Child Labour in Victorian England in the light of
Novel Oliver Twist
Childhood, after all, is the first
precious coin that poverty steals from a child. Child labour damages the future
of children. It is a serious matter not for some countries but also in other
developing countries. It is a social problem in many societies. Victorian, s
England was a child dominated society. The population explosion that occurred
during the Victorian period was accompanied by a tremendous amount of
industrialization and urbanization vast majority of children lived in town
rather than communities. Charles Dickens also reveals an intense concern about
the vulnerability of children of Victorian era.
The child labour and capitalism were
prevailing in Victorian age at high stage. Industries were increasing. Children
were used by capitalist to get their aim. Charles Dickens was the great
novelist of Victorian period and his novels are about exploited or abused children.
His novels are the reflection of Victorian England and his personal life.
Oliver Twist also deals with child labour.When Dickens was in the age of twelve
year, his father was imprisoned for debt and he
was
sent to work in a blacking factory, an incident that also forced him to explain
about child labour. (Dickens 20)
Child Labour
was one of the biggest scandals of the 19th century, spreading to other
countries as they industrialized. The problem arose when children, many younger
than ten years old were employed by factories and mines. There was limited
opportunity for education, and children expected to work. Employers also liked
that they could pay a child less than an adult (Dickens 44). They were forced
to work long hours under dangerous conditions for little pay. The rise of Industrial capitalism created a
huge demand for cheap labour which children certainly were understood suitable.
Many children were exploited for the survival of families. Children were given
no education because at that time, education was at small stage. Lower Class
was not availing proper facilities to get eduction.The Victorian age
represented children as opposed by nature to the materialistic world of trade
and profit. Due to financial crisis, children were sent to factories by their
parents.
Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness.
There is a vital link between child labour and poverty. Writings of Charles
Dickens is called for reform at every level of society. He also explained about
social injustice of society. Child labour at the time of Victorian was
synonymous to slavery. Children were subjected to inhuman torture, exploitation
and even death. It was part of gruesome system which snatched children of their
childhood, health and even their lives. Child labour is economically unsound,
psychologically disastrous and physically as well as morally dangerous and harmful.
It violates nation’s minimum wage laws, prevents children from going to school
and uses children to undermine labor standards. (Warren 21)
During the early part of the Victorian Age only two percent
of the population formed the upper-class, which consisted of aristocrats and
landed gentry whose most distinctive feature was the fact that its members
didn’t have to work for a living but relied on rental revenues and the income
of investments made instead. The middle-class formed roughly 15 percent of the
population and consisted of those who ran their own businesses, like factory
owners or were professionals like teachers, surgeons or lawyers. The majority
of 73 percent of the population were considered as the working-class, whose
members were working for wages and were paid weekly or monthly. It is
important to mention that there was an internal distinction between skilled and
unskilled workers within this social class. Skilled workers had learned a trade
and therefore, made better wages than the vast group of unskilled workers who
had nothing but their physical strength to put into the balance. Children were
also used.
Dickens was not only the first great urban novelist in England,
but also one of the most important social commentators who used fiction
effectively to criticize economic, social, and moral abuses in the Victorian
era. Dickens showed compassion and empathy towards the vulnerable and dis-advantaged
segments of English society, and contributed to several important social reforms.
Industrial Revolution also changed the lives of children (Belmar 7).
In the middle of the 19th century crime and poverty were an
inseparable mixed matter and most of the youngsters who suffered prison
sentences were the prey of poverty; unwanted by their family, church and state.
During the Industrial Revolution period, a mass of humanity flowed from the
countryside into cities and towns, especially London, without any promise of
stable homes or shelters. Children ran wild on the streets, fighting for life
as best as they could,
often times by crime and only the
tough and quick-witted held out. They had no education and did pretty much
whatever they wanted. They never heard words of kindness, only the language of
people they met in the streets which they copied: various curses, shouting and
vulgar language. Young children, who were running in the streets to fend for
themselves, were never taught or told what was right and what was wrong; for
instance that taking food from the market tables without paying for it was
wrong and they were going to be punished for it if they were caught. It was more
of a game to them which they played daily. (Duckworth 11)
The novel Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, with its remarkable characters,
probable events, humor and peculiar locations, offers us some real insights
into the social state of his day and the way that ordinary people were affected
by them. Charles Dickens was the first great Victorian writer to wade into the
vital modern problems of the dissatisfaction of urban society, and show us
“things as they really are”. London did not expand into a great manufacturing
city overnight; it had continuously developed into a commercial center, a port,
and a core of government, finance, law and fashion, the largest and richest of
European cities. It was a period of the Industrial Revolution which changed Britain
forever. London is depicted as a harsh and grim city but, it can be escaped, as
Oliver did.
Habib
5
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles.Oliver Twist, Bantam Classic Edition, New York Bantam classics,
1982.Print.
Warren, Andrea.Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company, 2011, Print.
Belmer, George.Child Abuse and Moral Reform in England Standford, California Stanford
University Press 1982, Print.
Duckworth, Jeannie. Fagin’s Children: Criminal Children in
Victorian England. London: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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