Broken Hearts. Hate and violence through Children’s literature

Abstract

The search for themselves and their own identity by children and young people is experienced as a great effort, feeling it both inside and outside the family and the school. Verbal and physical conflicts, through acts of bullying and cyberbullying (Chadwick, 2014), mark young people, whether they are victims or bullies (Viljoen, O’Neill, Sidhu, 2005; Burgio, 2012; Trisciuzzi, 2018b). Hate and violence learned in the home, within the school walls and on ´social trips`, arrive ferociously and cruelly in young people´s lives, changing the way they live and communicate with others.

The spread of hatred and physical and psychological violence can be defined as “Emotional Contamination”, through which the feelings and emotions of children, young people and those around them are affected (Contini, 1992; Dato, 2004; Loiodice, 2004; Fabbri, 2008). The eyes and hearts of the children narrated in the children's literature remain clinging to hope and beauty, transmitting them to readers, eager today to find horizons and dreams. The study examines the literary and filmic representations in which suffering and violence are the protagonists, their pedagogical interpretation and their relevance in children's literature.