Michael’s Tutorial Week 9

I want to begin this week’s tutorial going over any issues you have with preparing your major assignment and
then discuss with you any specific questions you might have about the content of this week’s lecture.

For this week’s tutorial Listen to lecture 9 on Controversies and Ethical Debates & please try to read
Reynolds pages 112-126 on ethical debates in Children’s literature.
You could keep in your mind the broad question: do you have any examples of ethical issues in any of the
children’s books you have come across?

The tutorial will focus specifically on slides 15 and 16 and the issues that arise from these. We will be
considering especially the videos of Home and Away (on slide 15): https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=kmLRFN4HPqQ
& then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1VmPiTBAc4
We will look again at these videos in the tutorial today. In relation to this book I intend to have a group
discussion on the following questions raised in Slide 15 and 16:

1/ Do you agree that the intention of this book “is to like the experiences of asylum seekers to Australian
children to increase empathy and decrease the “otherness” frequently associated with media
representations.”? Is this a legitimate purpose for children’s books?

2/ “Are we obligated to teach children about ethics” through their reading?

I then want to compare Home and Away Mem Fox’s I’m Australian Too which we will also look at in the
tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx1Y5UU9AG8

} Compare the different experiences the characters have in the two books.
} How does the visual aspect of each book contribute to the story and its overall mood?
} Are there any ethical issues you might have with reading these books to a child in primary school?

For next week

} Submit Assessment 2 by 11:59 pm, Monday 4 May;

} Listen to Lecture 10 on Ecocriticism, Space and Nature or, at a minimum, look at the lecture ppt and
click on the links
} Elaine Lindsay has also prepared an excellent question sheet on ecocriticism. Please find that
attached at the end of this tutorial guide.
} Check out the links for LW10 under the Links tile on LEO;
} Bring a children’s book to the tute that deals with ecological issues and/or the treatment of animals
and/or the natural environment. Bring The lorax if you have it.
[For those who are keen to know: the take home exam will be released on 23 May. You will have until 8 June
to submit your answers via Turnitin]
 ENGL140 LW10: Ecocriticism, space and nature (Elaine)

1. Taking an ecocritical approach to a book of children’s fiction

The following set of questions can be applied to a children’s novel or picture book that has
some relationship to the environment, e.g., where an issue about the environment drives the
plot, where nature has a strong presence, or where animals in captivity or in the wild are
featured. The questions could also apply more broadly to people’s attitudes to nature. They
are drawn from questions on a Purdue University site, Ecocriticism (1960-‐present).
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schoo
ls_of_criticism/ecocriticism.html

(1) How is nature represented in this text?

(2) How is the setting of the text related to the environment?

(3) How do metaphors and representations of the land and the environment influence the
way we read the text?

(4) How are issues of environmental disaster and crises reflected in the text?

(5) How are animals represented in the text and what is their relationship to humans? Are
any ethical questions raised about the treatment of animals?

(6) Do the roles or representations of men and women towards the environment differ in this
text? If so, in what ways?

(7) Where is the environment placed in the power hierarchy? Is it something over which humans
have ‘dominion’?

(8) Is nature empowered or oppressed in this text? In what way/s?

(9) What parallels can be drawn between the sufferings and oppression of groups of people
(women, minorities, immigrants, etc.) and treatment of the land?
 (1) What rhetorical techniques does the author use and what can they tell us
about the author’s and our own cultural attitudes to nature?

2. Taking an ecocritical approach to The Lorax (1971)

“Every once in a while I get mad. The Lorax came out of my being angry. The
ecology books I’d read were dull … In The Lorax I was out to attack what I think
are evil things and let the chips fall where they might; and the book’s been used by
ministers as the basis of sermons, as well as conservation groups.” (Geisel cited in
Sloane, A. (2011). Reading The Lorax, orienting in potentiality. In A. Cutter-‐Mackenzie,
P.G. Payne, & A. Reid (Eds.), Experiencing environment and place through children’s
literature (pp. 163-‐176). New York: Routledge.

(1) If we regard the Once-‐ler as ‘human’, what is his relationship to nature? e.g.
does he work with, or in opposition to nature, or does he exploit and
dominate nature?

(2) What is the role of the Lorax?

(3) What effect does ‘human’ activity have on the natural environment in The
Lorax?

(4) Are there any ethical questions raised about the fate of the birds, fish
and animals? Do they any agency of their own?

(5) Does the Once-‐ler admit any responsibility?

(6) Are any solutions offered to restore the environment, either by the Once-‐ler or the
narrative?

(7) What is the role of the boy?

(8) What is the role of nature in The Lorax? e.g. is it an object to be saved, or
does it have a subjectivity and agency of its own?

(9) Can you think of a more ecologically sustaining ending for the book?
(10)What is there in the way the Geisel tells the story of the Lorax that
reveals his attitude to nature and his understanding of how society at
large thinks about nature?

(11)What ‘messages’ might a child get from The Lorax in relation to the eco-‐
system, capitalism, and individual and community responsibility?