![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/03\/vol5-230x300.jpg\")
Introduction:<\/h2>\n
According to Professor Marah Gubar in \u201cThe Victorian Child, c. 1837-1901,”\u00a0 <\/span>the conception of childhood as a space for fanciful imaginings, innocence, and happiness was a dominant rule of thought within Victorian Britain\u2014one that had canonized itself as a societal norm as class distinctions within the nation grew by way of the Industrial Revolution (pp 1-2). However, this period of the 1890s within Britain was simultaneously a time marked by dissatisfaction and critique against such norms. It must be noted that such modes of insurgency took the form of veiled discourse\u2014often through literary means; in the introduction to \u201cSocial Protest Literature of Victorian England\u201d, editors Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker note that, \u201cThe idea of using the powers of literature to effect social change took on a new shape in England in the 1830s, and continued into the 1850s and beyond.\u201d A prolific example of this can be found in the literary magazines that rose to prominence during this time; one such publication, The Dial<\/em> (1889-1897), was a reflection of this notion, as it contained fantasy stories and art that subtly promulgated subversive ideas, and was crafted by artists who themselves lived subversive lifestyles. In his overview essay for the work, Koenraad Claes quotes Charles Ricketts, in affirmation of this notion: \u201c\u2018The sole aim of this magazine is to gain sympathy with its views.\u2019\u201d Such is typified through two specific Dial<\/em> publications: \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d, written by co-editor Charles Ricketts (volume 1), and \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d, written by Laurence Housman (volume 5); both operate within the fantasy genre and thus achieve the means of veiled discourse. By extension, both \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d<\/a> and \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d<\/a>\u2014centred around the fantastical experiences of two young, impoverished girls\u2014work to reject the active Victorian conception of childhood; in doing so, they reveal the reality of 1890s British society: children are not afforded an idealized upbringing, so long as they are from the lower-class.<\/span><\/p>\n However, in order to properly ascertain these ideas, the notion of fantasy as a means of critique must firstly be explored. In Spectrum of Decadence: The Literature of the 1890s<\/em>, <\/i>Murray Pittock discusses how, during the 1890s, two popular literary traditions were in use\u2014and were often portrayed throughout the literary magazines of the period such as The Dial<\/em>; <\/i>these two traditions are denoted as being that of Symbolism and Decadence (6). Often overlapping, Symbolism and Decadence operate around the central feelings of dissatisfaction with materiality and corporeality\u2014they also take issue with many societal norms (4). As such, it can be understood that both traditions often utilize the nature of the unreal, the fantastic, and the supernatural as a method of subtly revealing their authors\u2019 societal critiques and true desires for change\u2014especially when one thinks back to Charles Ricketts\u2019s statement in volume 1 of The Dial<\/em>, in which he argues that the aim of the magazine is to cultivate a sympathy within its readers concerning its views (Claes). As Imperial Britain was founded primarily on Judaeo-Christian values and staunch traditionalism (Steinbach 260), outright questioning of such norms was arguably often frowned upon; as such, fantasy (as a product of Symbolism\/Decadence) became a corrective means for castigating what the authors working within these respective traditions believed to be societal ills. <\/span><\/p>\n With this in mind, the idea of Victorian constructions of childhood\u2014and the contradiction such constructions pose\u2014must also be expanded upon. As aforementioned, childhood came to be conceptualized as a space for perfect innocence, lack of responsibility, and play during the Victorian era; Jeanette Sky, in the abstract for \u201cMyths of Innocence and Imagination: the Case of the Fairy Tale,\u201d says as much, \u201cChildhood came to represent an elevated imaginary state (. . .) [and] the Victorians created a powerful, but also problematic myth of childhood.\u201d As growth of infrastructure, economy, and urban city centres (as a result of the Industrial Revolution) occurred within Britain, children began to be regarded as a protected class of sorts\u2014individuals saw the need for children to be removed and relegated to spaces separate from the evils and corruptions that characterized adult life (Gubar 1). However, this conception is arguably due to the increase in disparities between the upper and lower class systems operating within Britain during this time\u2014Prince Albert, Queen Victoria\u2019s husband, is quoted as saying that \u201cthe working man\u2019s children were \u2018part of his productive power\u2019\u201d (Gubar pp 1-2). Thus, because middle-to-upperclass families could afford to provide their children with the means for obtaining such an idealized version of childhood, it is no wonder that this conception took such deep roots within Victorian society. <\/span><\/p>\n This comes to reveal the great antithesis to the Victorian conceptualization of childhood: that being the reality for children who lived as low-class individuals within 1890s Britain. For lower-class children at this time, it can be noted that their experience was vastly different to children belonging to the upperclass. Children living within this social set experienced impoverished conditions, and were subject to famine and sickness\u2014which, in many cases, led to death. Meanwhile, the children who did manage to stave off ill health were often subject to abuse that was physical and sexual in nature (Gubar pp 1, 5). Additionally, Sarah Seaton, in Childhood & Death in Victorian England<\/em>, <\/i>outlines the practice of child farming, another societal ill that lower-class children were subject to: \u201cLiverpool children aged between nine and 14 were sent to silk, worsted, flax, and cotton mills, and were employed in industries such as bobbin manufacturing (. . .) increasing their risk of death from an industrial injury\u201d (2). Thus, a new canon of the Victorian child comes into fruition\u2014the\u00a0<\/span>idea of children as dispensable labourers who have no choice other than to exist within these endangering conditions. For them, they are not afforded the fantasy and lack of responsibility that the Victorian construction of childhood has so promulgated; instead, they are thrust into a pseudo-adulthood, driven by need, hunger, and overall lack.<\/span><\/p>\n Given the socio-historical context, \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d and \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d are two stories that stand situated within this idea of fantasy being utilized as a medium for social critique. Support for this can be found by examining aspects of the contents of each volume from which the texts come. \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven,\u201d is in the first volume (1889) along with a story entitled \u201cThe Cup of Happiness\u201d (58)\u2014also written by Charles Ricketts. This story features the demon Lilith from Jewish folklore (\u201cLilith\u201d). This stands as significant, seeing as the inclusion of a story featuring a nontraditional system of belief\u2014given the largely Judaeo-Christian context under which these stories were written\u2014suggests to its readers that the author is challenging religious norms in presenting a new spiritual lens through which to view the world. With this notion in mind, one can also see \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d as a story that Ricketts is using as a medium through which to look at things anew; however, with this text, Ricketts\u2019s goal is arguably to examine the status and treatment of lower-class children within fin-de-si\u00e8cle Britain. <\/span><\/p>\n As for \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d, situated within its respective fifth volume, is a piece of artwork entitled \u201cRuth, Orpah, and Naomi\u201d (66). This artwork alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in the Bible (\u201cRuth\u201d). Such a display of Christianity in this artwork is juxtaposed (in the volume) with the more pagan expression of the supernatural in Housman\u2019s \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d\u2014and thus speaks to the nuance of belief and practice that was occurring during the social and spiritual insurgency of the British 1890s. In such a portrayal, one can see how \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d is yet another instance of fantasy being utilized as a means of critique; its spiritual antithesis to the traditionalist beliefs depicted through \u201cRuth, Orpah, and Naomi\u201d arguably come to stand as a symbolic antithesis to the prevailing treatment and status of the impoverished children of Britain\u2019s working-class.<\/span><\/p>\n In Ricketts\u2019s story, \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d \u2014a highly sentimental fantasy that arguably flows in the same vein as Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s \u201cThe Little Match Girl\u201d\u2014this rejection of the Victorian myth of childhood is firstly accomplished through the author\u2019s denotation of the position his protagonist (a poor, unnamed little girl) holds within her family. In the opening lines of the story, readers become immediately aware of the fact that this little girl is clearly operating as a caretaker for her family unit; her father is an alcoholic who squanders their money, and there is repeated mention of the girl having younger sisters, who are dependent on her (pp 20, 22). There is also mention of the fact that the girl\u2019s mother is dead (20)\u2014which only further solidifies her place as a primary caretaker within her family. The significance of this is as follows: in placing a child in the role of primary caretaker, Ricketts highlights a reality: the lower-class child does not have access to the idealized experience outlined by the Victorian construction\u2014many of them exist within an adult space despite their lack of biological maturity. In this sense, the line between child and adult becomes blurred, ultimately working as a rejection of the conception of childhood. By extension, Ricketts\u2019s rejection stands as a revelation concerning the lower-class child of Victorian England: they are not protected, or looked after\u2014certainly not by their society, and, in many cases, their families\u2014and, above all, they do not experience this cultivated narrative of childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n Likewise, Housman\u2019s \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d also works within this same critical lens\u2014albeit in a more darkly humorous fashion. Posy, the main character, is already dead as the story commences (4); however, her actions in her subsequent state of pseudo-resurrection point once more to the idea that the author is aiming to reject Victorian notions of childhood. This is evidenced through Posy\u2019s self-sufficiency\u2014exemplified through her theft of the bread in order to pay Death the Taxman for her and her mother\u2019s burial (4). Her atypical independence, at such a young age, arguably acts as a subversion of the innocence narrative that is emphasized throughout the period\u2019s ideas of what marks childhood as a separate, sacred space\u2014and aligns with the fact that the majority of lower-class children were forced to occupy adult spaces in 1890s Britain. Furthermore, Posy being a victim to both famine and illness (4) is another means of rejecting traditional constructions of childhood, as starvation and sickness are generally seen as products of a cruel, corrupt world\u2014a world in which the typified innocent child has no place, according to Victorians (Sky). Therefore, through Posy\u2019s self-sufficiency, starvation, and sickness-induced death, Housman not only rejects constructions of childhood, he also points\u2014as Ricketts does\u2014to the fact that lower-class children are barred from the innocence, peace, and happiness of such an idealized upbringing.<\/span><\/p>\n The greatest elements of fantasy in both stories\u2014as exhibited through their life-after-death narratives\u2014are also effective opposers to the Victorian narrative surrounding childhood. In \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven,\u201d the little girl dies while waiting outside the pub for her father, and experiences a transfiguration in which her spirit is taken up to heaven. There, she encounters God and his angels; however, her concern still clearly lies with her sisters\u2014she states that she wishes they would be able to join her in this place of complete paradise. In response to her request, God encourages the little girl to \u201cbe at peace\u201d, and with that, the story comes to its conclusion (pp 21-22). This is significant, as Ricketts creates a narrative in which the only peace and happiness that the little girl is able to achieve is through this transfigured status\u2014ultimately, it is only in heaven that she can be loosed from her suffering, and truly be a child, free of the earthly responsibilities that plagued her corporeal state.\u00a0 <\/span>Similar ideas are put forth in Housman\u2019s \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d Posy\u2019s happy ending\u2014unlike the little girl\u2019s in \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d\u2014is ultimately achieved when she and her mother succeed in cheating death by refusing to pay all three of its incarnations; instead, Posy\u2019s mother urges her to \u201cclose the door\u201d (pp 6-7). Thus, through the act of closing the door on death itself, Posy is able to reach a transfigured state: \u201cAnd when they came to life again they found themselves quite well and hearty (. . .) and the fever was gone from the town, and the famine was over\u201d (6). In such, Posy can now live out the idealized childhood that was unavailable to her before her death.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>To conclude, this idea of the happy ending\u2014solely achieved, in both stories, through the fantastical notion of life\u2019s continuation after death\u2014is paramount. It arguably signifies the fact that it is impossible for both of these children to achieve the same measure of happiness, peace, and childhood fancy that the Victorian model promulgates. To illustrate this idea, both Ricketts and Housman create narratives in which both girls clearly occupy adult spaces, and are restricted to living out experiences that go against the norms of childhood innocence and lack of responsibility. In \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven,\u201d this is illustrated through the little girl acting as caretaker for her alcoholic father and two sisters; in \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d this is revealed through Posy\u2019s self-sufficiency, theft of the bread, and her death as a result of plague and starvation. It is clear, then, that both girls\u2014in life\u2014were never able to attain the hallmarks of traditional childhood. As such, these ideas work to not only reject the Victorian construction of childhood; they also act as a means of highlighting fin-de-si\u00e8cle reality: the child, in essence, does not have access to this protection and idealized experience, so long as they are of a low social set.<\/span><\/p>\n Andersen, Hans Christian. \u201cThe Little Match Girl.\u201d Internet Archive, <\/span>http:\/\/<\/span> www.shortstoryamerica.com\/pdf_classics\/andersen_little_match_girl.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n Claes, Koenraad. \u201cDial (1889-1897).\u201d C19 Index: Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism, ProQuest<\/em>, https:\/\/courses.ryerson.ca\/d2l\/le\/content\/242471\/viewContent\/2201829\/View<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Gubar, Marah. \u201cThe Victorian Child c. 1837-1901.\u201d Internet Archive, http:\/\/ www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu\/pdf\/victorian_child.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Housman, Laurence. \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d The Dial<\/em>, <\/i>vol. 5, no.1, 1897. pp 4-7. Yellow Nineties 2.0<\/em>, <\/i>edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019.\u00a0<\/i>https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/dial_05\/page\/n17<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLilith.\u201d Oxford English Dictionary<\/em>. <\/i>2019.\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/lilith<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Accessed 10 March 2019.<\/p>\n Lucian Pizzarro, Ruth, Orpah, and Naomi<\/em>, <\/i>in The Dial<\/em> vol. 5, 1897, p. 65. Yellow Nineties 2.0, <\/em>edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019. https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/dial_05\/page\/n65<\/p>\n Pittock, Murray. Spectrum of Decadence: the Literature of the 1890s<\/em>. <\/i>Taylor and Francis, 2014. Proquest Ebook Central<\/em>, <\/i>https:\/\/ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/lib\/<\/span><\/a><\/span>ryerson\/detail.action?docID=1757882<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Ricketts, Charles. \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven.\u201d The Dial<\/em>, vol. 1, no.1, 1889. pp 19-22. Yellow Nineties 2.0<\/em>, <\/i>edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019.\u00a0<\/i>https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/dial_01\/page\/n41<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Ricketts, Charles. \u201cThe Cup of Happiness.\u201d The Dial<\/em>, vol. 1, no. 1, 1889. pp 27-33. Yellow Nineties 2.0<\/em>, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019. https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/dial_01\/page\/n57<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cRuth.\u201d Oxford English Dictionary<\/em>. <\/i>2019.\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/ruth<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Accessed 10 March 2019.<\/p>\n Seaton, Sarah. Childhood and Death in Victorian England<\/em>, Pen and Sword, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central<\/em>, https:\/\/ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/lib\/ryerson\/<\/span> <\/a><\/span>detail.action?docID=4915718.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Sky, Jeanette. \u201cMyths of Innocence and Imagination: The Case of the Fairy Tale.\u201d Literature and Theology<\/em>, <\/i>vol. 16, no. 4, December 2002. pp 363-376. Internet Archive, DOI: <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/litthe\/16.4.363<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n “Social Protest Literature of Victorian England.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism<\/em>, edited by Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker, vol. 160, Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center<\/em>, http:\/\/link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/apps\/doc\/H1410001519\/LitRC?<\/span> <\/a><\/span>u=rpu_main&sid=LitRC&xid=11f22e1d. Accessed 15 Mar. 2019.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Steinbach, Susie. Understanding the Victorians: Politics, Culture and Society in Nineteenth- Century Britain<\/em>. <\/i>Routledge, 2017. EBSCOhost<\/em>, <\/i>https:\/\/web-a-ebscohost-<\/span> com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/ehost\/ebookviewer\/ebook\/<\/span> <\/a><\/span>bmxlYmtfXzEzNjA1MDZfX0FO0?sid=8ef3d71d-be83-4c14-<\/span> a918-06012cab09c8@sessionmgr4010&vid=2&format=EB&rid=1<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The images used in this exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a9 2019 Alexandra Monstur, Ryerson University Introduction: According to Professor Marah Gubar in \u201cThe Victorian Child, c. 1837-1901,”\u00a0 the conception of childhood as a space for fanciful imaginings, innocence, and happiness was a dominant rule of thought within Victorian Britain\u2014one that had canonized itself as a societal norm as class …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-eng810-w2019","category-fantasy-eng-810-f2018","category-the-dial-1889-1897","post_format-post-format-aside","column","threecol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8148,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3450\/revisions\/8148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fantasy as a Means of Critique<\/span><\/h2>\n
Class and the Myth of Childhood in Victorian Britain<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/03\/a-glimpse-of-heaven-230x300.jpg\")
The Stories in Context<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Oil](\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/03\/charles-ricketts-300x290.jpg\")
Speaking to Situation: \u201cA Glimpse of Heaven\u201d and \u201cOpen the Door, Posy!\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Black](\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/03\/laurence-housman-216x300.jpg\")
Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n
\nWorks Cited<\/h2>\n
\n