Amerikan çocuk edebiyatında değişen ahlaki ses: E. B. White ve topluluk ruhu

The core values that shape American culture is based on the ideology of individualism. The spirit of individualism not only shapes social life of individuals, but also shows itself in many areas from politics to literature, and even in the field of children's literature. So, in many American classical children's stories, we often come across the spirit of adventure and the concept of freedom, two issues which have shaped the American character, as well. The rapid social changes of the 1950s have been influential in bringing a critical perspective to individualism. American sociologists, who advocate that individual values alone are not sufficient for constructing a healthy American society, criticize the social, moral and institutional corruption that has dominated American society after the 1950s. Therefore, they suggest that the prevailing "me first" narcissistic value in American society should be balanced by a "we first" communal thinking. Similarly, in his children's fiction, E. B. White, without privileging either one at the expense of the other, also writes stories that maintain a healthy balance between individualism and community. In this respect, E. B. White's children stories differ from most of his counterparts. This dissertation, by using the method of textual analysis, aims to scrutinize E.B. White's three children's books Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web and The Trumpet of the Swan in order to reflect on E. B. White's changing moral voice. Due to the uncontrollable rise of individualism, E. B. White is also concerned with the gradual disintegration of communal values in American society and tries to find a resolution by integrating the spirit of the community into the life of the child. Believing that change begins with the child, E. B. White brings individual and communal values together in all three literary works, reminding his child readers the importance of community as well as individuality in the maintenance of a healthy American society. Consequently, for the protagonists of each of the three novels, the road to success lies in combining the spirit of friendship and solidarity with that of freedom and adventure. Keywords: Social Construction of Childhood, Children's Literature, Ideology, Narcissistic Culture, Individualism, Communitarianism, Healing Narrative.