Coming of Age: Neo-Victorian, Dickensian Children

There are scholars who say that the Victorians invented children, that it was in the nineteenth century that English culture became invested in child rearing, education, and entertainment. Hugely engaged in these aspects of childhood, Charles Dickens produced novels, short stories, and articles that helped adults understand and apply methods of parenting that would inculcate Victorian morals and desired behaviour in malleable children evolving into adults. With similar goals, he also created a volume of literature just for children. Ever since, his works that feature children have been reinvented through revising his writing with modern sensibilities and inclusivity and adapting it for stage and screen to suggest post-Victorian cultivation of healthy behavioural traits in raising modern children. The chapter alludes to a variety of Dickens’ works but primarily concentrates on neo-Victorian products of A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield.