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Children's Literature in Education

, Volume 43, Issue 4, pp 303–322 | Cite as

Deconstructing Delphinium: Violence and Flowers in Rousseau’s Émile and Henke’s Chrysanthemum

  • Timothy A. Kinard
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

This article is an attempt to contribute to the conversation about “go[ing] beyond all kinds of binary thinking” (Lenz Taguchi, Going beyond the theory/practice divide in early childhood education: introducing an intra-active pedagogy, 2010, p. 50), especially the binary which positions “adults” and “children” as being powerful and powerless, respectively, in educational settings. It is also a personal reflection on “naming.” At the center of the reflection are two literary works, the picture book by Henkes, Chrysanthemum (1991), and the novel by Rousseau, Émile, ou l’education (1762a). The central metaphor of Émile—that of the developing child as organically unfolding, like a flower—is deconstructed by the plot involving two flower-named characters in Chrysanthemum. These characters are the protagonist, Chrysanthemum, and her music teacher, Delphinium Twinkle. Two acts of “naming” are considered: the literal act of naming a newborn baby and the abstract concept of “naming” [or labeling] a particular time in the life of a human being: “Childhood” (Cannella, Deconstructing early childhood education: social justice and revolution, 1997).

Keywords

Reconceptualization of early childhood education Social construction of childhood Jean-Jacques Rousseau Émile, ou l’education Kevin Henkes Chrysanthemum Images of the child in children’s literature Early childhood education 
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© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Curriculum and InstructionTexas State UniversitySan MarcosUSA

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