Analyzing Robert Munsch's 'Love You Forever'
Love You Forever
Intro to Social Psychology
For: Professor Suzan McGirl
October 15, 2010
Love you Forever 2
LOVE YOU FOREVER
The title is says it all “LOVE YOU FOREVER”, written by Robert Munsch in 1984. The children’s book is often given to a new mother when they have their first child. This story is about a young mother and her baby boy, and how they both grow together. A mother’s unconditional love, understanding, belief and forever presence in a child’s life; is it her heart, job or her gender.
Every night the young woman would sing the following lullaby: I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be. The baby went through all the stages of childhood from toddler, to teenager,
to college man, to moving out on his own. But the mother night after night, she took the boy into his arms rocking him gently and sang the same lullaby. When he was a toddler, a rebellious teenager, even when he was gone to college she would sneak into his dorm room and do the same thing. Would this be considered her positive communal traits mixed in with her negative traits? This would imply sexism would it not? In every page of the book the boy is experience every stage of his life and the mother every page her stage of life as a mother.
When the mother grew too old to continue to sneak out, her child changed the roles and the son went home and took his frail old mother into his arms, rocked her
LOVE YOU FOREVER 3 while singing the lullaby she sang to him his whole life. When he left he gently kissed her and went home. There waiting for him was his daughter, he sat in the nursery rocking chair, rocking and softly sang his mother’s lullaby “I’ll love you forever...my baby you’ll be”, just like his mother had done to him, and he had done to his mother earlier. He was taught by his mother her communal traits even the negative ones, that made him over emotional to the women in his life, especially his mother and daughter. Now he was passing on these traits to his daughter, not only the agentic traits he is predisposed to, but others including empathy.
CONCLUSION Before 2000, the social norm would be a mother’s position would be that of the principle parent but now parents has no gender stereotyping, with the norm being that the principle parent usually beings female that show benevolent sexism. Men are now being occupying more and more this role of principle parent with stay at home dads and single dads with primary custody. Maybe the book can be looked as hostile sexism in society, for the role of the most important person in a child’s life is a mother to teach them the kindness, nurturing, and consideration; and most men are threatened by this. It is not meant to say that men cannot teach these qualities, it is showed thru many experiments that women are predisposed to these qualities. This is just a great book for any parent with any gender of child or children. The book makes anyone cry at anytime in a parents or child’s life. I offered to my son on his 19th birthday and graduation with a
LOVE YOU FOREVER 4 note inside offering a poem and small note telling him how proud I was to be his mother and how I would always be his mom and I would always call him my baby even if he is 6’2 and 200 pound. He keeps it under his bed and refers to it in time of need when he forgets how important he is.
Intro to Social Psychology
For: Professor Suzan McGirl
October 15, 2010
Love you Forever 2
LOVE YOU FOREVER
The title is says it all “LOVE YOU FOREVER”, written by Robert Munsch in 1984. The children’s book is often given to a new mother when they have their first child. This story is about a young mother and her baby boy, and how they both grow together. A mother’s unconditional love, understanding, belief and forever presence in a child’s life; is it her heart, job or her gender.
Every night the young woman would sing the following lullaby: I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be. The baby went through all the stages of childhood from toddler, to teenager,
to college man, to moving out on his own. But the mother night after night, she took the boy into his arms rocking him gently and sang the same lullaby. When he was a toddler, a rebellious teenager, even when he was gone to college she would sneak into his dorm room and do the same thing. Would this be considered her positive communal traits mixed in with her negative traits? This would imply sexism would it not? In every page of the book the boy is experience every stage of his life and the mother every page her stage of life as a mother.
When the mother grew too old to continue to sneak out, her child changed the roles and the son went home and took his frail old mother into his arms, rocked her
LOVE YOU FOREVER 3 while singing the lullaby she sang to him his whole life. When he left he gently kissed her and went home. There waiting for him was his daughter, he sat in the nursery rocking chair, rocking and softly sang his mother’s lullaby “I’ll love you forever...my baby you’ll be”, just like his mother had done to him, and he had done to his mother earlier. He was taught by his mother her communal traits even the negative ones, that made him over emotional to the women in his life, especially his mother and daughter. Now he was passing on these traits to his daughter, not only the agentic traits he is predisposed to, but others including empathy.
CONCLUSION Before 2000, the social norm would be a mother’s position would be that of the principle parent but now parents has no gender stereotyping, with the norm being that the principle parent usually beings female that show benevolent sexism. Men are now being occupying more and more this role of principle parent with stay at home dads and single dads with primary custody. Maybe the book can be looked as hostile sexism in society, for the role of the most important person in a child’s life is a mother to teach them the kindness, nurturing, and consideration; and most men are threatened by this. It is not meant to say that men cannot teach these qualities, it is showed thru many experiments that women are predisposed to these qualities. This is just a great book for any parent with any gender of child or children. The book makes anyone cry at anytime in a parents or child’s life. I offered to my son on his 19th birthday and graduation with a
LOVE YOU FOREVER 4 note inside offering a poem and small note telling him how proud I was to be his mother and how I would always be his mom and I would always call him my baby even if he is 6’2 and 200 pound. He keeps it under his bed and refers to it in time of need when he forgets how important he is.