Puffin Books is facing criticism for releasing new editions of Roald Dahl’s classic works in collaboration with Inclusive Minds, an organisation working to ensure that mainstream children’s literature is diverse and free of bias — not least from The Indian Express. According to its editorial, ‘This is not Roald Dahl’ (February 21), “The way to change what people read, and how they think, is not to censor and rewrite books but to write your own.”
Keeping in mind the broad range of contemporary readers, new versions of Roald Dahl’s books may be more palatable to certain audiences — isn’t this a good thing? Dahl’s work can now be enjoyed by a wider audience as people have the option to choose, which version suits them.
The editorial notes, “Roald Dahl’s appeal for so many young people has been in his delicious wickedness. And if profit-hungry publishers have a problem with that, they should avoid the self-serving hypocrisy of trying to ‘fix’ literature”. One of the examples of “fixing” cited is Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being described as “enormous” instead of “enormously fat.” The removal of the word “fat” implies that fatness has a negative connotation. Should we teach children to avoid using “fat” because it’s taboo or avoid using “fat” as an insult because there’s nothing wrong with fatness?
It could be argued that teaching children nuanced use of language is not the responsibility of authors, but of parents, who are more familiar with their children’s daily contexts. Alongside books and other media, parents are crucial socialisation agents in children’s lives; reading together is a valuable parent-child activity during which parents often clarify and qualify the content and messages of stories. Creating new versions of classic children’s books simply provides a larger selection palette from which parents can curate and filter their children’s experiences.
My work in developmental psychology has shown me that children are impressionable, notice patterns, and learn from their environments as early as birth. They are socialised by explicit and implicit messages that contribute to cognition and behaviour, which form their worldview or unique set of beliefs, values, and opinions. Books are strong socialisation forces from which children imbibe who and what is considered important, worthy, or interesting to society. Research has found that popular children’s books in the US depict more anthropomorphised non-human characters than Black characters — an indication of how pervasive racism is in American society. Moreover, children exposed to books depicting female characters in non-traditional roles (compared to traditional roles) were more likely to question gender stereotypes and hold nonsexist attitudes.
Apart from influencing attitudes and behaviours, books have the power to enhance children’s self-esteem; when children see themselves, their role models and life experiences reflected in stories, their self-worth, confidence, and motivation improve. It’s also beneficial for children to encounter characters different from them as this builds intergroup empathy, especially for children growing up in homogeneous environments. In addition to the amount of representation, the nature of representation matters as well. There are plenty of degrading stereotypical depictions in popular media, which can be internalised by children in harmful ways. Hence, children’s literature that embodies authentic and affirming representation is undoubtedly crucial for the healthy functioning of children in today’s increasingly pluralistic societies.
Parents should own their role in their children’s lives and make use of socialisation opportunities when appropriate. Discussions on how to raise children often turn into debates, but there is no one ideal way. Usually, parents are the best judges of how to prepare their children to function effectively and thrive in various sociocultural milieus they may encounter. Even after parents’ efforts to curate and filter their children’s experiences, children will be exposed to the good, the bad, and the ugly; it is how parents frame, process, and digest these experiences with children that truly matter.
The writer is a PhD candidate in Psychology at UCLA
