Wrinkles in writing: Exploring ageist narratives in select Indian children’s literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67431/mcqane88Keywords:
Children Literature; Decline Narratives; Gerontology; Third Age; Intergenerational BondingAbstract
In Indian context, the historicity of children’s books show that they have always been continuously shaping the emotional, psychological, moral, cultural and social perceiving skills and behaviour of children by didacticism. Later it shifted towards fun and entertainment but again noticing the need of the hour in the expeditiously transitioning and socially conscious culture, these books are focusing more on reality and relatable issues like gender disparity, LGBTQ, class, disability and racism. Arising from the status of entertainment these works have become the primary source of knowledge for children, specially for urban children usually living in nuclear families far from their grandparents, the traditional storyteller. Grandparents have always been a part of children’s storytelling reflecting the Indian social family structure, yet the critical examination of their character depiction in the children’s book, whether they promote positive ageing or normalise ageist stereotype, confines to the periphery of research. This study explores how aged characters, their ageing, identity, isolation, intergenerational knowledge preservation, intergenerational bonding and most significantly their character framing has been carried out in Indian Children’s literature. Additionally, it also studies the agency of children as a narrator in co-creation of the ageing narratives and limitations of these texts in contemporary society. Employing the theoretical idea, as a checklist, of Margaret Gullete’s decline narratives, the contrasting idea of Laslett’s third age and also Estes’ structural ageism as required - the selected works, My Dadima Wears a Sari (2007), Monsoon Afternoon (2008) Nani's walk to the park (2018), Ammachi's Amazing Machine (2021) and Paati’s Rasam (2022) - will be explored and analysed. These theories, as a structure, will help in critically examining, comparing and concluding the aging narratives in Indian context with respect to children literature.
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