A Whole War Inside One Small Body, War in Children's Literature

Abstract: A Whole War The monograph is a detailed study of four novels for young readers that share the common theme of war. The novels are by major writers for children: The War Orphan, by Rachel Anderson (1984), AK, by Peter Dickinson (1990), Gulf, by Robert Westall (1992) and Little Soldier, by Bernard Ashley (1999). These are stories that have different wars as their settings, in different countries; causes are explained or suggested, but it is essentially upon the far-reaching effects of war in time and place, on children, ordinary people, the civilian population that the authors turn their attention. The work is divided into two parts: the first is a detailed analysis of each work individually; in the second, the four novels are considered in relation to one another, with a closer look at the aspects that draw them together and set them apart. The study examines in detail the characterisation and the richly textured, polyphonic formal narrative structure of each work and pays very close attention to the themes of separation and a journey, which are fundamental in each novel and are developed by each author at various levels. Thus separation is presented as both physical, from one’s family and home (The War Orphan, A.K., Little Soldier) and spiritual and metaphorical, from one’s inner self (The War Orphan, Gulf, Little Soldier). In a similar way, journeys are employed by all the authors, in geographical and physical terms (War Orphan, A.K., Little Soldier) and as inward journeys of healing, self discovery and self construction. The second part of the monograph also examines strong thematic threads that are shared to varying extents by the novels; in particular, the media and the enemy. These are important themes in children’s literature of war and have been the focus of interest in recent research.