Educational Quest in Children’s Literature: A Study of Stephen Ekwealor-Mmeh’s the Triumph of Doggedness and Agbo Areo’s Mother’s Choice

Ebiketonmor Opomu

doi:10.56201/ijelcs.vol.11.no4.2026.pg24.34

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Educational Quest in Children’s Literature: A Study of Stephen Ekwealor-Mmeh’s the Triumph of Doggedness and Agbo Areo’s Mother’s Choice

Ebiketonmor Opomu

Abstract

Children’s literature is a genre that deals with books intended for children or a younger audience. These books are meant strictly to entertain and instruct children. But with the growing trend in the field of literary studies, especially in the areas of application of theories in the mainstream literature, children’s literature, too, has become a subject of several scholarly investigations. Several studies have shown how authors of children’s literature build moral ideas around characters with the aim to influencing the younger readership audience. Drawing from this background, this paper aims to enrich conversations on children’s literature. Hence, the paper builds its argument on the quest motif, with particular focus on the pursuit for education. By adopting the moral/ethical literary theory, the paper seeks to explain characters’ motivations behind the quest, and explores intertwining moral issues underlined in the texts. The methods of thematic and comparative analysis are incorporated, to put the paper on a strong analytical context. Thus, the paper reveals that the quest for education is a strong and dominant motif in the texts. It notes the manner of its representation, pointing out how it foregrounds formal education as a worthwhile desirable, aiming to inspire and guide consumers of children’s literature. However, it highlights that motivations are different in the texts, and intricately intertwined by moral questions that could bring about a quest success or failure. The paper maintains that quest motif is variously constructed to alert of its diverse conflicting outcomes that can help society make right choices.

Keywords

children’s literatureyounger audiencemoral ideasquest motifeducation

References

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Educational Quest in Children’s Literature: A Study of Stephen Ekwealor-Mmeh’s the Triumph of Doggedness and Agbo Areo’s Mother’s Choice

Abstract

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References

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