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

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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

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).