A nation’s literature is traditionally seen as a reflection of the values, tensions, myths and psychology that identify a national character. Bendict Anderson defines nation as ‘an imagined community’. He maintains that the members of a nation never know each other, meet or hear each other, yet they still hold in common an image of who they are as a community of individuals.
How is a ‘common image’ passed on to children (and to people in general) in India? One of the ways in which an image is transmitted to a nation is through literature. Sarah Lorse (1997) writes that national literature are ‘consciously constructed pieces of the national culture’ and that literature is ‘an integral part of the process by which nation-states create themselves and distinguish themselves from other nations’. For young readers, national literatures play a crucial role in developing a sense of identity, a sense of belonging, of knowing who they are. In 1950, Australian author Miles Franklin argued that ‘without an indegenious literature people can remain alien in their own soil’.
Identity is not just a positive self concept. It is learning your place in the world with both humility and strength. It is, in the words of Vine Deloria, “accepting the responsibility to be a contributing member of a society”. Children also need to develop a strong identity to withstand the onslaughts of a negative hedonistic and materialistic world, fears engendered by terrorism, gender discrimination, and the pervasive culture of poverty that envelops many cities.
The Term Paper on Importance Of Language In The Development Of The Nation State Or Cultural Identity
There are various different ways in which people interact with one another, communication being the most common, and language being the most common form of communication. We use it to convey our emotions, thoughts and feelings, and to express ourselves. Language is an absolutely integral part of the survival of the human race, and a key aspect of various cultures. Whatever is considered meaningful ...
Many of us have grown up on books written by Enid Blyton. Every page in the book thrills and delights. Today Rowling’s Harry Potter has the same effect, setting children on the path to reading. Bookshops today are filled with titles by foreign authors. However, it is the elite children in big metros who can relate culturally to the characters and settings in these books and can afford to buy them. What about the rest of the vast majority? Along with the spread of literacy, the habit of reading too, needs to be promoted to ensure a broader and wider education rather than functional literacy. Unfortunately children of small town and rural India neither have access, nor can they be expected to appreciate the strange unfamiliarity of a Blyton or a Rowling. To entice them to read, attractive books in English as well as in their mother tongue, with stories drawn from local and contemporary setting, need to be made available. Fortunately, a variety of titles suitable for the Indian child is available today. But booksellers prefer to display foreign books as they provide better returns. Distributors, too, fail to reach the smaller towns. So, though enough reading material is produced today, it does not always reach its target, children of small town and rural India.
Publishers are well aware of the need for attractive children’s books set in the child’s own social and cultural milieu, in English as well as in other languages. Because of its nature, children’s literature in India cannot be put into a neat compact section, nicely labeled, sealed, and stamped. The subject remains as vast and varied as the subcontinent itself and as old. It becomes difficult to corral it under one heading. Applying any single code or criterion of judgment is equally impossible. The only way such an elastic and sprawling literature can be dealt with is to divide it into levels, taking each level individually and on its own merit. On one level we have the traditional children’s literature, which, for the most part, is oral narrative. It is a living literature that spills into various forms of the spoken and written word.
The Term Paper on Language Policy In India
... and therefore a shift from English to Hindi as India’s national language would not be positive ... development of a state language for a universal language in school, business, literature and everyday life. ... The Problem of Official Language in India (New Delhi: Arya Book Depot). Hardgrave, R. L. and ... Language needs are so onerous that many parents with sufficient resources seek to equip their children ...
On the other hand is the “modern,” printed children’s literature dealing with present-day styles and subjects. It is a more didactic form, less creative and still slow in development, irrespective of language. On another level there is the language. Literature for children in English forms a separate section and remains quite different both in form and content from its counterparts, Hindi and the regional languages. English, which is the medium of instruction in almost every major city in India, caters to the more affluent section of society. Children’s literature in English displays marked “Western” characteristics in style, subject, and treatment. Hindi and other regional languages are more insular, more “relevant” in content. The regional languages have access even to remote corners of the country and, although different from each other in treatment, nevertheless draw their themes from traditional folklore.