Me: <yawn>

My brain: That “Giving Tree” alternate ending is part of a literary movement which requires texts to overtly endorse a moral principle instead of inviting critique, which in turn is a response to the politicisation of public & æsthetic discourse in a fascist regime.

The authoritarian usurpation of “it was just a joke” as a vector for fascist ideology, followed by the onslaught of propaganda which equates expertise with authority (and thus denies all expertise that isn’t centralised), create mistrust of all text whose philosophy isn’t overt.

And although this alternate ending is not the same thing as bowdlerisation, we are currently in the sort of literary environment from which a movement toward overt moralism — of which bowdlerism is another example — could naturally arise.

I wonder whether there were similar authoritarian cultural pressures on early 19th century kidlit.

Me: …you what now?

My brain: You heard me. Go do some research. I expect a dissertation on my desk before you go back to work on Tuesday.