Submissive Characters In Children's Literature: Influence Upon Self-Perception In Female Children

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6 pages in length. Children's literature is replete with visual imagery of worlds that exist beyond reality's realm; to equip a child with a story that takes her outside her established precepts is to fortify that young mind with additional learning tools for life. However, not every lesson learned within the pages of children's literature is of a positive nature, inasmuch as some messages drive home antiquated gender identity roles that impose significantly distorted perceptions upon naïve and vulnerable readers. When cast as submissive characters by virtue of their gender, children are taught that such famous "people" as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty represent how women are expected to be in the real world; without benefit of truly understanding the fantasy component of children's literature, they take with them these skewed perceptions and unknowingly incorporate them into their own psychological development. Bibliography lists 5 sources.