The Face and Phases of Anthropomorphism in Children’s Literature

This article is published in the Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture – Volume 1, Issue 1.

Dr. Helen Idowu Adhuze
Department of English, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Nigeria
adhuzehi@aceondo.edu.ng
08033601190

Abstract

Anthropomorphism, the imposition of human traits on nonhuman objects and animals, is an ancient tradition in the art of storytelling. Existing studies on anthropomorphism in literature have mostly focused on its being a satirical device in adult fiction but paid less attention to how anthropomorphism is constructed in literature for children. This study was executed to examine the depiction of anthropomorphism through folktales, modern fables, and digitales-in selected contemporary Nigerian prose narratives for children intending to establish the use of anthropomorphized characters to bring abstract concepts to life. Jean Piaget’s cognitive constructivism was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. Five narratives were purposively selected because of their relevance to the study. The narratives were subjected to critical analyses. The face of anthropomorphism is revealed as a rhetorical tool through personification and metaphoric expressions. Anthropomorphism in children’s narratives serves as an attention grabber and a means of giving concrete information on learning through cognitive constructivism which is effective through a literature-based learning experience. In juvenile literature, anthropomorphism is used in building a relational attitude between the young readers and the fictional characters in the text for subtle facilitation of knowledge.

Keywords: anthropomorphism, cognitive constructivism, literature-based instruction, experiential learning

Introduction

Different definitions of children’s literature have been espoused by various scholars in the field. The rallying points of the definitions are based on the “intended audience” and the “purpose/function” criteria. As such, children’s literatures are oral and written stories for children from early childhood to adolescence meant for pleasure, as well as social and moral instructions (Adhuze, 2017).

The concept of childhood, its worldview, and experience is largely responsible for the tag “children’s literature’’ and this is what informs the study of childhood by child development theorists like Maslow (emotional), Erikson (social), Piaget (cognitive), and Kohlberg (moral). Children’s literature is therefore categorized in line with the different stages of development. Piaget (1948) identified five developmental stages in accordance with the child’s level of cognitive development. The first level is the sensorimotor stage for children from 0-2years. The second stage is the pre-conceptual thought stage from 2years -3years. The third level is the intuitive thought stage from 4years -8years. The concrete operational stage, which is the fourth, is for children aged 9-12years. Lastly, children from age 12 and above belong to the formal operational stage which is the last of the stages (Dasylva, 2007 cited in Adhuze, 2017).

Apart from the basic genres of Poetry, Prose, and Drama, associated with literature, books written for children are sometimes divided through the different stages of development or by genres. Children’s literature delineated according to age includes:

      i.      Picture books (0-5years) for pre-readers: these are lavishly illustrated and meant to teach basic concepts and ideas like associating a word to a picture or drawing, counting numbers, etc. They are essentially information books.

    ii.      Early readers (5-7years): are ideal for introducing children to learning how to read.

  iii.      Chapter books (7-12years) are suitable for those who have attained a level of mastery in reading.

Classifications according to the genre are:

a.              Picture books for the teaching of basic concepts and patterns

b.             Oral /folk literature

c.              Fiction

d.             Non- fiction

e.             Biography

f.  Poetry and verse

With the advent of technology, children’s educators have become more resourceful in fast-tracking the learning process, especially for children. This has propelled a higher level of anthropomorphization of learning materials in literature for children, especially with the introduction of theme parks, interactive books, and digital storytelling.

Based on its history, a fertile critical study in children’s literature blossomed in the late twentieth century. Though marginalized, children’s literature is a treasure throve of ideologies that are entrenched into people’s lives right from childhood. This marginalization has however paid off by serving a positive purpose which has opened the door to interdisciplinary studies in children’s literature. Different scholars from different fields like literature, language, education, library studies, history, philosophy, psychology, art, popular culture, media, cognitive sciences, and others have been attracted to the critical study of children’s literature (Hunt, 1999).

Before the advent of print media, children being told “moonlight stories” in Africa had their senses of imagination sharpened as they had to visualize for themselves the various animal characters depicted in traditional tales. This imagination serves them in real-life situations to easily recognize these animals, based on the vivid descriptions given by the storyteller(s).

Matching fictional animals with real ones becomes easier with the use of print media, which avails the illustrators/artists of children’s books to do justice to the artistic representation of different animals in stories. Consequently, these take us to the artistic and modern phases of anthropomorphism through enchanting illustrations in books for children. This has also promoted the art of illustrators as they are given equal recognition alongside the authors of award-winning literature for children.

In juvenile literature, anthropomorphism is used in building a relational attitude between the young readers and the fictional characters in the text for the subtle facilitation of knowledge.

A critical review of relevant literature on anthropomorphism

According to Airenti (2019), anthropomorphism has multiple interpretations which are dependent on different disciplines. However, the common ground for most of the interpretations lies in “distinguishing children’s manifestations of this attitude, which are considered “natural”, from adult’s occurrences which must be explained” by resorting to circumstances. Therefore, she opines that anthropomorphism is not rooted in “specific belief systems but rather in interaction” where nonhuman specie is adorned with the garb of a human interlocutor regardless of the beliefs of people who choose to anthropomorphize animals, natural objects, or phenomena.

For adults, anthropomorphizing is by choice and situation of the human interlocutor as there are varieties of animals or objects available for this purpose depending on the “affective states” and not the cognitive recognition of the people who attribute human characteristics to nonhumans in any chosen context (Burke and Copenhaver, 2004; and Airenti: 2019). She concludes that anthropomorphism is an inherent human attitude that begins in infancy and continues for a lifetime.

Anthropomorphism in religion is similar to animism (Piaget, 1926; Guthrie, 1993; and Airenti, 2019). Piaget (1929) opines that animism in children undergoes two stages: integral and implicit animism which spans from 0-4 years and systematic animism based on the principle of “introjections”. Animism in children helps in their thought development process. The irrational thought process is refined over time through the shedding of the childish egocentric attitude and thought process which eventually paves the way for rational causal thinking. It is deployed in literature as a rhetorical tool through personification and metaphoric expressions. In children’s literature, it is used as an attention grabber and a means of sustaining the interest of the young audience in exploring literary texts and giving moral instructions to children. As a linguistic device, it is a tool for scaffolding the cognitive and affective modes of young learners to enhance the visual and mental interpretation of the message being conveyed through the story. In effect, the process of anthropomorphic attribution passes through three stages starting with the author, to the subject of communication, and on to the readers. The process of interpretation is usually in this order. The introduction of anthropomorphic stimuli to people with special needs like autism is a source of social motivation for learning.

 In children’s literature, anthropomorphism has generated a moral debate on the infringement of animal rights. Beginning with the popular animal autobiography of the Victorian period, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877), a notable example of this genre, proposes animal welfarism. Nonetheless, animal stories have been criticized by some scholars (Ganea et al; 2014) because of their tendency of confusing the demarcating line between the human and nonhuman entities which Airenti (2019) describes as “mistaken representation”.

Ganea et al (2014) express the apprehension that “Children are sensitive to whether the structure of the story world resembles the structure of the real world, and their learning is disrupted if content information is portrayed in a ‘far’ fantastical context”. Citing Carey (1985), Airenti (2019) avers that anthropomorphism is developed in children through cultural influence and the belief systems of the adults around such children. Therefore, anthropomorphization of animals is cultivated in children as a result of urbanization unlike their counterparts from rural areas. It facilitates a better understanding /interpretation of the natural environment as intentionality offers the best model of description for such a relational attitude between man and the natural entities around him. Anthropomorphized characters boost empathy in children. This relational attitude is facilitated through the human imagination operational at the different stages of human development. Essentially, anthropomorphism is a human attitude developed as a child and maintained through adulthood. It is “a specific human attitude, not a childish mistake”.

Airenti (2019) and other scholars conclude that anthropomorphism is the human relational attitude towards the nonhuman world; be it an animal, plant, any object, or natural phenomenon. Going by this relational model, anthropomorphic attitude is not dependent on any belief, but on a conditional preference of relation to the nonhuman entities in any given situation whether real or imaginary. In juvenile literature, anthropomorphism is used in building a relational attitude between the young readers and the fictional characters in the text for the subtle facilitation of knowledge of social and moral admonitions.

The intricacy of children’s literature lies in its effectiveness at communicating ideas to its targeted audiences, and other end-users, like the adult readers and the critics. In effect, more priority has been given to the study of children’s literature to ensure the appropriateness of the “techniques of criticism, discourses, and strategies” employed by its writers and critics (Hunt, 1999:2). This is where, discourse analysis, philosophy, and psychology come to play in the critical study of literature for children.

Children’s literature has an age-long history in the oral tradition with its adaptation of the elements of folklore and fairytales in its narration techniques. Anthropomorphism, the imposition of intentional human traits on nonhuman creatures, objects, and other natural phenomena, is a significant feature of folktales, myths, legends, and fantasy (Lynch-Brown et al, 2011; Galda et al, 2010; and Adhuze, 2018). The representation of animals in children’s stories is aimed at achieving three major purposes: getting and sustaining the interest of the young reader, as a subtle way of intimating children with some complex life issues, and as a tool for social and moral instructions (Blount, 1975)

Anthropomorphism may be prehistoric, but its literary influence is similar to the discourse of sensibility which enables a literary writer to present a delicate issue in a non-provocative manner to evoke a positive aesthetic or ethical response from an individual. The cultures of sensibility are pervasive during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and its influence still permeates into the twentieth century accentuating modern consciousness and psychology (Blackburn, 2016). There are different scholastic views in support of the literary use of anthropomorphism, while there are others with contrary opinions. However, the focus of this study does not completely dwell on these arguments. Earlier studies in children’s literature have examined the importance of having attractive illustrations; this present study explores the different phases of anthropomorphism – oral tales, print media, and ‘digitales’ – in children’s narratives and argues that digital storytelling, a new form of anthropomorphism, is a step ahead of artistic illustrations in books written and produced for children as they are intuitively drawn to these “humanoids” in their books or electronic devices. The present study investigates the natural attraction of children to animals which propels them to exhibit a preference for animal stories and how authors of literature for children capitalize on this as a means of getting the children hooked to their literature (Blount, 1975 and Armstrong, 2010).

The use of anthropomorphism as a learning strategy in literature began from the oral tradition through folktales and fables. Literature for children was birthed to enhance learning and instruction and meet the peculiar needs of young children in terms of their taste, form, and content of what could easily appeal to their taking a delight in reading. Adhuze, (2017: 6), hints that “literature for children can boost the attainment of different educational roles in the school curriculum. These roles range from “a resource for language development’’, to being “an extension tool for gifted readers’’, “a vehicle for meta-comprehension assessment’’, “an alternative text’’, “a utility for disabled students’’ and a vehicle for addressing “equity issues”.

In stories for children, there are some devices adopted to easily catch the attention of children during a storytelling session. Bennett (1993) observes that there is a magical attraction to a good story that begins with: “Once upon a time…” (p.12). Another psychological hook in children’s literature is the audience participation which takes place during the narration through a call and response song or intermittent rhetorical questions posed by the narrator.

Animal stories are very effective as scaffolding tools for providing a suitable learning background for children. Children are naturally wired in this form, especially from 1-2 years. For instance, in Mo Willem’s City Dog, Country Frog, illustrated by Jon J. Muth, an unusual friendship between a dog and a frog is depicted. The story shows how the dog mourns the loss of his friend, while still hoping for the return of the dead friend. This has a great cognitive implication for the children to understand that death translates to a total loss of a loved one.

Also, anthropomorphism is a type of metaphor-making that enables young children to identify with the characters in the story and applies the moral/social lessons of the story to real-life situations. A fable that readily comes to mind here is Aesop’s fable of the Fisherman and his wife, as retold by Clifton Johnson (1993). The story narrates the fisherman’s encounter with a strange talking fish, who promises the fisherman whatever he wants if he could spare his life. Three important life lessons are taken away from this story, as the fisherman’s wife takes undue advantage of the promise given by the fish: 1) there is always a reward for kindness; 2) the danger of greed; and 3) the danger of taking undue advantage of people’s benevolence, which led to a reversal of fortunes for the fisherman and his wife, who wanted to rule over the sun and the moon.

Methodology

This study adopts the qualitative research methodology through a random selection of five narratives: Ada K. Agwu’s Spider’s Land, Ambrose M. Chukwudum’s “Which is bat- Bird or Beast?” from his Tales from the Forest World, and Chio Enwonwu’s trilogy on the exploit of Tortoise: Tortoise Goes to Town, Tortoise Returns to the Woods, Tortoise in Exile, and Efosa and the Magic Broom, a digitale produced by Nicademia. These narrative texts were purposively selected based on their relevance to the study and were subjected to critical analyses to examine the effectiveness of the use of anthropomorphism in characterization, the narrative mode, and its overall import on the sustenance of the learners’ interest, and the delivery of the thematic concepts in the story.

Theoretical framework

This study is based on cognitive constructivism as propounded by Jean Piaget (1926). Constructivism is a process of acquisition of knowledge whereby learners are assisted in harnessing their thought processes through their exposition to learning experiences which are commensurable to their level of cognitive development such that there are justifications for “meaning-making” or interpretation of the acquired knowledge through the previous and present learning experiences.

It is also a process of enriching the thinking faculty of learners through relevant and adequate learning aids which appeal to the cognitive development stage of the learners. This theory underscores how humans construct meaning by examining the connection between their experiences and thought processes to form a new idea or concept. In other words, this process of learning is learner-centered because the learner can form knowledge out of their learning experiences.

Anthropomorphism in children’s narratives serves as an attention grabber and a means of giving concrete information on learning through cognitive constructivism which is effective through a literature-based learning experience that gives concreteness to abstract concepts thereby expanding their understanding of different concepts and issues during the learning process. Anthropomorphism as a literary device is used to attract the learners’ attention and activate their thought faculty, especially those who are young learners.

Textual analyses and discussions

In modern fables, like Chio Enwonwu’s series about his folk hero – tortoise – which chronicles the protagonist’s exploits in town among people (Tortoise goes to town), his return to the woods among other animals (Tortoise returns to the woods), and his life in exile (Tortoise in exile), after the unfortunate incidence of the collapse of the hall which Tortoise encouraged them to build. This modern fable veered from the stereotypical image of the tortoise as a trickster usually depicted in traditional folktales featuring the tortoise.

In Tortoise goes to town, Tortoise is not just portrayed as a “talking animal”, but he is made to interact with the people of the town he finds himself. He also learns a few things about the human civilization which he introduces to other animals on his return to the forest as found in Tortoise returns to the woods. The major change he attempts to introduce fails when the hall he led the animal to build collapses, and he is forced to embark on an exile to another land as found in Tortoise in exile. This story underlines the challenges which come with effecting a change in society. Tortoise’s efforts would have been applauded if the proposed hall had been successfully built. However, just as most human beings would react, Tortoise was solely blamed for the collapse of the hall as the other animals were not ready to share the blame for their failure with him.

The selected narratives portray anthropomorphism through characterizations and the narrative mode employed in all the stories examined through the voice given to the animal characters to enlighten the young readers and attract their attention throughout the narration of the story, couching unpleasant life issues like death and betrayal in a less shocking manner through the use of anthropomorphized entities, as found in Agwu's Spider Land, Enwonwu's Tortoise Returns to the Woods and Tortoise in Exile. Effecting and sociality; as cognitive and motivational factors for promoting knowledge about the environment and other nonhuman entities are emphasized by making abstract concepts come alive through intentionality as depicted in Agwu’s Spider Land, Chukwudum’s “Which is Bat- Bird or Beast?”, and Enwonwu’s three modern fables where scientific facts about spiders, bats, birds, tortoise, and other animals are conveyed through an imaginative combination of fact and fiction.

In Efosa and the magic broom, the digitale produced by Nicademia, an affective relationship is established between the two major characters to facilitate the trust and confidence needed for exploration and learning. The face of anthropomorphism is revealed as a rhetorical tool through personification and metaphoric expressions.

Another advantage of reading animal stories is that it encourages empathy in young children and awakens them to see a reflection of themselves in others. This is craftily depicted in Chio Enwowu’s modern fables on Tortoise who cultivated human attributes during his sojourn in town with people and introduces same to the animals on his return to the woods, and his eventual betrayal by the other animals which led to his exile and personal emancipation.

The story in Ada K. Agwu’s Spider Land and Ambrose Chukwudum’s tale about the bat reify the interconnection between human and nonhuman nature, using the animal characters as mouthpiece, the stories present a vivid description of different animals, their habitats, their roles, and importance in nature. This is a great plus in ecocritical studies/environmentalism. The early development of empathy in children alerts them to the interconnection between human and nonhuman nature. As such, they see the need to respect and protect other species and the natural environment.

Before the advent of print media, children being told “moonlight stories” in Africa had their senses of imagination sharpened as they had to visualize for themselves the various animal characters depicted in traditional tales. This imagination serves them in real-life situations to easily recognize these animals, based on the vivid descriptions given by the storyteller(s).

Matching fictional animals with real ones becomes easier with the use of print media, which avails the illustrators/artists of children’s books to do justice to the artistic representation of different animals in stories. Consequently, these take us to the artistic and modern phases of anthropomorphism through enchanting illustrations in books for children. This has also promoted the art of illustrators as they are given equal recognition alongside the authors of award-winning literature for children.

In modern fables, like Chio Enwonwu’s series about his folk hero – tortoise – which chronicles the protagonist’s exploits in town among people (Tortoise goes to town), his return to the woods among other animals (Tortoise returns to the woods), and his life in exile (Tortoise in exile), after the unfortunate incidence of the collapse of the hall which Tortoise encouraged them to build. This modern fable veered from the stereotypical image of the tortoise as a trickster usually depicted in traditional folktales featuring the tortoise.

The face of anthropomorphism beams through other figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, and apostrophe as they all have the attribution of human traits or emotions on a nonhuman object or entity at a different level of comparison; in the use of simile and metaphor, imagery; as we have in personification, and apostrophe as the case is in the use of invocation. Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to a nonhuman object or the representation of abstract quality/concept in human form. For instance, the statement; “Justice is blind” presents vivid visual imagery of the concept of “justice”. Justice is always depicted as being “blind” to show that it mediates in an issue without any bias for class, race, gender, etc between the parties involved, but judgment is always based on presented “facts”.

In juvenile literature, anthropomorphism is used in building a relational attitude between the young readers and the fictional characters in the text for the subtle facilitation of knowledge.

Anthropomorphized animals or objects are made to behave or act like human beings, talking, walking, singing, dancing, cooking, driving, etc. Stories for children are replete with such instances in different animal stories of folktales with the tortoise, spider, or rabbit depicted in their trickster roles, or fictional characters like Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio, Barney the bear, or Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Personification and anthropomorphism are literary devices that attribute human characteristics to nonhuman entities. The dividing line is the fact that personification is merely a figurative representation, whereas anthropomorphism is a literal representation where nonhuman entities actually act like human beings expressing full human emotions and actions. While personification is an imaginary representation, anthropomorphism is a “real” make-believe representation. The opposite literary device of anthropomorphism is zoomorphism whereby animal qualities are attributed to human beings as we have in “Spiderman”, “Batman”, “Antman”, “Catwoman”, “Wolverine”, and “Black Panther”. Anthropomorphic or zoomorphic features are sometimes reflected in the use of similes and metaphors. Notable works which have anthropomorphic characters include George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Mark Twain’s A Dog’s Tale, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Digital story telling- a new trend in anthropomorphism

Learning methods have been categorized into three: auditory, visual, (sometimes these two are taken together as audio-visual) and kinesthetic. The auditory method deals with the use of the organs of hearing to listen to a set of information or instruction. The visual mode of learning includes the use of the eyes to observe and see what is being learnt while the kinesthetic involves engaging in activities using any of the four limbs.

The audio-visual mode of course deals with the use of both the organs of hearing and seeing during the learning process. The teaching and learning resources available through digital technologies take care of all the modes of learning. While some of the resources could be used independently for any of the learning methods, these different resources could be integrated in realizing the three modes of learning for a more effective and highly motivated process of learning.

Digital learning incorporates the use of these three methods of learning. This means that the three modes could be explored during a teaching-learning process. Digital learning aligns with a constructivist framework as it encourages a learner-centered approach to learning whereby the learners are actively engaged as they create their new knowledge physically; through their active involvement in the learning process, symbolically; by making their own representation in engaging their creative imagination, socially; by conveying their meaning making to others, and theoretically; by attempting to explain things or concepts learnt in their own way.

Constructivism enables the learner to create new knowledge from what they have acquired. It encourages the active involvement of the learners in the teaching-learning process. It propels the learners to achieve an effective thought process and collaboration with others, and it is inquiry-based thereby creating opportunities for investigation and use of various resources to resolve learning problems.

Digital storytelling is a user-directed technology to help instructors and learners use technology effectively in the classroom. It is more effective than a lecture-based instructional strategy because technology is used to enhance the quality of education and include the learners in the teaching-learning process. The coinage, “digital storytelling” is credited to Joe Lambert in 2002 with the publication of Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Communities, a product of his collaborative efforts with Dana Atchley’s show titled Next Exit in 1986.

Digital storytelling is grounded on the importance of communication and dissemination of knowledge among human beings which is easily facilitated through stories. It is a technological display of the innate desire of man to relate with others around him. Digital storytelling is a blend of orature and the latest digital technologies such as computers, mobile phones, cameras, scanners, and others to narrate a story. It blurs the boundaries between orature and literature to produce “digitales” and facilitates interactive and seamless communication among many people across several divides or spaces (Porter, 2005).

Digital media has become the norm in modern communication technology. It is very popular in every society, especially among the young generation, a generation of netizens who spend time on the internet using several media like mobile phones, iPods, iPads, computers, and other devices. Children of this generation, both in developed and developing nations are quite familiar with how to navigate their way through cyberspace. This is an advantage for teaching and learning in the new normal as their technological literacies are further honed during the teaching-learning process in classroom situations.

The third phase of anthropomorphism is through the digital story-telling medium, incorporating animation and cartooning. A good example here is the story titled, Efosa and the magic broom, produced by Nicademia, a digital story-telling outfit based in Lagos, Nigeria, poised to make learning fun for children, to preserve and teach the Nigerian languages through animation. Each episode of the animated series showcases the rich culture and language of different people from Africa, as narrated by Efosa and the talking broom, which takes her on a tour of the African countries for a firsthand experience of the people and their cultures.

Digital stories are also presented through interactive books for children. For instance, The little duck was produced by Disneyland Paris, Legend of Zelda, by Nintendo, The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle, and pop-up/lift the flap books, like Press here, Gallop, and the Flora Series (Flora and the flamingo, Flora and the peacocks, Flora and the penguin).

Conclusion

From this study, anthropomorphism is reflected in different fields of human engagement, religion, psychology, sciences, arts, and humanities. It is borne out of the anthropocentric attitude of man towards other species and objects around him. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of mental states to nonhuman species, objects, and natural phenomena.

Anthropomorphism is deployed as a psychological/emotional hook to gain the attention of children in exploring their literary world. For the authors and publishers of children's books, it is a marketing strategy to get the books off the shelf and into the hands of the targeted audience. Besides the use of talking animals in children’s narratives, eye-popping illustrations are very strategic in navigating the narrative plot of stories for children. This is usually the case for readers at the early childhood stage who are automatically attracted to pictures. To satisfy their taste at this level, such children are presented with wordless picture storybooks which they can easily relate with. For this singular reason of making story books appealing to children, anthropomorphized animals, objects, and artifacts are further imbued with other human traits apart from “speaking” such that these “humanoids” characters are made to play all imaginable human roles in a story; from wearing clothes to driving /operating different machines and showing emotions.

Its adoption in children’s literature is to promote a relational connection between the young readers and the text. It is essentially an “advertizing’ gimmick for publishers and authors, while it is a learning tool in the classroom. Anthropomorphizing through digital storytelling makes the text come “alive” as the young audience becomes actively involved in the production of the digital narrative.

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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2022.v01i01.006