Work

Loveable Lack: The Reimagined Wild of “Real” Bears

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The image of the bear and its relationship to the human undergoes many representations in children’s literature. Their bodies range from cute and squishable teddy bears to non-fiction representations of wild bears. For example, the lone polar bear, a popular visual device for expressing the “slow violence” of climate change, coined by Rob Nixon in 2011. This gray area then invites one to consider how these two opposing states influence one another in the context of conversations around climate change. Given the widespread adoption of the polar bear as an emblem of climate change, this article addresses how polar bear imagery is translated into modern children’s literature when it often draws on cute aesthetics. Cuteness then calls into question how ‘real’ bears have been reimagined into fictional settings and whether relationships between child and bear can provide commentary on inspiring environmental activism. I explore Hannah Gold’s The Last Bear and its sequel, Finding Bear, as borderline ecopedagogical texts which highlight the tension created when a typically cute subject is used to encourage environmental activism amongst its younger readerships.

Source: Humanities

DOI: 10.3390/h14030067

Author: Elizabeth Ritsema

Institution: Royal Holloway University of London

Language: English

Topic: Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,689