An Analysis of Childhood and Child Labour in Charles Dickens Works: David Copperfield and Oliver Twist

The Industrial Revolution was a time of enormous change for the British society. Science and technology developed rapidly and brought wealth and improvement into many sectors of life; inventions like the steam engine, power looms, the spinning jenny or the expansion of the road and rail network made life easier. But on the other hand it was also the time of great misery, exploitation and tremendous class differences between a very thin and very wealthy upper-class, a rising middle-class and a very broad and to a great extent extremely impoverished working-class. But how was it like being a working-class child in Victorian England? To answer this question this work will take a close look at two of the most famous contemporary novels dealing with the depiction of children: Charles Dickens David Copperfield and Oliver Twist .

Autorentext

Selina Schuster is a graduate of the University of Paderborn with the First State Examination and is currently a teacher in training for the subjects English, History and German. Her major fields of study were English literature and culture studies with a special focus on the Victorian Era and the late 19th century. Furthemore, she is a published author of several academic studies as well as two fictional novels (i.a. Carlsen Publishings).

Leseprobe
Text Sample:
Chapter 2.1, The Middle-class A romanticized Idealization:
Speaking about the perception of children and childhood during the Victorian Era one usually refers to the ideas and ideals of the upper classes. It fact it was the Victorian middle-class that laid the foundation to the modern attitude towards childhood and which is closely intertwined with the perception of the ideal-typical and archetypical Victorian childhood as we imagine it today. It is not for nothing that family life was the most idealized part of childhood in the Victorian period .Especially the Romantic Movement s view on children as inherently innocent beings highly influenced Victorian middle-class parents attitude towards their children and childhood in general. The predominating image of the time in regard to children was definitely shaped by romanticized sentimentality: Children share certain important characteristics: they are depicted as infantile, with large heads or rosebud mouths or lips, and thus as innocent; as vulnerable, in need of adult protection; as trusting, perceiving only the good in the world.
But there was more to the middle-class view on children other that they were something immensely precious and worth protecting. As already mentioned above, class differences were a substantial part of society during the Victorian period and therefore shaped the views and opinions of those who were born into the different classes decisively. The foremost important aspect of the Victorian middle-class view on family life and childhood was the concept of domesticity: Domesticity was an idealization of the home. Home was a refuge from the cruelty and rapaciousness of the workplace and the marketplace. As a matter of fact, for the Victorian middle-class family the home had become especially important since it was seen as a tranquil haven within the vast and turbulent ocean of the hectic outside world. They tried to build their own little paradise of peace and serenity which stood in stark contrast to the public sphere. The Victorian middle-class tended to idealize the family and family life as a heavenly sanctuary with the luxury of leisure time, where loving mothers could play with their well-behaved children and fathers would relax after a long day of hard work. It is this new emphasis on the importance of the home [that] is a key element in Victorian Culture.
A direct connection to the concept of domesticity was the distribution of strict roles for all family members which was called the doctrine of separate spheres . Women were seen as private creatures, the angels in the house whose most important task was to care for the well-being of their children and husbands, even if that meant enormous personal sacrifices. They were expected to support their men in every way they could and while men made their living and their reputation in the world , women were expected to be grateful towards their men, stay at home and tend the hearth and raise the children. Men on the other hand were public creatures and had to protect their beloved as well as to provide them with everything they needed. But not only the parents were bound to strict roles which they were ought to fulfill. They had precise expectations towards their children as well. Upper and middle-class children were supposed to be obedient, dutiful and grateful towards their parent s efforts and first and foremost should become respectable and honest adults in the future. Education was an important factor in order to raise their children to become good adults. But since gender differences were especially strong within the upper and middle-classes, the different treatment of boys and girls concerning education started right from the beginning. Schooling was highly gendered in order to prepare the children for their respective gender roles for which they were destined as adults. Boys generally received more education, went to private or boarding schools and later on to