CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I, hereby, certify that the work, which is being presented in the thesis, entitled ROLE OF ANIMALS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SELECTED TEXTS OF RUDYARD KIPLING, C.S. LEWIS, E.B. WHITE AND J.K. ROWLING in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, carried under the supervision of Dr. Seema Kashyap Lecturer, Department of English, Government P.G. College, Bundi and submitted to (University Department of ….....……… ………………../University Centre/Research Centre), University of Kota, Kota represents my ideas in my own words and where others ideas or words have been included. I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources. The work presented in this thesis has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any other degree or diploma from any Institutions. I also declare that I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/ fact/source in my submission. I understand that any violation of the above will cause for disciplinary action by the University and can also evoke penal action from the sources which have thus not been properly cited or from whom proper permission has not been taken when needed. Date: .......................... Swati Dhanwani This is to certify that the above statement made by Swati Dhanwani (Enrolment No.F.6( )/Res/UOK/2013) is correct to the best of my knowledge. Date: .......................... Dr. Seema Kashyap Research Supervisor SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the research work embodied in the thesis titled “Role of Animals in Children’s Literature with Special Reference to Selected Texts of Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Lewis, E.B. White and J.K. Rowling” was carried out by Ms. Swati Dhanwani, for the award of degree of Ph.D. by University of Kota, Kota. She has completed the following requirement as per Ph. D regulation of the University: a) Course work as per the University rules. b) Residential requirement of the University i.e. 200 days c) Regularly submitted annual reports. d) Completed pre-submission Ph. D presentation. e) Published two Research papers in Research Journals (enclosed). I recommend the submission of the thesis. Place : Kota Dr. Seema Kashyap Date : ............................... Research Supervisor THESIS APPROVAL FOR DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY This thesis entitled ROLE OF ANIMALS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SELECTED TEXTS OF RUDYARD KIPLING, C.S. LEWIS, E.B. WHITE AND J.K. ROWLING by Swati Dhanwani submitted to the (University Department of …………...... ................................ /University Centre/Research Centre), University of Kota, Kota is approved for the award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Examiners .......................................... .......................................... .......................................... Date: ................................ Supervisor Place : .............................. .......................................... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No great task can be done alone. It requires team work, perseverance and patience. Thus, when I decided to pursue my doctoral thesis I never realized the amount of effort I would have to put in. I would like to thank all those who supported me to accomplish my thesis successfully. At the very outset, I would like to express deep sense of gratitude to my research supervisor Dr. Seema Kashyap, Lecturer in English, Govt. College, Bundi for her indispensable support and guidance. Since the inception of my thesis her in-depth knowledge helped me build up my research work. Despite being tied up with her own commitments, she took out special time for me whenever I needed. Her motivation, immense knowledge and suggestions enriched my thesis. Without her generous help and patient supervision this work would not have been possible. I express my sincere thanks to her. It is a matter of pleasure to put on record my indebtedness to my parents Mr. Vijay Dhanwani and Mrs. Pooja Dhanwani for their encouragement and boundless affection that helped me to sail my way through all the adversities. I also thank my sister and brother Ms. Unnat Dhanwani and Mr. Mohit Dhanwani for constantly boosting my morale and extending generous help during the course of my study. I am also deeply indebted to my grandfather Lt. Shri S.C. Dhanwani and my maternal grandparents Lt. Shri J.T. Tekchandani and Lt. Smt. Kaushalya Tekchandani for their blessings. I owe a special thanks to my aunt Mrs. Rajni Tekchandani for fetching some valuable books for my study. I wish to convey my sincere thanks to my current workplace Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya, senior faculty members, colleagues and friends for their encouragement and support. I wish to thank all those who have helped me directly or indirectly to complete my thesis. Last but not the least, I express my gratitude to Almighty to whom all my reverence is due. I thank Him for instilling the necessary strength in me to complete the study. SWATI DHANWANI CONTENTS Chapter Title Page No. Preface Chapter 1 Introduction to Children’s Literature 1-44 Chapter 2 Human – Animal Bonding and Child Psychology 45-87 Chapter 3 Animal Characters: Role and Significance 88-128 Chapter 4 Narrative Strategies 129-185 Chapter 5 Conclusion 186-194 Bibliography 195-205 Published Research Papers PREFACE From our hectic schedules when we pause to reflect, we are surprised by the pervasiveness and varied forms of animals in our lives. The image of the modern world is human centered and driven by technology. The mooing of the cows has faded away long back and drowned by the whirring of the automobiles. Yet our world is replete with animals in the street, home, zoo, farm, city parks or in the wild. In the present times, we see a renewed interest in the human-nonhuman animal relations because of the latest debate on the ethics of the human use and treatment of animals. Human – Animal Studies has emerged as a new discipline. Programs on Human – Animal Studies have begun to run in universities. Various academic journals such as Society and Animals, Anthrozoos and Centaur provide a substantial and critical perspective on human – animal relationship. Over the last hundred years some of the bestselling and best loved children's books feature animal characters. Consumer products for children from McDonald's Happy Meals to Saturday morning cartoons abound in animal images. Many children love to keep animals as pets and treat them as their friends. Thus, we notice a beneficial social and psychological effect on children due to the presence of animals in their lives. Therefore, the present study attempts to examine the role played by animals in selected texts of Children’s Literature and the manner of relationship of animals to the child characters. The thesis also brings forth strongly the relevance of Children’s Literature in the present times. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE “A childhood without books — that would be no childhood. That would be like being shut out from the enchanted place where you can go and find the rarest kind of joy.” Astrid Lindgren Swedish author of children’s books Children’s Literature is replete with animal characters. Animals of every variety populate all genres of Children’s Literature like picture books, comics and short stories. Generally, the animals that figure in the stories of children are depicted as having acquired human qualities and intelligence. The animals are located either in a social set-up which is familiar to children or often the landscape is of an alternative or secondary world1 which makes the story appealing to children. NATURE OF STUDY The present study takes into account Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1894), C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), Prince Caspian (1951) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) of The Chronicles of Narnia Introduction to Children's Literature 2 series (1950-6), E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (1952) and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) of the Harry Potter series (1997-2007) to analyze the role of animals in Children’s Literature and their importance in the present times. With the help of psychological theories, the study will also examine the reasons behind child-animal bonding and its beneficial effects to human health. The techniques of anthropomorphism and fantasy used as narrative strategies in children’s fiction will also be examined with reference to the selected texts. MAIN OBJECTIVES The main objectives of the study were to: 1. Describe the history of Children’s Literature and the manner in which animals have been presented in it. 2. Examine the impact of animals on children’s psychology. To study how a child relates to animals and how they enhance a child’s personality. 3. Examine the manner of social support provided by animals to children and in the selected texts. 4. Examine the role of animals and their importance in the selected texts. 5. Examine the concept of fantasy in Children’s Literature and also study fantasy as a narrative technique in the texts selected for study. 6. Explain anthropomorphism as a literary device in Children’s Literature. Introduction to Children's Literature 3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE The foremost responsibility of authors of Children’s Literature is to make their stories interesting for the child readers. Hence, authors populate their stories with a variety of talking animals who behave like humans. A special device used by the writers of Children’s Literature is called anthropomorphism. Talking animals display human characteristics in varying degrees. The anthropomorphic animals can cook, read, write, speak and walk like humans. Elizabeth A. Dunn in her research paper “Talking Animals: A Literature Review of Anthropomorphism in Children’s Books” states that talking animals are very common in Children’s Literature.