The Disappearance Of Childhood

The art of novel is a glamorous pearl in the sky of the Victorian period. A great number of world-renowned novelists are greatly admired even today and are esteemed unsurpassable, among whom Henry James, an American living in Britain, achieves enormously in his characteristic creation with international theme.Henry James comes from an American middle class family and settles in London after a long-time travel throughout Europe. His exquisite description of psychological realism has played a vital role in pushing forward the transition of the British novel emphasizing the outside into focusing the inside. There are plenty of researches on Henry James' work both at home and abroad. However, they are largely researches on his novels about his international them, whereas study on his children lags behind. Henry James has been greatly attracted by the study of children. From his short story "The Pupil", to What Maisie Knew which is developed from the conscious of a little child in order to study the cognitive process and psychology of children. Henry James' children are a characteristic group capable of growing.Based on the concept of childhood, the thesis makes an attempt to explore the reasons for the disappearance of the childhood of the children from Henry James' novellas and short stories through a detailed textual analysis of three representative works—"The Pupil", What Maisie Knew and "The Turn of the Screw".It is indispensible for a child to possess a stable and whole family and a good education to have a healthy development. However, both are missing for James' children. Many children lose their parents and those who have parents are kept to move from one place to another. They have to get ready to adapt themselves to the changed environment. Parents of these children get things worse owing to their ignorance, carelessness, indifference and selfishness let the turbulent adult world invading the children's world, leading to the disappearance of their childhood. The dysfunction of family which should protect children from the disturbing elements of the outer world causes the disappearance of childhood. On the other hand, most children accept the instruction of a tutor or a governess at home. The governess'or the tutor's stability and her or his quality are of vital importance to the growth of the children. What is regrettable is that these children have to accept a succession of governesses or tutors coming and going shortly in their life, many of whom are not qualified to give them instruction. Meanwhile, most of these tutors are too young to know how to nurture a child when there is often no parents'supervision. Their careless behavior leaves some wounds that never heal. The dysfunction of the education destroys the healthy development of children, causing the disappearance of childhood.The disappearance of childhood is apparent in Henry James'stories. The occurrence of the phenomenon is due to the dysfunction of family and education.