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Great Expectations Childhood Innocence Theme
340 Words1 Page
In the novella, childhood innocence is shown through Fan in this quote, “`I have come to bring you home, dear brother.' said the child, clapping her tiny hands, and bending down to laugh. `To bring you home, home, home.' “ (Dickens, 18) This concrete detail proves the theme of childhood innocence through strong indirect characterization. The fact that Fan simply adores and yearns to help Scrooge can be inferred because Fan, the sister, did not directly come out and say, “I love you, brother!” but instead addressed him as “dear brother”. Her actions, such as clapping her hands in delight and kissing him, shows that she deeply cares for her brother and is a good person with a good heart. The little girl is so excited, and is seen as such a pure
and innocent child, which proves the category of childhood innocence. The positive description and sense of her almost saving her brother reflects this idea that the children within this book are almost perfect. Another descriptive quote from the novella connects to childhood innocence, “Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints…” (49) In this example, there is a great deal of explanation of the image of the children under the Spirit’s robe. This detail and use of the senses provides strong imagery, and also provides a change in the mood. The use of the words “ragged” and “scowling” changes the light and happy mood from before to harsh and evil. The word “meagre” generally means thin and poor, but in this time children are supposed to be perceived as beautiful and the picture of perfection. When it says, “Where graceful youth should have filled their features out,” this is an example of childhood innocence because you can infer that children should be angelic, not mangled up and scarred. This quote is important to the theme, because it reflects the way that children are viewed in this time period.
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