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Not All R & R Is Good: Religiosity And Racism Within Charles Dickens’S And Wilkie Collins’S The Perils Of Certain English Prisoners, Emma Judd
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In their 1857 collaborative Christmas novella, The Perils of Certain English Prisoners, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins present various instances of blatant and unabashed racism on the island of Silver-Store. From nearly the beginning, the story’s narrator, Gill Davis, notes, “I have stated myself to be a man of no learning, and, if I entertain prejudices, I hope allowance may be made. I will now confess to one. It may be a right one or it may be a wrong one; but, I never did like Natives, except in the form of oysters” (12). This racist attitude is not …
The Knights Of The River Rafts: Leadership Of The Common Citizens And Soldiers In Charles Dickens’S And Wilkie Collins’S The Perils Of Certain English Prisoners, Annika Carlson
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The 1850s are infamous for the political scene within the British Empire and her colonies. The Crimean War against Russia, a rebellion in India treated as a mutiny against the empire, and a shifted focus to international issues over domestic problems highlighted every mistake and misstep of the largely aristocratic government. Rumbles of discontentment arose from the working class within Britain as they watched governmental neglect produce massive repercussions at home and abroad. Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins wrote their 1857 novella The Perils of Certain English Prisoners with these perceived political disasters and leadership failures in mind. Leslie Mitchell …
"They Simply Act": Muscular Christian And Domestic Soldiers In Charles Dickens's And Wilkie Collins's The Perils Of Certain English Prisoners, Kathryn Sumsion
"They Simply Act": Muscular Christian And Domestic Soldiers In Charles Dickens's And Wilkie Collins's The Perils Of Certain English Prisoners, Kathryn Sumsion
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This paper discussion of Charles Dickens's and Wilkie Collins's use of domestic soldiers and muscular Christian soldiers in the 1857 Christmas novella,The Perils of Certain English Prisoners. It covers the frustration among Victorian society and especially the two authors regarding colonial government after the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. They bring the military forward as an alternative source of governing colonial power. Dickens characterizes ideal military power in the form of muscular Christian soldiers, while Collins favors domestic soldiers. In the end, both military roles are proved to be necessary in colonial governance.