FINDING HOME: IMAGINARY WORLDS AS REFUGE AGAINST REALITY IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

This study is qualitative in nature that employs content analysis. The study analyzed the selected children's literature featuring child characters creating imaginary worlds, namely, Corain by Neil Gaiman and Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson. The study used the Formalistic Approach to describe the circumstances that influence the child characters to create these imaginary worlds. The Psychological Approach determines how they access these imaginary worlds and how they contrast reality. Lastly, both Psychological and Formalistic Approaches to analyzing how the creation of the imaginary worlds affects the child characters. The results showed that the child characters created imaginary worlds because of circumstances that involved dissatisfaction with home school and society. The child characters accessed their made-up words through their dreams and imaginative plays, both characterized by wish-fulfillment, therefore, offering contradiction against reality. Thus, the Imaginary worlds countered reality by making the child protagonists' wishes and desires possible. Imaginary worlds then served as their refuge against their realities. Moreover, the made-up words, being a task that involves creativity and imagination, provide a glimpse of the child's character's psyche. This gives the child characters an opportunity to explore their unconscious-their desires and fears and come to terms with them, making their journey in their imaginary worlds a journey of will discovery which transforms the child characters into mature individuals and generally better versions of themselves in the end.