earticle

영어

This essay studies some elements of children’s literature in Charles Dickens’s Hard Times, along with a possibility of regarding this novel as children’s literature though it is usually known as social novel or industrial novel. First, I consider the concept of child and childhood, the definition of children’s literature, and elements and characteristics of children’s literature. And then I also examine pleasure and enjoyment, usefulness for education and vicarious experience, imagination, and treatment of social issues as elements of children’s literature. Particularly among the elements of children’s literature, this essay considers the concept of fancy or imagination, what Dickens says about fancy, how his imagination is represented, and what effect the lack of fancy has on people and society in the novel. Based on the fact that Dickens had deep interest in fairy tales for his whole life and used fairy tales in his novels, this essay studies the aspects and effects of the fairy tale and how and why Dickens uses the fairy tale in the novel. This essay proves that the novel has various elements of children’s literature, that the fairy tale is used for Dickens’s literary and moral purpose, and that this novel can exert a similar effect on readers though it is not easy yet to regard Hard Times as children’s literature definitely.