Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Wallace, Miriam
Area of Concentration
English
Abstract
The boarding school genre plays a prominent role in English literature. Often intended to deliver moral lessons and promote ideal characteristics, children’s stories were frequently wielded as accessible tools to help young readers learn the right moral lessons for the benefit of England and for Great Britain. Tom Brown’s School Days (1857) is the quintessential boarding school novel, both in plot and in moral values. This essay explores how this genre developed by Tom Brown changes in purpose and message over time, through A Little Princess (1903), published approximately 50 years after Tom Brown, and the Harry Potter series (1997), published 150 years after Tom Brown. Each novel reflects the values of their respective eras of Great Britain.
Recommended Citation
Benedi, Bianca, "FROM TOM BROWN TO HARRY POTTER: RAISING AN ENGLISH CITIZEN IN THE BOARDING SCHOOL STORY" (2016). Theses & ETDs. 5157.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5157