Cultural and Political Ideologies in Selected Works from Arabic and English Children's Literature

Abstract

The problem with analysis done on children’s literature is that critics often describe this field as not complex as adult literature, which abandons and ignores the ideologies this field represents and implants in the minds of children. This dissertation is conducted to present summaries, examinations and comparisons of Kamel Kilani’s children’s stories “Safirat Al Qamar” and “Al Singab Al Sagheer” to Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to prove the argument of the study that these works from Arabic and English children’s literature affect the Arabic and British child’s cultural and intellectual development on many layers and levels through the cultural and postcolonial ideologies they explicate and present. The study uses postcolonial approaches of reading and analysis, and concludes that Kilani’s works are rather educational and rigid, while Dahl’s works leave more space for imagination and they fixate more on imperial doctrines