Stuart Little

E.B. White’s Stuart Little can be read through the lens of the seven historical models of childhood, as outlined by Carrie Hintz in Reading Children’s Literature. Each model of childhood represents an archetype to which certain characters belong. Based on my interpretation of Stuart Little, the title character seems to fall into The Child as Miniature Adult category because of his literal miniature stature and his adult comportment. The Child as Miniature Adult model has developed throughout history through various artistic representations of physically miniature adults. For example, art from the Middle Ages reveals a tendency to depict children as diminutive adults. The early Christian paintings of medieval times often showcase Jesus and John the Baptist as babies, but their features are not of the chubby cherub variety; rather, the children tend to look like small adults. Fast-forwarding to Stuart Little’s publication in 1945, E.B. White writes Stuart as a mouse born to a human family. Though he is physically small, he is proportionate to an adult human more so than a human child. The Child as Miniature Adult reflects a particular conceptualization of a child who shares the same daily experiences as adults. Stuart Little’s behaviors –the daily minutiae and the grand adventures—correspond with all of those expected of adults. Stuart acts independently of adults, never consulting his parents as an ordinary child might. He takes care of himself and partakes in his own activities; most notably he does not attend school. He also undertakes a journey to recover his friend, embodying the knight-errant, a brave, grown man. Stuart Little is, in every way he can be, a miniature adult.