How did the Hen House Become the Home of the Hen?

The "no-harm" myth

The easiest way of dealing with the moral responsibility of doing wrong is refraining from noticing the injustice to begin with. This way we may refrain from emotional unpleasantness, refrain from complex justifications and from the demand to change our habits. When dealing with continuous injustice, indifference does exist, seemingly on its own: Single individuals as well as entire populations find themselves upholding years and years of emotionally easy solutions without ever thinking about it. This is not a "conspiracy" of hiding, ignoring, twisting and inventing information; rather this is a reproduction of the awareness and sensitivity channels of your community and of your own self.

Modern Western culture justifies harming nonhuman animals in many different ways, yet it seems that avoidance-refusing to acknowledge the harm done-is the most usual way of handling this issue. The living and death conditions of different animals become something remote and inaccessible, and at the same time everyone believes that the reality is totally different from what it really is. We may call this combination of imperviousness and fantasy "the no-harm myth." We absorb this myth during early childhood-to a large degree through children's literature. It is rooted within the entire culture, although we find a real interest in distorting reality only in some fields, such as advertisements for products made of animals or in agricultural literature.

The no-harm myth was created, in a way, as a result of the alienation that exists in the modern Western world between the urban consumer public and the industrially harmed animals (in factory farms, research laboratories, and so on). The rise in the level of professional specialization and in the level of mechanisization are major factors in the efficiency with which harm is hidden from the eyes of consumers. The industry concentrates many animals together in closed and isolated facilities. The technological efficiency minimizes the number of people coming in direct contact with the harmed animals. Many technological and economic stages are separating the consumer from the manufacturing process; the actual processing of the body parts and the products of the animal's bodies-blurs and even hides the traces of the harmful act.

Ignorance concerning the condition of harmed animals derives, therefore, from hiding harm from the eye. But the imperviousness of people runs deeper: Even harm that can still be easily noticed-such as the violent robbery that takes place in the milk and egg industries - is no longer perceived. The information concerning harmful acts is distributed and received in a selective manner. The harm is hidden and becomes remote, and its existence is denied.

Hiding and denying harmful acts derives from an unpleasant feeling toward the acts themselves. This is the paradoxical result of moral sensitivity toward the harmed animals. The sensitivity level is not sufficient to awaken people to the harm enough to stop it, yet it is strong enough to make them defend themselves through denial. During the 18th century, the Western world - mainly the urban population - started showing signs of shame, disgust, embarrassment and guilt concerning human violence toward animals of other species. The conscious expression of this sensitivity has become the motivating force behind the animal liberation movement as we know it today; yet this remains the response of a meager minority. For the majority of the population, the no-harm myth is a central means of calming those emotionsthat aroused the minority to refrain from consuming products made from animals. The myth suppresses these emotions from awareness and suppresses open discussion concerning this matter.

In children's literature, the sensitivity is expressed through avoidance, which is obvious to the marketers and customers alike; the facts about how animals are treated on factory farms might "harm the children's tender souls." Slaughter, castration and death from overcrowding are off-limits topics. The adults respond with denial, which is handed down to the next generation. Yet children's literature goes far beyond that: It hides certain facts and invents others, also out of its own internal logic, which has nothing to do with the injustice and with relating to it.

Children's literature: stages of development

The majority of children's books include some kind of representation of nonhuman animals. In a random survey of 150 books that I reviewed, representations of animals appeared in 96.7 percent (145 books). In 44.7 percent they appeared as main characters, in 30 percent as secondary characters, and in 22 percent as images (usually as illustrations only, without any text) in the background. It seems that these models of distribution have barely changed at all in children's literature during the last few decades, though there seems to be a decline in the frequency of descriptions of country life and animals on homesteads, and a slighter decline in stories set in nature. The environment in the new books is more urban.

Most of the representations of nonhuman animals in children's literature shape a speciesist worldview (meaning discrimination against nonhuman animals on the basis of species). Their main strength is in upholding the no-harm myth, but they also shape an anthropocentric perspective according to which man is the natural ruler of all other animals, and they are nothing but instruments at his disposal. I must note that some children's books arouse sensitivity toward other animals, and some were even created in order to encourage such sensitivity, yet they are rare.

In recent decades, motion pictures and television series for children have also developed; they function in a manner similar to the literature, and to these we can add toys and clothes with pictures, which function like the literature does for the tender age. In addition, advertisements address children in manner that is becoming more and more direct, and some of them make use of narrative means, which creates a cultural blur among the fields of literature, film and "advertisements."

We can identify three stages in the development of children's literature, according to the development level of the target audience:

a. The stage of definitions begins in infancy, before the children have acquired linguistic ability, and ends during the first stages of learning to read. Pictures appear in books for this age group, mostly simple ones showing a single object, and later they are accompanied by words defining the pictures. The cognitive efforts of the children are directed at noticing things in the world, defining their unique characteristics, and basic categorization of them. Children at this stage learn to defineobjects that are visually different from one another , and from herein the use of nonhuman animals becomes highly convenient because different species are pictured with unique forms and colors (also with unique sounds, represented on cassettes recordings, whistles, and through words). Horses and fish are differentiated in a manner similar to differentiating a bicycle from a ball; the "animals" category is learned like any other category ("toys," "shapes" and so on). Animals are usually presented as representatives of the biological species, often with distinctions between male and female and between young and adult. (Human figures are also usually not presented as individuals, but as representatives of sex, age and occupation). The animal images are presented on a uniform background, in nature, or in a tranquil countryside environment.

b. The stage of fables begins with the acquisition of linguistic ability, when books are in part intended to be read out aloud by the parents, and later independently by the children. At this stage, distinctive genres of narrative literature and scientific literature are created.

Most literature intended for this age is narrativeit contains characters and a plot. Many of the characters are nonhuman animals, and their animal qualities grant them an advantage over inanimate objects as a metaphor for human beings in general (physiognomic and behavioral similarity) and for children in particular (a lower status compared to adult human beings, and similarity on a level of impulsiveness and spontaneity). Most of the books present different kinds of animals, with each species having one representative, whose appearance and some of her stereotypical habits represent a certain human type-the different external traits are used as an easy means for characterizing human types. This is why many different species are condensed together in one story, and it is also the reason why there is no need for more than one representative from each species. In a similar manner, the main characters in books for this age are various humanized objects: plants, inanimate objects and even abstract forms; they are designed so as to make it easy to visually differentiate them from each other. Less common stories (usually intended for an older age group) concerngroups of animals from one biological species. In such stories, the differentiation between individual characters is achieved by increased anthropomorphism (for instance, by different clothes). Animals from species who are exploited in real life by the food industry appear in narrative literature in a quiet village or in nature; images of industrial factory farms are very rare.

The scientific literature (such as first encyclopedias) continues the way of the first childhood books by defining objects in a more complex manner than in the past, in addition to entire explanatory sentences. An aura of scientific authority begins to appear amid the facts; a few of these books even contain pretty authentic descriptions and images of some of the living conditions in the dairy, egg and wool industries, under the auspices of technological progress' rhetoric. At the same time, nonhuman animals are clearly marked according to their value of usage for humans. This value appears as part of the definition of the essence of the described species.

c. The stage of realism begins with the appearance of a high level of independent reading ability, as the texts become longer and the illustrations become marginal. At this stage, the books deal with human beings directly, and nonhuman animals gradually disappear. In certain books, some animals-mostly "pets" -still appear as main characters, often out of an effort to authentically represent their point of view, such as the story of the horse Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877). In fantasy books, mainly, many different species of humanized animals appear. Yet in most of them the animals are represented in a manner that does not encourage empathy, in accordance with their function in the human world: as a "pet," as a "riding horse" and so on-sometimes slightly humanized, but no longer a human being in the image of another species (explicit personification continues to appear, from this stage on, mainly in advertisements).

At the same time, scientific literature continues to develop, and it includes, for the first time, causal explanations and suggestions for practical examination. Therefore, instructions as to how observations should be conducted appear at this stage, and even instructions for experimenting on animals from various species, usually non-vertebrates.

Children's literature: anthropomorphism versus authenticity

False descriptions of farms in children's literature are a clear part of the no-harm myth. Yet the myth and other forms of speciesism are apparent in most of the animal representations in children's literature, although only few of the representations have anything to do with farms. In order to understand this phenomenon, one must examine the meaning of authentic representation and of personification, as they appear,mainly during "the stage of fables".

1. Authentic representation relates to the actual physical structure of the animal, to her environment in real life and to problems troubling her in real life. Authentic descriptions of wild animals appear in scientific literature for children, and they do not necessarily arouse empathy. Representation of authentic problems in the worlds of different animals appears in narrative literature for children, but fairly seldom, and mainly concerns episodes from nature and "pets." There is also a bit of educational literature, which emphasizes the distress and suffering of certain animals caused by human beings-such as zoos, circuses, hunting (for example: "Bambi" by Walt Disney) and abuse by sadistic individuals; yet authentic representations of animals in industrial factory farms and laboratories are very rare in children's literature.

1. Empathy-arousing anthropomorphism: Most nonhuman animals in children's literature are humanized: They have human features (human hands, teeth), walk on two feet, wear clothes, talk, use instruments in an artificial environment and are troubled with matters that usually occupy human beings. This way the animal image receives the status of a subject that one may identify with, and certain empathy may arise toward members of this species in real life (though personification of animals as bad and cruel arouses hatred toward animals of that species). We can assume that love of cats, for example, attracts children to books with humanized cats, and these images reinforce the empathy towards real cats. It is possible that a book such as "The Adventures of Nemili" (Oded Burla, 1974) will arouse in children empathy for ants, for the first time in their lives.

Yet in order to arouse any kind of significant empathy towards animals in real life, the humanization must express their real world, "translate" it to the language of children-and this is a rare phenomenon. Actually, when children's literature develops sensitivity toward others, it is almost always another human being: "Apartment for Rent" by Dira Lehaskir and "Raspberry Juice" by Mitz Peteldevelop values of good neighborliness, tolerance and friendship among humans. Likewise, animals from species institutionally exploited by humans benefit less from the auspices of the anthropomorphism compared with other species. For instance, In the "Narnia Stories" by C.S. Lewis there is a distinction between talking and non-talking animals, and only the ones who do not talk are allowed to be eaten.

1. Anthropomorphism as empathy-denying distancing: It seems like the main function of humanizing animals in children's literature is not to create empathy, but the contrary: The identity of the represented animals remains external, like a shell, without any contents relating to the world of these species of animals in real life. This meaning is intensified through the wide usage (in 37.3 percent of the books reviewed) of toy images in the shape of animals, instead of real animals. The "animal" label is fully loaded with foreign contents, taken from the children's world or from a world of values the adults wish the children to acquire. The term "animal" becomes an instrument, through which implication is performed; an instrument whose perceived value is the value of its use for mankind, leaving the real animal meaningless in him- or herself. Tweety bird, by Walt Disney, for example, is beloved by many children, yet this love is limited to the fictional character, while real chickens are perceived as food.

Persuasive personification requires the distancing of the animal images from their living conditions in reality: The hen in "Apartment for Rent" not only does not live in a battery cage, but also has nothing to do with the living conditions of free-ranging chickens in the wild. When literature creates a connection between the animal images and the internal values and conditions of the human society, the correlation between the term "chicken" and the real world of chickens is cut off. The problems occupying animals in children's books are related with the civilized environment in which they take place; yet even when they take place in a seemingly natural and authentic environment, the environment functions mainly as a reservoir of metaphors for the conditions of the human existence. The fear of Piglet from "Winnie the Pooh" of large animals represents the cowardliness of a small child, and therefore the world of Piglet holds no place for fear of farmers and hunters.

Therefore, even in cases in which anthropomorphism develops the sensitivity of children toward nonhuman animals, the anthropomorphism itself upholds the no-harm myth, and the weight of the myth usually overcomes the weight of the sensitivity. The children learn to like certain animals, but at the same time they learn to defend themselves from any sense of responsibility for harming them by adopting a false picture of the living and death conditions of these animals.

Major images in children's literature

If the world of nonhuman animals described in children's literature is only a metaphor for the human world, then this is not the human race in general; children's literature is a phenomenon that developed in the urban middle class, and accordingly, it conveys typical messages of bourgeoisie thinking. Massive congestion, confinement, filth, painful tiling, intensive lighting, agricultural instrumentation, force-feeding, milking and so on-such phenomena are not only alien to the bourgeoisie reality, but also lack interest as metaphors for the educational bourgeoisie frame of mind. Therefore, when books present animals who in reality are subjected to conditions of industrial exploitation, they are bound to several images, which organize the details of the description in a manner that is relevant to bourgeoisie thinking and at the same time cut off from the living reality of those same animals. The most prominent images are:

1. The House: the cowshed, the hen house, the pen and so on are presented as the homes of the animals residing in them. The "home" concept carries the symbolic meaning of a human home, a fortress protecting its residents from the dangers outside; and indeed, it is drawn accordingly, with solid walls, windows and an emphasized roof. Barriers within the structure express rooms, allowing for privacy; emphasized straw bedding and food containers express the perception of the home as a place for eating and resting. A metaphor for a bourgeoisie home, the cowshed, the hen house and the sheep pen are used for the residence of a single individual, a single family unit or a few families at the most. The higher the anthropomorphism level of the animal itself, the greater the similarity between the animal's home and a human home, even if the exterior is, for instance, a cave or a tree ("Winnie the Pooh"); some stories even feature condos ("Apartment for Rent").

1. The Nuclear family: The images of the families of various animals represent a model of social and sexual role division within human society. The family is composed of a loyal, loving mother and father (even in species that are not monogamous in nature) and their children. The image of the mother is a stereotype of "maternal femininity" (for example: Kanga in "Winnie the Pooh"): concerned, busy doing the housework, wearing an apron, a kerchief and so on. The father represents "paternal manhood" and is strong, works away from home, rests at home, wears working overalls and so on. The children are represented as a homogeneous group or as different individuals (mainly the males); they tend to be mischievous, but eventually learn to obey their parents.

1. The Village as Harmony between Man and Nature: Despite the bourgeoisie context of children's literature, village images are widespread in it (appearing in 35.3 percent of the books reviewed). The village life appears as a romantic, nostalgic bourgeoisie fantasy of a good Old World; the image of the village integrates the values and authority of previous generations together with an expression of objection to modern alienation. The criticism of urban life (for instance, in modern adaptations of "The City Mouse and the Village Mouse" by LaFontaine) does not carry a message of changing the order of urban society. This is only a metaphor, a model for specific matters and not a model for full fulfillment; and indeed, many of the images are presented through the eyes of city children that came for a visit. That is why certain village images include bourgeoisie scorning of the rural primitiveness, expressed, among other ways, through using various "farm animals" to represent farmers.

A major component in the nostalgic village fantasy is presenting the relations between man and his environment as harmonious. The livestock is perceived as the living incarnation of harmony: there is no trace of the industrialization of agriculture that exists in real life, and altogether this is not the wild nature. The "forest" or "nature" images allow great flexibility when loading each natural detail with metaphoric meaning, without commitment to the model of defined relations between human beings (or personified images) and nature. The agricultural farm, on the other hand, is presented as a willingly cultivated nature. The exploitation of nonhuman animals is presented as a part of a mutual relationship, in the spirit of the clich?s: "the cow gives us milk," "the chicken gives us eggs," and so on.

1. The good master and his loving subjects: Many tales of a single human being among nonhuman animals grant the child a fantasy of power. Christopher Robin in "Winnie the Pooh" provides a model of identification with a child-leader, a kind of merger of a parent with a chief, assuming that man is the natural master of other animals . The relations between nonhumans and a human represent children versus an adult, adults versus a leader, or village people versus someone of a higher status.

At the same time, the subjects of the child-master are happy and content. If these animals arouse identification, then the message of the story is in favor of willing obedience. At the same time, it draws a false picture concerning the dependence of nonhuman animals on man, and provides a source of beliefs such as "the farmer loves his animals," "life on the farm is good," and "they are dependent upon man."

Summary

Representations of nonhuman animals appeared before our eyes in tender age a lot more than later on in life. During the years of elementary school these animals disappeared from the conscious daily agenda of most of us, leaving nothing more than a subconscious memory of false representations.

The hiding of facts and the invention of false information relating to the connection between man and animals of other species derives, in part, from guilt and shame concerning the harm done to them by humans. Yet a significant part of the distortion derives from the internal logic of illustrating and writing children's books, according to the commonplace meaning of childhood and education concepts. Non-human animals make convenient objects for definition and categorization, and at a later stage for imposing the human world upon, particularly the childish world; this is their source of popularity in children's literature.

The relation to other species in most of the existing children's literature therefore reflects our speciesist world. We can create another kind of children's literature, aimed at arousing sensitivity, exposing reality and encouraging change. Yet there are many limitations. The creation of alternative children's literature obliges us to acknowledge not only the extent to which the no-harm myth is rooted among the book-purchasing parents, but the internal qualities of the literary genre as well. Alternative creation may, at the most, create minor changes in relation to the existing literature, while keeping the common and speciesist rules of representation. Our culture is not ready to present the full, true story to the children.