Mr. Small (Mr. Men Classic Library) Book

Although Roger Hargreaves' "Mr Small" was originally published in 1972, it truly is a story that resonates with the particularly difficult circumstances that people living in 2012 are currently experiencing. Hargreaves has, with "Mr Small", used the medium of children's literature to explore the despair associated with unemployment and to deconstruct society's image of the working class everyman. This is a story rich in moral and philosophical detail and thus it is a story that needs to be told.

The eponymous "Mr Small" is struggling on the fringes of society as he strives to succeed in a hugely unequal employment landscape where unscrupulous employers require him to submit to a series of jobs for which he is woefully unsuitable. Despite his best efforts, poor "Mr Small" lacks both the basic knowledge and the skills necessary to accomplish any of the occupations which society deems fit for him. While the rest of the "Mr Men" series could perhaps be accused of demonstrating social conservatism, here Roger Hargreaves is clearly offering a stark exposé of an education system that leaves people unable to hold down even the most basic of jobs. In a workplace that demands ever more skills and mechanised workers, what place is there for our token everyman?

The answer to this question, from Hargreaves perspective anyway, is clearly greater state intervention. The state is here personified in Mr Robertson, a friend of "Mr Small" and all of the other little people, who seeks to create a new field of employment for our embattled hero. Unfortunately, Hargreaves here misses the chance to advocate for industrialisation and an increase in domestic productivity, instead opting to have "Mr Small" find potential salvation in a creative profession. Will this subliminal pushing of media studies never cease? Ultimately, even this outcome is far from happy as "Mr Small" seems able to offer nothing more than the story of his own tragic failures. His prospects for the future are clearly built on a foundation of sand.

Roger Hargreaves' "Mr Small" is a searing indictment of sizeist hegemony and the iniquities of the class system and, as such, is a warning to all of society: If "Mr Small" cannot be saved, then what hope is there for the rest of us?