Death To Be Gained In Children's Literature

“Death is more universal than life; everyone dies, but not everyone lives,” quoted by Alan Sachs. Death is a part of everyone and touches everyone’s lives a little differently. It is a topic is that is usually followed by forms of sadness from the people associated with the person who passes away. What death is considered would be the end of someone’s life; they stop breathing and their body stops working. Death can come unexpectedly, it can be anticipated, but it is never easy. Due to many adults having a difficult time accepting death, they feel that the topic of death is too hard for children to understand; they believe the children should be kept uninformed. In Literature for Children A Short Introduction, Author David Russell explains
Beasley incorporated a topic that was not usually expressed in children’s literature back in history. Allowing death to be interwoven throughout Circus Mirandus, Beasley is supporting the idea that it should not be avoided in children’s literature or avoided from children’s knowledge of it. What better way to do this than to start exposing children to the idea of death in the very first pages of Circus Mirandus. “How much better to help children get to know the shadows and learn ways of living with them, rather than trying to ignore them or hiding from them, especially since, paradoxically, the harder we try to eliminate or avoid shadows, the larger and darker they become” (Corr 204, 218). Charles Corr argues this statement in an article in the Journal of Death and Dying to help support the idea that death should be avoided because it would create bigger problems for children in the long run. It is important to expose children to the aspects of death rather than hide them from the truth. Deaths that show up throughout Circus Mirandus are that Ephraim, Micah’s grandpa, loses his mother when he was a young adult, Micah’s lost his parents to a boating accident, Victoria lost her parents to a plane accident, and Micah’s lost his grandfather to old age and sickness. All of these deaths were not beautified or unrealistic. Death consumes plenty of Circus Mirandus, but not
Grollman wrote the book, Explaining Death to Children, and he states that death is inevitable. He argues that explaining death to children may help them shrink the process of their own distress and misunderstanding. He also argues that, “One cannot precisely determine what concepts of death can be understood at a given age. Some are responsible and stable, others are more immature and younger “ (Grollman 6). Beasley might have argued the same thing when deciding to incorporate the finality of death in Circus Mirandus. She allowed the story to expose death was what it is and believed that young readers were mature enough to understand. Circus Mirandus can help readers come up with questions they have about death and sometimes answer their own questions. “The Lightbender and Micah hold him in his last breaths. Micah realizes that his grandpa is not going to wake up, but he did get to say good bye” (Beasley 263). Ephraim is finally dead and Micah does realize that his grandpa is not coming back. This is a very big moment in Circus Mirandus; it is deep and hard to wrap one’s head around. Although this moment still included in the book because it is important for young readers to imagine the final stages of