The Impact of Conflicts in Children's Literature: Sociology Essay

This sociology essay examines the portrayal of conflicts in children's literature, focusing on Karen Levine's "Hana's Suitcase" and E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web." The essay analyzes the characters of Wilbur from "Charlotte's Web" and Hana Brady from "Hana's Suitcase," highlighting how they navigate societal conflicts and their impact on the children's minds. It explores the conflicts faced by Wilbur, including his struggle for survival and the societal norms that threaten him, as well as Hana's experiences during the Holocaust. The essay compares and contrasts the nature of these conflicts, the mistreatment of the characters, and their attempts to overcome adversity, ultimately shedding light on the negative impact of these conflicts on young readers and the importance of establishing peace and understanding in society. The analysis includes references to academic sources to support the arguments presented.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The following essay will determine the role of conflicts in the children’s literature and
how it impacts in the minds of children. The two chosen children’s novels for this essay are
Hana’s Suitcase and Charlotte’s Web. The first book was written by Karen Levine in the year
2002 and the later was written by E.B. White in the year 1952. Both the authors have provided
several situations of conflicts through their portrayal of characters (White: 21). The essay will
focus on two main characters from these novels. The characters are the pig named Wilbur from
Charlotte’s Web and the Hana Brady, from Hana’s Suitcase.
The development of their characters is indeed very important to note the conflicts that are
predominant in the society. The novel is named after Charlotte but Wilbur is the main
protagonist of this novel. Here Wilbur has been developed as a round character and his features
are developed from his appearance and activities precisely. The description of Wilbur had been
discussed in several stages. He was portrayed as a ‘white one’ in the beginning. He was also
described as an animal whose complexion had changed into pink through the light of morning.
Many conflicts have seen to be occurred at different stages of life. Similarly some
conflicts have also been seen in this course also (White: 26). There have also been some
misunderstandings that have caused the differences between people. It is important to note that
all types of conflicts must be discouraged so better social understanding can be developed. Both
the novels have shown the nature of the conflicts and how it can impact on the minds of the
involved people (Trezise: 10).
In both these novels, there have been some scenarios where the parties have been
mistreated and they have indulged in various types of conflicts. More descriptions will be given
in this paper on Hana and Wilbur has been engaged in various conflicts. It is also important to

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know that both Hana and Wilbur have faced much difficulty in escaping from these conflicts.
The comparisons and contrasts will also be done on how they are engaged with different
conflicts. The life of Hana has been portrayed at a time when the war was full on between the
Jewish and non-Jewish communities (Levine: 14). The disputes were on and strict rules and
regulations had been imposed in this scenario. On the other hand, the conflicts between man and
society have been discussed in the Charlotte’s Web. Here Wilbur is portrayed as a pig and social
norms predict that it should be slaughtered for food. Here Wilbur went against the norms twice
in the course of the story. One is when his birth was in the form of a runt and the second one was
when he was able to escape his fate completely (Schwartzman: 285).
On the contrary, the conflicts between man and community have been described. Hana
was a little girl who was born in a Jewish family. It was completely evident that her condition in
the society was jeopardized because a large section of the society went against the Jews (Levine:
14). The hatred against Jews was very clear when Hitler and Nazi forces set up detention camps
to put the Jews there. They imposed heavy tortures over these innocent Jews. Here two groups
have been associated where they are indulged in violent conflicts so they could eliminate each
other from the society. The situation became so fearsome for the Jews that they had to live under
the mercy of non-Jewish groups and Nazi people (Ratelle: 330). The non-Jewish groups tried
their best efforts so they could abolish the Jewish completely. This was the level of social
conflict that Hana was subjected to in Hana’s Suitcase.
The context of the other story named Charlotte’s Web will be discussed. It is somewhat
different from that of Hana’s Suitcase. Here the other characters in the story have been designed
as animals. Therefore, other characters in the story have also shown the mercy towards Wilbur.
The social conflicts are important materials in this paper (Christensen and Compton: 130).

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Wilbur had not been killed by the father of Fern. This showed people showed mercy in the
society despite having severe conflicts. Finally at the end of the story, Wilbur had been
butchered but he was not subjected to certain levels of insult that Hana had to go through. All
these factors are significant to measure how Hana and Wilbur became the victims of social
conflicts. The level of mistreatments was different but such mistreatment was indeed inevitable.
The past horrors of Nazi torture that engulfed the society are shown in this text Hana’s Suitcase.
Now, the main thing that should be remembered in this section is that of establishing
peace in the society (Weinstein: 19). Conflicts have been shown regularly in these books but it
had destroyed the inner self of both characters Hana and Wilbur. They were very little
considering their age and they were needed to ne treated in a better way. This was not the case.
So, they suffered from trauma (Christensen and Compton: 130). The life of Wilbur was full of
adventures as he knew he would be killed but he did not panic for that reason. He could gently
avoid the conflicts but finally he was slaughtered by butchers. On the other hand, Hana was
subjected to immense fear within her society since her community was threatened to extinction
by the ruthless Nazi forces. These things definitely shed a negative impact on the minds of
children (Xia: 28). They construct a negative view of the society and do not find the society to be
safe for them in the future.
On a concluding note, it must be said that both the texts Hana’s Suitcase and Charlotte’s
Web have brought out social conflicts within its periphery. These conflicts will definitely create
a negative vibe in the minds of children in various ways. The social conflicts that Hana went
through are reflections of true events. Still, both Wilbur and Hana are different from the ways
they were treated by people throughout the course of the story.

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References
Haag, Claudia Christensen, and Margaret Compton. "Tangled in Charlotte’s Web: Lessons
Learned from English Learners." Social Diversity within Multiliteracies. Routledge,
2014. 127-143.
Levine, Karen. Hana's Suitcase: The Quest to Solve a Holocaust Mystery. Crown Books for
Young Readers, 2016.
Ratelle, Amy. "Ethics and Edibility in Charlotte's Web." The Lion and the Unicorn 38.3 (2014):
327-341.
Schwartzman, Roy. "Sutured identities in Jewish Holocaust survivor testimonies." Journal of
Social Issues 71.2 (2015): 279-293.
Trezise, Thomas. Witnessing witnessing: On the reception of Holocaust survivor testimony.
Fordham Univ Press, 2014.
Weinstein, Fred. The dynamics of Nazism: leadership, ideology, and the holocaust. Elsevier,
2014.
White, Elwyn Brooks. Charlotte's web/druk 6. Lemniscaat Publishers, 1999.
Xia, W. A. N. G. "The Ecological Fantasy World in “Charlotte's Web” by EB White." Academic
Exploration 5 (2014): 28.