{"id":24989,"date":"2021-04-09T04:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T04:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=24989"},"modified":"2021-04-10T05:20:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T05:20:12","slug":"beverly-cleary-refused-to-teach-kids-how-to-be-good-and-generations-of-young-readers-fell-in-love-with-her-rebel-ramona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/beverly-cleary-refused-to-teach-kids-how-to-be-good-and-generations-of-young-readers-fell-in-love-with-her-rebel-ramona\/","title":{"rendered":"Beverly Cleary refused to teach kids how to be good — and generations of young readers fell in love with her rebel Ramona"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kristin Girten<\/a>, University of Nebraska Omaha<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s nothing like being reasoned with by a 4-year-old girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Stop it,\u2019 ordered Beezus. \u2018Stop it this instant! You can\u2019t eat one bite and then throw the rest away.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018But the first bite tastes best,\u2019 explained Ramona reasonably, as she reached into the box again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beezus had to admit that Ramona was right. The first bite of an apple always did taste best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author of this scene is Beverly Cleary, who died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104. The book is \u201cBeezus and Ramona.\u201d<\/a> Most readers appreciate Ramona\u2019s arguments, admiring the innocence, the free-spiritedness, the insight that inspires her to take a whole carton of apples and indulge in one first bite after another, only ever tasting \u201cthe reddest part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many fans love Cleary\u2019s work for a lifetime \u2013 first as young children, then as adults. As a mother of twin boys, I have been surprised at how her writing continues to resonate. But what is it that makes Cleary\u2019s characters so enduring?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novels that teach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a scholar of 18th-century British literature<\/a>, I recognize the pressure on novelists to teach children through their writing. This expectation was set in the 18th century when it was assumed that the modern novel, newly developed, would teach as well as please<\/a>. Reading was expected to be, in the words of Horace<\/a>, both \u201cdulce\u201d (literally sweet, or enjoyable) and \u201cutile\u201d (literally useful, or instructive).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though readers have, at least since the early 20th century<\/a>, generally let go of this expectation for authors who write for adults, the expectation persists for those who write for children. With a writing career beginning in the early 1950s, Cleary directly challenged such a notion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Beverly
Cleary was a 2003 recipient of a National Medal of Arts, which honors artists and patrons of the arts. Getty Images\/Time Sloan<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cleary once told PBS<\/a> that her fans love Ramona \u201cbecause she does not learn to be a better girl.\u201d She went on to explain what inspired her to create Ramona\u2019s character: \u201cI was so annoyed with the books in my childhood because children always learned to be better children, and in my experience, they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Cleary\u2019s Ramona doesn\u2019t just challenge the assumption that readers must learn \u201cfrom\u201d and \u201cwith\u201d fictional characters; one of Ramona\u2019s distinguishing characteristics is rebelliousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take, for example, the time Ramona\u2019s parents are disappointed by her report card:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Now, Ramona.\u2019 Mrs. Quimby\u2019s voice was gentle. \u2018You must try to grow up.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramona raised her voice. \u2018What do you think I\u2019m doing?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You don\u2019t have to be so noisy about it,\u2019 said Mrs. Quimby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scene continues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRamona had had enough. \u2026 She wanted to do something bad. She wanted to do something terrible that would shock her whole family, something that would make them sit up and take notice. \u2018I\u2019m going to say a bad word!\u2019 she shouted with a stamp of her foot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in the culmination of the scene: \u201cRamona clenched her fists and took a deep breath. \u2018Guts!\u2019 she yelled. \u2018Guts! Guts! Guts!\u2019 There. That should show them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gendering Ramona<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So exactly where does Cleary\u2019s Ramona fit? She doesn\u2019t. She\u2019s an outlier of school standards and gender expectations. Before there were terms like \u201cgender nonbinary,\u201d \u201cgender nonconforming\u201d or \u201cgenderqueer,\u201d there was Ramona. Ramona defies categorization. Her friendship with Howie offers one of many examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018At my grandmother\u2019s,\u2019 said Howie. \u2018A bulldozer was smashing some old houses so somebody could build a shopping center, and the man told me I could pick up broken bricks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Let\u2019s get started,\u2019 said Ramona, running to the garage and returning with two big rocks. \u2026 Each grasped a rock in both hands and with it pounded a brick into pieces and the pieces into smithereens. The pounding was hard, tiring work. Pow! Pow! Pow! Then they reduced the smithereens to dust. Crunch, crunch, crunch. They were no longer six-year-olds. They were the strongest people in the world. They were giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This passage is from \u201cRamona the Brave<\/a>,\u201d which both is and isn\u2019t of its time. Published in 1975, the novel may be seen as an expression of second-wave feminism<\/a>, which sought to recognize gender as a social construct and to challenge how mainstream society kept women from fulfilling their potential. However, it also previews third-wave feminism by insisting that women need not abandon their femininity<\/a> to claim equity for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramona, though quite boyish, insists on writing her last name, \u201cQuimby,\u201d with the \u201cQ\u201d shaped into a cat \u201cwith a little tail,\u201d reminding the reader of her feminine side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see in Cleary\u2019s writing a nostalgia for the time in childhood before gender is clearly defined. By looking back to that time, children and adult readers alike may imagine a future in which people are able to think beyond gender<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleary now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of Cleary\u2019s books are set in the mostly white Grant Park neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, where she grew up. The lack of racial diversity in Cleary\u2019s work is a likely consequence of her having followed the adage adhered to by many writers: \u201cWrite what you know.\u201d<\/a> However, current readers might wish that she had stretched herself and her abilities a bit further to have imagined a more racially or ethnically diverse cast of characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, many assert the \u201cuniversality\u201d of Cleary\u2019s stories<\/a>. One such reader is young-adult author Renee Watson<\/a>, who, upon Cleary\u2019s death, commented that Ramona \u201cwasn\u2019t afraid to take up space<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI needed a friend like Ramona,\u201d Watson said. \u201cCleary introduced to me this rambunctious girl, and I love her. \u2026 The power of her storytelling is the respect she had for young readers. She had a deep understanding that a girl articulating how she feels is an asset, not a flaw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve read Cleary\u2019s books to my own Gen-Z sons, I have been particularly struck by how her writing has gotten them interested and invested in female as well as male protagonists. They love the books about Henry and Ribsy, but they love the Ramona books too. When it is so common for boys and men to ignore\u2013or merely \u201cglance\u201d at<\/a>\u2013women\u2019s writing about girls, this is significant. Through Cleary\u2019s work, my sons can see that the big guys don\u2019t always know best or win. Such perspectives can create new normals that are less, well, normative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can get our highlights each weekend<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristin Girten<\/a>, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Arts and Humanities\/Associate Professor of English, University of Nebraska Omaha<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kristin Girten, University of Nebraska Omaha There\u2019s nothing like being reasoned with by a 4-year-old girl. \u201c\u2018Stop it,\u2019 ordered Beezus. \u2018Stop it this instant! You can\u2019t eat one bite and then throw the rest away.\u2019 \u2018But the first bite tastes best,\u2019 explained Ramona reasonably, as she reached into the box again. Beezus had to admit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025],"tags":[3673,2044],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24997,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24989\/revisions\/24997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}