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Introduction
The highest compliment a childrens book can receive is for critics to say that
it isnt for children at all, Christopher Clausen observes (Clausen. 1982, p. 141).
Indeed, contemporary popular childrens literature such as The Harry Potter series are
crossover fictions, which are highly recognized by critics and are read by a great
number of children and adults around the world. Both children and adults enjoy not
only the paper-printed version of The Harry Potter series and also their adapted films.
Therefore, we can say that The Harry Potter series blurs the distinctions between
adults fictions and childrens fictions. However, there are still some common
distinctions between major adults fictions and major childrens fictions. One of the
distinctions between major adults fictions and major childrens fictions is the
interpretation for home. Here Clausen also explains for the differentiations between
adults fictions and childrens fictions based on their interpretations for home, When
home is a privileged place, exempt from the most serious problems of life and
civilizationwhen home is where we ought, on the whole, to staywe are probably
dealing with a story for children. When home is the chief place from which we must
escape, either to grow up or (as in Huck's case) to remain innocent, then we are
involved in a story for adolescents or adults (Clausen, 1982, p. 143). In addition,
Mavis Reimer (2013) emphasizes that the Home-Away-Home structure is in the
format as circular journey in many Western childrens books (Reimer, 2013, p. 269).
Indeed, many classic and contemporary Western childrens fictions all contain the rule
of Home-Away-Home as circular journey, and I would like to examine the rule of
Home-Away-Home in the following classic and contemporary Western childrens
fictions: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), The Little Women (1869), The
Wizard of Oz (1900), The tale of Peter rabbit (1902), The Secret Garden (1911),
Where the wild things are (1963), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1970),
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997), No, David! (1998), and Caroline
(2002). Within the rule of Home-Away-Home in classic and contemporary Western
childrens fictions, there are also binary oppositions and Jungian theory. Overall, as
readers are aware of protagonists going back to their homes in the end, Home-AwayHome in Western childrens fictions is a format that readers can foresee.
However, protagonists make new homes in a new lands in Allen Says three
contemporary realistic picturebooks Grandfather's Journey (1993), Tea with Milk
(1999), and Erika-san (2009). There are two reasons for me to choose Home-AwayHome in Allen Says three picturesbooks. The first reason is that they are Japanese
American stories. As Japanese American stories, they might reflect different elements
from the Western patterns. Second, they are realistic stories and all contain immigrant
issues. The two reasons invoke me to explore how Home-Away-Home works in these
non-Western contemporary realistic picturebooks. In a nutshell, I choose
Grandfather's Journey (1993), Tea with Milk (1999), and Erika-san (2009) because
they are categorized into the same genre as contemporary realistic picturebooks, and
most importantly, they have the same common theme: home.
Since nowadays there are more transnational migrations around the world,
home is redefined. Home is not only the place of birth, but it can also be the space that
people study, work, get married, or just feel a sense of belongings. Therefore, I
postulate that Allen Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks Grandfather's
Journey (1993), Tea with Milk (1999), and Erika-san (2009) represent the issue of
immigrants in the context of Home-Away-Home in many Western classic childrens
fictions.
.
The Literature Review
This term paper is primarily based on textual analysis from literary and
psychoanalytical approaches. My focus on Home-Away-Home is rooted in Aesthetic
Approaches to Childrens Literature: An Introduction (2005) by Maria Nikolajeva and
Hidden Adult: Defining Childrens Literature (2008) by Perry Nodelman, with a focus
on Home-Away-Home. Nikolajeva synthesizes perspectives of Home-Away-Home
from many scholars. She elaborate Home-Away-Home with binaries, happy ending,
plots, motif, symbol, setting in many Western childrens fictions, and also from the
Jungian theory. Nikolajeva elucidates examples in many Western childrens fictions,
to substantiate the rule of Home-Away-Home. On the other hand, Nodelman views
Home-Away-Home from cultural ideas about childhood (Nodelman, 2008, p. 59).
In Nodelmans postulation, it is adults that imagine children to be protected and
limited by a safe space, and then adults imagine that children want to defy adults
wisdom and emerge from adults protection. At the end of the voyage, children should
choose one between the two conflicting values in being away and being at home.
Nevertheless, when children come back to the same home, the significance of home is
not the same, for what has happened during adventures reconstruct the motif of home
(Nodelman, 2008, p. 59-68).
In term of the essence of these three realistic stories in Allen Says
picturesbooks, I refer to books by Barbara Z. Kiefer (2012), Maria Nikolajeva (2010),
and John Stephens (1992). In Charlotte Huck's Children's Literature: A Brief Guide
(2012), contemporary realistic fiction is defined as imaginative writing that
accurately reflects life as it was lived in the past or could be lived today, and it helps
children to see the world from other peoples perspectives (Kiefer, 2012, p. 201).
Therefore I specifically emphasizes that Grandfather's Journey (1993), Tea with Milk
(1999), and Erika-san (2009) are contemporary realistic picturesbooks, for they are
representations of immigrant issues. Stephens argues that realism and fantasy are the
most important generic distinction in childrens fiction (Stephens, 1992, p. 7). In his
description, realism is viewed as metonymy and fantasy as metaphor. However, even
though Nikolajeva mentions those supernatural elements in fantasy, she does not view
realism as opposed to fantasy. She claims that the distinction between realism and
fantasy is by interpretation (Nikolajeva, 2010, p. 41). Thus, I can put three Allen Says
contemporary realistic picturebooks under the discussions of Home-Away-Home,
compared and contrast with the discourse of Home-Away-Home in Western classic
childrens fictions.
Allen Says Grandfather's Journey, Tea with Milk, and Erika-san are realistic
stories of displacement between Japan and America. Grandfather in Grandfather's
Journey moves from Japan to America, and then America to Japan, yet keeps missing
one country while being in the other. Erika in Erika-san is a White American woman
moves to Japan, looking for a location as quiet as America, and then makes a home on
a remote island in Japan. Masako in Tea with Milk is reluctant to move from America
to Japan, struggling with her cultural identity, but then feels Japan satisfy her dream as
a home in the end. Therefore, we can conclude that there is a Home-Away-Home
formula in these three Allen Says contemporary realistic picturebooks, which also
exists in many Western classic childrens fictions or picturesbooks (fantasy).
However, with the premise that Allen Says contemporary realistic picturebooks
differentiate from Western classic fantasy childrens books or picturesbooks (fantasy)
in genre, I argue that these three Allen Says contemporary realistic picturesbooks
have a distinct structure of Home-Away-Home formula in the process of being away
and the motif of home. The process of being away and the motif of home in Allen
Says three contemporary realistic picturesbooks are representations from traveling to
dwelling in transnational migration.
Content
According to Nikolajeva (2005), quest is a common motif in childrens
literature. And the goal of quest can be objects or persons. Along with quest, journey
is a fundamental pattern in childrens literature as well. Protagonists start their
journeys in quest of their treasure or identity in childrens fictions (Nikolajeva, 2005,
p. 82). Yet in realistic stories, the motif of journeys is also the issues that authors
concern, when Nikolajeva delineates that the motif of realistic stories is sometimes
called issues (Nikolajeva, 2005, p. 83). In Allen Says Grandfather's Journey, Tea
with Milk, and Erika-san these three contemporary realistic picturebooks, in quest of a
home is a profound motif. Protagonists such as a Japanese man in Grandfather's
Journey, a White American woman in Erika-san, and a Japanese woman in Tea with
Milk they all launch their journeys in quest of a home in a strange land. Allen Say
redefine the significance of home in the Home-Away-Home formula. Unlike in many
Western classic childrens books, it is until home leaving that foreshadows
protagonists awakenings of their quests, in quest of a new home in a new land is the
primary goals and also the destinations for those protagonists in Allen Says three
contemporary realistic picturebooks.
While home is still the same physical unit in the beginning and in the end in
Western classic childrens books, home is another physical and spiritual home in Allen
Says contemporary realistic picturebooks. David in No! David! (1998) returns to his
mother hug, Max in Where The Wild Things Are (1963) comes back home with supper
provided already, Peter in The Snowy Day (1962) is back to his warm home finding
out that the snowball disappears in his pocket, and Peter Rabbit in The Tale of Peter
Rabbit (1902) escapes from Mr. McGregors garden and gets ill at home. They four
protagonists all come back to their original homes. However, even though
protagonists go back to the same physical home after completing adventures in
Western classic childrens books, the significance of home is different because of
what has happened to the child while he or she has been away (Nodelman, 2008, p.
66). It is being away that makes protagonists realize the concept of home. In
Nodelmans opinion, there are conflicting values between home and being away, and
protagonists choose one value between the two. However, home and being away are
inseparable, for Nodelman argues Home needs away to define its meaning, and
away means nothing in particular if there is no home to read it against (Nodelman,
2008, p. 65). Indeed, in Allen Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks,
protagonists face the conflicting values between homeland and foreign country, but
they change their attitude and then regard foreign lands as their homes in the end. For
example, Grandfather in Grandfather's Journey completely immerses himself into
American people and nature, Erika in Erika-san appreciates Japanese culture and
volunteers to be a Japanese American, and Masako in Tea with Milk awakens herself
that Japan can stop her heart from wandering. Despite of those conflicting values
between home and being away, protagonists in Allen Says contemporary realistic
picturebooks change their attitudes, choose to embrace new values in foreign lands,
adopt foreign countries, and then construct hybrid cultural identities.
Along with the Home-Away-Home formula, there are binary opposites in
Western classic childrens books as well as in the Allen Says three contemporary
realistic picturebooks. Common binary opposites in Western classic childrens fictions
such as The Wizard of Oz (1900) are good/evil, powerful/powerless,
nonmagical/magical, boring/adventurous, old/young, and nave/cunning, et cetera.
(Nikolajeva, 2005, p. 116-7). Nodelman, once again, views binary opposites as an
adult/child relationship. Adults imagine that children abandon wild and slavish
childhood for reasonable and civilized adulthood (Nodelman, 2008, p. 227-32). When
we employ binary opposites in Allen Says contemporary realistic picturebooks, we
will see that his binary opposites are deeply rooted between its settings as home and
away: Japan and America. The setting shifts accentuate the contrast between home
and away, city and countryside, nature and culture, security and danger (Nikolajeva,
2005, p. 133).Whereas Japan is highly-populated, America is wide with spare
population: the rural scene of America fascinates Grandfather, and crowded Tokyo at
first scared Erika when she just arrived Japan. Whereas Japan is a country composed
by a single ethnic group, America has multiple races and cultures: Grandfather is
open-minded in meeting both White and colored Americans, Erika is the only one
looks different from Japanese in school, and Masako accommodates businessmen
from various ethnic groups and takes contacting them as granted. Whereas Japan is
conservative, America is tolerant: Japanese women are supposed to be housewives,
yet American women can drive and work in Erika-san. Whereas Japanese wear
kimono and drink tea, Americans wear Western-style customs and drink tea with
sugar and milk in Grandfather's Journey and Tea with Milk. Here comes to the sign
and symbol in childrens literature. Conventional signs are based on a convention, an
agreement between the bearers of a particular language, both natural languages and
others, such as gestures, dress code, or emblems (Nikolajeva, 2005, p. 22). When in
term of dressing code, Grandfather wears kimono and Western-style customs
respectively when being displaced between Japan and America; Erika is called as
Erika-san and dresses herself in kimono, to represent her new cultural identity as a
Japanese; Masako is accustomed to kimono, but still loves to drink tea with sugar and
What Joseph says portends that home is a place where people feel satisfied, which is
not accordant to Nikolajeva and Nodelmans interpretations: home is a safe space.
Nodelman explains, Home and away are significant images of safety and/or
constraint as opposed to danger and/or freedom (Nodelman, 2008, p. 59). In Western
classic childrens books, home is a secure and safe location offering food, love, and
other necessities (Nikolajeva, 2005, p. 138), but after protagonists return from their
adventure, home is also a warm shelter illuminating mutual relationships. In Allen
Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks, protagonists find the meaning of
home in another spaces, indicating that home can be re-discovered after their attitudes
change: wherever you feel satisfied, it can be you home. Overall, home and marriage
are not the same; looking for a home is an internal rather than external search in Allen
Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks.
Unlike protagonists in Western classic childrens fictions are unconscious in
the beginning of their adventures, those in Allen Says three contemporary realistic
picturebooks are conscious when they started their journeys in a new country. From
the psychoanalytical approach, according to the Jungian theory, there are three phases
in the process of individuation, or says the adventure of self-discovery (quest) that we
have mentioned earlier. Kimberley Reynolds elucidates Jungs narratives of personal
development emphasizes the need for separation and individuation as part of
maturation (Reynolds, 2011, p. 44). First, protagonists are not aware of the
dangerous world outside. They are unconsciously in a state of innocence childhood.
Second, the initial harmony in the first stage is destroyed. Since the static harmony
cannot satisfy protagonists, they need to choose between the two conflicting values in
their voyages. Third, they integrate their conscious and unconscious, reconciling the
two conflicting values and then become integral characters (the Self) (Nikolajeva,
2005, p. 84-7). Here Nikolajeva cites The Wizard of Oz as an example. Dorothy
enjoys her halcyon childhood, not realizing of her whole individual. Then she is in
quest of brain, hear, and courage with her companions. Finally, she happily returns
home with brain, hear, and courage, the conscious of the whole Self (Nikolajeva,
2005, p. 87). However, in Allen Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks,
protagonists are conscious of their upcoming journeys before maturity. Grandfather in
Grandfather's Journey intends to explore America after the Meji Restoration, Erika in
Erika-san admires Japanese culture and had decided to live there since she was
young, and Masako in Tea with Milk was reluctant to move to Japan, the homeland of
her parents. They three protagonists in Allen Says three contemporary realistic
picturebooks are extremely sure to begin their unexpected journeys.
Unlike protagonists in Western classic childrens fictions undergo physical or
mental metamorphosis during their secretive adventures, those in Allen Says three
contemporary realistic picturebooks are foreigners in public in real life when being
away. Alice in Alices Adventure in Wonderland (1865) becomes larger and smaller in
hole, Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series (1999) gains more power since crossing
the platform 9 3/4 without any Muggles notice, four children in The Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe (1950) enter into the Wardrobe to fight for antagonists, Caroline in
Caroline (2002) encounters ghosts after going into a locked door, and Max in Where
the Wild Things Are is more uncivilized in the world that he creates. The
metamorphosis precludes any issues of reliability or credibility (Nikolajeva, 2010,
p.135), Nikolajeva observes. In a nutshell, protagonists create forbidden journeys
which are not to be seemed by adults in Western classic childrens fictions, and they
experience essential changes during their secretive journeys. On the other hand,
Masako in Tea with Milk becomes a gaijin (foreigner in Japanese) in Japan. She
dresses like a Westerner and speak English, the behaviors being strange to
conservative Japanese. When she is aligned, She is confused, Im a foreigner in my
parents country, she though. And they came back here because they didnt want to be
foreigners (Say, 1999, p. 14). She feels isolated and rootless when being a foreigner.
Erika also becomes a foreigner in Japan. She is lost in metropolitan Tokyo, the only
Caucasian among Japanese in subway station. In schoolyard, children call her
Foreigner! Foreigner! (Say, 2009, n. p.). She is nervous and can hardly utter a single
Japanese word when she is uprooted from America. Nevertheless, Grandfather in
Grandfather's Journey is excited when exploring America. He is astonished by the
natural atmosphere of America, and he cheerfully encounters people of various ethnic
groups. Since Grandfather is incredibly satisfied with America, he regards America as
his home, which causes his lifelong remorse, homesickness, and eternal nostalgia in
the end. Here Nikolajeva denotes, Setting can also create a special mood in a story,
for instance the feeling of lack and loneliness, threat, nostalgia, joy, and so on
(Nikolajeva, 2005, p. 135). Although the three protagonists have three individual
sentiments in Allen Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks, they all are
foreigners disconnected with their homeland in real settings.
Unlike protagonists in Western classic childrens fictions consciously and
different immigrants around the world, and their stories evoke a universal experience
for immigrants: homesickness.
The Home-Away-Home structure in Allen Says three contemporary realistic
picturebooks is a variation among other Home-Away-Home stories in Western classic
childrens fantasies by this interpretation: It is an epitome of many transnational
migrations, reflecting the path of immigrants in this global world. People undertakes
journeys in foreign lands for millions of reasons. Once temporary travelers feel a
sense of belongings for a strange land, and then decide to dwell, the strange land can
be called a home. Thus, immigrants can have more than one spiritual home; home can
be anywhere that immigrants or travelers are identified with. Maybe just like Morleys
concept for home in this contemporary globalized society, Home may not be so
much a singular physical entity fixed in a particular place, but rather a mobile,
symbolic habitat, a performative way of life and of doing things in which one makes
ones home while in movement (Morley, 2000, p. 47). Indeed, the increasing
mobility of people dramatically challenges traditional perceptions of home. The motif
of home is not just the place that people feel safe in Western classic childrens
fictions, but the spaces that immigrants are satisfied with, just like the construction of
home in Allen Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks. After all, everywhere
a home for travelers, forever homesickness for immigrants.
Conclusion
My term paper demonstrates that the Home-Away-Home rule in childrens
books is not simple but rather full of numerous possibilities. Nowadays there are more
Western childrens books deviates from traditional Home-Away-Home stories, such as
Harry Potter (1997) and The Graveyard Book (2008). They have complicated HomeAway-Home plots, and they are also composed of the element of homelessness. In my
work, I unfold that Allen Says three contemporary realistic picturebooks connote a
contemporary issue of immigrants in the context of Home-Away-Home. Since
nowadays there are more transnational migrations around the world, Home-AwayHome is redefined in reality. To sum up, the adjustments of Home-Away-Home in
contemporary childrens books deserve further constructions, deconstructions, and reconstructions by young readers.
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