as innocent.  Rowling's choice of his
>surname is known  by many HP fans to be in honor of Christian character 
>who,
>in final book in C.S. Lewis NARNIA series, THE LAST BATTLE, dies and goes 
>to
>heaven.  This suggest Cedric's  death at the hands of a ruthless tyrant is
>not defeat.
>
Absolutely.  :-)  Another great series - Diggory Kirke.  :-)

>Because Rowling is a well-known fan of the NARNIA books, it's possible she
>read biography of C.S. Lewis  by A.N. Willson.  One page detailing the
>long, painful death of his wife Joy from cancer jumps to comment by his
>brother about LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.  My thoughts then jumped to another
>Cedric, whose death was quick and seemed to be painless.  Fiction can be
>shaped easier than reality.
>
>Here's the passage, on page 180 (read the novel and see if you agree with
>him):  "'...she feels better than she has done for a long time past'.  With
>anxiety momentarily removed from his mind, Warnie settled down to read
>LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY, with tremendous admiration for 'Mrs. Burnett's 
>power
>of drawing a perfectly good child who is neither a prig nor a bore'."
>
Very good connection, I think.

>If "Ceddie Errol" is a literary "ancestor" of Cedric Diggory (and perhaps
>one of the Weasley's owls?  More on that another time), then it's  logical
>to link another Burnett character, Colin Craven in THE SECRET GARDEN, with
>Colin Creevy.
>
>Colin in CHAMBER OF SECRETS gets petrified; Colin in SECRET GARDEN was
>treated as invalid since birth, so that at age 10, he is bed-bound and
>almost paralysed (SG, Ch. 13, "I Am Colin").  SG's child characters call
>process that cures Colin, "Magic" (title of Ch. 23). Modern readers might
>call it the power of positive thinking or "creative visualization".
>
>Could Colin Creevy's little brother DENNIS be a reference to American
>cartoon strip and TV show DENNIS THE MENACE?   That six year old was based
>on cartoonist's own son, and is very different from brutal Briish BEANO boy
>of same name.  http://www.hankketcham.com/bio-dennis.html
>http://kingfeatures.com/features/comics/dennis/about.htm Juxtaposed with
>"ideal boys" Fauntleroy and Diggory, which one is more believable, fun and
>endearing ?  (Did I hear you say Harry?)
>
Could be.  :-)

>Rowling's creation of HARRY POTTER stories stretches over much of her adult
>life so far.   When it first began, she may have seen herself in Harry,
>wondering where she fit in the world with vague longings to write and
>feelings of not belonging in a workaday world, where achieving pension 
>plans
>and not personal expression was the goal.
>
>Experiencing grief at the death of her mother, she added that element to 
>the
>book.  Becoming a mother for the first time taught her about sacrificing 
>for
>love of one's own child, carried to the extreme by Lily Potter.  The birth
>of her second child may eventually influence her literary creations.
>Perhaps she might tell her young pre-school son introductory tales of the
>wizarding world while he's too young to understand the first HP books.
>
It's really hard *not* to bring your own experiences into books.  You could 
do so if you totally write another genre, I guess - but the fact is, most of 
us who write write what we know - we almost cna't help it.

>Rowling had planned to wait until her daughter was old enough to read mum's
>work herself, but after the six-year old was asked by playmates questions
>she couldn't answer, JKR realized she was leaving Jessica out of a big part
>of her life.  Examples of book "spin-offs" I have in mind include POOR
>STAINLESS by Mary Norton, "told" by her BORROWER books' Homily to her
>daughter Arrietty (HP's Uncle Billius and escapators remind me of garbled
>names--Stanley, Emily, etc.--"borrowed" from human "beans"), and TATSINDA 
>by
>Elizabeth Enright, supposedly fairy tale told by Miranda to her little
>brother Oliver in the MELENDY family books.

_Tatsinda_ is also a brilliant book.

Thanks for all your thoughts - I love analyses that link existing literary 
themes with more great books.  :-)

Felinia

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