빅토리아 시대의 어린이

Children in the Victorian Age in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

Literary work has close relation with its time and culture and children's literature is no exception. However, Children's literature is often considered trivial for several reasons: it describes children who have limited views and functions in the society and it is written by an adult who writes mainly for the educational purpose without much emphasis on social context between children and society. But it is this biased view on children's literature that reveals social, cultural importance of children's literature. Therefore, when the adult author's attitude toward children is closely examined, socio-cultural characteristics and prejudices of the time is clearly recognized. This is what can be expected from the study of the relation between children's literature and society. This journal examines Lewis Carroll's personal view and attitude toward children and how those of the Victorians were reflected in his work, Alice in Wonderland. This research, through the examination, tries to show how socio-cultural study can be possible in children's literature, with some remarks on the problems and limitations in the cultural study of children's literature.