The Analysis of Louise Fitzhugh’s "Harriet The Spy"

The main idea is incapability to some work is counted as innocence and its loss comes when they are introduced with the different and destructing environment or when they are forced something big from their age. Fern, the little girl, goes from being a child to being an adult. As she goes through this change, Kinghorn notes that it can also be considered a fall from innocence same with the Wilbur. The comparison had been made between the two and how they reach the level of maturity. Ann Macleod states “There was almost always the assurance that somewhere in a child’s life there was safety, security and stability available from adults.” The Children are only able to exist in the creative reality because they have the full support of their mother and father.

The regular companionship is must in the journey of real world or the fantasy world. Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the spy, the character of Harriet is portrayed as a preparation of her childhood into becoming a spy. For her, childhood is not a time of innocence. There are two contradiction whether the innocence define with their incapability (with the support of their parents) or with the carefree childhood (without the support of the parents.). Why children get so much responsibilities? Do they have to improvise their childhood? Why innocence is suppressed every time?

Even if there is a carefree childhood, the freedom makes a child question the traits of innocence and even if there is parental support a child just thinks that “I am innocent, why they nag me and shout on me all the time? Writers make the fantasy world where a child can explore their emotions and their childlike behaviour, even though there is a dangerous quest ahead. So, the loss of innocence is only the area on which people studied but it’s more than that it’s the gamble of innocence to attain justice. Charlotte’s character is only categorised as good and bad or how she is a hypocrite.

There are two types of human beings good and bad but when someone is both, society concentrates on the bad. That’s why charlotte is a combination of bad and a good human being. But there is one major difference that is people prioritize her good side rather than a bad one. From the beginning she is eating the flies and when Wilbur asks her that why she eats flies then she simply says that“ I don’t get a royal treatment and you get all your meals brought to you in a pail” she is a human who do good but don’t get praised for what they do like a soldier who serves our country with loyalty and those who are hardworking have to make their own food unlike the bad ones who gets a royal treatment like politicians. But they can’t be compared to Wilbur the pig. “Just imagine if spiders don’t eat insects they would take over the world” similarly if humans don’t eat the animals they would take over the world.

Imprisonment of Marie within the regulations of family let Marie to dwell in the fantasy world. The introduction of grotesque elements depicts the severities of daily life as already intended by critics. Her father threatened to throw all the toys and Marie’s reluctance shows how sometimes justice touches the innocence of a child and how it drag further which ends in grave Triumphant. Another way to look at things is to whether something is good or bad, the criticize part helps to judge and it will portray in that manner from the beginning. Phillippe Aries’ Centuries of childhood in a way helped a child as he argues in his book that childhood to be seen different from the adult life, earlier till 15th century as it was considered the same and a child was exposed to the same environment and with the same activities that an adult used to do. With this a child is put to a better and caring environment but still you can’t control mind of a child, with that they seemed to develop more than one can think of.