FATHER FIGURES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHILDREN IN SOCIAL CONTENTED TURKISH CHILDREN S NOVELS

In our article, we analyze the main father figures and their relationships with children as seen in the realistic, social contented Turkish children s novels written from 1970 to the present. Children s novels play important roles in education, especially in primary schools. These novels help the child achieve abstract thinking and understanding of their environment. The novels contribute greatly to the child’s initial perception and awareness of the near or far social and geographical environments. In this study we especially focused on the father as one of the most important figures in the family, which is the closest social environment to the child and analyzed this figure by classifying sub-character types. It is a clear fact that the father is so important in forming child s professional and social life. Fathers in children s novels will guide their kids’ professional future in different ways. The father figure, who is very influential on the family’s phsychology, also plays an important role in shaping child’s character. The existence of the father and/or the fatherlessness have important consequences on kids. In our study, some positive and negative father figures in general and their relationships with children were examined. And finally, the stepfather figures were emphasized.