The Fantasy Genre: A Gateway into the Mind of a Child

Many adults have a favorite childhood storybook that left a deep and meaningful impression on their lives. Timeless stories such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Charlotte’s Web, Tuck Everlasting, and The Giver will forever live in the hearts of young readers. These novels share one aspect in common; they all fall under the fantasy genre. The fantasy genre has risen to popularity among children for its fantastic construction of new worlds and ideas that leave children deep in wonderment. However, the children’s fantasy genre has received backlash and even condemnation from some researchers, teachers, and parents for its deviation from reality. Some parents fear that children will gain a fascination for witchcraft or magic; some teachers and researchers assert that non-fiction should be the only genre available for teaching in the classroom because fantasy is make-believe. They could not be farther from the truth. Fantasy novels written for children play a significant role in their intellectual and psychological development; they stimulate growth of the creative mind, help children gain a new outlook through the lens of morality, and develop an understanding of what it means to be human.

Children’s fantasy books are a conduit for the explosion of the creative mind and the phenomena of the imagination. Everything that is created came from a fantasy within the human imagination. David Weibel and his colleges, professors of psychology and writers for the Journal of Personality Assessment, state, “Fantasy is a human function that strongly involves imagination and thereby allows us to explore new worlds, think beyond existing paths, and discover new solutions” (“The Fantasy Questionnaire”). Fantasy novels pique the curiosity of young readers through the exploration of possibilities and paths within a whole new world. Science fiction is an exciting avenue of children’s fantasy that stimulates this imaginative side of the brain. One classic work of children’s science fiction, The Giver, displays a society in which suffering and conflict are eliminated from the world. However, Jonas discovers the devastating price that had to be paid for the construction of this seemingly perfect society. Jonas states, “If everything’s the same, then there aren’t any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!” (172). This quote displays Jonas’ realization that a world without conflict means a world without freedom of choice. If everyone is the same and unable to experience emotion, then what is the point in living? The story teaches that without grief there is no love; without sadness there is no joy. Fantasy novels such as The Giver develop problem-solving skills in children through the consideration of solutions to hypothetical societal issues. Children can use their imaginations to think outside of the regularity of reality and consider the possibility for discovering novelty; children can come up with their own creative hypotheses and ideas when challenged through the study of fantasy novels.

The development of the intellectual mind through reading fantasy does not stop at growth in creativity; children gain a new perspective based on moral values that influence decision-making as an adult. Learning virtue in the adolescent years is key to solidifying foundational moral values as an adult. John W. Montgomery, former instructor at the University of Chicago, recounts the words of Robert J. Havighurst when he states, “the crowning accomplishment of adolescence is the achieving of a mature set of values and a set of ethical controls that characterize a good man and a good citizen’” (426-427). The adolescent years are a crucial time for the formation of worldview, character, and morality that shape a person’s outlook on life that influences decision-making for the rest of his or her adult life. A person’s set of ethical values and virtues formulated during the youthful years determine how he will contribute to society as an adult and how he will determine right from wrong in decision-making. Peter Hart and his colleges conducted a study by interviewing children who read The Chronicles of Narnia, evaluating the development of virtue literacy through the study of English literature. In the Journal of Beliefs and Values, they state in their findings, “…the data demonstrates they looked at specific examples of virtuous emotions and behaviors depicted by the characters, related them to their lives/contexts and showed the desire to emulate them. As discussed previously, a similar process took place with the desire to avoid emulating what they perceived as the characters’ vices” (“Teaching Virtues Through Literature”). The study revealed that children who read this classic fantasy novel related to the characters within the story and sought to imitate their positive characteristics. Children often learn best through imitation, and fantasy novels such as The Chronicles of Narnia provide the perfect opportunity for children to evaluate the behaviors and thought processes of characters within the story objectively; they learn to imitate the virtuous emotions of the heroes within the story and condemn the negative behaviors of villains. The child learns though moral conflict, such as the betrayal of Edmund, that certain negative characteristics must be avoided and other positive qualities emulated if he wishes to be the hero of his own story. Fantasy novels therefore help children form this set of ethical values and understand their emotions through the analysis of moral conflicts within intriguing stories that capture their attention.

The formation of ethical principals in children who read fantasy novels also allow them to evaluate the world around them through different perspectives besides their own; understanding various perspectives through set moral values teach children how to feel empathy for others. Learning how to be empathetic towards others and view life through their perspective is perhaps one of the most important aspects of what it means to be human. In order to feel empathy, one must be able to see apart from his or herself. Nakia S. Pope, Ph.D. and director of The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, states, “Fantasy gives us new way of seeing that is not based on possession. It provides the impetus for a recovery of a vision that sees things ‘as things apart from ourselves.’ All things are not ours to do with as we wish. Believing so, in Tolkien’s view, is both an affront to the wonder of Creation and runs the risk of deadening our own experience” (201). The ability to visualize ‘things apart from ourselves’ through fantasy allows people to realize an object or a person has meaning and purpose beyond what they give it; they discover its inherent value that has nothing to do with themselves. This perspective allows one to appreciate an object for what it is without inserting one’s own ideals upon it. Viewing the world though this lens of inherent value and individuality creates the groundwork for feeling empathy and love for people apart from oneself. Fantasy is the part of the human mind that allows one to visualize these concepts of individuality and the perspectives of others apart from oneself. Peter Hart and his colleges evaluate children’s understanding of empathy after they read The Chronicles of Narnia; they state, “The students also showed a willingness and ability to empathise with the characters beyond the physical and emotional similarities they shared with them, by considering the possibility of multiple perspectives on similar issues” (“Teaching Virtues Through Literature”). Through the study of this fantasy novel, children displayed a willingness to empathize with characters within the story and consider the character’s perspectives outside of themselves. Fantasy novels create the perfect setting for children to objectively peer into the minds of characters within a story and evaluate how they view life as well as what ethical principles guide their decision-making; this helps children learn how to process their own emotions and decisions while also learning how to empathize with others who think apart from themselves.

Perhaps the most important contribution fantasy novels offer to the psychology of a child is an understanding of what it means to be human. Fantasy novels teach children valuable insights into the human condition and important lessons about life. Barbara Z. Kiefer and contributing authors of Charlotte Huck’s A Brief Guide Children’s Literature provide a quote by Alexander Lloyd, who stated, “We call our individual fantasies dreams, but when we dream as a society, or as a human race, it becomes the sum total of all our hopes. Fantasy touches our deepest feelings and in so doing, it speaks to the best and most hopeful parts of ourselves. It can help us learn the most fundamental skill of all- how to be human” (141). Fantasy within the human mind allows children to dream and hope for a brighter future. Fantasy touches something deep in the human spirit that seeks novelty, discovery, and hope. The most basic skill that children must learn is what it means to be human; important lessons about what it means to live and die feed the part of the spirit that seeks purpose and fulfillment. Fantasy novels therefore speak to this part of the spirit, teaching through storytelling and a fresh perspective how to evaluate life itself. In one of the most popular fantasy novels, Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White relates a valuable life lesson through a quote by Charlotte the spider that states, “’You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die...By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that’” (188). Charlotte’s Web teaches children the importance of human connection, friendship, love, and selflessness. White teaches children that life is empty and meaningless without love displayed in friendship and selflessness. To love is to put another person’s interests before the interests of oneself. Charlotte explains that she helped Wilber because she cared for him as a friend, and helping him gave her life purpose. Through helping and loving others, life becomes meaningful and worth living because a person has someone to live for; this is a concept that reveals what it means to live in this world as a human.

Another fantasy novel, titled Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, teaches children insight into not only the human condition, but the beauty of how the world works. Tuck Everlasting is a gripping story about a young girl named Winnie who is bored with the regularity of everyday life and wishes to run away. She feels controlled and caged-in by her family; she seeks adventure and life experience, as many children do. She goes on to meet a family of immortals within the woods behind her house, and she struggles with the idea of immortality and what it means to live and die. Angus, the father of the Tuck family, explains to Winnie the beauty of the cycle of life. He states, “Everything's a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the fish, and the wood thrush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. That's the way it's supposed to be. That's the way it is” (62). Angus teaches Winnie in this passage that life is like a wheel that keeps turning, forever changing. He is describing the circle of life; every living thing must play its part in the cycle, living and passing away as the seasons change. Every living thing has a role in the ecosystem that contributes to the circle of life; the story teaches children the beauty of this cycle of life through the conflict of immortality. Catherine Kurkjian and her colleges, writers for The Reading Teacher journal, state, “In Tuck Everlasting readers have the opportunity to consider the relationship between death and life, and perhaps even their own mortality, in a nonthreatening way. Fantasies can help us consider profound ideas, to speculate, hypothesize, and ask "what if" kinds of questions that are integral to our lives” (492). The story also teaches children that just like there is beauty in living, there is beauty in growing old and passing away as each living thing plays its part in the cycle of the world. The profound idea of immortality allows readers to ask these “what if” questions and evaluate what it means to exist in this world; these new ideas challenge readers and propel them to think critically about life in a different way. Tuck Everlasting is just one of many fantasy novels that teach children valuable insight into what it means to be human and operate in the complex circle of life; children come to realize the role of the mortal life within nature, the connection of living things, and the beauty of the ecosystem.

The fantasy genre plays a substantial role in the intellectual and psychological development of children; they grow their imagination, shape their ethical values to form a fresh perspective based on empathy, and develop insight into the human condition within a changing world. Fantasy novels allow children to tap into their creative minds and consider alternate realities, think beyond the present, and consider new paths of possibility within the scientific world. The moral conflicts within fantasy novels and the insights into the mind of characters allow children to form their own ethic values and problem-solving skills. The virtue they learn through the thoughts and actions of heroes or heroines within a fantasy novel allow children to view life through the perspective of others outside themselves; in this way, children learn the inherent value of objects and people apart from their own interests, forming the groundwork for empathy in human interaction. Perhaps the most important concept children can learn from fantasy novels is the understanding of what it means to be human. Fantasy stories such as Charlotte’s Web and Tuck Everlasting intrigue the child’s creative mind while also teaching him or her important life lessons. The fantasy genre for children needs no defense; the deep spiritual connections that children form with fantasy stories will resonate with them and guide their thinking for the rest of their lives, proving the value they present to the education system.

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Works Cited

Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting with Connections. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1999.

Hart, Peter, Gisela Oliveira, and Mark Pike. "Teaching Virtues through Literature: Learning from the 'Narnian Virtues' Character Education Research." Journal of Beliefs and Values, vol. 41, no. 4, 2020, pp. 474-488.

Kiefer, Barbara Z, et al. Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature: A Brief Guide, Third Edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.

Kurkjian, Catherine, Nancy Livingston, and Terrell Young. "Worlds of Fantasy." The Reading Teacher, vol. 59, no. 5, 2006, pp. 492-503.

Lowry, Lewis. The Giver. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.

Montgomery, John W. "The Chronicles of Narnia and the Adolescent Reader." Religious Education, vol. 54, no. 5, 1959, pp. 418-428.

Pope, Nakia S. "Dewey Hates Hobbits: Fantasy and Imagination in the Work of John Dewey." Contemporary Pragmatism, vol. 13, no. 2, 2016, pp. 181-204.

Weibel, David, et al. "The Fantasy Questionnaire: A Measure to Assess Creative and Imaginative Fantasy." Journal of Personality Assessment, vol. 100, no. 4, 2018, pp. 431-443.

White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web. Harper Collins Publishers, 1999.