Children’s stories by Xuan Quynh through the lens of the “ethics of care” (A study of Springtime in the Field, The Railway Station in the City, and There is still Another Moon)

Abstract

Beyond her standing as one of the leading voices in Vietnamese poetry of the late twentieth century, Xuan Quynh also made significant contributions to children's literature. From the perspective of the ethics of care, this article offers an in-depth analysis of three collections: Springtime in the Field - Mùa xuân trên cánh đồng (1981), The Railway Station in the City - Bến tàu trong thành phố (1984), and There is still Another Moon - Vẫn có ông trăng khác (1988), to highlight salient dimensions in Xuan Quynh's fiction: cognition through curiosity and the desire to explore life; empathy through listening and conversation; and sharing as the foundation of emotional education. The article argues that ethics in Xuan Quynh’s children’s fiction is not a system of externally imposed norms, but rather a relational form of ethics that emerges naturally from attentiveness to everyday life, from responsiveness to the needs of others, and from the recognition of children as cultural subjects. This approach contributes to rethinking education and human development in the context of contemporary society.