In what ways can historical fiction be affected by the use of young characters?: The twisted percept

There are always going to be issues, pertaining to language and content, when attempting to write fiction which has a child at its focus. These issues only seem to multiply when put into the context of historical fiction as the topic often contains less savoury themes, such as war, death, and loss of innocence. This can been seen in my creative piece, Homesick (working title), which tells the story of my grandmother, Patricia Newman’s (formerly Inglis’) multiple experiences of evacuation to the English countryside during the Second World War. Patricia and her older sister Jean spent a great deal of their childhoods in Croydon, London, but were actually evacuated twice, whilst also leaving at a different time with their parents to live outside of London for a short time. Their experiences of evacuation were not always positive due to the loneliness which comes with being so far away from home, but they were some of the lucky ones, as they were to be able to have spent so much of the war together, and with their parents.

Despite all of the difficulties that seem to come along with writing a historical fiction novel with a child as the main protagonist, it is exceptionally important for people to see these characters. In historical fiction it seems that people forget about the innocent children whose lives were so different to the ones we are able to live in modern society. “The fragile nature of innocence,” means that its destruction when “exposed to experience,” is inevitable, and throughout history children were forced to lose their innocence due to events that they had no choice in experiencing. This is seen most predominantly in Buffalo Soldier as Charlotte has no freedom as a black woman in America and must instead pretend to be a man so that she can sustain herself and survive in a world that didn’t want her to. In modern society we are so much closer to racial and gender equality than we were in the 1860’s, and it is unlikely that Charlotte would have to go to through such horrific events if she were living now. However, the “limitations of innocence and the necessity of all knowledge,” has made it harder to protect children from seeing unsavoury things as they now have a wider access to information through the use of the internet, which until very recently would not have been considered a contributing factor in the loss of innocence. This shows that it is not always possible to protect children and their innocent nature and that on occasion it is better to explain difficult topics to children rather than leaving them to discover the world's problems on their own.

The experience of writing a historical novel based on the Second World War was intriguing and enjoyable, however, it came with a few problems. World War Two was one of the bloodiest wars to date and the futility of war, and the death that it brings with it, is something that is often discussed when looking at the topic. Largely, I believe that this can lead to the Censorship of history when writing fiction for or about children. However, death was an important theme within John Boyne’s Novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas which was both marketed towards a younger audience and contained a protagonist who was just a child. This is shown by the deaths of Bruno, who was nine in the novel, and Shmuel, also nine. Boyne is very honest about the treatment of jewish people throughout the novel, whilst also keeping Bruno’s innocence very obvious. This is most obvious in Bruno believing that his family have moved to “Out-With” which is actually his misunderstanding of the well-known Nazi death camp, Auschwitz. By doing this Boyne gives the reader the ability to see that Bruno was sheltered and innocent in the bloodshed that his father is obviously involved in, which is likely one of the most realistic depiction of childhood within Nazi Germany, and also an unwavering representation of the treatment of Jewish people under the same government. It is important that “Historical fiction grapples with [...] the historical, literary, ethical and theological responsibilities of Holocaust representation,” as misrepresenting the events can cause harm to all who were affected by the atrocities which were committed against the jewish people during the Second World War. This also includes representing the children who were involved in the Holocaust and representing their experiences in the most honest way possible, which I believe Boyne has done in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. This suggested to me that it would be more appropriate to be as honest and realistic as I could be when discussing less savoury topics, such as war, loneliness and death, within Homesick.

One of the other main problems with writing about young people during time periods such as the First or Second World War is that so many men died so young whilst fighting to defend their country. Though the characters in Michael Morpurgo’s

children’s novel, Private Peaceful, were not children, they were portrayed as being incredibly young and innocent, especially because there are so many moments of thought back to when Charlie and Tommo were still children. Within the novel there is an overarching theme of death and loss, with the loss of their father when they were very young, and the death of Charlie at the end of the story. Though the novel is aimed at children it is very open with talking about how losing a loved one was quite common at the time, especially whilst the country was at war. Usually, “children are [...] deemed in need of protection against knowledge,” however, the First World War had seen so many families losing loved ones that mourning became something that was second nature and children were no longer in need of protection from that loss. In this instance it would be thought that “sharing knowledges with children may therefore be seen as enabling their self-protection,” from these sorts of topics.

One issue with writing historical fiction from the point of view of a child is that it can completely change the characters opinion on the world. Many children are not fully aware of what is going on around them when it comes to serious topics such as war, and therefore, their perception of the world is going to be very different to that of an adult who is much better informed on what events are occuring at the time. For example, in Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See as Marie-Laure’s father tries his hardest to shelter her from what is going on around her. This can be seen when they pair reach the home of the Directors friend, which is burning. Marie-Laure’s father does not explain that the house is burning and being looted until he sees that she is already scared from not being able to see it herself. This is similar to Homesick as Patricia is also very sheltered by her parents, For example, she is never told that she is being evacuated and is instead told that she is going on a holiday with her sister Jean. This, however, is the complete opposite of how Tanya Landman portrays her character in Buffalo Soldier as she is very aware of the environment she is living in. This could be that due to her upbringing as a slave, Charlotte was not given the privilege of growing up in a safe place and being protected and sheltered from the bad things in her life. Charlotte witnesses a lot of horrific things throughout the novel but seems relatively unphased by them, though this could suggest that she would still have a different perception of the world than most adults, who had never had to live through such terrors. However, is it realistic for the children in these novels to be as sheltered as they are? “Although the perception [...] holds truth for a modern audience, it is [...] unlikely to be the same way that people within their own context viewed their society.” It is hard to portray a child perception of an event without the actual voice of

someone who has lived in that time and has a complete understanding of the society at that time. This is why, when writing Homesick, I spent a lot of time speaking with my Grandmother, who lived through the story I am trying to tell in the novel.

Language can also be limited when writing a character who is also a child. This is because it is unlikely that a child will have as large of a vocabulary or vernacular as an adult would have. This is also a large problem in historical fiction as there is less evidence written by children from history, as much writing was done by adults, and therefore we have less knowledge on the way children would have spoken during the Second World War. “The numerous examinations of language and style in fiction have mostly ignored the presence of child language,” even though it is a time-consuming and research heavy burden that anyone writing a child within their historical fiction piece must conquer. Good use of child language can be seen in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

For example, when portraying Liesel’s thoughts the language and tone is much more childlike that the rest of the novel. “She’s going to torture me, Liesel decided. She’s going to take me inside, light the fire place and throw me in, books and all.” This language, though not stereotypically that of a child, is used in a way that comes across as being very childlike, as it suggests the jumping to conclusions which is often committed by children. Zusak is very successful in his use of this technique and uses it often throughout The Book Thief When writing Homesick I chose to use a similar technique as the piece is written in the past tense and the character is an adult recalling her childhood. Therefore, the dialogue is significantly more childlike than the language used throughout the rest of the piece, in the form of descriptions and the character’s thoughts.

When looking at writing children as characters within historical fiction it is easy to see why there may be both ethical and technical issues. History has not always been kind to those who are deemed young or innocent, but if you refuse to write about the difficult topics they are forgotten. It is important to tell the stories within history of the people who were downtrodden, and that often includes the children who were too young or innocent to see what was happening around them. This also means that being honest about what was going on within certain time periods, such as during the Holocaust, is equally integral in creating good historical fiction and representation of the people who may have lost their innocent nature during the events that you are portraying.

Bibliography-

• Boyne, John, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Random House, Oxford, 2006)

• Diemling, Maria, Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism (Routledge, Abingdon, 2015)

• Doerr, Anthony, All the Light We Cannot See (Harper Collins Publishing, London, 2014)

• Fredman, Glenda, Death Talk: Conversations with Children and Families (Karnac Books, London 1997)

• Hurst, Mary Jane, The Voice of the Child in American Literature (The University

Press of Kentucky, Kentucky, 1990)

• Landman, Tanya, Buffalo Soldier (Walker Books Ltd, London, 2014)

• Le Cudennec, Rodney David, A History of the Lie of Innocence in Literature: Sons Who Become Orphans (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2017)

• Morpurgo, Michael, Private Peaceful (Harper Collins Publishing, London, 2003)

• Newman, Lauren, Homesick (University of Winchester, Winchester, 2018)

• Pugh, Tison, Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children’s Literature (Routledge, New York, 2010)

• Wilson, Kim, Re-visioning Historical Fiction for Young Readers: The Past Through Modern Eyes (Routledge, New York, 2011)

• Zusak, Markus, The Book Thief (Picador, Australia, 2005)

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