The Maturity of Winnie-the-Pooh
Latkina Veronika
ENG 222- section # 041
David Copeland
14 November 2011
The Maturity of Winnie-The-Pooh
In a series of adventures Winnie-the-Pooh, written by Alan Alexander Milne, Pooh Bear may be seen as a childlike character. While it is obvious that he remains a “child” throughout the book, the progress that he demonstrates should not be left unnoticed. Pooh’s improvement shows that he has progressed to the next stage of a child cognitive development, and the way he has achieved this improvement represents child’s maturity as a slow process that requires considerable life experience and practical learning. This statement can be proved with an analysis of the changes that Pooh applies to his personality. First of all, he switches his initially egocentric perception of the world to sincere concern about other characters’ problems and willingness to help them. Secondly, he learns to admit his mistakes and not to shift his blame onto someone else. Lastly, he progress from the role of the who is in touble to the one of a rescuer and starts using his logic to come up with the practical ideas that benefit other characters. At the beginning of the book, Pooh’s egocentrism reveals the fact that he occupies the early stage of psychological development. However, his further ability to look at the situation from someone else’s point of view rather than his own demonstrates that he has become more mature. Moreover, Pooh stops thinking that everything revolves around him and should bring him benefit, which also indicates that his egocentrism starts fading away. In the beginning, the nature of Pooh’s logical conclusions suggests that his view of the world is completely self-oriented, such as buzz-bees-honey-me and hole-Rabbit-Company-Food and Listening-to-Me-Humming. By suggesting that bees’ only reason for producing honey is to make him satisfied, Pooh shows that his vision of the world is restricted and egocentric.
ENG 222- section # 041
David Copeland
14 November 2011
The Maturity of Winnie-The-Pooh
In a series of adventures Winnie-the-Pooh, written by Alan Alexander Milne, Pooh Bear may be seen as a childlike character. While it is obvious that he remains a “child” throughout the book, the progress that he demonstrates should not be left unnoticed. Pooh’s improvement shows that he has progressed to the next stage of a child cognitive development, and the way he has achieved this improvement represents child’s maturity as a slow process that requires considerable life experience and practical learning. This statement can be proved with an analysis of the changes that Pooh applies to his personality. First of all, he switches his initially egocentric perception of the world to sincere concern about other characters’ problems and willingness to help them. Secondly, he learns to admit his mistakes and not to shift his blame onto someone else. Lastly, he progress from the role of the who is in touble to the one of a rescuer and starts using his logic to come up with the practical ideas that benefit other characters. At the beginning of the book, Pooh’s egocentrism reveals the fact that he occupies the early stage of psychological development. However, his further ability to look at the situation from someone else’s point of view rather than his own demonstrates that he has become more mature. Moreover, Pooh stops thinking that everything revolves around him and should bring him benefit, which also indicates that his egocentrism starts fading away. In the beginning, the nature of Pooh’s logical conclusions suggests that his view of the world is completely self-oriented, such as buzz-bees-honey-me and hole-Rabbit-Company-Food and Listening-to-Me-Humming. By suggesting that bees’ only reason for producing honey is to make him satisfied, Pooh shows that his vision of the world is restricted and egocentric.