Similarities Between Harold And The Purple Crayon

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Recommended: Development of children's literature

When asked about the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, renowned children’s author Maurice Sendak responded by saying, “there are no lessons in ‘Harold.’ You have fun, you do what you like and no one’s going to punish you” (NPR). Written in 1955 by Crockett Johnson, many critics have praised his book, Harold and the Purple Crayon, for delightfully embodying the beautiful innocence and bliss of childhood, one journal saying “Harold and the Purple Crayon has long been celebrated as depicting and encouraging children’s creative activity” (Collins). Similarly, biographer Philip Nel writes that “(Harold) has captivated so many people because Harold’s crayon not only embodies the imagination but shows that the mind can change the world: What we dream …show more content…

He was tired and he felt he ought to be getting to bed” (Johnson 39) The fact that he has the mental capacity to analyze his different options in the situation (whether or not to stay up or go to bed) and conclude which one is the “right” choice reinforces….. This process requires a high level of maturity and awareness to be responsible enough to be able to consider something separately from what one prefers or wants. According to Piaget’s study “The Moral Judgement of the Child” children do not develop the ability to even begin to understand their role in relation to others and the rules until the age of 7 or 8, saying “(they) begin to concern themselves with the question of mutual control and of the unification of the rules” (Piaget 17). One may interpret this situation as Harold deciding for himself whether or not he wants to go to bed, thus taking control over his own life, but the intangible force in his mind that is driving him to go to bed does not come from the “child” side of him. The creative, whimsical idea to build a mountain to find his bed resembles the imaginative nature of a child, but the presence of a responsible, moral conscious resembles the much more mature, adult side to Harold. Although Johnson is trying to convey the freedom Harold possesses throughout his journey, there is some older, powerful force controlling his decisions, possibly showing how the individual freedom socialism strives for is idealized because there will always be some figure present with more authority.

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