Important Theme in Madeline

¶ … Madeline

The first book written by Ludwig Bemelmans in the series about Madeline, was first published in 1939. The hero in this book was different than all the princes in the children's stories: a little girl in a boarding school. Her main feature was her courage. In 1939, the world was swept by the Second World War and the heroine nothing alike those world saviors in stories and films alike. Madeline is a book that encompasses the essence of humanity in a few lines. One of the main themes in the book is the social feature of humanity, the ability to live in society, feel compassion, discover and develop solidarity etc.

Children who live in a boarding school are among the best sources to teach the rest of the world about compassion. "Twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed" (Madeline, p.16-19). People who share the most important things in an early stage of their life, grow up to be compassionate.

The book is destined for children in preschool, but it never ceases to amaze through the powerful message it sends. The economy of words is surprising when contemplating the variety of ideas it communicates to the readers.

The next three lines introduce the world Madeline and her schoolmates were living in. Even pre-school children should know that they are not living in a bubble. The author once said that he was writing for small kids, not for idiots. The words are completed by the powerful pictures. The setting is in Paris. The lines are indicating the fact that the children are taught to look around and use their hearts along with their eyes and mind to analyze the real world they were living in. "They smiled at the good." It begins with optimism and since they are children, they are supposed to be happy and smile.

Paris in 1939 was anything but a place to smile in and grownups must have had a difficult time seeing the good in the big picture. but, Bemelmans completes this simple line with a wonderful picture of the Athenee in Paris as the background and the children holding hands and smiling at a lady who is feeding a horse.

Compassion needs the ability to notice details. Compassion is mainly about the ability to share the feelings of others. Five simple words activate imagination in a way that one could never think possible in a book for pre-school children. The picture accompanying the line in the book is just a suggestion. A woman feeding a horse is an example if how people can enjoy the simple things in life and not let themselves overwhelmed by the hardships they encountered. The world was in the middle of a war and finding things to be happy about was not an easy task for anyone. But the human mind has always endless resources to escape despair and find something to alleviate physical or psychological pain. Since hope is the last to perish, the image of a woman feeding a horse in the streets of an occupied Paris is symbolical.

The next line shows children who are learning to make the distinction between right and wrong. If the "good" consists in the image of a lady feeding an animal in the street, the "bad" is a thief. The future adults are taught about the positive and negative features of the human character. There are good people and there are bad people and they placed themselves in these categories by choice and not because of external and uncontrollable factors that influenced them.

The third line adds the layer of sadness brought in by the war and its victims: "and sometimes they were very sad." The image of the soldier who walks in crutches explains the reasons for sadness. These last three lines and their accompanying pictures have unfolded three main traits of the human race: good, bad and evil.

The best way to teach children to look around them and think for themselves is to present them with the essence of our humanity. This is probably one of the reasons for which Bemelmans succeeded to write books that enchanted and are still successfully enjoyed at all ages. Their main target is small children, but children and adults alike need to find out or be reminded of their humanity. Being human means to live in society and to go through the good, the bad and the sad being aware that your fellow humans posses the ability to act a certain way, depending on the side they decided to take.