Written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, “Chrysanthemum” is a classic children’s book with a profound meaning within (Henkes, 1991). This 1991 publication is categorized as contemporary realistic fiction because the challenges, solutions, and overarching messages are relevant to today’s society and important for kids to comprehend. The story’s plot and central message are grounded in realism, but the fact that the protagonists are mice gives the story a unique twist. Mice in the modern era are not capable of speech or human-like behavior. As a result, the story also has elements of fantasy. Henkes illustrates the importance of following the Golden Rule through the experiences of a mouse during the highly social phase of a child’s development: preschool. Henkes illustrates the benefits and drawbacks of being unique through the protagonist Chrysanthemum’s unusually long name of 13 letters in a work of realistic fiction about a typical child’s life at school. Chrysanthemum is a regular girl with a long name with a floral motif. For various reasons, many kids go through a phase where they either despise their name or are teased mercilessly. In the story, Chrysanthemum faces both of these challenges. The narrative is told from the perspective of a third-person subjective narrator. The story revolves around Chrysanthemum’s efforts to love and accept herself, as well as to be loved and accepted by others (Henkes, 1991). Among the key themes is bullying in adolescent peer interactions.
There are numerous characters in the book who play important roles in the plot. The characters are fictional, as the author has invented them. Chrysanthemum, her parents, and the school bully Victoria are the book’s main characters. Other key characters include her friends and her music teacher, who also has a name based on a flower (Henkes, 1991). The story’s main character, Chrysanthemum, is influenced by all of the other characters. The story wouldn’t be what it is without the contributions of the supporting characters. The book’s conclusion is contingent on the actions of every character. The characters are all mice. Since Chrysanthemum’s inner life and intricacies are revealed gradually over the course of the book, she is the book’s major character and a rounded one. Chrysanthemum begins school and does not anticipate receiving jeers for her name, which she adores. As the story progresses, Chrysanthemum undergoes profound personal change, making her an equally dynamic character. Chrysanthemum is unsure on how to react because she has never experienced ridicule. She doesn’t feel like retaliating or defending herself, just sad. In the span of a day, she goes from being proud of her name to despising it.
The parents of Chrysanthemum are static characters because they don’t change much during the plot. The fact that they gave Chrysanthemum such a unique name indicates that they play a significant part in the narrative. They name her that because they envision it embodying everything wonderful about her. They maintain their status quo by doing their best to comfort and cheer up their youngster, but they have little real impact. When Chrysanthemum starts to question the name she was given, her parents are a great source of support. In a speech of revelation, her father tells her that her name is lovely, priceless, captivating, and endearing (Henkes, 1991). They make Chrysanthemum feel better by consoling her.
Chrysanthemum’s peers Jo, Rita, and Victoria are the book’s “foil” characters; they are what drives the story’s central conflict. The three females don’t give a second thought about Chrysanthemum’s true feelings or the positive relationship they ought to be promoting. They make jokes about Chrysanthemum and the lovely name she was given. Jo complains it’s too long, Rita remarks that it hardly fits on your name tag, and Victoria is the worst, joking that she would alter her name if she had one similar to yours (Henkes, 1991). Chrysanthemum is currently experiencing dreadful feelings because she thought her name was perfect her entire life, but she has since lost her self-confidence and no longer believes that anyone still appreciates her name. Chrysanthemum begins to question the meaning of the name she previously adored due of the three girls. Jo, Rita, and Victoria even come out as bullying characters in the book’s drawings. In one illustration, the three characters on the monkey bars are seen pointing and grinning as they approach Chrysanthemum, as if everything about her is a joke. Later, Mrs. Twinkle teaches them a lesson that will make them understand that being unique is something to be proud of.
Mrs. Twinkle is referred to in the novel as a “indescribable wonder for her acts,” therefore she can be characterized as a static character because her outlook and attitude don’t change from when the story first started (Henkes, 1991). All of her students greatly respect her because she is their music teacher. She is the only adult in the novel who actively intervenes to stop the bullying and the improper behavior of the other kids, and her actions provide a huge clue to what happens to Chrysanthemum. She not only helps Chrysanthemum see things clearly, but also her tormentors (Henkes, 1991). Mrs. Twinkle certainly understands the anguish of name-calling and bullying from her own awful first-hand experience (having the name Delphinium). The girls’ behavior was significantly changed by her strategy of making the moniker they made fun of sound desirable as opposed to reprimanding them or reminding them of the school’s anti-bullying policy. And she succeeds in getting to a happy conclusion and ending in a way that not only makes Chrysanthemum feel good and special about herself again, but also makes the former bullies feel extremely guilty and finally understands that Chrysanthemum’s name is in fact not just unusual but also pleasant and pretty. The children discover from this that being unique is something to be proud of.
The story develops through a sequence of events that follow a chronological order, giving the book a storyline that is linear. The plot is put up as a sequence of unconnected little incidents. If the events were taken out of context and put in any different sequence than they are now, the story would not make sense. The story begins when a newborn mouse’s parents decide to name their daughter Chrysanthemum in order to honor the beauty and purity they perceive in her. The story finishes when the music teacher intervenes to protect the young mouse from the bullies (Henkes, 1991). The main character of the story is a young girl named Chrysanthemum who is bullied at school because of her name despite her parents’ assurances that it is lovely and wonderful, just as she is. Her classmates tease her because her name is so long and contains half as many words as the English alphabet, as well as the fact that it is the name of a flower (more particularly, three other girls at school). Chrysanthemum adores her name up to the time that she starts attending school and finds out that her peers are making fun of it, as Henkes describes the plot of the book. Chrysanthemum still finds it difficult to love her name the same way she used to, despite her parents’ assurances that it is lovely and that the other kids at school are merely jealous.
The book is structured in climactic patterns of action. The storyline’s peak moment of tension occurs when Chrysanthemum is startled and appalled to learn on the first day of school that her classmates don’t feel the same way, and it concludes when a charming music teacher introduces herself to the class and completely transforms the situation. At this point, the story’s central conflict is resolved, and the Chrysanthemum’s confidence is restored. The plot’s turning point occurs when the kids first enter music class and encounter their instructor (Henkes, 1991). The teacher notices the pupils making fun of Chrysanthemum and explains that she too has a long name and is named after a flower. The other kids then come to the conclusion that Chrysanthemum’s name isn’t all that horrible after all, and they even choose flower names for themselves.
The book’s plot has a sentimental standpoint, which tends to base decisions and responses more on sentiments and emotions than on logic. The book is simply a heartwarming and evocative tale about loving, about acknowledging one’s name, about loving oneself, but it is also a very heartbreaking story about bullying and harassment in the school ground and in the classroom, and about how these issues are frequently not taken seriously enough or even remotely successfully addressed. The illustrations in this book depict Chrysanthemum’s various feelings, including sadness, joy, surprise, pride, and shame. The book is a fascinating examination of identity and the influence of peers on people. Chrysanthemum adored her unique name for five years, but when she started school, others started making fun of it (Henkes, 1991). Chrysanthemum’s pure and carefree life is upended when she is made fun of by the other girls at school. She feels humiliated and upset because of her abnormally long name. The parents of Chrysanthemum keep doing what they have always done, even if it is no longer effective. She only recently got to know these youngsters, but already she’s concerned about what they think of her, to the point where they could make her hate her name. Then something spectacular happens after all the kids make fun of Chrysanthemum. The youngsters absolutely adore the new music instructor who just arrived. She and the teacher’s students have an instant connection, and the students look up to her. It resembles a charm or celebrity. Everyone really values their viewpoint. The entire class changes their minds when Mrs. Twinkle expresses her affection for the name Chrysanthemum, making the children emotional in the process. Chrysanthemum is the envy of the entire class thanks to her. The three bullies then conclude that Chrysanthemum’s name isn’t all that horrible after all, and they start to want to be her friends. Now that she has her self-esteem back, Chrysanthemum has accepted the fact that she does, in fact, like her name. Although the girls have finally accepted her, she makes no effort to develop friendships with them because she is aware of their superficiality. When Chrysanthemum discovers that they receive justice at the very end of the novel, she is ecstatic.
The book takes an integral setting. The characters are arranged like regular schoolchildren; they choose one child and attach themselves to them in order to make fun of them for a characteristic. Despite not being entirely essential, it does make more sense to set the story in a school since that is where the events are most likely to take place. The novel is set in two locations: Chrysanthemum’s home (where she is born and given the name) and her school. The time period in which Chrysanthemum is born is significant, thus the setting must be taken into account. Chrysanthemum wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been born. The main character’s home serves as a safe haven for her during her fight with the bullies at school who make fun of her name, which is made clear by the book’s setting. In the book, the setting also serves as a symbol. The Chrysanthemum’s house represents safety and her school symbolize harmful environments. While Chrysanthemum is reassured that she is the center of her parents’ universe when she returns home each night, the problem is not resolved by her loving and attentive parents, who tell her she is charming and successful. Her parents are there to lift her spirits at all times. She has numerous challenges to deal with in school. Finally, Chrysanthemum meets a wonderful new music instructor at school who is adored by the mouse kids. All of the kids in the class admire Ms. Twinkle because she is such a beam of sunshine (Henkes, 1991). Chrysanthemum is given the role of a daisy in the musical production that she performs, which not only helps her feel comfortable with who she is but also transforms school into a place where she can have fun and feel safe. Every child may think more deeply about the characters in the book since they have realistic personalities and a familiar setting.
In order to highlight the tension between Chrysanthemum and her classmates as well as between Chrysanthemum and herself, the author exploits conflict in this story. In this narrative, the protagonist struggles with her sense of self, and the naughty mouse kids don’t help leading to person to person conflict. Chrysanthemum was so excited about her first day of school that she ran the entire way there. When Chrysanthemum arrived at school, the kids made fun of her name and took attendance. Jo and Rita, two of her students, remarked on how lengthy it was and how it hardly fit on her name tag (Henkes, 1991). Victoria, a different classmate, made a remark about how her name was derived from a flower. Chrysanthemum started to think her name was horrible as a result of this. Chrysanthemum eventually comes to the realization that her same is a significant aspect of who she is with Mrs. Twinkle’s assistance. Following the other student’s mockery of Chrysanthemum, Mrs. Twinkle shares with her class how much she adores the name by resolving the person to person conflict. Chrysanthemum got the confidence boost she required to start believing in her name again when she learned that Mrs. Twinkle believed her name was just beautiful.
Reference
Henkes, K. (1991). Chrysanthemum. Greenwillow Books.
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