Filling in the blanks: the ideological implied readers of six locally-published children's picture books

Date

4-2008

Degree

Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Noel K. Torreta

Abstract

This thesis hinges on the assumption that children's literature is imbued with ideologies. These ideologies can be categorized into two, namely the surface and the passive. The surface ideologies are the explicit beliefs communicated through the children's narratives, and the passive ideologies are the implicit assumptions that a writer (consciously or unconsciously) infuses in the text.

The study identified the passive ideologies in six selected children's narratives, particularly locally-published picture books, and described the ideological positions of these texts. Specifically, it identified the focalizer of each narrative, the gaps/blanks (or the passive ideologies, and the ideological positions of the implied reader.

The concept of the implied reader is used as the framework in analyzing the ideological nature of the selected picture books, because the implied reader is believed to be the embodiment of the passive ideologies. Thus, it can be argued that this construct also represents the ideological stances of the narrative.

It was found out that the focalizers of the six narratives are either the first-person narrators or the third-person narrators, and the gaps are found in the setting and conflict, specific objects and beliefs, figurative phrases, and in the characters' background and actions.

In these aspects, the passive ideologies found hint the following ideas: the society is divided into classes, and inequality naturally happens; nothing is free, so one should work hard; one must obey those in higher positions; there are more valuable things than the material ones; coping with difficult times necessitates a change in outlook; practices commonly done in a society are good; education is important; and one must contribute something useful in the society.

Then, these passive ideologies are related with Louis Althusser's contentions about ideology. It was deduced that the implied reader is someone who supports the legitimacy of class divisions, who harbors false consciousness, who purchases false needs, and who contributes to the labor power reduction.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2008 M3 D43

Document Type

Thesis

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