Good Essay On Stories From The Old And New Dreamtime

Summary

Summary of the Article
The article explains the importance of having a set of a body of literary works that target young children and teenagers. The author of the article uses the first person voice to establish a direct conversation with the readers. She argues that much focus has been given to adult literature to the extent that childhood experiences are often ignored. However, it is these childhood experiences that shape the character of adult people. The author thus advocates for a shift in focus to the significance of early childhood encounters. She discusses a series of literary tools that can be used to explore this exploited dimension of literature. These comprise of autobiographies, memoirs, and testimonies all expressed in the first person voice. This style of writing is adopted specifically so as to convey an appealing message to the reader of the text. This strategy helps the reader to walk in the shoes of the author and relate with the message that is being conveyed. This will assist in instilling of a “sense of reality, significance and wholeness” in young readers (Scutter 226).

These stories are created to respond to some of the questions that young children have about their surroundings. They provide fictitious explanations for the occurrence of natural phenomena such as rivers, lakes and other aspects of the landscape that young children find intriguing to understand. Such stories are very resourceful in helping young curious minds to be comfortable with the world around them. They are narrated to young boys and girls to assist them in dealing with their curiosity while at the same time establishing a platform to provoke their way of thinking. Early childhood curiosity about natural phenomena acts as a sign of interest in understanding the world. It is an indication of a young mind seeking a sense of belonging to this world.

Works Cited

Scutter, Heather. "Writing the Childhood Self: Australian Aboriginal Autobiographies, Memoirs, and Testimonies." The Lion and the Unicorn 25.2 (2001): 226-241. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.