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FINAL Current Developments at the Intersection of British Children ONLINE VERSION
5.4.4
Absence of authority Even though the traditional hero lives in an intact social and family environment, his parents or guardians need to be temporarily absent for him to have the necessary freedom for adventures. Since freedom means space, many fantastic adventures take place outside of the house, the symbol of enclosure and security. In order to engage with unknown situations, environments and beings, known territory has to be left behind. Where this is not physically possible, a fantastic encounter such as that of Alice or Diamond can be experienced within the framework of a dream. Its advantage is obvious: Reality, its conventions, norms and laws of nature are suspended or overruled, and other restrictions are more easily overcome. Another reason for the absence of adults and their authority is the fact that their rationality is often incompatible with imagination and play and would only hinder the children’s creativity. From the start, the modern hero in British fantasy novels for children enjoys substantially more freedom than the traditional one due to different family structures and the less strict education system. This circumstance renders dreams as a framework or background for fantastic adventures superfluous. With the increased amount of freedom, more possibilities 180 for fantastic encounters arise. The reasons for the absence of parents and their authority vary from holiday, work-related trips, divorce or separation to illness or even death. Whether real or temporary orphans, 221 the total absence of authority is only given if there is no guardian involved. A large number of corpus novels are based on such an absence of parents and authority for various reasons. Whereas Artemis Fowl’s father has been kidnapped, his mother suffers from depression and is thus incapable of looking after him. In view of this unusual freedom combined with Artemis’ cleverness, the teenager is given a free hand for his decisions and activities. His bodyguard, aptly named Butler, is exactly that, not a guardian. Artemis is clearly the master. Brennan’s hero Henry is troubled by the separation of his parents and his mother’s new lesbian relationship and spends his spare time with the pensioner Fogarty, who acts as a mentor but cannot replace the parents. In Nix’ The Keys to the Kingdom series, Arthur has been adopted. In addition, his mother has a stressful job as a doctor, thus often being absent. When a highly contagious epidemic disease breaks out, his family is affected and put under quarantine. This separation permits Arthur to be separated from his family and to enter the House without his parents coming to look for him. In His Dark Materials , Will’s father has disappeared, and his mother is mentally incapable of looking after him. Rather, he has to look after her until he enters the secondary world, but not without making sure that his mum is being taken care of by someone else during his own absence. It is only shortly before his father’s death that Will is reunited with him. Lyra, by contrast, is raised as an orphan, before her true origin is revealed to her. She learns that Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel, whom she knew all along in other functions, are in reality her parents. Eventually, the girl loses both again and then is truly orphaned. Molly Moon is an orphan, too, and can do away with guardians thanks to her gift of hypnotism. With his parents murdered by Voldemort, Harry Potter is also an orphan. While his last living relations, his aunt and uncle, keep their distance and shun him whenever possible, the Weasley family makes him feel welcome and part of their clan right from the beginning. All the same, the theme of the lost parents runs through the entire series, and Harry never overcomes his pain. This shows that even though parents are often absent, this is not always seen as a good thing and the children miss their love and care. Guardians or friends can only ease the situation but they cannot substitute the parents. In Hoffman’s Stravaganza, we come across a rare case of 221 One day, a temporary orphan’s true origin is revealed and the parents are either newly found or recognised for what they really are if they have been present all this time, but in a different function. 181 role reversal. In the primary world, Lucien’s parents are orphaned by their son’s death from cancer, and in the secondary world, a Talian boy leaves his parents behind as well. Instead of dying, the two boys change between the two worlds, and live on in the respective other world. Lucien’s parents are partially consoled by the arrival of a foster son – the boy from Talia. As all the above examples demonstrate, the absence or loss of a child’s parents – or, as in Lucien’s case, the loss of a child – leaves a void which cannot be fully bridged or filled. Despite today’s changing family structures towards less complex and looser bonds and a general openness in dealing with them, the traditional core family is still something which both parents and children long for. No matter how strained the daily routine might be, all those fantasy novels directly or indirectly mourn the traditional family concept. Download 1.22 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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