Introduction
The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a clear example of a
pictured children book that represents a moral message in a form of words and
pictures through the characters of Peter rabbit and his family members to show
childhood in the Victorian society that can be suitable for today's world
too.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a popular novel that is
relevant to today's readers as it is a story of family and the Peter rabbit is
not different from any child of today's world who wishes to discover forbidden
things, he has feelings of fear and needs the caring of his mother. It bears
lessons mothers of today can learn such as how parents can engage and
understand their children and their needs and ways of handling their desires
and wishes in order to control them and guide them to the right behaviors.
Body
The story of Peter, his sisters, animals he met during
his adventure and his mother sheds the light on the childhood life through
animal characterization as Potter presents readers who are mainly five years
children with the main character that is Peter the rabbit, a rebellion who
likes adventures in spite of the mother's warnings, the author tries to make
Peter near humans making the rabbit wearing shoes, blue jacket and walking
straight up on the hind legs. This makes the characterization of the animals
clear in eyes of children who read. Childhood is presented by the author
through many ways such as mother's warning to the rabbits: "You may go
into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden, your
father had an accident there." Mothers usually warn children who
should obey but the nature of male child that he seeks adventure that's why
Peter visited the garden of McGregor, his behaviors there show how far
childhood is characterized, he ate too much till he became sick, ran from the
man, jumped into a can and did many risky but interesting things all children
will wish to do. The Victorians considered childhood a separated stage of life
from that of adults but the child should also obeys orders and guides or many
troubles will be faced by them away from parents. (Ryan et al, 2007)
Adventure in the book was supported by pictures that
open the imagination of the reader and add much colorful imaging to the
adventures of Peter, the author has also portrayed different incidents in the
book to make suspense and attraction to the story that the reader wants to
learn more about what is going to happen and how the rabbit will act and what
harm may occur to him at the end. The language used was suitable to reflect the
different adventures Peter went into such as: "Peter ran straight away to
Mr. McGregor's garden", "whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!",
Peter was most dreadfully frightened.", he had forgotten the way back to
the gate.", shed big tears." and wriggled out just in time. He here
tries to raise the attention of the readers and gets them into the adventures.
The gender role in the story is clear as Peter clothes were different from
clothes of the sisters colored reddish while Peter's clothes were blue, sisters
were obedient while Peter was not and this makes it clear that the author wants
to focus on the difference in gender and their relation to the adventures each
sex has or should have. (Guijarro, 2010)
Although the Victorian considered the childhood a
separated phase of life that a child should encounter certain morals and lessons
to learn, this doesn't contradict with today's morals as parents of today
always fear that their children may lose childhood and its morals which makes
them interested in a story such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit and the lessons and
morals it includes. Children of today yet has much knowledge and openness to
the world than the Victorian child had which makes parents seek old texts such
as the current one so that they may find imaginary world children can learn
lessons from. The character of Peter is presented by a large amount of courage,
risky attitude and love for adventure which makes it suitable to the children
of today and makes them love to have adventures such as those ones who had
especially that he wasn't defeated at last by the outer world he entered in
spite of warnings. The end also can be satisfying for children of today as the
mother's punishment wasn't hard and Peter only lost a nice dinner meal his
sister enjoyed: "I'm sorry to say that Peter wasn't very well during the
evening.", "But Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail had bread, milk and
blackberries for supper.".
(Chozick, 2012)
The book can be used as a teaching material for
children under the age of six because it is well illustrated with pictures
drawn in a high artistic way and its language simple and thorough at the same
time. The story itself can be a good source material for classroom activities
such as role play and acting scenes due to the richness of events and the
number of many characters the story has such as the character of Mr. McGregor,
the mouse, the sparrows, sisters and the mother and Peter the rabbit. The
author tried to send some messages to both children and parents who are both
supposed to be readers for the book. Among those messages are the difference of
freedom given to children based on their sex as male are really different from
females in nature although the life of today reduced the differences between
make and females even children but parents should take care of this issue and
give it much care. Another lesson is that children can take risks and do adventures
but they have to learn that passive results and outcomes may occur as although
Peter wasn't caught by Mr. McGregor, his father was caught once and made a pie
for the family of McGregor. Lessons can also include cooperation and helping
others represented in the acts of the mouse and the sparrow. An important
feature the author yet didn't focus on and parents should is stealing because
Peter shouldn't have stolen vegetables from Mr. McGregor's garden. (Winckelmann,
2012 )
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to refer that The Tale
of Peter Rabbit can be a story for all ages because the author has presented a
character that is rebellion enough to suit all ages and the story is
illustrated with pictures which makes it a teaching book that is interesting
for all children. Childhood and adventure are presented in the story to give
certain lessons related to difference between males and females and having
adventures and what results in this according to what occurred to Peter.
References
1. Chozick, A. (2012). ' Bet Your Camomile Tea, Peter, You’re a TV Star Now.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/arts/television/peter-rabbit-on-nickelodeon-for-christmas-then-as-series.html
2. Guijarro, A. (2010). 'A Multimodal Analysis of The
Tale of Peter Rabbit within the Interpersonal Metafunction.' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289558303_A_Multimodal_Analysis_of_The_Tale_of_Peter_Rabbit_within_the_Interpersonal_Metafunction
3. Ryan, M. Hannah,
4. Winckelmann, A. (2012). ' Stealing as a moral feature in animal stories: A
comparative analysis of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "The Wind
in the Willows" GREN Verlag.
5. https://freekidsbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Peter-Rabbit-FKB-Kids-Stories.pdf
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