Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary Research Paper

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"2 Botts once held his dad as his ideal, but he didn't realize that such an idealization represented his own reluctance to assume any duty over himself and his life.

We now move onto authorial transference. Nikolejeva posits that what separates a diary novel and an epistolary novel is "the latter is supposed to have an addressee…a letter-writer is less likely to reveal his innermost thoughts to an external correspondent."1 In the book, Botts writes both to Mr. Henshaw and also to a pretend Mr. Henshaw. This means his moves from having to have an outside authority, to becoming his own authority. De Luca believes Botts wishes "for circumstances to reverse themselves, for his father to come closer to some ideal" even though Botts is "powerless to effect these changes."3 Only when he finds "the power he does have to make his life happier" does the act of writing becomes this power.3

What began as an assignment, becomes a method of self-discovery. Botts first has to answer questions and then begins to ask them. He takes the inner world of his experiences and parses them out on paper, discovering that many of his ideals, many of the things he depends on, are simply not there. Though it's tough to assume duty over one's life, Botts finds that it is necessary and even a privilege. In a letter to Henshaw, Botts observes, "When you answered my questions, you said the way to get to be an author was to write.

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"2 This brings us full-circle. Author is shorthand for authority in Dear Mr. Henshaw. By writing, one commits the inner world to the outer world and assumes responsibility for it.

Botts begins as a reluctant, and irresponsible adolescent. The external world is beyond his control and infantile resentment and longing are his solutions. Throughout the novel though, he comes to find himself in control of his own consciousness, not simply a bystander. Dear Mr. Henshaw departs from earlier Cleary novels in that it more realistically describes adolescence in contemporary America. A family is no guarantee, nor is help from the outside world. Accordingly, one must look within to find both answers and questions.

Endnotes

1 Maria Nikolajeva. "Imprints of the Mind: The Depiction of Consciousness in Children's Fiction." Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Volume 26, Number 4,

Winter 2001, pp. 173-187 (Article). http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.artic.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/toc/chq.26.4.html. Accessed Apr. 16, 2010.

2 Beverly Cleary. Dear Mr. Henshaw. Harper Trophy, New York. 2000.

1 Nikolejeva.

3 Geraldine De Luca. "Composing A Life': The Diary of Leigh Botts." The Lion and The Unicorn, Volume 14, Number 2, December 1990, pp. 58-65 (Article). http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.artic.edu/journals/lion_and_the_unicorn/toc/uni.14.2.html. Accessed Apr. 16, 2010.

2 Cleary.

1 Nikolejeva.

3 De Luca.

3 De Luca.

2 Cleary.

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