SOCIETAL ISSUES AND CONDITIONS IN THE STORIES “THE HAPPY PRINCE” AND “THE GIVING TREE”: A SOCIOCULTURAL CRITICISM
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Abstract
Like blood flowing through our veins providing the human body with nutrients and oxygen to breathe and live, literature flows across time and space offering humanity universal knowledge and the beauty of entertainment. With its aesthetic form and didactic points, Literature continues to perform its social functions of unraveling obscure truths of social life and the complexities of human rights and conditions. It is through these variables that deeply untackled perspectives in literature, purposedly for sparking inspirational positive values in young minds, is unearthed in the children’s stories: The Happy Prince and The Giving Tree. On a superficial level, these two stories appear to fulfill their duties of infusing values and fostering positive traits of generosity, humility, and affection. However, in a critical review, the presence of extreme altruism which balances itself between a positive and negative value, is unearthed. Looking through a Sociocultural lens, examining and appreciating these stories bear unparalleled results thereby surfacing societal issues and conditions in both stories.
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