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  • Essay / Ethics in Pinocchio, Little Snow White and other children's literature

    Table of contentsIntroductionWhat is ethics?Huge ethical problemsInternal struggle and power imbalanceConclusionWorks citedIntroductionEthics has a double meaning. First, ethics is based on standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans do in terms of goodness, obligations, benefit to society, and fairness. Ethics refers to the norms that impose the logical obligation to refrain from rape, theft, murder, violation and fraud. Ethical standards also refer to those who enjoy honesty, sincerity and sympathy. Ethical standards include standards related to rights, such as the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to privacy. These standards are appropriate because they are based on consistent and well-founded reasons. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's standards. Feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. It is therefore important to systematically check your standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. As Abraham Lincoln said, “As I would not be a slave, neither will I be a master.” » This expresses my idea of ​​democracy. Anything that differs from it, to the extent of the difference, is not democracy. “This research paper deals with ethics in children's literature. The stories used for this article are The Big Friendly Giant, Pinocchio, Little Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rainbow Fish and Urashima Taro and the Turtle. The research question for this article is: "To what extent do certain characters struggle with a problematic ethical attitude, and how might this internal struggle lead to an imbalance of power?" Accordingly, the thesis statement chosen for this article is: “Some characters in the story have enormous ethical issues that lead to internal struggle and an imbalance of power. » In this article, the characters of the chosen fairy tales encounter many problems. So they have huge ethical problems. Despite the different motivations behind their ethical problems, in most stories the characters in the story overcome the moral problems and live their lives. What is ethics? live, and ethics are not good in theory. So the question is: what is ethics? There should be a distinction between living by what people think are the right ethical standards and living by what people think are the wrong ethical standards. After hearing the word ethics, we might think about those who believe it is wrong to lie, cheat, steal, etc., and those who do not. We found out that people who do not live according to conditional ethical standards and believe, for some reason, that they are not doing anything wrong, then they live according to ethical standards. When a person does something wrong in our opinion, but they can justify their actions, it shows that they are living by ethical standards. The justification must be of a certain type. For example, the justification of self-interest is not enough. When Macbeth was thinking of killing Duncan, he was not justifying it so that he could become king. Since ancient times, philosophers have expressed that ethics is accepted from a point of view that is somehow universal. The Golden Rule attributed to Moses, found in the book of Leviticus and also linked to Jesus, tells us: “Do unto others as youwould like them to do to you” – in other words, she says: be kind to others as you do. I want them to be nice to you. The Stoics of Roman times held that ethics flowed from universal natural law. The idea was developed by a man called Kent and his idea was to act on that one maximum through which you can at the same time will what he should. become a universal law. The question is can we derive an ethical theory from this universal aspect to guide us on what is right and what is wrong? Many philosophers have tried to do this, but without success. The problem is that if you try to describe the aspect of ethics in a formal way, you will encounter a wide range of ethical theories that have already been developed; On the other hand, if you try to leave aside your own description of universal ethics, you will be accused of contradicting your own beliefs on this subject. After the end of World War II, the choice of books for young people expanded. The books include topics on ethical issues, the present and what is happening around them, allowing children and teenagers to think about these issues. In Claudia Mills' essay, her new text Ethics and Children's Literature says that the history of children's literature is built on the hope that these stories will change readers and make them better. This assumption about the power of literature to transform its readers into better people could present a dilemma. The child reader is sometimes unable to understand the moral of the story. Therefore, an adult must reinforce this. Ethical methods determine what human beings want or what is “right” to do. According to Rawls, “ethics and politics are distinguished from the positive sciences in that their special and principal object is to determine what ought to be, and not simply to determine what is, has been, or will be.” Most people believe that there is a strong relationship between morality and motivation. People not only pursue the item, but also do the right thing for the right reasons. In fact, we are often willing to forgive someone for bad things if it is for the right reasons. Ruth Grant argues that there are two very different types of motivation: incentive and praise. Incentive motivation uses the “If-then” method. They set expectations before the task is attempted. The message is: if you do something for me, I will do something for you. Praise motivation works differently. He uses the “Now-this” method. They recognize a job well done when the task is completed. Now that you have done something well, they will recognize your success. Plaisance shows in his book how communication interacts with the practice of care, and how the ethics of care illuminates communication and the media by displaying a moral injunction to maintain relationships. Plaisance says that "ethics emphasizes the importance of pregnancy as a form of mediated communication, in reality the relationships between children and the gender dynamics in caregiving in the development of communication capacity, as well as the role that communication plays in the development of the ethics of care as a moral orientation. '. Here, Plaisance explains how pregnancy affects communication with others, how the relationship between the two sexes helps develop communication ability, and how communication played a role in the formation of ethical care as a moral direction. In the book Story Entry Crago argues that the brain tells readers their preference either for stories based onemotions, or those based on reason, and that this is linked to age. Although Maria Nikolajeva does not fully adhere to Crago's model, Maria's article shows how children and young readers might find a balance between emotions and ethics. Crago's argument draws on Iain McGlichrist's study, The Master and his Emissary (2009), which examines the functioning of the hemispheres of our brain. The right hemisphere is emotional while the left is rational. Recent brain research shows that the hemispheres develop at different rates. During infancy and childhood, the right hemisphere dominates the left. The left develops during adolescence, when young people learn to control their emotions and desires. Patrick Hogan states that emotions are predominantly selfish and that ethics is a constant of selfish emotion in favor of the well-being of others. Blakey Vermeule, in his book “Why We Care About Literary Characters” states that “readers use fictional characters to resolve fundamental moral issues (p.xii), and our investment in characters is an ethical concern. » Huge Ethical Problems Ethical problems, also known as moral dilemmas, are situations in which the individual is in conflict, choosing between equally desirable or undesirable situations, or balancing the options. This chapter will present a discussion of the ethical issues in the following three stories, Pinocchio, Little Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood. The story of Pinocchio is about a carpenter named Geppeto who takes a piece of wood from his friend. Geppeto carves the shape of a boy on the piece of wood and it comes to life. He calls him Pinocchio. Geppeto sells his coat so Pinocchio can go to school. Instead of going to school, Pinocchio goes out to play with his friends. He has a lot of problems and all he wants is to go back to his father. In this story there are two characters who have ethical problems, and they are Pinocchio and his father Geppeto. From the beginning of the story, Geppeto lies to his son. He tells her that he sold his coat because it kept him too warm, not because he wanted his son to go to school. Pinocchio is a wooden puppet, so he doesn't know what's right and what's wrong. Pinocchio should admire his father, but because Geppeto starts lying from the start, Pinocchio also becomes a liar. As a result, Pinocchio faces many ethical problems. As the accounting ethics book argues, “the story of Pinocchio, simply like the story of a boy whose nose grows when he lies.” Pinocchio is a special wooden puppet who walks and talks on his own but not a real boy. As a puppet, he doesn't know what is right and what is wrong. He must acquire the principles of life from his environment. Since his father started lying to him early on, he thinks lying is righteous behavior. Pinocchio's first lie is when he says he's going to school, but instead he goes to a brightly colored booth and forgets all about school. His second lie is addressed to the fairy when he tells her about the fox and the cat. When the fairy asks him about the coins, he replies, “I lost them,” although he has them in his pocket. The fairy starts to make fun of him because his nose is getting bigger and she knows he's not telling the truth. Finally, when he realizes that lying can get him in trouble, he decides to change his behavior and help his father. Because of his kindness to his father, the fairy rewards him by turning him into a real boy. Another ethical problem that Pinocchio faces is selfishness. Pinocchio doesn't appreciate what his father does tomake him happy. Geppeto sells his coat so his son can go to school, but Pinocchio doesn't care. All he cares about is his happiness. When he leaves home for a few days, he doesn't think his father will worry about him. Pinocchio is a selfish person who does not care about the values ​​of others and does not see the need to return a favor for a favor. After being transformed into a donkey, he realizes that what he did was wrong and begins to think about his father. While inside the whale with his father, he realizes that he should think about the people who love him, not just himself. The other tale that poses ethical problems is that of Snow White. It's a story about an evil queen who is jealous of Snow White's beauty. The Evil Queen orders Snow White's murder, but later discovers that Snow White is still alive and hiding in a house with seven dwarves. The Queen gives Snow White a poisoned apple, and she falls into a death-like sleep. In the story, the Evil Queen is jealous of Snow White, which leads to an ethical problem. The queen has a mirror which always tells her: “You, my queen, are the most beautiful of all”. Snow White becomes a beautiful girl. When the queen asks her mirror: “Who in this country is the most beautiful of all”, the answer is: “You, my queen, are beautiful; It's true. But Snow White is a thousand times more beautiful than you. After what the mirror tells the Queen about Snow White, she becomes jealous of her beauty. The queen lives in a mental bubble where she believes herself superior to others. The queen decides to get rid of Snow White by asking the huntsman to kill her. Fortunately, the huntsman takes pity on Snow White because of her beauty and tells her, “Flee, poor child,” thinking that she will be killed by wild animals. Knowing that Snow White is not dead makes the Queen even more jealous and hateful. She decides to kill her with a poisoned apple. Knowing that there is someone more beautiful than her makes the queen jealous, oppressive and malicious. Another character who has an ethical problem is Snow White. Snow is naive, pure and innocent, which makes her believe everything that happens in front of her. She thinks everyone is good. Being naive gets her into trouble, because other people can take advantage of her, like her evil, evil stepmother (queen). The Queen takes advantage of Snow White three times. The first two times she doesn't succeed, but the third time she poisons Snow with an apple. Since she is naive and pure-hearted, she doesn't think it's the queen with that red apple. While Snow White is in the forest she finds a small cabin that has seven beds inside, she enters and discovers that the cabin belongs to the seven dwarfs. They are kind to her, but they also exploit her pure heart. They told him that if you wanted to stay with us, you had to cook and clean the house before coming home each day. They take advantage of his situation to be able to benefit from it. The last story that poses ethical problems is the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It revolves around a girl called Little Red Riding Hood. The girl walks through the woods to deliver food to her grandmother. On her way, she meets the wolf. She starts talking to him and he tells her to pick flowers for her sick grandmother. Meanwhile, he goes to his grandmother's house and eats his grandmother. The wolf sleeps in grandmother's bed while waiting for Rouge to arrive. Little Red is kind, good and gullible. While she goes to her grandmother's house, she meets the bad wolf and starts talking to him. She should always refrain from talking to strangers. She tells him where she's going, showing how naive she is. Little Red canrepresent the bright sun which is finally swallowed by the terrible night and it is the wolf. Little Red has another ethical problem, which is sexual maturity. Its red hood symbolizes the blood of menstruation, braving the “dark forest” of femininity, or symbolizes the hymen. She is at the age where she wants to explore her body and the wolf takes advantage of it. The other character in the story is the wolf. He has a bad personality, he is scary and deceptive. The wolf can symbolize a man, who can be a lover, a seducer or a sexual predator. When he sees Red and starts talking to her, he notices how nice she is, but at the same time he sees how simple she is. He takes the opportunity to tell her to go pick flowers for her grandmother who gives her the opportunity to go home and eat her grandmother. When Red arrives home, she sees how different her grandmother is. When she says to her “grandmother” “what big teeth you have”, the wolf responds “It’s the better to eat you, my darling”. He cheats on her, which leads to her rape. Red's kindness and the wolf's ugliness lead to Red's rape. This shows that people who have good, pure, white hearts will sometimes be deceived by the evil in this world. In this story, he is the bad wolf. Internal Struggle and Power Imbalance Internal struggle is the struggle that goes on inside someone's mind. A character may be struggling with emotional issues like fear of abandonment or relationships. Power imbalance is a character's attempt to use, leverage, or perceive personal situations to apply to the youth's behavior or to limit the victim's ability to respond to or stop their aggression. This chapter will discuss the internal struggle and power imbalance shown in these three stories: Rainbow Fish, Urashima Taro and the Turtle, and The Big Friendly Giant. The Rainbow Fish is the story of the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean that refuses to share its marvelous scales with just anyone. When his greed leaves him friendless, he seeks advice from a wise octopus who advises him to give up his beauty and discover how to be happy. Rainbow Fish struggles between giving up her beautiful scales to make friends or selfishly keeping them. and not having any friends. When the rainbow fish finds himself without friends, he turns to a wise octopus for help. The octopus said to him: “Give each of the other fish a glittering scale. You will no longer be the most beautiful fish in the sea, but you will discover how to be happy.' After what the octopus said to Rainbow, he finds himself in an internal struggle. He said: “Give me my scales? My beautiful scales? Never. How could I be happy without them? Rainbow can't make a decision on the problem, until the little blue fish comes back and tells her that he only wants one scale. Rainbow begins to think about how losing a scale won't hurt her. Internal struggles not only negatively impact people; it also has a positive impact on them. Being torn by different desires can influence people to take constructive steps to grow and understand themselves and life in general. Therefore, being in an internal struggle helps Rainbow Fish take a step forward towards happiness. When he decides to give a scale to the little blue fish, a strange feeling invades Rainbow. He is happy to give his scales to other fish. The Great Friendly Giant is also a story about internal struggles. The BFG begins during the witching hour, an hour in the middle of the night when all humans should be sleeping. This is the time when “all dark things came out of hiding and had the world to themselves.” Thatmakes Sophie an intruder, and that's how she sees the BFG blowing dreams into the children's rooms. The sleeping humans give the giants their power over them. At night, the giants have the power to grab humans and swallow them up without being detected. The BFG uses his power to do something good to humans. He blows good dreams into their windows, but when he sees that Sophie is spying on him, he struggles. This leads to him being removed from the orphanage because he fears she will tell the whole world about him, and that he will be captured and put in a zoo. The BFG thinks what the other giants are doing, eating humans, is wrong. Unfortunately, being huge giants gives them advantage and power over smaller giants. BFG can do nothing to help these humans until Sophie arrives. Sophie and BFG struggle to find a way to inform the Queen of England of the danger they will soon face. After finding a way, the BFG uses his power, having dreams when someone is sleeping, to help humans. This time the big friendly giant mixes up a horrible dream and blows it on the giants while they sleep. The internal struggle makes the BFG realize his wisdom. Ultimately, the power imbalance is reversed. The evil giants become the victims while the BFG and Sophie are the heroes. Another story that talks about internal struggle and power imbalance is Urashima Taro and the Turtle. It is a Japanese folk tale about a young man called Urashima. On a beautiful bright morning, Urashima goes fishing in his boat. He throws the net into the sea to catch a tiny turtle. Once the turtle finds its voice, it begs for its life, saying: “What can I do to you? I am so young and so small, and I would so gladly live a little longer. Be merciful and free me, and I will be able to show you my gratitude. Urashima is in a very good mood and releases the little turtle to the sea. Years pass and one day, the turtle returns and pays his debt. Therefore, Urashima faces an internal struggle when the turtle comes to help him. “I’m the one whose life you saved.” I will now pay my debt and show my gratitude,” said the turtle. Urashima doesn't wait to be asked twice, but when the turtle tells him that she will not return to this shore, he becomes afraid. Urashima doesn't know whether to be grateful or fear for his life. The struggle he has is like the angel and devil a person can have on each shoulder. The angel tells him not to risk his life while the devil tells him to take this step and follow the turtle. Urashima has no choice but to follow the turtle. Urashima makes this choice, and it seems to be the right one. Each hour that passes seems happier than the last. One day he misses his family and friends, so he asks the queen if he can go visit them. After the queen gives Urashima her approval, she gives him a small golden box. She tells him to keep it safe and never open it. “If you do this, your friend the turtle will find you on the shore and bring you back to me,” said the queen. Urashima faces another struggle regarding what to do with the box. Should he keep his promise or open the box? He decides to open the box and a purple vapor escapes. Looking at his hand, he sees that his fresh, youthful hands have suddenly shriveled. Urashima admires the queen and this gives her power over him. When Urashima doesn't listen to what she asks of him, the queen punishes him by transforming into an extremely old man. Urashima's struggle and the Queen's power lead to Urashima's death. Conclusion The six stories read and discussed in this (2018).