An evaluative study of era natarasan’s novel, ‘rose’: a psychological approach

Abstract

This study is aimed at evaluating psychologically the novel ‘Rose’, written by Era Natarasan. Era Natarasan, who currently lives in Cuddalore, a Southern town of India, is a Tamil children literature writer, translator and novelist. As an eminent scholar and teacher, he was conferred the Dr Radhakrishnan State Award for his contribution in the field of Education and Child – Rights. At present, there is a trend to analyse and evaluate creative literatures psychologically. However, such psychological evaluative studies are rare in Tamil. Yet, this study is carried out as an attempt to evaluate Era Natarasan’s novel ‘Rose” with the followings as objectives: (1) To identify the educational practices that are found in the novel (2) To evaluate psychologically the appropriateness of those educational practices for children. Accordingly, the descriptive and analytical methods are used to evaluate the novel. Psychological theories such as Piaget’s Intellectual Development Theory, Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory and Lewin’s Field Theory are applied to examine the appropriateness of the current educational practices. The study identifies the ‘life space’ of children found in the novel, amidst the sophisticated mechanical lives of parents. Also, it reveals the mismatches between the educational practices for children and the theories of child psychology. Finally, the study raises some questions which need immediate actions in relation to children’s educational practices.