"Oh, Why Can't You Remain Like This Forever!": Children's Literature, Growth, and Disability

Authors

  • Teresa Michals George Mason University
  • Claire McTiernan George Mason University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v38i2.6107

Keywords:

children's literature, growth, romantic child, eternal child, disability, James Barrie, Harlan Ellison, Ashley X

Abstract

One of the foundational gestures of the disability rights movement was the rejection of the common description of people who live with physical or mental impairments as "eternal children." This paper argues that the contradictions inherent in applying this trope to adults amplify the contradictions inherent in applying it to children themselves. From its heyday in in the 19th-century "Golden Age" of children's literature to its afterlife in 20th-century disabling rhetoric, the fantasy of childhood as stasis requires denying the fact of growth.

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Published

2018-05-31

How to Cite

Michals, T., & McTiernan, C. (2018). "Oh, Why Can’t You Remain Like This Forever!": Children’s Literature, Growth, and Disability. Disability Studies Quarterly, 38(2). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v38i2.6107

Issue

Section

Disability Disrupted/Rethinking Disability