Life Beyond Death in Children Literature: an Eco-critical exploration in Cultural-Portrayal of Death in Children Literary Works

Abstract

Questioning how the reality of death should be delivered to children has been a controversial issue between parents and accordingly children works content creators. Whether death is depicted in a positive of negative attitude in a specific culture, the concept of death should most times be simply delivered to children. The dissertation explores the portrayal of life after death in different children literary works through an eco-critical perspective. The children literary works are inspired by certain cultures which are Greek mythology, Mexican culture and Chinese culture. A comparison between the variations of cultural attitudes is tackled through the different literary interpretations of death, with main question of whether children literature makes the concept of death easier to perceive by children and to what extent. The Greek culture of death shall be tackled through the Greek myth of Hercules in The Story of Hercules and the Disney movie Herculesto further understand whether the movie is better at reflecting the eco-critical aspect of death through the use of animals and imagery. The Disney movie Cocoin comparison is tackled to view the positive portrayal of death in the Mexican culture through the positive surrounding and colorful animal, and finally the Disney movie of Mulanand the Disney story ofMushu's Story which shows that despite the fact that Chinese culture does not have a positive attitude of death, the Disney production still found a way to create a pet out of the dead world whom is loveable and funny. The findings of the dissertation illustrates that the children literary works do indeed make death a more simple and less traumatic fact for children through the eco-critical elements used by the authors