REALISM AND FANTASY IN CHILDREN LITERATUREThe use of realism and the fantastic in Toms Midnight Garden:How does their use contribute to each authors representation of the child protagonists development Realism in childrens literature deals with the literal truth. The settings, storylines and characters will often seem to be realistic and recognizable. Although recognizable, one should resist the temptation to describe realism as real life but rather that realism attempts to reproduce something of the complexity of life itself (Hunt, P 1994). The use of the fantastic in childrens literature is commonly used and many childrens books explore possibilities through using fantasy rather than actualities. The use of the fantastic allows an author to be limitless in their approach to a story. That being said realism and fantasy are often interwoven throughout a story and the line between the two devices is often a thin one. This is apparent in the classic childrens tale Toms Midnight Garden. The reader is instantly grounded in the real by the authors note at the beginning of the story where one is alerted to fact that this story is based on real childhood experiences and the setting is a real place. The story being so real that the author claims it almost wrote itself (Swallows and Amazons authors note). From the front cover to the simple illustrations the reader feels a certain familiarity with the subject matter of the novel.

The map used in Swallows and Amazons contributes to the realism of the story. The map which is reproduced for the reader at the beginning of the book depicts an actual place in the Lake District. However, what is also apparent in this map is the childish imaginations of the children in the story. Real places sit alongside the imagined ones. What is interesting to note is how the imagined places tend to have dangerous and adventurous connotations such as shark bay or the unexplored Arctic sitting next to those places that offer the children familiarity and safety such as Holly Howe and Dixons Farm. Although this device offers the reader an insight into fantasy through the imagined places it also confirms the reality of the novel with the author recognizing that children need comfort and security during adventurous play. There is much evidence of reality in Swallows and Amazons and one would be fair to generally conclude that if it had to be decided whether the novel sits in either camp then reality would be the obvious choice. However, it is also perhaps fair to say that realism could be considered a personal concept. What is real to one person is perhaps fantasy to another. Reality should also be considered in the context of time. For example, to many children today the chance of being able to sail alone to an island and live unsupervised in a tent would be nothing but fantasy. Social attitudes have changed and continue to do so and as a result books such as Swallows and Amazons may appear old fashioned. However, what Swallows and Amazons does do successfully is bring reality and fantasy together. Today, children can marvel at the real adventures of the Walker children and imagine the freedom but at the same time it allows adult readers to yearn for the freedom that adult life usually denies.Though Swallows and Amazons is realistic fiction, as opposed to the fantasy of Peter Pan, there is a similar desire expressed in each work for the dream of an eternal childhood. In Peter Pan, it is seen in Peter's declaration that he wants to be a little boy forever. In Swallows and Amazons, Mrs. Dixon asks Titty if "you'll be coming again next year." Titty's response is eminently hopeful, and indicative of the innocence of youth: "Every year. For ever and ever." Mrs. Dixon's reply is equally wistful: "Aye, we all think that when we're young." For Arthur Ransome, just as for J.M. Barrie, childhood is a time when eternal summers, and eternal adventures, appear to be within reach of innocent young hands and minds. And it is the place of parents to encourage those dreams until the time when they will naturally dissipate. By the latter half of the twentieth century, this notion of childhood was beginning to change, as was its portrayal in children's literature. Though the romantic ideal of childhood had originally been posited and cultivated in Britain (as seen in the work of Barrie, Nesbit, Ransome, et al.), it had also greatly influenced the tone of children's literature in Canada and the United States. When the "revolution" against such romanticism began, it was not initiated by the British, but by American authors. 2 | Page