| |
 |
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
Social Issues - Visit Contemporary Social Concerns
“The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” may not have begun its
life as a commentary on social issues, certainly not as we perceive them
today. It does , however, raise a number of contemporary social issues.
The title character “beats them (the children) all soundly"
which, if we think about the meaning, leads to concerns about child
abuse. The very number of children living in the shoe might make adult
readers think of the housing
crisis or birth control.
The 1985 “socially correct” Father Gander version even uses
the rhyme to talk about birth control. A meal of “broth without
bread” could raise questions about hunger and/or poverty.
Then too, modern feminism
would reject a woman’s lifestyle as being defined and controlled
by her role as caregiver or that she was helpless to cope with the circumstances
of her life. (‘Didn’t know what to do.”) Of course,
the original text probably had little to do with any of these social issues,
but older children and adults may read these topics into the old rhyme.
|
|
