Too Curious: Discovering the World of Children's Literature
A prick on the finger, the turning of a key, a jump down the rabbit hole, and the closing of a wardrobe door - curiosity is what discovers the world. Curiosity is not only the motivation, but also the main character in children's literature. It is the portal through which we all must step, never to return. For not only are the characters in children’s literature curious, but so also are the readers. Narration of all stories must start and end in the mind of the reader, in the imagination of a child – an imagination that is nosy, probing and questioning. So often in children’s literature, curiosity becomes both a bane to the main character and essential to moving the story forward. And this seems to beg the question, can we be too curious?
Psyche, in Apuleius' story of Cupid and Psyche is a character who cannot escape this compelling need to know. As readers we sense the peril of Psyche indulging her curiosity and yet we cannot help but joining her in the need to understand the world. Even though she is warned that she cannot see her husband, Psyche must hold up a lamp to see the supposed serpent who climbs into her bed each night. Not only does she indulge her curiosity to see her until-then invisible husband, but she is also entranced by the newly revealed Cupid's sheaf of arrows. And it is this particular curiosity – the inevitable prick on the finger – that defines her life. Because at this moment of unflagging curiosity, Psyche (
the soul) falls in love with love. It is at this moment that her quest truly begins, for no one, not even Psyche, can ignore the power of Cupid's arrows.
Nor does Psyche's curiosity lessen once she begins her quest to find the lost husband, the beast groom. As Psyche travels to the underworld in the last leg of her quest and obtains a box of beauty, she is again overwhelmed by curiosity. Psyche does not open the box because she needs or wants more beauty. Indeed, her story begins because Psyche's beauty rivals that of the goddess Venus. Instead, Psyche opens the box because she is told not to - because she is too curious about its contents. Psyche is the archetype of the character who is too curious, someone whose story is defined by their desire to understand the world - a desire that is both destructive and essential.
The same forbidden curiosity – this time in the form of a forbidden door – drives Perrault’s fairy tale Bluebeard. The wife of a hideously ugly and yet extremely wealthy man with a blue beard must confro
nt her curiosity in this fairy tale that makes us question, is this really for children? As he leaves town, Bluebeard instructs his wife in the workings of the household and the keys that open each door. And it is the last golden key she receives that pushes the story forward. Indulging her curiosity of the forbidden – the turning of the key – reveals a room filled with Bluebeard’s past wives murdered and hung on the walls. The opening of the door is essential to the narrative Bluebeard. As his wife steps through the doorway, crossing over the luminal state, she gains a new understanding of her world. Curiosity not only has the power to transform her reality, but also the power to create it. Because it is this act of indulgence that sets the wheels of punishment and rescue in motion. Curiosity creates the fairy tale – the happily-ever-after.
And although the wife’s curiosity sets up the fairy tale ending of the story, Perrault leaves us with a moral that again questions the character who is too curious:
Curiosity, in spite of its appeal, often leads to deep regret.
To the displeasure of many a maiden, its enjoyment is short lived.
Once satisfied, it ceases to exist, and always costs dearly.
Does curiosity cease to exist, as Perrault suggests, when it is satisfied? Is it something that, once used, disappears forever and leaves only a price to pay? Or does the story of Bluebeard instead exemplify the necessity of the curious imagination? Although the moral Perrault provides seems to warn against the ills of curiosity, the story itself teaches a different lesson. Without curiosity, and the characters who indulge in it, the story itself cannot exist. And without stories, our own reality crumbles.
Yet stories do not always submit to the crumbling of reality. Emerging through the dissolution of logic and reason is another type of story, one that is, “curiouser and curiouser” – a story of nonsense. A white rabbit running past a dozing Alice in the field is not out of the ordinary. We expect rabbits to jump down rabbit holes. Alice is not even startled when the rabbit mumbles, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” But the comfortable reality of Alice begins to crumble when the seemingly ordinary white rabbit pulls a pocket watch out of his waistcoat. Rabbits, Alice knows, do not have pocket watches or even waistcoat pockets from which a watch can emerge. So, “burning
with curiosity” Alice runs across the field and jumps down the rabbit hole after this unusual animal. And with a jump down the rabbit hole, the story of Alice and the ultimate childhood story of nonsense begins.
The portal of the rabbit hole becomes, then, an emergence into the world of dreams, dream logic, and nonsense. The curiosity driven jump through the portal opens into a world where Alice can swim in a pool of her own tears, receive advice from a hookah smoking caterpillar, and drink tea with a mad hatter. And at the end of the rabbit hole, the nonsense of Wonderland makes perfect sense. Wonderland is characterized by its changing, turning, and shifting – the metamorphosis of forms, thoughts, and ideas. Indeed, the only constant in the topsy turvy world of Wonderland is Alice’s curiosity. It is curiosity that drives Alice to drink from a vial that says “drink me,” peek at the baby who so closely resembles a pig, and play a game of croquet with the seemingly dangerous queen of hearts. Alice’s curiosity is not only the catalyst into this magical world, but the creation of its landscape, inhabitants, and events – curiosity creates the world of Wonderland, the world of dreams.
When we first meet Lyra Belacqua she is stealthily sneaking into the Retiring Room at Jordan College, a place she has been told is off-limits at all times. And it is the fact that this room is off limits, forbidden to not only Lyra but all women, that makes it essential Lyra finds out what is hiding behind its doors. Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon sneak into the retiring room out of pure curiosity. She has no specific reason for entering the room, but enter she must – if only to prove that she is both daring and brave. What Lyra doesn’t expect is the early entrance of the master and his servant, the poisoning of wine, and the visit of her guardian, Lord Asriel. To avoid detection – first from Lord Asriel and then from the scholars of the college – Lyra hides in the room’s wardrobe. It is this closing of a wardrobe door – the realization of plans for murder, expeditions to the north, and twinkling golden dust – that begins Lyra’s adventure into the realm of infinite
universes and infinite realities.
Lyra’s seemingly unexciting foray into the Retiring Room, her innocent curiosity, begins a journey that will define her life, her world, and the many worlds she passes through. Once Lyra hears of Dust from behind the wardrobe doors, she must seek it out. Dust, once known, is something that cannot be escaped – it both attracts and is attracted to this girl who will change the course of the future. In this way, Pullman’s Dust is like the curiosity of Psyche, Bluebeard’s wife, Alice, and Lyra. Curiosity is not only a defining trait of these main characters, but a trait that creates their futures and their worlds – their realities. Curiosity is what creates the stories and the stories are what create reality. So then the question of curiosity itself must transform. Instead of wondering about the character who is too curious, we must ask ourselves, are we curious enough?
Psyche, in Apuleius' story of Cupid and Psyche is a character who cannot escape this compelling need to know. As readers we sense the peril of Psyche indulging her curiosity and yet we cannot help but joining her in the need to understand the world. Even though she is warned that she cannot see her husband, Psyche must hold up a lamp to see the supposed serpent who climbs into her bed each night. Not only does she indulge her curiosity to see her until-then invisible husband, but she is also entranced by the newly revealed Cupid's sheaf of arrows. And it is this particular curiosity – the inevitable prick on the finger – that defines her life. Because at this moment of unflagging curiosity, Psyche (
the soul) falls in love with love. It is at this moment that her quest truly begins, for no one, not even Psyche, can ignore the power of Cupid's arrows. Nor does Psyche's curiosity lessen once she begins her quest to find the lost husband, the beast groom. As Psyche travels to the underworld in the last leg of her quest and obtains a box of beauty, she is again overwhelmed by curiosity. Psyche does not open the box because she needs or wants more beauty. Indeed, her story begins because Psyche's beauty rivals that of the goddess Venus. Instead, Psyche opens the box because she is told not to - because she is too curious about its contents. Psyche is the archetype of the character who is too curious, someone whose story is defined by their desire to understand the world - a desire that is both destructive and essential.
The same forbidden curiosity – this time in the form of a forbidden door – drives Perrault’s fairy tale Bluebeard. The wife of a hideously ugly and yet extremely wealthy man with a blue beard must confro
nt her curiosity in this fairy tale that makes us question, is this really for children? As he leaves town, Bluebeard instructs his wife in the workings of the household and the keys that open each door. And it is the last golden key she receives that pushes the story forward. Indulging her curiosity of the forbidden – the turning of the key – reveals a room filled with Bluebeard’s past wives murdered and hung on the walls. The opening of the door is essential to the narrative Bluebeard. As his wife steps through the doorway, crossing over the luminal state, she gains a new understanding of her world. Curiosity not only has the power to transform her reality, but also the power to create it. Because it is this act of indulgence that sets the wheels of punishment and rescue in motion. Curiosity creates the fairy tale – the happily-ever-after. And although the wife’s curiosity sets up the fairy tale ending of the story, Perrault leaves us with a moral that again questions the character who is too curious:
Curiosity, in spite of its appeal, often leads to deep regret.
To the displeasure of many a maiden, its enjoyment is short lived.
Once satisfied, it ceases to exist, and always costs dearly.
Does curiosity cease to exist, as Perrault suggests, when it is satisfied? Is it something that, once used, disappears forever and leaves only a price to pay? Or does the story of Bluebeard instead exemplify the necessity of the curious imagination? Although the moral Perrault provides seems to warn against the ills of curiosity, the story itself teaches a different lesson. Without curiosity, and the characters who indulge in it, the story itself cannot exist. And without stories, our own reality crumbles.
Yet stories do not always submit to the crumbling of reality. Emerging through the dissolution of logic and reason is another type of story, one that is, “curiouser and curiouser” – a story of nonsense. A white rabbit running past a dozing Alice in the field is not out of the ordinary. We expect rabbits to jump down rabbit holes. Alice is not even startled when the rabbit mumbles, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” But the comfortable reality of Alice begins to crumble when the seemingly ordinary white rabbit pulls a pocket watch out of his waistcoat. Rabbits, Alice knows, do not have pocket watches or even waistcoat pockets from which a watch can emerge. So, “burning
with curiosity” Alice runs across the field and jumps down the rabbit hole after this unusual animal. And with a jump down the rabbit hole, the story of Alice and the ultimate childhood story of nonsense begins. The portal of the rabbit hole becomes, then, an emergence into the world of dreams, dream logic, and nonsense. The curiosity driven jump through the portal opens into a world where Alice can swim in a pool of her own tears, receive advice from a hookah smoking caterpillar, and drink tea with a mad hatter. And at the end of the rabbit hole, the nonsense of Wonderland makes perfect sense. Wonderland is characterized by its changing, turning, and shifting – the metamorphosis of forms, thoughts, and ideas. Indeed, the only constant in the topsy turvy world of Wonderland is Alice’s curiosity. It is curiosity that drives Alice to drink from a vial that says “drink me,” peek at the baby who so closely resembles a pig, and play a game of croquet with the seemingly dangerous queen of hearts. Alice’s curiosity is not only the catalyst into this magical world, but the creation of its landscape, inhabitants, and events – curiosity creates the world of Wonderland, the world of dreams.
When we first meet Lyra Belacqua she is stealthily sneaking into the Retiring Room at Jordan College, a place she has been told is off-limits at all times. And it is the fact that this room is off limits, forbidden to not only Lyra but all women, that makes it essential Lyra finds out what is hiding behind its doors. Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon sneak into the retiring room out of pure curiosity. She has no specific reason for entering the room, but enter she must – if only to prove that she is both daring and brave. What Lyra doesn’t expect is the early entrance of the master and his servant, the poisoning of wine, and the visit of her guardian, Lord Asriel. To avoid detection – first from Lord Asriel and then from the scholars of the college – Lyra hides in the room’s wardrobe. It is this closing of a wardrobe door – the realization of plans for murder, expeditions to the north, and twinkling golden dust – that begins Lyra’s adventure into the realm of infinite
universes and infinite realities.Lyra’s seemingly unexciting foray into the Retiring Room, her innocent curiosity, begins a journey that will define her life, her world, and the many worlds she passes through. Once Lyra hears of Dust from behind the wardrobe doors, she must seek it out. Dust, once known, is something that cannot be escaped – it both attracts and is attracted to this girl who will change the course of the future. In this way, Pullman’s Dust is like the curiosity of Psyche, Bluebeard’s wife, Alice, and Lyra. Curiosity is not only a defining trait of these main characters, but a trait that creates their futures and their worlds – their realities. Curiosity is what creates the stories and the stories are what create reality. So then the question of curiosity itself must transform. Instead of wondering about the character who is too curious, we must ask ourselves, are we curious enough?
