Motherhood is the state of raising a child. It is life, hopes, dreams, failure and disappointments, regret and forgiveness. Motherhood is a choice you make everyday to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own. However, being a mother is not an easy task. A mother should be supportive to help her children to follow their dreams by encouraging them and giving them the opportunity to do so. As well as a mother has to be patient with her child and try to be understanding and a good listener. Children literature often represents different models of motherhood, partly because of the importance that parents as primary agents of socialization have for their children. It is also important to understand that children books play an important role in terms of shaping a child’s attitudes, beliefs, and view of life in general. Yet, children literature also often reflects numerous social stereotypes that are eventually adopted by a child. This is particularly evident from the topic of motherhood that is typically presented through the lenses of patriarchy in children’s stories. The two picturebooks “Voices in the park” by Anthony Browne and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter play a role around the patriarchal values that convey the character of motherhood where mothers are presented as the only actors who have the social responsibility to take care of their children.
Both stories focus on ‘child-mother’ relationship and completely ignore the role of fathers in the process of raising children. This is a common characteristic of children books. Namely, as shown in the study conducted by DePalma (2006), in children’s literature, father is either invisible or reduced to having the stereotypically ‘masculine’ activities with his son, such as fishing or hunting. From this point of view, children literature shapes an idea that mothers are foremost responsible for taking all the other actions needed to take care of a child, such as feeding, cleaning, teaching child about the norms of behavior etc. Instead of focusing on both parents as the agents that started a family and should take care of their children together, typically children literature attributes reproductive home at home to mothers and productive work in the public sphere to fathers.
“Voices in the park” by Anthony Browne and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter vividly demonstrate this. These are stories about mothers having adventures and solving problems with their children, while fathers are mentioned rarely, if at all. Given that fathers in children’s books are either invisible or act in accordance with gender stereotypes regarding the appropriate social role for men, parenthood in children stories is perceived as solely motherhood. It is logical to assume that children’s literature, similarly to other agents of socialization, thus encourages children to believe the misconception that motherhood is the only ‘natural’ type of parenthood. In other words, children from the very young age become a part of the system of patriarchal gender relations. While mothers indeed should take care of their children, men should be as actively engaged in this process, which will not only make the life of women easier, but also will positively affect a child.
The stories also have the embedded message of a ‘good’ mother, compared to a ‘bad’ mother, with the latter being harshly criticized. In the beginning of Beatrix Potter’s book “The tale of Peter Rabbit”, the mother Mrs Rabbit appeared as a cautious mother that warned her children not to enter Mr McGregor’s garden because their father had an accident there. But at the same time she was unfair rearing of her children as humanising her son Peter by giving him a human name, making him wear clothes and raising him to stand on his legs like a human being, while giving his sisters pet names and almost no clothes. For this perspective Mrs Rabbit can be blamed for Peter’s rebelliousness and his irresponsible actions. In contrast, the book “Voices in the park” begins with the experiences of a sophisticated mother taking her son and pedigree to the park.
The son’s illustrations begin very dull and in different flat colours. He is often shown in his mother’s shadow and doesn’t smile for his first two or three pages. The mother is very protective over her son. When they go to the park the little boy Charles meets a young girl named Smudge. When this young girl told from the mother’s perspective is not one she wants her son to be around with because she is not from her social status. However, the mother is in charge of every aspect of Charles life, he is always afraid that he will make his mother unhappy. As shown by the picture of him in the park and how everything is shaped like his mother’s hat. As he was forced to leave the park the images seem to get darker and again the image of the hat is shown. In addition, the chapter titled “Fourth Voice” the author provides the readers with information about the mother gorilla by filling a page with her image. She looks strict and powerful, staring down at the readers.
As the analysis shows, the ‘good’ mothers typically reflect the social stereotypes regarding the appropriate characteristic of women. This is evident not only from the texts, but also from the pictures in the books. In fact, even visually ‘good mothers’ are presented as ‘good women’. In the majority of pictures in “Voices in the park” by Anthony Browne and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter, women are shown as doing something at home. This representation of women as being active only in the private sphere in the above-mentioned stories reflects the perceived link between women and home that is found in children’s literature in general (Earles, 2017). Thus, in order to be a good mother, women need to stay at home. In addition to this, as “Voices in the park” and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” show, mothers should possess certain characteristics such as love, understanding, kindness, and femininity. Whilst in its nature there is nothing wrong with this type of representation, it is important to note that this type of representation excludes the option of present mothers as strong, assertive, and instrumental leaders (Cecire, 2013). From this point of view, children’s literature does not challenge the patriarchal order. In contrast, children’s stories reinforce this order by shaping child’s consciousness and his or her understanding of the roles that men and women should have in society.
Although certain characteristics that mothers in “Voices in the park” and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” such as love and positive regard are important characteristics for parents to have, I would speak in favor of the type of motherhood that shows the diverse characteristics that mothers possess. Mothers should also be funny and adventurous. They should also go fishing and hunting with their children. They should also educate children on different topics that are traditionally regarded as ‘masculine’. Yet, the representation of this type of motherhood is almost absent in children’s literature (Martin & Siry, 2009). In addition to this, in my point of view, Mrs. Rabbit needs some parenting lessons because she just basically told her children not to enter the garden which is not the right thing to say. As we know that gardens are very special for kids, they find it a place of joy and waste their free time in. Especially like Peter the mischievous and naughty kind of child, who wants to explore Mr McGregor’s garden to eat his vegtables. If I were to be a mother I would choose to be partially from Mrs Rabbit’s personality because after I read the book “The tale of Peter Rabbit” I realised that she has some positive attitudes in raising her children. She gave her children the freedom to play in lane but warned.
In conclusion, “Voices in the park” by Anthony Browne and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter to some extent reinforce the patriarchal values, where mothers are presented as the only actors who have the social responsibility to take care of their children. Both stories focus on ‘child-mother’ relationship and completely ignore the role of fathers in the process of raising children. The stories also have the embedded message of a ‘good’ mother, compared to a ‘bad’ mother, with the latter being harshly criticized. As the analysis shows, the ‘good’ mothers typically reflect the social stereotypes regarding the appropriate characteristic of women. This is evident not only from the texts, but also from the pictures in the books. Although certain characteristics that mothers in “Voices in the park” and “The tale of Peter Rabbit” such as love and positive regard are important characteristics for parents to have, I would speak in favor of the type of motherhood that shows the diverse characteristics that mothers possess.
- Browne, Anthony. Voices in the Park. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
- Cecire, MS 2013, ‘What Are Little Boys and Girls Made Of? Gender Issues in Children’s Literature’, Modern Philology, 110, 4, pp. E220-E223
- DePalma, R 2016, ‘Gay Penguins, Sissy Ducklings … and Beyond? Exploring Gender and Sexuality Diversity through Children’s Literature’, Discourse: Studies In The Cultural Politics Of Education, 37, 6, pp. 828-845
- Earles, J 2017, ‘Reading gender: a feminist, queer approach to children’s literature and children’s discursive agency’, Gender & Education, 29, 3, pp. 369-388,
- Martin, S, & Siry, C 2009, ‘Raising Critical Issues in the Analysis of Gender and Science in Children’s Literature’, Cultural Studies Of Science Education, 4, 4, pp. 951-960.
