Children’s tales never shied away from the grisly truths of Life -- whether it dealt with the ripping apart of bodies and other variations of bodily violence as in our Puranas and rupkathas, or in barely-veiled tales of rape, incest and gore in the very grim fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Things obviously changed in the 19th-20th century, with old tales and verses for the young being watered down for reasons of genteelness, remnants of which remain visible for the careful reader (Red Riding Hood, Ring-A Ring-A Roses, etc). With political correctness vacuum-cleaning the bristles, children’s literature became clean and propah, careful not to upset anyone, especially pressure groups.
One of the carefully crafted truths of Life kept at bay from kids has been Death. Which is why, a la Hollywood-Bollywood films, a happy end -- proclaimed by variations of the ‘And they lived happily ever after’ line -- has been actively encouraged. Of late, however, there have been children’s writers who are bucking the trend. Writing as the fictional Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler is the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which includes self-explanatory titles such as The Bad Beginning and The Hostile Hospital, and prepares the young ’uns for the worst.
Now it seems that JK Rowling is keen to bring some healthy doom into her books. This week she hinted that Harry Potter might die in the last instalment of the series. For kids today growing up listening to Eminem, that shouldn’t be a cause for arrested development. But for a super-duper-selling author like Rowling, wouldn’t it be killing the golden goose? Arthur Conan Doyle had to bring back Sherlock Holmes to life after the sleuth’s fatal fall at the Reichenbach Falls. Surely, Rowling can cook up some good old Pepper-Up Potion if and when the need arises.