The Element of Water in the Tales and Strories of Ferda İzbudak Akinci

Abstract

This is a study conducted on the works in the field of children’s literature by Ferda İzbudak Akıncı who has achieved important goals and created works in the field of children’s literature. It has become necessary to conduct the study due to the fact that the author and her works had not been studied with a comprehensive analysis, and the element of water used frequently and functionally in her works has reached remarkable dimensions. We determined the sample group randomly selected among the works of the author in the field of children’s literature, in order to determine with which functions the element of water appeared or did not. In the study, we used document analysis as a qualitative research method. We obtained various codes related to the element of water in the documents analysed. These are; rescue, revival, relief and entertainment. In the traditional sense, we observed that mother figure was created based on the element of water; missing parents were replaced with the nature. However, given that the mother figure is not just any random mother, her attributes reach up to supernal dimensions; we believe that the author intended to create a “mother goddess” from a species existing in the form of “Kybele”. Since the works contain not only the good aspects of water, but also the destructive sides, we have concluded that god-like aspect of water is completed by using a punishing structure. Water’s having protection and auxiliary elements bonded to it, and accepting the natural formations hosting water as sanctuaries can be listed among grounds of our conclusion.