Children in Picturebooks

                                                                                      written by: Meray Mamhoud

                                                                                       Date: 09/11/2017

         Picture books play a central role in constructing the child. In this essay, I will analysis two tales, Benjamin Bunny by B. Potter and PiggyBook by Anthony Browne. The first picture book is written in the Victorian era and we are going to find out later that it carries the attitudes of the time in many ways. While the other story is a postmodern picturebook.  From the two different stories, we can track the differences and the similarities of how the child is constructed in the book, their relationship with the adults, the challenges they encounter, and then the realities they perceive.

                     First, in the tale of Benjamin Bunny, we have two main characters. They are Benjamin, Peter's cousin, and Peter. First, Benjamin’s characterization in the story, he is aware of the potential of danger that could happen in public sphere. He is a sharp observer when he notices Mr. and Mrs.  McGregor's leaving as they are looking like they are going to stay out of the garden the whole day. He is caring for Peter. Furthermore,  he is arrogant and is not mature enough, as he always goes to the garden with his father. Then we see him pushing poor Peter to go back to the garden without adult observation. Later on, Potter portrays Peter completely different from Peter that we knew in The tale of Peter Rabbit (Potter ,1904).  We conclude from Peter's illustration and his position at the beginning of the story, that he is not as his usual self.  Peter is now depicted as shocked, sad, and covered with a  red handkerchief which probably belongs to one of his sisters ( Maybin and Watson. 2009). Moreover, the relationship between children and adults; first the relationship between Benjamin and old Mrs. Rabbit, Potter is confusing the reader by showing how little Benjamin does not really want to see his aunt at first, but later on, we find him collecting onion for her (Potter,1904) ( Kutzer, 2013).  After that, we have the relationship between little Benjamin and old Mr. Benjamin. The author made it clear from the beginning that both of them are very close when little Benjamin says he usually goes to the garden with his father to collect lettuce (Potter, 1904).  Also, old Mr. Benjamin knows that his son is not missing and he even knows where to find him. We have the relationship between Peter and his mother ( Kutzer,2013). Also the author shows that Mrs. Rabbit cares for Peter as she is asking Cottontail for chamomile, and at the end, she forgives him even though he lies to her saying he is going for a walk. The challenge starts after Little Benjamin convinces Peter who is scared to go back to the garden which means Peter is going to face the danger again. Then, when they meet the cat at the Garden by themselves and hold them for five hours under the basket. They could not move or escape. The she shows how hopeless and powerless they were in the real world outside of their domestic life and without the adult observation until old Mr. Benjamin comes and rescues them.  Finally, we see Peter now is appreciating the domestic sphere helping his sister to fold up the pocket handkerchief, while there is no clear ending of what happened to Little Benjamin after he is whipped which I think it suggests that he is still in his rebellious mood ( Potter, 1904).

                     The second tale is PiggyBook by Anthony Browne. In this book, we also have two boys Simon and Patrick. From the beginning, we are told by both texts and images that they are rich, they have everything they need, and they look very much like their father. Additionally, they are arrogant, irresponsible and ungrateful. In addition, they are imitating their father in everything,  like how he stands and how he talks. We can conclude that they are very close to him as they are always together in one frame (Maybin and Watson.2009)(Gamble, n. d. p.115). Unlike the relationship with their mother, they are not very close to her as they treat her poorly. They are unthankful, rude, and every time they open their mouth; they open it widely demanding food and never help her in anything, which we can find them later on reflecting themselves when they are depicted as pigs. In addition, they have never been in one frame until the end of the story (Browne,1986)(Maybin and Watson, 2009). The challenges that the children have to face are, when the mother is not there for them anymore and they have to survive on their own. As a result of her leaving, they discover how important her role is and they could not do anything like her. They appreciated her more and they even started to help her in the courses of the house when she came back (Browne, 1986).  

                     The similarities in both stories are; first the male gender and second the number of children.  Furthermore, the children 's characterization is that they do not listen to their mother and do not appreciate her role.  In addition, they imitate the male adult in both stories. However, at the end of both stories, they become aware of the importance of that person (their mother) who works hard to provide both comfort and safety to them. In one hand, the Tale of Benjamin Bunny is a Victorian picture book with clear moral, which emphasizes on the physical punishment as result of disobedience, for example when Mr. old Benjamin takes them by the ear and flips both his son and Peter. Here, the child would rather seek for domestic life eventually as it is the source of coziness and security rather than the danger of the public (Kutzer.2013).

                     In the other hand, we have the postmodern picturebook "PiggyBook". First, it has a totally different way to deal with children's disobedience. It is based on the feeling of the values of things after we lose it.  It also emphasizes the necessity for alerting the children's knowledge to know the role that their mothers play, and the need to give her a hand and listen to her as she is the foundation of the house. The intersexuality in the story is the evidence of when the mother leaves the house they are like the story of the three pigs and the wolf (Maybin and Watson.2009) The weakness of the house is the absence of the mother and it is a problem that we face until today.

                     In conclusion, as I selected two different children books from two different eras. They portray children in different positions of disobedience, and how the adults deal with them by using different methods to reflect their time. The two books are highlighting the importance of Children's Literature in evolving the child to experience in which it becomes a part of their lives.

Reference :

Browne, A.(1986), PiggyBook. London Methuen Children's Books.

Maybin, j,and Watson, N(2009). Children literature.Goundmills (Hampshire) Palgrave Macmillan, PP.331 to 325.

Gamble, N. (n. d). Exploring children's Literature.

Kutzer, M.(2013). Beatrix  Potter. London: Routledge PP.50, 54.

 Potter, B.(1940). The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.London: Frederick Warne.

(online) Tiffany Watson's Literacy Blog Available at

 https://watsontn1.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/piggybook-by-anthony-browne /

[Accessed 4 Dec. 2017 ]

Bella Makes Life

How far are you able to go to make a suitable life for your family? Even if it mean traveling to another country with different culture and a new tradition which will impact you differently. Culture is sharing  the same set of  believes, values, manner, action, and tradition that group of people have and  passed down from one generation to another. (Smith, p, 1, 2). While, cultural encounter means the clash of culture as result of their meeting, the conflict happens between two cultures at least, one is the major and the second is minor. As result of this clash, on one hand, could generate positive results on the society like “(a) connect disparate mountainous & rural communities, and more importantly (b) bring about social changes” (Chidester, Tayob and Weisse, 2004). On the other hand the negative result could be seen in the conflicting values as result of their differences, which we will see later in the story. Personal identity means who you are and what you are mentally and physically, and the things that can reflect your identity, it is the culture, language, things related to the person by chance and also it could be by choices, which also could effect by cultural encounter. (Noonan, 1989). Good example of cultural encounter could be found in the story Bella Makes Life, where she leaves her family to go to America to make money to comeback totally different person  which impact on the rest of the family at the end, and she ends yp losing her identity.

                                 First, the short story Bella makes Life, have two main cultural are encountering they are the American and the Jamaican cultural, and the encounters leaves some impacting on the characters involve. From the start of the story we can see the conflicts and the shocks when the characters see the cultural encounter for the first time,  when Joe Joe sees Bella at the airport after a year and how she was described by him. The story highlights the culture and cultural encounter between two culturals that have  different values, traditions and way of thinking.  First, in Jamaican culture that, is a man dominate society which mean the man has the main role in working and make the decisions in the family, while the women have the second role, limited in taking care of the children and the house, and that makes the man independent and the women depended, also in the Jamaican culture, the family is very important. Unlike, the American culture,  men and women are equal, both are independent, and both have the rights to make decisions in the family. While the importance of family is less important than Jamaica culture.  What happened in the story is the opposite of the Jamaican tradition because of  the women who went to New York to make money, which leaded to a clash or cultural encounter.  The types of cultural encounter could be positive or negative as we mention before. Unfortunately, in this short story we have recognized that, Bella has adopted the negative attitude from the cultural encounter which also material cultural. (Fister, 1995) the first change in her personality and character, when she went to America she adept the American cultural, whoever when she come back she keep  doing the same things that did in America and in her character, that is revealing itself which showing how she change she describe  “Bella dressed in some clothes which make her look like a checker cab”. Moreover, her clothes was described specifically what was ‘’(Goodison, p 167)she wearing from her stretch-to-black pant  to her yellow and black checked to her new color of her hair’’. (Goodison, p167). Moreover,  it is so clear in the beginning of the story when he feels  embarrassed of her and he want to disappear.  Second, she become what is call as a materialistic women, who always thinks of  new ways of making money, for example “he thought that all the things in the many suitcases were for their family. No sir! While Bella brought quite a few things for them, she also brought a lot of things to sell”. (Goodison, p169).  We can say that Bella represents the cultural encounter in American culture. As result of that we can figured  that the title of the short story is ironical because while the title is Bella Makes life and went to America to make money for her life while what really happen is she ruined her life and separated her family. while Joseph accepted his simple life and has the sense of sufficiency of what he has. In addition, we can see that the role of men and women changed and mixed. Bella also can make money and spend it on her children, she became an independent women who can take care of herself now, which came with ignoring her family and her role as wife and mother “when Joe Joe come home from work just wanting a little peace and quiet…. His woman (Bella) was out selling clothes and things” (Goodison. 169).  Theme is highlighting the difference between the role of men and women in different cultures. As result,  Joseph had to play the role of the father and the mother in the family by keeping a distance between him and Ms. Blossom, which showed us the importance of the family in his culture. Other point is that, we can see that the character of Bella has changed from a dependent house wife who has a second role in the society, into an independent woman who can earn her own money. So, Bella’s character is a dynamic character which we can see her change from the beginning of the story till the end. Joe Joe is also a dynamic character who  was keeping all his love for Bella gradually, then his attitude changed towards her. After that, he became close with Ms. Blossom. Ms. Blossom’s character is also a dynamic character who was aware of her change and she made it intentionally.(Goodison, p174)

                                 Second, the background of the author Lorna Goodison plays a main role of her awareness of cultural encounter. First she born in multicultural family, as her grandfather is an English man settled  in Jamaica in the ninety century.  In addition, she born and raised in Jamaica and then she went to the school of art in New York, which show her awareness of it, because she has exposed to many different cultural and show her awareness in the story and poems. She passed down the themes of cultural encounter through her stories like ‘’Bella Makes Life’’. From her experiences of the culture and the cultural encounter, we can see that the author preferred the Jamaican culture like, by using the values and traditions of the family. Whereas, she criticized  the cultural encounter by using words and actions. She represented both cultures in two characters; Bella who represented the culture, as Bella who was represented the cultural encounter, the ways she utterance  like using the word ‘’Block’’, also was too loud by  mixing between  the Jamaican language with the black American English, and the way of thinking like the importance of money, which could be seen in the difference between the first letter which she wrote when she missed her husband, while one of  her last letters she wrote, she gave reasons of why she did not contact them because she wanted to earn more money. All of these are evidences of the awareness of the author of the effects and the impacts of the cultural encounters in the language and the way of the difference in thinking.  Other point is that, she shows her Jamaican culture through Joseph’s character who prefers a simple life, and really consecrates and aware of the value of the family and the important role of a mother in the family. That could be seen when Joseph allowed Bella to see her children  even after she left them for the second time to go to America. We can see the result that the author used in the short story to highlight the effects that  she has been through when she was exposed to the culture encounter.(Goodison, p165,166), (Bailey Nurse, 2011).

                                 Third, there are three main character in the short story they are, Bella the women who travel to America to make money and change during the time , Joe Joe the husband who stay in Jamaica and take care of his children, and then MS Blossom, a a simple and loving character who Joe Joe like, whoever she change also at the end of the story. The main character in the short story are aware of the cultural encounter. That cleared in the beginning of the story which began with describing how her husband was shocked after  seeing  her new look of clothes. She chose the bold attitude to show the affection to Joe Joe in front of the children and the more fat she has gain. Definitely Joe Joe notice how Bella changed, he is pleased at first. Then start to change with the look, with her way of thinking, and with obsession of  collecting money. An Example of the difference of the culture that is involved in thinking “Bella said America teach her that if you want it go for it” while Joe Joe’s response is “nearly ask her if she want what?” (Goodison, p169). In addition, Bella is not aware of her gradual changes because she was too busy to fit in the new culture, while she is not aware of Joe Joe’s change “ Bella seemed  to be oblivious to the fact that Joe Joe was under great strain” (Goodison, p172). Joe Joe was aware of Bella's change over the time,  also he was aware of his change, when he stop from trying to bring the old Bella back and instead become closer to Ms.Blossom. After that, when Bella came back to Jamaica for the second time he feel like he is meeting a stranger in the airport, which show the change that happened to both Bella and to their relationship; from wife and husband to strangers. Moreover, Ms. Blossom who is fully aware of the change that happen to both Bella and Joe Joe’s lives in different stages, like, when Bella return home for the second time, and Joe Joe accept her.  Ms. Blossom travel to Fort Lawdadale to come back to Jamaica with her new look at the end of the story.

                                 Forth, The clothes in the story plays a main role in highlighting the role of the cultural encounter as. Clothes plays a main role in identifying who you are and reflect and reflect you inner self and personality “always remember whatever you ware should reflect the real you”(Cheruku Srikanth, 2015).   The clothes of Bella is describe repeatedly from the beginning of the story. which tells us specifically describing the new look, to the new color of her hair to the booties. The clothes are reflecting the cultural encounter, it also tells us about the change in Bella's character from a simple look, to a negative and aggressive attitudes after her awareness of the role that money plays in someone’s life, also it is reflect her inner also.  Second is Joe Joe, he unexpectedly see  her outfit became worse than the last time she returned.  For the first time Bella was described  as a checker cab by Norman, Joseph's brother, and the second time she was described as Miami Vice "inna a pants suit that look like very cornflowers in the world and the color them loud! And Bella border than ever”. When Norman reacted to her clothes, he said that the bees should pick her up from the airport as criticizing to her clothes. The significance of Bella when she buy the clothes from America to sell them in Jamaica. How much change has happened to her from a simple wife to a materialistic woman who works all the time to make money and knows the importance of it to let her children know the price of everything she gave them. Important point is the that her clothes also reflect her liberation as women who use to be tradition and simple who depend on the men to become free, and her clothes which is the out her and her appearance reflect what happen in inside her like the big necklace  that she is wearing it to show how she become a materialistic women.

                                 Fifth, the final encounter was between Joe Joe and Ms. Blossom, it happened  when MS Blossom who was a  tradition ,simple, caring, giving women, and exalt example of tradition Jamaican women must be, which the women must look after the family, to someone look like her but in a different  style in clothing.  Ms.  Blossom’s clothes are described like if she is dressed as a punk in a full black from “she had on black socks with a lace frothing over the top of her black leather ankle boots” (Goodison, p174), which show a full negative change in Ms. Blossom character and attitudes. Joe Joe did not even bother to ask her where she went and directly asked  her if she goes to New York, as he is  just guessing  from her new style that were so close to Bella’s style of wearing the clothes. However, Joe Joe at the end left her and when he thought about trying to resolve the cultural encounter by bring someone from a different culture and bring her to Jamaica as cultural encounter . Someone from a busy complicated cultural to a simple one as Joe Joe describe it.

                                 In conclusion, there was two different cultural encounters; in the story of Bella’s the cultural encounter was impacted  negatively on their attitudes, the people they were close to them, and their life. Each character has experienced the cultural encounter differently and resolved it differently. Bella resolve the problem by going back to America and  live there, while Joe Joe decided to bring someone from America who wants to live a simple life, and in the case of Ms. Blossom, she decided to change herself intentionally by going to America. Whoever at the end there is no clear resolve of the cultural encounter.

Work Cited

Bailey Nurse, Donna. What's A Black Critic To Do II. London, Ont.: Insomniac Press, 2011. Print.

Chidester, David, Abdulkader Tayob, and Wolfram Weisse. Religion, Politics, And Identity In A Changing South Africa. München: Waxmann Munster, 2004. Print.

Cartwright, Lorin and Rene Revis Shingles. Cultural Competence In Sports Medicine. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2011. Print.

Education in India . by Cheruku Srikanth,2015

Fister, Barbara. Third World Women's Literatures. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995. Print.

Goodison, Lorna. “Bella Makes Life”  In Caribbean NeN Nave Stewart  Brown(rd).

Noonan, Harold W. Personal Identity. London: Routledge, 1989. Print.

Smith, Philip. Cultural Theory. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2001.

Shaw, Andrea Elizabeth. The Embodiment Of Disobedience. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006. Print

Women in Candide

                        Voltaire is a French Enlightenment writer who used his writing to question, attack, challenge, and change his society because of  that he was known as an evil person. He was exiled most of his life out of France. So, he lived most of his life travelling mostly in Europe. When he went to Switzerland, he wrote the story Candide under a fake name because of what the novel discusses and challenges the optimism philosophy and women role at that time (Fraser, 2012, p172,173). Voltaire used the novel Candide to not  just to attack  the optimism philosophy and challenge their believers ,but also to highlight women’s position and their role in the society in the 18^th century. He used three female  characters in his novel. Cunegonde, Paquette and the old women who reflected the social practices at that time, like what it is called as tradition marriage which is based on two families or institution arranged marriage by the head of the two families or the institution because of common political or financial benefit (Neil,  2012, p6). Also, to reflect on the cultural beliefs, women are as sex objects, their values are based on their external beauty, ignoring the value of their intellectual capacity, and what was represented in Candide’s characters as flat females with no change except in their appearance, that is why females in Candide have little complexity in the novel.

                        In the 18^thcentury, Alexander Pope and Leibniz are two philosophers who were rationalists. A century which was built on god’s awareness, who knows everything, and perfect who can do nothing wrong, unlike humans who have limited knowledge and are imperfect creatures. They claimed  that the existing of suffering and pain in the world are because whatever it is happens. It happens because of the great God of the world since he is aware of it. But in case of something bad happened like the Lisbon Earthquake, it happened because of the god, and it is his plan that we are not aware of it (Fraser,  2012,p 179, 181). So, how much sufferings and pain we have faced, we have to believe that it all happened because of god which is clear on what Pope has said “Whatever is, is Right”. He also said “All partial evil , universal good” (Fraser, 2012,p182, 183). While they gave religious reasons for human being why they are being malicious toward one another, the existing of greed, cruelty, and warfare because our nature has been corrupted since the original sin which made  us  responsible for the existing of all bad things.  Also, our will that have always led us to act badly. Meanwhile for the existing of diseases, pains,  and hunger because of the cause and effect in the world. If you did something bad, something terrible will happen to you as well as the opposite (Fraser,  2012, p183, 184).On the other hand, there is Voltaire who has seen their beliefs of optimism are wrong, and  against it because it bluffs and tricks people. His philosophy is based on empirical which means he concludes and draws his philosophy from his previous experience in life. Moreover, he created Candide to carry his opinion of optimism, while making Pangloss carries Leibniz and Pope Philosophy. Dr Pangloss who invited, convinced and kept repeating, not just to the leading character, but also to the rest of the characters about optimism and how it all for the great god, while they examined it by what they were going through in the novel. The characters have examined Leibniz and Pope’s philosophy of optimism by making them go through sufferings that happened in reality like Lisbon Earthquake and the Seven Years War. He  also used Pope’s words against him and Leibniz “This is all for the best” responding to the sufferings that happen; like when he said it after the Earthquake, which clearly made fun of them. Moreover, it reflected his thoughts on optimism, and to make us re-think of optimistic philosophy. What is the best for all of them? What could be the best concluding from an Earthquake that killed thousands of people? And if God is good or bad? Is he really the one who is responsible for everything bad that have happened, and happening to us? And why god does this to us? (Fraser, 2012, p.178,179). At the end of the story, Voltaire gives us his opinion and his conclusion by Candide who concludes that, humans being can do something good in this world and not all sufferings are caused by god or neutral, but there are also a lot of sufferings that was caused by humans. Moreover, humans need to work on their garden so they can work, create, and make their own happiness. ( Nisbet, 2013, P. 179).

                        Voltaire was considered to be one of the first writers who speaks on behalf of women in the 18^th century. He gives them voice to tell their own stories from their own perspective. Voltaire has discussed  the concept of women at that time when they are  being treated as sex objects, slaves to the male society. Also who have no equality, or opinions in their life through three characters Cunegonde, Paquette and the old woman. They have been through a lot in their journeys in the novel, and their development  to emphasize the unfairness treatment to women at that time. As I said before women were ranked based on their beauty leaving no space for other skills to flourish. For example ,first is Cunegonde who is in the beginning of the novel was described as “rosy- cheeked, was fresh, plump and appetizing’’ while Candide described her as “extremely beautiful” comparing it with the end when Voltaire  said that “she unaware of how ugly she had become, no one have told her” while Candide described her and said  “ her eye bloodshot, her breasts sunken, her cheeks lined , her arms red and chapped, was seized with horror announce  she is became ugly and have no intention on marring her out of  love anymore but because he made a promise to her which make clear that when her beauty gone his love for her gone as well” (Voltaire and C uffe 2006, p3,88,89) . Second is the old woman who was un-named by Voltaire even though she was once a princess, who had a high class life, but later on she had gotten a lot of sufferings by getting raped, stabbed, and sold as a slave after she was gotten bored of by her master, and described as being old and ugly (Voltaire and Cuffe 2006, p.24, 25). Lastly is Paquette who was no more than “a pretty and obedient brunette”, which suggested that they were flat characters that we do not know anything about their personalities or the way they think. Moreover, we only know their appearances in which we can make convictions of the flat characters in the novel, and the role of women in the 18^th century.  Women were forced to have flat position in society, no matter of them or their family position. From the three characters that was gave in Candide, we can see that the class and values in their society, compared to men was depended on their beauty. Beauty means  everything  in the 18^th century, in which women gets  married if they were beautiful and  belongs to high class, and if they do not they become a mistress to men in high position as well, or become a prostitute for a living (Voltaire and Cuffe 2006, p. 4, 88, 89).  From here I can see that Voltaire is trying to attack and send a message to his society to highlight the attitudes about the gender role of women in their society trying to stop it and to bring equality to women. Their story’s development suggested that, women can survive like how the women in Candide did. For example, Voltaire gave them the opportunity to narrate in his novel so that we can hear their voices, inequality, and the unfairness that they have been through. Also, the reader of that time fall sympathy for them, and tried to bring them their rights. (Voltaire and Cuffe  2006,p,19,25).

                        The first female in Candide’s novel is Cunegonde, a woman who have been through a lot of sufferings and terrible experiences. She watched her father getting cut by his  throat by buglers, then her mother got chopped into pieces, and she is being rapped. She was taken as a prisoner and was treated as maid, slave, and mistress. She got sold several times after her master’s got bored of her. Voltaire has pictured her as a sex object, being shared between two men (Voltaire and Cuffe 2006, p19, 20). What she went through have made a relationship connection to her name, which gave her different meanings. The first is Henry II, virtuous wife which clearly have a sexual signal.  Second is that it has some kind of a reference which is a sexual plaything (Fraser, 2012, p.185).Cunegonde’s character has  similarities and differences from fairy tales. The similarities are both have beautiful appearances, and  very desirable  to men. While the differences are by the extravagant sufferings,  and  the struggles that Cunegonde  have been through to make fun of fairy tales, and to clarify that they do not have a realistic story, and there is no such thing as living happily ever after which is an impossible thing in real life. Another difference is that Candide did not propose to her out of love, but out of pity. That is the reason that shows us that she is not a romantic heroine.  We can see how Voltaire contrasted the ideas of  optimism through Cunegonde’s sufferings. If whatever  suffering happens to the individuals it is all for the greater good. We here ask ourselves, What is the good thing that could come out of  suffering like that? At the end of the novel Cunegonde  was delivered by Candide who paid for her freedom then married her, and lived in the Garden, but it is not like any other gardens such as ‘’the Garden of Eden’’ or the garden in ‘’Thunder-ten-tronckh’’. It is in the garden that Candide and other characters had to work to achieve their own happiness. Cunegonde in this garden worked as pastry chef.

                        Second  character is Paquette as a female in the 18^th century who was a maid, had no high class family nor a man to marry her. The only thing that she could ever survive with is by being a mistress to Pangloss. She got seduced by her confessor, then  left the castle.  She became a mistress to a doctor and got beaten by his jealous wife. She went to prison, and to  get out of it, and she had to become a mistress to the judge. It gave us a peak and focused our attention on how she was being without a husband at that time which was an impact on her. The most important point is that she worked as a prostitute to survive,  not by her choice, but because of the cruel world; she said to Candide “Yesterday I was beaten by an officer of the law; today I must seem in good humor to please a monk” (Voltaire and cuffe 2006, p,73).The significance of  Paquette is that she is an extreme example for all the women in the novel. We can generalize her character to  any other women to tell the reason why they are being like that, agreeing to be a mistress to men who only see them for their physical beauty no matter who they are or what is their position. Men who are  buying, selling, raping and kidnapping women.  The reason that Paquette accepted to be a prostitute even though she was disgusted, and did not want to be like that, her awareness of  the level of men and women in her society shows how much powerful she is. The reasons of the existing of the unfairness to  women at the time can be for cultural and for their traditions, boys and girls who educated them, the difference, and the possession of men and women in the society. The other reason is the education, in the 18^th century women who had the chance to get some education they did  not get educated about their own rights or their value as part of the society. The third reason is that there was no laws at that time to protect women, like what we saw with Paquette (Bates, D, J 1995, p8 to 10). There is also a religious reason, like in Christianity, a person who has the highest position in church are possessed by men like pope, while sisters are taking care of the orphans, they think that women have to be obedient to God, family, husband, and society. Now I see Paquette from a new perspective, she did not do whatever she wanted, but she did what her society forced her to do, and she did what she has to do, as well as to reflect on what women have to do to survive(  (Bates, D, J 1995, p 41) At the end of the story, Paquette was  delivered  by Candide, who gave her money and then she wasted them. After that she went and lived with Candide, Cunegonde and the rest of the characters in the Garden as well. She is working as an embroidered (Voltaire and cuffe 2006, p93). So, women’s status at that century were possessed by men, either that man is their family, husband, lover, or costumer, there was no escape from that ugly truth. Until a writer like Voltaire highlights it and tries  to change it.

                        In conclusion we find that it is clear that Voltaire have approached the gender role through the characterization of Cunegonde and Paquette. It shows  how women were treated in the 18^th century, from having inequality to misconduct, and what the society, and the cultural forced them to go through.

References

-Nisbet, H. B. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. 1st ed. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.

-Fraser, R, (2012). Voltaire, Candide, or optimism in: The Renaissance and long eighteenth century. 1^sted: The Open University.

-Voltaire, and Cuffe, T. (2006) Candide or Optimisim. 1^st ed  London: penguin group.

-Wanddering Mind, The Position of Women in Voltire’s Candide Sakridge. Umwbloge.org , date of access 11/25/2016

http://sakridge.umwblogs.org/put-pen-to-paper/portfolio/english-295/the-position-of-women-in-voltaires-candide/

-Bebrah J, Bates, B,A. , 1995 The Portrayal of Women in Selected Contes of Voltaire

Canon and canonical work

                              The word canon came from the word ‘canons’ which means standard (Prescott,2010, p, xii). A Canon is a group of literary works that passed down from one generation to another, and acknowledges, admired as superlative work, which makes the work authoritative, also it discusses and carries a universal theme. If we have to define canon more specifically, we have to know that, canon is divided in two different types. First, we have what it calls religious canon which includes all the religion books like King James Bible, and it is authoritative because it brings obedient, who believe in it without questing it because it discusses what is good for human being. We also have to know that religious canon is closed which mean it cannot be challenged, change or debate. Meanwhile for  the second type of canon is literary canon, which a group of literature work, that an authoritative work and  have an universal themes like love, death, war and more. It was approved, criticized  and debated, which means it is open to challenge and change as well as to re-read, re-seen, and recreate,…..  just like Iliad by Michael Longley (Prescott, 2010, p, 103   ). Authoritative work is work that has the power to influence others, make something happen or stop something from happening.  From here. We conclude that, the features of literary canon can be have a universal theme, stand in a different time, space and culture. Also It can be expanded to include work, and can be shrunk to exclude works like what we will see later on, which depends on the cultural or the society, if they are interested in the context the of literary work. Also it criticized and debated by people who have both knowledge and experience like teachers or scholars who their critic well respected.  The formation of canon came from the knowledge of the authors in the subject he/she writes about, the age, if it stands and survives for long time, the quality of the work from the critics will have a subjective judgment, and they will be highly respected by the reader. In the next paragraphs we will discuss the literature canon to both John Donne and to Edgar Allen Poe.

                   Donne was known and respected and recognized in his time as a churchman for his works that considers on sermons, essays and analyzing and discussing the bible. Also, he was only known as poet between a small group of his friends, and not until the 20th   century, his poetry was decisively reformed. One of Donne’s works that was famous at his time is the sermon calls ‘spiritual diet’. In spiritual diet,  Donne tells us that we have the right to choose the religion that  suits   us and what we have  read about in religion then decided for ourselves. He used very simple language which is a sermon, which  people and religious men can understand it by making it comparable to our need of food and diet, saying that , we need food to build our body physically, we need religion  to build our soul. Spiritual diet characterizes as canon, because several reasons, like sermon says that the text is socially and politically powerful, as well as the use of the word that Donne chosen in his sermon which it  could be understood by different generations after his death, to impact and influence them by using simple and powerful word at the same time. He said “for as a hearty entertainer offers to others the meat which he loves best himself, so do I oftenest present to God’s people in these congregations the meditations which I feed upon at home in those two scriptures”( Prescott,2010, p, 53 ). Another point is  his subject, discussing the Bible or religious matter in general which is enough to make the work canon example is ”for God gives us not only that which  is merely necessary, but that which is convenient too”. As well “simply be that Eliot, for related cultural reasons(   Prescott, 2010, p, 53, 58, 59).The second work is  sonnet calls ‘Batter my hearts’. Sonnet is a poem that was built from eighteen lines the first eight lines are  what the poem discussion or the question which called octave and the rest six lines are the answer and it called as sestet. The rhyme of the poem is ABABCDCDEFEF.  Batter my heart is a poem that discusses on inner conflict like if he in war with himself, and we hear the resonance of the battle. Donne at this poem reflects his inner conflict that caused by moving his religion from catholic to protestant, and by the poem he reflects his regrets asking God to punish him and kill him in the most forceful way which is different to  what God usually deals with his creator. What makes Better my heart characterize as a canonical work in using a topic that concern the human being in which is the relationship with God, religion and asking for forgiveness. Also Donne adapted the Shakespearean sonnet. The sequence of the ideas and what he requests God to do to him is striking, and it is not someone who is deeply regretful ask for as well as describing his relationship with him, as Donne marred to the God enemy and cannot stand for God said anymore so he used extraordinary word like “divorce me” (Prescott,2010, p,   61 ), and that is  an example of Donne using  imaginative and powerful marriage, which he was known of another example, when he compared himself to a town and prisoner. it and it also helps us to enlighten why he is known for the imaginative, powerful and bride,  merging the world and the godly in his poetic texts.  Finally, The spiritual diet is an example of canon shrink, in his time the passage was very famous, while the poem is an example of the canon expand, in his time the passage was that famous, while the poem is an example of the canon expand because at his time after his time the poetry was not famous, even death except among a small group of his friend until the 20^th century   and start to be studying as example as example of poetry work expanded.  (Prescott, 2010, p59 to 62)

                        The external study case is Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. The speaker the   husband Edgar Allan of Annabel his wife, when they were children, and until they became young. The poem is 6 stanzas, 6 to 8 lines per stanza. The rhyme scheme is ABABCB. The poem is about two lovers, who were deeply in love, and lived happily until seraphs of heaven sent a strong wind that killed his lover Annabel Lee out of jealously, and put her in the tomb. The theme of the poem is clear now which is the love by the poem and Annabel and the envying by the angel, which leads to her death. The poem is an authoritative because it has an international themes, to bring obedience and   influence people, like me when it shows that he and Annabel’s love is stronger by referring to their love saying  words like “wiser and older” Lines 28, and 29. Using a holy creators like Angels and demons and locate them by saying “heaven above, down under the sea” which also could the poet saying that the heaven and hell are against them. Others said about Annabel lee is that “one of the most admired and widely known of Edger Allen Poe’s poems” (A source for “Annabel Lee”, p.6.  Using fugitive language, Metaphors” so that her highborn kinsman came and bore her away from me”, as well as there is Alliteration in “not half so happy in heaven”. The tone poem moving us through different feeling  starting from love, and happiness to angriness, than to hope and peace. Also it have some elements of fairy tales in “Kingdom by the sea” from “many a year ago”.     It was criticized by different critics, arguing about the color of the poem and the difference between it and other Edger’s poems, which is brighter, and the other said it the same color Dark as his usual writing, critics like John Cowper in his work “Visions and Revisions: A Book of literary Devotions”.( (Larkin, 2006,page, 54).  Moreover, there was a debate about who was his inspiration for creating Annabel Lee. What impact and influence me in how much he loves Annabel, and her death cannot stop him from continuing on loving, and spending most of his time by her grave saying “all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling – my darling- my life and my bride” which showed me  how much he loves his wife even after her death, left and had great impact on me impact on me. Affected  and telling and teaching us how love should be. Also, he highlights the process of sadness that one’s face when they lose the most. Finally, we conclude all the features of the poem including how it impacting on me, concludes that the poem is a literary work( Gale, 2016, section one).

                   In conclusion, canon is the ultimate work, it could be religious, in this case it is closed and it could be literary work and in this case it is open. There is also musical canon which refers to the best work in music. We had two cases like  John Donne the best example of the literary canon  works as well as that expansion and shrinking. Also we had Edger’s poem Annabel Lee Poem which I choose as external case, and example of canon that can impact and influences people. 

Work cities

Annabel Lee

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/annabel-lee

Larkin, D, S. My Letter to the World, 2006. 1^st printing, Dana Larkin Sauers.

J25code, Analysis on The Poem “Annabel lee” by Edger Allan Poe, 2013

Date of access 12/1/2016

https://yourlovepills.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/analysis-on-the-poem-annabel-lee-by-edgar-allan-poe/

Gale, C. (2016).A Study Guide for Edger Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee”. 1^st ed. Farmindton Hills: Gale, Cengage Learning.

Prescott, L (2010). The Voices and texts of authority. 1^st ed. Milton Keynes: Open University.

Lawson, A, Criticism of Annabel Lee, 2012. Date of access, 11/29/2016 

http://annabelleebyamanda.blogspot.com/2012/12/criticism-of-annabel-lee.html

Poe’s Poetry Summary and analysis of Annabel lee, Date of access 12/1/2016 (date of access, 11/29/2016

http://www.gradesaver.com/poes-poetry/study-guide/summary-annabel-leeannabel

                                                              Hello 

I'm here to talk more about myself

as you all can see my name is Meray it also could be written like this Merielle and yes i ' m Muslim, Egyptian but i live in kuwait

I m student at AOU (Arab Open University) I' m studying  English language and literature

so as non native speaker you can find many mistakes T_T ..... sorry for that i will try my best to be better i promise

However all my essays that you can read, they are all my research papers that was handed  to me by tutors  during different courses :)

also they  are 100 % my work (my hard work )

and finally, they were also seen by my tutors in my university

please write nice comments if you want to write comments

** and remember don't ever plagiarism someone's else works

have good time in reading my essays with the voice of the rain ;) i hope you will like it

thanks for your time
 looking forward to read  your comments 

thanks again     

                            Meray Mahmoud 

The colonization and English development

wrote by : Meray Mahmoud
last update : 13/11/2014

The Colonization and English Development

        Nowadays English has been spoken by  2000 thousand people in hundreds of countries (Seargeant,8). However, before English became an international language, it was only spoken by the Britain in England  only. Yet after the French left England, it become a powerful country with a powerful army. It started to colonize other countries. Colonization means is to take other county by force.  That made the opportunity to English to spread in different countries. All in all, English spread in those countries in different ways on different motivates such as economic, social and political . This essay will discuss  the pattern of colonization based on geographical location, the linguistic consequences of colonization and the development of the varieties, and third is categories of language speaker according to Kachru.

            First, After England became an independent country and English became their first language in England, they used it in everything. They needed materials to make their factories work and to end the Unemployed so they colonized other countries to take their goods and make an end to their economic, social and political problems. Colonization means a powerful country that invaded  another country by power and made their people live there (Leith, Philip, 103_105). All in all, those countries did not colonized in the same way but basically with three different patterns and they are displacement that mean that country sent a huge number of people to the country that they wanted to colonize and take their land by force, they made communities that speak their native language. so,  they removed their original language and the original people of those countries and displaced their native language. Then people used it as their native language or speak the language as a mother tongue. Best example of displacement is when Britain wanted to colonize USA. They took a lot of people from Britain, Scotland, and Ireland and send them to America to live and work there because there was a lot of unemployed and inflation combine that created a huge number of vagrants (105,116_122). Subjection is the second way of colonization and it mean  sending a  group of people to different areas not too far from each other making a small communities and control those countries, the best example for that when Britain did in south Africa which made the English language as a second language there. They also took slaves from there and brought them to Jamaica, Caribbean and America to work there and take the goods they make then sending them back to Britain. The last way that Britain used to colonize countries is   replacement. Replacement happened when England brought small number of people from different places that talk different languages like the people in Jamaica and West Africa and live in one country or area, so there was a communication problem because of those slaves was speaking different languages like African and English, so they invited a new language called pidgins that could be used to communicate. Pidgins is a language created of West African slave language and English language and spoken as a invented language for communication so they took vocabulary from English and used the West African grammar, this language had no native speaker. After few generations this language became spoken as a mother tongue and native language by people who lived there and the name became Creoles.

     Second point is the linguistic consequences of colonization. The pattern of colonization played a main role in linguistic consequences like in displacement the language consequence was  a native and mother tongue  language like USA when people who represented the Britain and went to North America to displace their original language with English, subjection as second language like Ghana also pidgins and creoles in  Jamaican and Caribbean. The last linguistic happen in pidgins and creoles which happen in Jamaica and the Crabbing when the British brought the slaves there and they did not have a common language to communicate with so they made a new language made of the vocabulary in English and African language grammar. Other linguistic consequences are five stages putted by Edgar Schneider. First stage is foundation it happened when English come to the area for the first time by the people who has been sent by Britain. So they were speaking different language so they feel that they are a different group. According to that the communication, it became limited on the interpreter and the high class people. Second stage is Exonormative stabilization in this stage English is made up from different dialect of English and they get rid of other  dialect, this process called dialect levelling, like what happened in American they made it when they made the American English. Moreover, English expanded and became spoken in different varieties like administration, education and legal system. Third stage is called Nativisation it is the most important stage because in this stage,  the original people they got rid of their old language and culture and became to see that English is an important and powerful  language and they started to use it as a native language, it also became  their culture and identity. Moreover, they did not stop on using it but they improved it and after that providing it like America and Australia. The fourth stage is Endonormative stabilization which also mean internal variation which promotes their own language and to be independent from Britain. Fifth, differentiation is the last stage in linguistic consequences. The different variety of English has been found and there are different dialects of the varieties  spoken in the territory. (Leith&Philip,2008,1070-111). Other linguistic consequence is substrate that mean language was effected by English like Hiberno-English which happened between the English language and the Irish.

              Third, at 1607 the first wave from South England brought with them the slandered English to North ‎America which colonized by pattern called displacement. It means to remove the original people ‎with their original culture and language and they made the English language the official language in ‎America. The motive behind that colonization was when the British Isles realized that the numbers of ‎people raised and some of them lost their homes and they began to suffer from famine. Another ‎problem was that, the British government had to face with political separation. Second waves was from ‎north England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales but this time they came to America with different variety of ‎English. “The first English speaking colony in Jamestown, Virginia followed by Plymouth Massachusetts ‎in 1620” (Smith, 2008, 213). English became the native language in north America not just because of ‎the role of the country were speak English or they were powerful and protected by the British army, ‎but also because the original people realized the important of English as a power, prestige ‎and fashion language so they started to learn it and speak it as a native language. According to that they removed ‎their own identity and replaced it with another one. That made America become one of inner circle ‎countries and as a norm providing the English language. After the second waves became with their ‎new variety of English which made America had different dialects in it. First example is that Ocracoke ‎island in North Carolina which spoke the Ocracoke dialect, it used unique grammatical, lexical and ‎phonological forms, example of that grammatical they use were instead of was to represents a third ‎person singular she weren’t there. Also, different in pronunciation like once they pronounce it ancet ‎and sody instead of soda. Other dialect you can found in  America is the New York dialect has ‎different pronunciation in sound /r/ identified as non-prevocalic. Important point is that the New ‎Yorker used to hate their dialect because they see it as a low working class. Other dialect is the African ‎American dialect and we can see different in grammar when they talk. They say she sick without ‎putting the verb to be (is) and different in phonology skreet Indication of street (Smith, 2008, 218-219). ‎After few generations the people that lived in America, their loyalty became to the country that they ‎born in which is America and they wanted all the goods that they made and all the benefits that they ‎make to go to them instead of Britain. Moreover, they wanted to protect their identity, and made ‎it different from the British identity. That action named a national reaction and it happened in at the ‎first time 1776 and it moved by Cancers over to ration parliamentary. It started to fight against the ‎Britain. When Britain felt dangers from other countries to see North America as an example and started ‎to fight agents it to avoid that, Britain suggested what is call self-government in 1867 also they made what ‎call a commonwealth. Dr. Johnson’s made the first American dictionary and it was the first step of the ‎American to have their own identity so they change in vocabulary, in grammar also they change ‎pronunciation of the words. It is Important to mention the important role of DR Noah Webster  when he played an important role in reinforcement the American dialect. He also made a dictionary call American dictionary of English(Leith&Philip.2008,116-123, Smith,2008.213-219)

After become the English spoken by people around the world and people know how much important is English nowadays in communication and in businesses in general. Learning and speak English   increasingly rised so, Kachru made the three circles to identify those countries and see the pattern of acquisition and the functional allocation. First circle called the inner circle and it represents the people who speak the invented language and speak it as a native and mother tongue  language also they used it in all their functions.  Example of those countries is U.K, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Kachru also called a norm-providing because those countries who invented the language and made up the vocabulary and the grammar. The second circle Kachru called it the outer circles and it represents the countries which speak the language as a second language the reason behind the spread the language in those countries because of colonization. He also called them a norm developing because they are studying the English and developed it. English language used in education and literature. Is important to mention that English language did not replace the main language in those countries but it used alongside with it, examples of those countries are Bangladesh, Ghana, India and Philippines and example of language  like pidgins and creoles. The third and last circle is called the expanding and they are using and studying the language as a foreign language  and as an international language, it used there in education and for businesses it also use in tourism. Kachru called those countries a norm depending because when they studied English they depended on variety of English like Britain English or American English as it is without developing it, example of those countries like China, Egypt, Korea, and Russia. (seargeant.27_35)

      Conclusion, we could see that there were three different ways to colonize a country, they are displacement, subjection and replacement and those ways of colonizing effected on the linguistic consequences like as a native language or as a second language. example of displacement is north America which also an inner circle also it have been through allot to be independents from Britain, subjection second language outer circle like India and Malaysia, and expanding circle as an international language  like Egypt and Japan which depending on the three circles of Kachru.

the references :

•        Seargeant & joan (2008) English in The World History, Diversity, Change This published by Routledge in association with The Open University.

•        Graddol, D. (2006) English Next, London, The British Council. pages 34_35

•        Crystal (1997, 2003) English as a global language. Second addition Cambridge University Press, published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York (PDF). Page 31, 72-78, 147-158 15/4/2015

•        in North America’ in Hogg, R. and Denison, D. (eds) A History of the English Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

•        Holm, J. (2000) An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. published by The Three Syndicate of The University of Cambridge.   Page 1-4, 16, 18-19

•        Kachru et al. The Handbook of World Englishes. the  publishers JohnWiley & Sons copyright 291-299