Suicide propaganda, disrespect for fathers and other sins for which Astrid Lindgren is reproached

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Lindgren is one of the most famous children's writers in Europe. Fairy tales and adventures of ordinary village children, sad and mischievous stories - the little reader will definitely find something to his liking. Some kind of special kindness, love for humanity descends from the pages of her books. Surprisingly, there are a large number of parents and even entire parental movements who believe that children should be protected from Lindgren's stories. They teach bad things.

The list of claims is striking in length, the claims themselves - in content. Not a single popular storyteller's book has not been overlooked. Pippi got it, and Emil from Lönneberg, and Ronye, the daughter of a robber, and Rasmus the tramp, and, of course, Karlsson.

Disrespectful attitude towards fathers

Ronya quarrels with Mattis, because he is quick-tempered and does not know how to appreciate neither his life, nor someone else's. In addition, he often does stupid things, is very childish, and Ronya's mother has to upset him. Peppy's father, the captain of the ship, appears only to tumble around in a skirt over his naked body and jump with children of primary school age. Emil's father, a simple peasant, is greedy to the ridiculous (or sad) and narrow-minded. Baby Svante Swantesson's dad, living with him in the same house, barely participates in his son's life - so, a ghost with a pipe somewhere against the backdrop of exciting adventures with Karlsson.

Yes, all these characters are considered dropping the high rank of the father, forming an unflattering idea in children about fathers in general and lead, as the guardians of the holy image of the Pope say, to the fact that children cannot respect their fathers as a class anymore.

As for the children, they are not at all so spoiled by the compositions on the theme "The Image of the Lyrical Hero in the Novel of a Romantic Author" and see just ordinary dads, adults with the right to make mistakes, with different characters and, frankly, with quite common shortcomings.

Encouraging home runaways

Ronya runs away from home, having a serious quarrel with his robber father, along with his friend Birk. Together they live in a cave among wild animals and local unkind magical creatures. Rasmus flees the orphanage, frightened of punishment and desperate to wait for someone who wants to adopt him. He is nailed to the tramp Oscar, who makes his living by singing pitiful songs under the windows. Nothing to say, good role models for a child!

However, where an adult sees the very outrageous fact of escape, the child reads about the exciting adventure and all the dangers that await children outside the home. Ronya and Birk miraculously do not die when they are attacked by giant birds similar to people, and almost fall into the waterfall. They constantly face the question of where to get food and the simplest household items and how to escape in the cold. Rasmus is faced with the fact that the world is tough, life requires money, and some adults are very dangerous.

Children generally disobey adults

Of course, Lindgren's naughty champion is Pippi Longstocking. This is a nine-year-old girl who is fabulously strong and just as fabulously rich, she lives all alone in a villa and does not go to school. When adults begin to teach her how to live correctly, she asks uncomfortable questions, trying to understand the logic of an endless system of inhibitions. But Astrid's other child characters are also naughty. Emil does something wrong all the time, giving adults a lot of trouble. Ronya and Rasmus, as we remember, ran away from home. Little Svante constantly breaks the prohibitions, following Karlsson's lead. All this, the advocates of morality are sure, encourages children to behave insolently.

In fact, the child constantly observes a causal relationship between the actions of the little heroes and further events. In this sense, Lindgren's stories are even classically edifying. The tricks of Emil and other guys constantly embarrass the heroes themselves and their loved ones. That is why, by the way, Little Svante over time treats Karlsson's antics more and more alarmingly and with coolness. It's not just about the fear of punishment, he sees that Karlsson often causes inconvenience and upset people (although some of his pranks are completely harmless). Only Pippi leaves "unpunished", but this is a girl who can raise a horse - the children would like to be friends with her, but do not consider her exactly the same as themselves.

Sometimes the children in the books, by showing disobedience, end up winning. Because adults can be wrong and make mistakes too. In such cases, the characters do not gloat at all. They make peace with their loved ones, and loved ones also do not conceal anger at children, admitting that the quarrel has not canceled love. Quite a healthy description of how a conflict can go and how to continue living under one roof after it.

In general, in Lindgren's books, all children behave very childishly. In many Soviet books, children and adults constantly seem to change their roles. Children should take care of the feelings and needs of adults, constantly understand more than them and comfort them from above. Little characters Lindgren almost always in communication with adults remain in their childish roles. Even such independent and not recognizing the rules, like Pippi.

Children catch criminals and promote suicide

A special complaint of Lindgren's dislikers is how often children find themselves face to face with all sorts of crooks and every time they are defeated. Pippi copes with thieves, Little Svante and Karlsson - with crooks Fille and Rulle, helps adults to cope with robbers and the orphan Rasmus, and Kalle Blumkvist and his friends do not accidentally, but deliberately confront dangerous criminals.

What's wrong with that? Critics believe that such stories instill a false sense of self-confidence in young readers. And this can lead to a dangerous situation.

In fact, children love stories in which their peers are overpowered by dangerous uncles, precisely because children are well aware of how weak and defenseless they themselves are. In addition, the Scandinavian rational Lindgren clearly distinguishes between fairy tales and realistic stories. Children cope on their own only where magical creatures act, such as the super-strong Pippi or the flying troll Carlson. Both Rasmus and Kalle and company need adult help to deal with the criminals. This despite the fact that they themselves are very active!

But the strangest claim is that Lindgren glorifies suicide. Critics cite scenes from The Brothers of the Lionheart and the story about Pippi as arguments.

In the first book, one of the brothers decides to give his life so that his younger brother will survive during the fire. True, the baby is still doomed - he is sick with tuberculosis and soon dies. After death, the brothers find themselves in the wizarding world and learn that if they die again, they will simply move on to the next world.

One of the interpretations of this plot is that the book was written both for terminally ill children and for those who believe that another child died through their fault. This is a consolation book. And adventures turn it from an ordinary fairy tale from adults into a story that you want to read.

Peppy, in the last scene of her adventures, eats a magic pill to never grow up and mature. The scene is very sad, almost tragic. This is probably why some adults believe that Pippi took poison.

Children perceive the scene less fatally. Firstly, it does not pass by their attention that Pippi's pill is most similar to a vitamin. Secondly, the tragedy of the scene for them lies precisely in the fact that the magic pill will not work in any way. Peppy will grow up because it's inevitable. This is a little bit and the farewell of the youngest readers themselves to the most carefree part of their life. Ahead is the teenage period with its wars for popularity and new demands.

Perhaps, rebel Astrid Lindgren, the naughty girl who conquered the world with children's booksjust pisses off critics as a person? And really, what can a grandmother give children, who climbs trees, because there is no law against?