Puritans And The Rationalists Image Of Children Essay

Overall, I find both the Puritans and the Rationalists' image of children disagreeable. I believe that behaviour falls onto a spectrum with different responses for varying scenarios. Thus, to try and place a person into a confined role such as, moral and pure, or sinful and impure, in my opinion, creates a dichotomy that denies the fluidity of the human identity. For instance, children, especially young children, can often subscribe to a mentality of righteousness--as is seen through their concerns over the "principles of right and wrong behaviour"--to ensure that everything is always 'fair' (OED). Likewise, where adults can understand an ambiguously grey figure, children instead uphold the notion that good, or heroes, always triumph. In this way, by adhering to these overly structured ideas of morality, children appear to contradict the Puritans view of them being wicked. However, when considering that purity or innocence is a "lack of corruption," or "lack of dishonesty," children's behaviour also challenges this definition (OED). Specifically, children can be very accomplished liars, with even babies giving false cries of need as a way to deceive and gain something they only just want. Thereby, the practice of lying in children demonstrates that they are not without corruption and so, similarly, cannot be thought of as

The term, blank, is one that implies an initial emptiness or sameness of character (OED). But, from birth, children are privy to a series of factors, like individual genetics and socio-economic environments that make their personalities unique. Additionally, because children possess rich inner lives that they actively engage in--as seen through their vivid imaginations--it negates this idea that they are passive, unexpressive beings waiting for