@article{ref1,
title=""We have a great task ahead of us!": child-hate in Roald Dahl's "The Witches"",
journal="Children's literature in education",
year="2014",
author="Curtis, James M.",
volume="45",
number="2",
pages="166-177",
abstract="The depictions of cruel witches in Roald Dahl's novel &quot;The Witches&quot; echo the cruel, abusive measures taken by adults in the historical treatment of children. The concept of child-hatred, described by Lloyd Demause and other critics, is an effective lens through which to view the hyperbolized hatred of children described in &quot;The Witches&quot;. However, Dahl's text deals with more than just the explicit hatred of children. In fact, in its characterization of Grandmamma as an adult that &quot;truly&quot; values the state of childhood, and in Dahl's narrative treatment of both his child protagonist and his child audience, Dahl's text counters the notion that we have progressed to a culture that values and, at times, sacralizes the child. &quot;The Witches&quot; presents to readers the possibility that child-hatred is not some now-defunct phenomenon, but rather an extant danger in the historical present of childhood, a danger made ever more threatening by its ability to hide under a mask of benevolence. With the many instances of both child-protection and child-hatred that pervade &quot;The Witches&quot;, the text serves as an apt illustration of the ambivalence inherent in many works of children's literature, which has been a central concern for scholars of children's texts for decades.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0045-6713",
doi="10.1007/s10583-013-9207-6",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10583-013-9207-6"
}