Children’s stories have always been a vital part of American society, and even today they play a major role in the attitudes of adults and children alike. While most think of children’s short stories as simply for entertainment, in many instances they hold much greater meanings than what is on the surface. In Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit, readers are presented the heartwarming story of a stuffed rabbit who is a gift to a young boy on Christmas. Through trials and downfalls, the rabbit finds his ‘realness’ and the boy finds a true friend in him. Upon first glance, this story may seem like simply a fictional story to make children believe in magic, but when looked at more closely, it holds truths and messages that span through all generations and walks of life. One concept that Williams touches on in this story is that of casting judgement on one another, and the idea that someone cannot define another’s ‘realness’ or purpose in the world. Through the confrontation of real rabbits in the forest casting judgement on Velveteen, Williams discusses this serious topic in a magical way through talking animals and live stuffed toys. The author also incorporates the idea that children’s focuses are becoming more ‘temporary’ as our culture becomes more focused on newer, shinier things in life. Williams uses the casting away of Velveteen on Christmas morning when newer gadgets are presented as a small but effective example of this societal phenomenon. Through the use of different outside sources and with further analysis of the text, a connection can be made between this children’s short story and the society we live in today.

In today’s world, we are subject to the judgement of others more than ever before. Through the use of really any media outlet available to us, the presence of one person judging another on their actions, physical appearance, etc. is something that has become a sort of phenomenon, especially among America’s youth. Since I can remember, schools have preached to young students the dangers of the Internet and how prominent ‘cyber bullying’ has become among the young people in this country. According to the Cyberbulling Research Center of America, “about half of young people have experienced some sort of cyber bullying, and 10 to 20 percent experience it regularly (Bullying). With this discouraging statistic, we are pressed to wonder what this stemmed from, and how far back in time this topic has been discussed. Margery Williams wrote The Velveteen Rabbit in 1922, long before the Internet or cyber bullying were even in the American vocabulary. However, she does touch on the subject of judgement in this short story, and the effect it can have on the victim. She uses the Velveteen Rabbit as her main character, a toy given to a young boy on Christmas. At one point in the story, the rabbit and his owner were outside, and some real rabbits from the forest came to confront Velveteen, and to mock him on what they saw as his lack of ‘realness’ since he was a stuffed toy. They exclaimed of Velveteen; “He doesn’t smell right! He isn’t a rabbit at all! He isn’t real!” (Williams). Through this hasty judgement, these rabbits are representations of bullies in the real world, and how they quickly and wrongfully tend to judge others based on differences they know nothing about. While it is easy to throw around the term ‘bullying’ and not to take it seriously, the effect that it can have on the victim makes room for serious mental and physical damage done. The website, Stopbullying.com, provides readers with some different aftermath that can come from bullying, such as “depression and anxiety…health complaints…decreased academic achievement” (Stopbullying.com) and much more. These effects have the potential to carry into adulthood, and to make for lives that are not enjoyable to the people that live them. The website also states that in the 1990s, “in 12 of 15 school shooting cases…the shooters had a history of being bullied” (Stopbullying.com). This alarming statistic causes us to think on the true outcome of idly standing by while children bully and taunt each other. In my life, I have heard numerous adults exclaim that teasing one another is just ‘a part of childhood’ with the indication that it should not be taken seriously. By doing this, after reading through the numbers on its aftermath, are we aiding in the future of troubled people that pose a threat to others such as those who terrorize schools with guns? This brings forth an entirely new outlook on the idea of bullying and teasing, and how far it can be allowed to go before it becomes detrimental. In using this lighthearted story to raise awareness to a real growing problem in the United States, Margery Williams connected the fictional life of a stuffed bunny to hundreds of lives around the world, and brings light to an issue that has been in the making for decades. 

Another concept that Williams brings up in her story is that of the rapidly-shortening attention span of America’s youth. Long gone are the days when children sat in front of radios or read books for their entertainment; now there are numerous amounts of stimulus all day every day surrounding their growing minds. In The Velveteen Rabbit, the author chooses to address this phenomenon in a way that is relatable for most children and adults alike: through the casting away of a stuffed animal on Christmas morning. The rabbit is given to the young boy as a present, and mere moments later is tossed away due to the discovery of more advanced gadgets. Williams writes that “in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten” (Williams). While this example may seem small and insignificant, it stems from a real-world issue regarding the shift in the attitudes of America’s youth and the way their minds work. This great change was studied and tested by a professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Michael Abramson, who used predictive texting to test the minds of young people. An article written about it states that the study “showed that those who used predictive text messaging the most were more likely to give faster—but less accurate—responses to IQ test questions (Telegraph). Through further analysis of this finding, we can conclude that the idea behind it is that technology has made for somewhat lazier children. With smartphones and the entire Internet at their fingertips, children these days are more subject to the negative effects technology has to offer than any before have ever been. They are growing used to the idea that advances such as predictive texting and spell check will correct their mistakes for them, leading to a lack of strive for accuracy, which can then overflow into their everyday lives offline. For example, tasks such as going to the grocery store have been made ‘technological’ so that all a customer has to do to get groceries is click a button and wait for their food to be delivered to their house via sites like Amazon.com. This all leads to the question of what this is teaching our children to grow up to be like. The American Dream has been a stereotype for this country since its founding, yet that strive for greatness that drove our forebearers has suddenly begun to halt due to all of the technology that has been provided. While some advances have been beneficial to our health and well-being, what are things like spell-check doing for our minds besides making them lazy? One Stanford Professor named Dr. Elias Aboujaoude expressed his opinion on the matter, and stated that through all of this technology, we “might lose the ability to analyze things with any depth and nuance. Like any skill, if you don’t use it, you lose it” (Aboujaoude). What he is alluding to is the idea that without the demand for the honing of skills such as editing, analytical thinking, etc., we are subject to lose them altogether, which, through the idea of evolution, may mean that later generations may not even be born with this skill at all. Williams uses a simple childhood Christmas morning to open up the Pandora’s Box of issues that too much technology could bring to this country and the minds of its people.

Through the tale of a stuffed rabbit and his magical adventure through life, author Margery Williams brings important and somewhat troubling issues of America to light. While The Velveteen Rabbit is a children’s short story, its underlying messages of a judgmental, technology-obsessed youth are enough to worry any right-minded parent. In using outside articles and background information, readers are able to uncover these topics and relate them to the America that we know today, and to hopefully create an awareness that carries over into how we conduct ourselves and where our priorities lie. 
