Since we're talking more about boyhood today, I thought I would post the images that I mentioned last class--of boys being dressed as children's book character, Little Lord Fauntleroy. Fauntleroy is portrayed as masculine throughout Burnett's text, but, as you can see, the image associated with him is rather feminized, very different from our Tom Sawyer.
Fauntleoy is also generally understood as an apologist for certain 19c social values, including charity, civilized behavior, and democratic justice. It might be useful to think about how Twain interacts with both this other dominant portrayal of boyhood and with these social values. If his boyhood is not about civilized manners, what kinds of things does he want boyhood to be or represent?
1 comment:
There is an image at the following website of Oscar Wilde as a young boy. The Little Lord fauntleroy image is shocking, but I always find the trend of the little boys in dainty dresses (or any children, really) rather more shocking.
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/wildphot/default.html
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