Mike Allen

Professor Tom Murray

Childrens Literature
15 January 2016
Character Development in Childrens Literature
The basis of any good story is strong characters. Strong characters are dynamic
ones; they change over the course of a story and develop. In childrens literature this
change is usually the maturation of the main adolescent protagonist. The most obvious
change for a young adult to make is to become a full-grown adult and join the adult
world. This maturation character arc is portrayed in many classic examples of childrens
literature including The Secret Garden, Charlottes Web, Tuck Everlasting, and A Bridge
to Terabithia.
In The Secret Garden the protagonist Mary begins the book as a bit of a brat. This
is mostly due to Mary being abandoned by the parental figures in her life, even before
they passed away. This brush with death causes Mary to grow up a little, but it is not
until she is confronted by the sickly Colin that she bucks up and shows an earnest change
of character. Colin is described as he looked like a boy who had been ill.1 This illness
is a reminder of mortality for the young Mary. This leads to Mary being more caring
towards others and empathetic of other people. Over time she develops feelings of pride
in seeing Colin get better and watching him grow into himself, he is described with his
head up in the air and his eyes full of laughter, walked as strobgly and steadily as any boy

1 Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2015. Print. Pg. 122.

in Yorkshire-Master Colin!2 This pride for others is a sign of her maturity as she shows
much growth from beginning to end of The Secret Garden.
Charlottes Web has two characters that grow throughout the novel. Firstly
Wilbur the pig grows throughout the story not only in physical stature but he matures
throughout the novel as well. He first matures after he discovers he is to be slaughtered.
His initial reaction is that of horror, but he calms down after Charlotte says I am going
to save you, and I want you to quiet down immediately. Youre carrying on in a childish
way. Stop your crying! I cant stand hysterics.3 He later has to deal with death when
Charlotte dies and he is left alone with her children. He shows maturity by caring for
them before they hatch. He then pledges his friendship to those of Charlottes children
who stay to live in the barn. To them he proclaims to you, her daughters, I pledge my
friendship, forever and ever.4 This displays Wilburs ability to end the process of
grieving for his lost friend Charlotte and to be a mature pig. In the background of the
story is a young girl named Fern who at the beginning of the book is a young tomboyish
girl who likes to be around the barn animals. Later in the story her interests turn to boys
and she hangs out with Wilbur less and less. Charlottes Web shows these two characters
maturations as parallels of growing up.
In Tuck Everlasting young Winnie learns of the gravity of death when presented
with the option of immortality by drinking from a magical spring. The concept of
immortality is an alluring one, but ultimately Winnie decides to live a mortal life. This
shows a maturity of Winnie in seeing that not much good has come from the Tucks
2 Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2015. Print. Pg. 291.
3 White, E.B. Charlottes Web. New York: Harpercollins Publishers, 1952. Print. Pg. 51.
4 White, E.B. Charlottes Web. New York: Harpercollins Publishers, 1952. Print. Pg. 182.

immortality, and making the wiser of the two situations given her experience with
immortals.
In Bridge to Terabithia the protagonist Jess often shows signs of immaturity.
Early on in the story he does a poor job of dealing with the fact that he loses a foot race to
the new girl Leslie. He reacts by Jess started across the lower field, his hands still deep
in his pockets.5 This description of Jesss posture is pretty clearly him sulking after
getting beaten by Leslie in the race. Throughout Bridge to Terabithia Jess grows into a
young adult slowly, but the true catalyst for his maturity is when he recovers from his
best friend Leslies death and makes his sister the new queen of Terabithia. Jess hints to
his sister she is the queen when bring her to Terabithia and says theres a rumor going
around that the beautiful girl arriving today might be the queen theyve been waiting
for.6 This shows Jesss maturity as he now is able to make time for his sister and accept
the permanence of death by making his sister queen. In this way Bridge to Terabithia
displays the maturation of Jess as he grows from boy to young man.
In many of these stories the catalyst for the main characters maturation is death or an
interaction with the concept of mortality. This works much the same way in real life
when a kid realizes that someday they will die. This can put a lot in perspective for a
young mind, and how this changes them is often a direct cause of maturity forced on
them from a young age. These childrens literary classics show different ways that young
adolescents can react to death, and how they can move past it.

5 Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. New York: HarperTrophy an imprint of Harper Collins, 1977.
Print. Pg. 35.

6 Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. New York: HarperTrophy an imprint of Harper Collins, 1977.
Print. Pg. 63.

Bibliography:
1. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. New York: Barnes & Noble,
2015. Print.
2. White, E.B. Charlottes Web. New York: Harpercollins Publishers, 1952. Print.
3. Tuck Everlasting
4. Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. New York: HarperTrophy an imprint
of Harper Collins, 1977. Print.