Aesthetic Experience and Ideas: Death in Children's Literature and Fairytales

Comprehensive flashcards covering the historical evolution of death in children's literature, common tropes, specific literary analysis of fairytales and modern stories, and principles of analytical response writing.

Pre-17th Century Children's Literature

A period where no distinction existed between adult and children's literature, with children learning about death through fables, fairy tales, Biblical stories, and oral traditions.

1940s Children's Literature

The decade when authors began introducing themes of loss to help children ease into sudden encounters with life's harsh realities.

Visual Literacy in Death Narratives

The use of images in texts about death to help children turn the abstract into the concrete and make complex connections between their experiences and illustrations.

Death of Parents (Children's Lit Trope)

A narrative device that initiates plot action and allows the child protagonist to mature independently while recreating their own narratives about grief.

Anna’s Heaven

A book that juxtaposes physical absence (empty shoes, broken pearls) with imaginative or spiritual presence through shadows and symbolic objects.

Charlotte’s Web

An animal story by E.B. White that presents death through biological and emotional perspectives, exploring natural cycles, mentorship, and legacy.

The Velveteen Rabbit

A story emphasizing themes of renewal, survival, and the triumph of love in the face of change, transformation, and growing up.

The Cycle/Circle of Life

A common theme in children's literature that questions whether death is an end or a beginning and helps children construct new identities after loss.

Mentorship in Death Stories

The role often played by grandparents or elderly friends as transmitters of knowledge, tradition, and cultural beliefs regarding death.

Wolf Erlbruch

The German illustrator and writer of Duck, Death, and the Tulip who won many awards for his lasting contribution to children's literature.

Duck, Death, and the Tulip

A story where Death is depicted in a dignified checked smock and provides comfort by calling Hell a 'silly idea,' ultimately watching Duck drift away on water.

Soul Carriers

A concept seen in The Book Thief and Ancient Greek myths where beings transport individuals from one place to another after death.

The Dead Bird

A book by Margaret Wise Brown where children act as 'carriers' for a bird and bridge the divide between adult funerals and their own experiences.

Fairytale

A form of bedtime story of the collective consciousness that personifies inner conflicts and reassures the reader with the promise of a happy ending.

Shifting Demographics of Death

The change occurring after the nineteenth century where advances in medicine moved the highest mortality rates from children under fifteen to adults.

Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (1697)

The traditional version of Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault where Red eats her grandmother's flesh and both characters are eaten by the wolf.

Brothers Grimm Retelling of LRRH

A version where a hunter or woodcutter rescues Red by slicing off the wolf's head, emphasizing a moral about obedience and modesty.

Peter Pan (Death Interpretation)

A story where Neverland is viewed as a place of immortality or purgatory and the Crocodile represents the 'ticking clock' of death.

Alice in Wonderland (Death Interpretation)

A narrative where the Caterpillar represents rebirth and the descent down the rabbit hole is seen as a Dante-esque journey through the five stages of grief.

The Brothers Grimm

Two German folklorists and scholars whose folktales led to the modern study of fairytales and inspired Disney retellings.

Godfather Death

A folktale illustrating that death does not discriminate based on economic standing and utilizes symbols like candles and a deserted highway.

Death’s Messengers

A story that establishes life as death's primary messenger and highlights the connection between 'brother Sleep' and dying.

Topic Sentence (Analytical Writing)

A sentence that makes a specific claim and provides a roadmap for the paragraph without using vague words.

Plot Summary

The retelling of events in a text which should be avoided in favor of analysis that explains the significance of those events.

TEA-based Body Paragraphs

A structural format for essay writing consisting of a Topic sentence, Evidence, and Analysis.