Although many critics and theorists, including Roland Barthes, have discussed food in literature, little attention has been paid to the food-as-temptation story in children’s literature. In Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline food is used as temptation for child protagonists, a tool to lure them into doing evil deeds or being generally mischievous. Some characters, like Alice, act as the tempters as well as the tempted, while others, like Edmund, wait passively for rescue. Coraline breaks this model by featuring a protagonist that not only saves her kidnapped parents by using food as a weapon, even after she is tempted by food herself. Coraline represents a more contemporary version of the food-as-temptation because its protagonist’s agency is more complex. Coraline dictates her relationship with food, which makes her differ from other protagonists in other fantastical children’s works.
","abstract_html":"<p>Although many critics and theorists, including Roland Barthes, have discussed food in literature, little attention has been paid to the food-as-temptation story in children’s literature. In Lewis Carroll’s <em>Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland</em>, C.S. Lewis’ <em>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</em>, Roald Dahl’s <em>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</em>, and Neil Gaiman’s <em>Coraline</em> food is used as temptation for child protagonists, a tool to lure them into doing evil deeds or being generally mischievous. Some characters, like Alice, act as the tempters as well as the tempted, while others, like Edmund, wait passively for rescue. <em>Coraline</em> breaks this model by featuring a protagonist that not only saves her kidnapped parents by using food as a weapon, even after she is tempted by food herself. <em>Coraline</em> represents a more contemporary version of the food-as-temptation because its protagonist’s agency is more complex. <em>Coraline</em> dictates her relationship with food, which makes her differ from other protagonists in other fantastical children’s works.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Stephens, Mary A."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in English (M.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Literature and Philosophy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Caren Town","Dustin Anderson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:17Z","subjects":["ETD","Children's literature","Food","Narnia","Lewis Carroll","Gaiman Dahl","Literature in English, British Isles"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/50","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Caren Town","Dustin Anderson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Stephens, Mary A."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-07-22T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Children's literature","Food","Narnia","Lewis Carroll","Gaiman Dahl","Literature in English, British Isles"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/50"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Although many critics and theorists, including Roland Barthes, have discussed food in literature, little attention has been paid to the food-as-temptation story in children’s literature. In Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline food is used as temptation for child protagonists, a tool to lure them into doing evil deeds or being generally mischievous. Some characters, like Alice, act as the tempters as well as the tempted, while others, like Edmund, wait passively for rescue. Coraline breaks this model by featuring a protagonist that not only saves her kidnapped parents by using food as a weapon, even after she is tempted by food herself. Coraline represents a more contemporary version of the food-as-temptation because its protagonist’s agency is more complex. Coraline dictates her relationship with food, which makes her differ from other protagonists in other fantastical children’s works.
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"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/50"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Children's literature","Food","Narnia","Lewis Carroll","Gaiman Dahl","Literature in English, British Isles"],"dc:title":["Nothing More Delicious: Food as Temptation in Children's Literature"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:17Z"}