Book Analysis of The Story of Little Black Sambo

                       

Michelle P.

HD 25

Children’s Book Analysis

Title: The Story of Little Black Sambo

Author & Illustrator: Helen Bannerman

Year of original publication: 1899

Brief description: The Story of Little Black Sambo is about a little boy who went for a walk in the jungle, wearing grand clothing given to him by his parents. He encountered tigers that wanted to eat him. He traded all his beautiful clothes and belongings in exchange for his life. When the tigers had taken everything from the boy, they fought amongst themselves. They chased each other around in a circle so much they turned into butter. Little Black Sambo got all his belongings back and the family had a wonderful pancake diner with the butter.

            This story is interesting, engaging, and easily read by young children. It’s a cute story about a little boy and his loving family. The little boy goes on a walk and is threatened by some tigers, but he is smart and uses his ingenuity to preserve his life. In the end, goodness prevails. The little boy gets his belongings back and the tigers turn into butter which in turn feeds the family.  The only part I found stereotypical in the text was the fact that the father worked and the mother stayed home and cooked and made clothes. This could be due to the fact that it was written in 1899. However, the title of the book (The Story of Little Black Sambo) and the names of the characters in the story are very racist. The little black boy’s name is, “Little Black Sambo,” the mother’s name is, “Black Mumbo,” and the father’s name is, “Black Jumbo.”

The illustrations in this book are very stereotypical. Each character has the exact same extremely dark skin, with large red lips, white teeth and large white eyes. They are not depicted as individuals but culturally stereotypical caricatures. The mother is drawn as an overweight housewife with a scarf on her head and a cooking pot in her hand, and the father is well dressed with a nice hat, pipe-in-mouth, ready to go out and earn the family’s income.  This stereotype of the father working and the mother staying home, again, could be due to the date it was originally written. 

            According to the article, Helen Bannerman (Author of The Story of Little Black Sambo), Helen Bannerman was a Scottish woman who wrote this book while living in India and her book illustrations often depicted south Indian or Tamil people (“Helen Bannerman,” 2013). The preface of the actual book declared that she wrote this story for her two young girls while on a long railway journey (Bannerman, 1899).

Although it seems the tigers have the power in this story because of their strength and carnivorous appetite, the little boy ends up having the power with his intelligence.  He was wise enough to give up his possessions in order to preserve his life and he hid at the right time, while the tigers were fighting over who was the grandest. The boy was nice and innocent and was rewarded for this by getting all of his belongings back and having his life preserved. The tigers were cruel and were fighting amongst themselves with jealousy, so they were punished for their behavior by turning into butter. The boy’s whole family was rewarded for being nice by having pancakes and butter for dinner.  

I think that the dialog in the book is good. The boy’s voice was very prominent along with the tigers. The mother and father had few words but were words of delight. The narrative addressed the Indian race somewhat by using the word “ghi”, and stating that it was a word referring to butter in India (Bannerman, 1899). I would recommend this book if it were just the storyline. I think it’s a delightful story with a happy ending. Unfortunately because of the name of the book, the characters names, and the illustrations, I would not recommend this book to children. These stereotypes could be engrained in children’s minds and give them the wrong ideas about people from India and people with dark skin.

             

           

References

Bannerman, H. (1899)

Helen Bannerman (Author of The Story of Little Black Sambo). (n.d.). Retrieved from

            http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/84922.Helen_Bannerman