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Abstract
One of the tricks of children's stories to objectify abstract relationships is employing the metaphor of "color". On the one hand, the metaphor of "color change" in the three stories of "Red: The Story of a Candle" (Hall, 2015), "The Day the Crayons Quit" (Daywalt, 2013), and "Purple Pencil" (Ghazaleh Bigdelou, 2012)  refers to the "identity revolution" and on the other, the first two stories are American and the story of "Purple Pencil" is Iranian, so this article has selected the mentioned stories to compare the views of the two mentioned cultural discourses in terms of the meaning of "ideal identity". In this regard, it intends to answer three questions in a descriptive-analytical way, within the framework of Landowski semantic systems: How has ideal self been interpreted in each text, given that these three texts encourage the child to identify? How does each text invite the child to socialize? The hidden ideology in every text creates alienation and de-alienation, which institutions are related to subjectivity? From a cultural semiotic point of view, every text is a culture. The present study examines the paradigm of identification in children's stories. Since identity is a construct of discourse, it translates the ideology embedded in the identity-making discourse from the sphere of origin to the sphere of destination.
Introduction
J. Lotman designed the semio-sphere as the space of all the texts of a culture, being interconnected in such a sphere. Unlike constructivist semiotics, which considers culture to be a hypertextual element, cultural semiology considers culture to be an integral part of the text. According to Lotman, the semio-sphere is like a crystal in which each of the texts inside, as components, has the properties of the whole sphere. Therefore, by placing it within the semio-sphere, he did not only seek for the meaning of the text, but also attempts to reconstruct the semio-sphere.
Greimas divides semantic systems into two classic types: "programming" and "persuasion / manipulation". Landowski by passing over the dual system of Greimas believes in two semantic-interactive systems of "adjustment" and "accident".
Background
Landowski, in Reflective Society (1989) deals with the sign of social semantics and the role of the "other" in the formation of the meaning of "I", and in Khatari Interactions (2005), introduces his four systems. Moein, in Meaning as Lived Experience (2015), and The Lost Dimensions of Meaning in Classical Narrative Semiotics (2017), as well as in his articles, introduces Landowski to the Iranian semioticians. In Iran, semio-semantics research based on Landowski theory in the field of children's literature can be summarized in a study by Zanjanbar (2021).
Aims, significance, and questions
The theme of the three stories, The Day the Crayons Quit (Daywalt, 2013), Red: A Crayon’s Story (Hall, 2015) and Purple Pencil (Bigdellou, 2013) is “identity crisis”, and the main characters in all three are pencils. All three use the "color change" trick to portray the "identity revolution" of the protagonist. The first two stories are American and the story of "Purple Pencil" is Iranian. The aim of the present study is to compare the differences and similarities of the concept of "ideal self" in stories that have different cultural spheres. There is competition among Iranian publishers for the publication of books that receive international awards, regardless of the fact that the dominant discourses award these books due to ideological matters. The importance of this research is that it shows that although a skilled translator can change the language based on the target semio-sphere; but the theme of the story is the carrier of the ideology of the origin sphere.
The research questions are:
1. How has ideal self been interpreted in each text, given that these three texts encourage the child to identify?
2. How does each text invite the child to socialize?
3. The hidden ideology in every text creates alienation and de-alienation, which institutions related to subjectivity?
Research Methodology
The research method is analytical-descriptive and its approach is cultural semio-semantics. The theoretical foundations section introduces Landowski's four semantic systems and its related paradigms (subject, object, and modality verbs). In the analysis section, all three texts are read within the framework of Landowski semantic systems. Then, the signs (written signs and visual signs) that are the basis of the subject's identification are discovered in all three stories, and the signs of each text are compared with the signs of the other two texts, thus, the similarities and differences of the concept of ideal self should be discovered in these three texts, and the way of identifying the semio-sphere should be revealed in each of them.
Conclusion
Although all three works consider the flourishing identity to be dissident, hopeful and dynamic, they do not agree on all levels. According to "Purple Pencil" (Bigdellou, 2012), in Iranian and Eastern culture in general, the way out is based on the system of adaptation and the ideal self is based on the transcendence of the subject through pure love, family-centered, lasting relationships and life. This discourse severely undermines individuality, and strengthens marriage. It also ignores society by keeping silent. American culture recommends two types of dissent: one is for the inferior actor, and the other is for the superior actor. According to "Red: The Story of a Candle" (Hall, 2015), the dual subject is inferior, when it reaches a blossom that gives originality to self, not to its representation. This approach sees the way out, in the system of persuasion (self-persuasion), and believes in individualism, romantic incoherence, inviolability of privacy while cooperation, colloquialism and persuasion, temporary and not necessarily permanent relationships and coercion imposed by subjectivity. This discourse weakens the institutions of collective control (such as education, society, family, peer group), and empowers the individual. "The day the crayons stopped working" (Daywalt, 2013) sees the exit as an exploitation of the persuasion system. Hence, he considers the subordinate subject as an ideal when, as an actor within the system of persuasion, he considers the needs of the actors under his control. In other words, it has an identity such as politician, persuasive, flexible, community-oriented, free, expedient and creative. This discourse reinforces the institutions of social control (the pencil community, the education or teacher who gives a perfect grade, the police who dance), and in general, the discourse of power, but it knows flexibility.
 
 
References
Bigdlu. Q. (2013). Medād-e Banafsh. Tehran: E'lmi o Farhangi Publication. [in Persian].
Daywalt. D. (2016). Ruzi ke Medād Sh'amihā Dast az Kār Kashidand. Trans. Mahboubeh Najafkhani. Tehran: Z'Aferān Publication. [in Persian].
Hall. M. (2015). Red: A Crayon’s Story. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Landowski. E (1989). Reflective society (in French). Seuil.
Landowski. E (2005). Khatari interactions (in French). PULIM.
Moin, M. B. (2015). Meaning as lived experience (in Farsi). Sokhan.
Moin, M. B. (2017). The missing dimensions of meaning in classical narrative semiotics (in Farsi). Scientific and Cultural.
Zanjanbar, A.H. (2021). "Tatbiq-e Nezāmhā-ye Khandeh M'anāyi-e Adabiyāt-e Āmmeh va Adabiyāt-e Koudak az Manzare  Neshāneh-Ma'nā-Shenāsi-e Farhangi". Farhang o Adabiyāt-e Āmmeh. No. 36 (Vol. 8). Pp. 65- 97. [in Persian].
 
 

Keywords: cultural semiotics, subjectivity, Comparative Literature, Landowski, semantic systems, child's story

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