South Mountain Community College
Week 15 Journal Entry - No Happy Endings
One of the most interesting things I noticed about Judy Blume’s books was the lack of ‘happy endings’. Not to say that no one is happy at the end but the proverbial ‘protagonist gets their wish’ in young adult and children’s literature is missing. I actually love that about Judy Blume’s writing. It makes her writing real, just as she tries to create characters that children and teens alike can relate to, she also omits the happy ending that rarely happens in real life.
This is not to say that there is no happiness. There is a sense of closure but she keeps it real. Parents who divorce do not get back together. If a parent or grandparent dies, they do not come back to life nor does the widowed parent find their long lost love who the children like just as much as their father. However, life goes on. It is not always better, it is not necessarily worse, it does go on though. The main characters find peace and acceptance with their circumstances.
Isn't that a more realistic model for kids? Is that what parents are afraid their children will learn from Blume’s books? Not that boys do have wet dreams, that all girls will eventually menstruate, or that most people masturbate. That readers of Blume’s books could possibly learn that life goes on, regardless of what is happening right now, regardless of how much we dislike it, it does go on.
This is not to say that there is no happiness. There is a sense of closure but she keeps it real. Parents who divorce do not get back together. If a parent or grandparent dies, they do not come back to life nor does the widowed parent find their long lost love who the children like just as much as their father. However, life goes on. It is not always better, it is not necessarily worse, it does go on though. The main characters find peace and acceptance with their circumstances.
Isn't that a more realistic model for kids? Is that what parents are afraid their children will learn from Blume’s books? Not that boys do have wet dreams, that all girls will eventually menstruate, or that most people masturbate. That readers of Blume’s books could possibly learn that life goes on, regardless of what is happening right now, regardless of how much we dislike it, it does go on.
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