"Toys"

Annie Hoang
English 1301, Assignment: out of class essay #1Dr. MurrayNovember 16, 2010
​Summary of "Toys" Roland Barthen 

In Roland Barthes essay, "Toys", Barthes criticizes French toys of the modern world. He implies that the toys are only human objects that are only reduced in size to fit the smaller people and all have a specific meaning. According to Barthes, these toys are said to be a cause of the corruption of a child's mind, because these toys are just made for the child to prepare his or herself for the future roles of life. In Barthes' essay, he stated that because of the toys' purpose "the child can only identify himself as owner, as user, never as creator; he does not invent the world, he uses: There are, prepared for him, actions without adventure, without wonder, without joy" (Barthes 342). In Barthes essay, Barthes indicates that since everything is already introduce to the child from when they were young, as they get older, they no longer have to search and learn to adapt to the world since everything was introduced to them. Barthes also compares the simple wood block toys to those mechanical toys. He expresses that the simpler toys are more compatible to the rather than more complex ones. The simpler ones allows the child to learn to create things while the more complex toys take these possibilities of the child to create things away. The wooden although are simple, they wear out slower, and have more positive influence for the child rather than the " toys [that] die in fact very quickly, and once dead, have no posthumous life for the child" (Barthes 343) referring to the more complex toys. Barthes mainly criticizes the toys believing that they should be made more simpler to help with the development of the children mind.

I understand and respect where Roland Barthes is coming from although I do not so much agree with him. In my opinion, both complex and simple toys are important for a child. Simple toys teaches them to learn to want better in life which guides them the these more complicated toys; Toys that will prepare them for the future. Most parents probably do not want their child to be unaware of his or her future. In fact, most parents want to do all it takes to prepare their children for the future, therefore they buy these toys like baby dolls, kitchen sets, and occupation sets. These toys are not all bad, they are just a way of helping the parents introduce to their children to the real world and the future. I do agree that since toys do impact a child, and influence the way the child thinks, the toys should not having the meaning that will affect the child in a way that they will only know how to use and things, and not want to learn to create other things. Thus, when parents are out there selecting toys to buy their children, I guess that they should think twice and see whether the toy will affect the child in a positive or negative way although toys are just meant to be for the good and benefit of the child.

Peterson, Linda H., and John C. Brereton. "Toys." The Norton Reader: an Anthology of Nonfiction. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. 342-43. Print.