Stockport England was a town with many textile mills. The textile mills in Stockport employed 1,600 children at a time. In the textile mills, children worked long hours in dangerous conditions for low pay until parliament passed laws limiting the length of time chilren could work and the minimum age of children they could employ.
UVU Victorian Literature and Politics for the Present (Fall 2020) Dashboard
Description
The Victorian period was one of great change for Britain. Comprised of the years of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), it featured the rapid industrialization and urbanization of Britain, and the radical expansion of the British empire. Although these changes improved the quality of life for some Victorians, many more were forced to work under inhumane conditions, live in unsanitary and insalubrious environments, or suffered the violent oppressions of colonial rule. While we may think of the Victorian period as a distant, different era, this class argues that Victorians faced some of the same issues we deal with today, including systemic racism, opioid addiction, ecological disasters, and public health crises, to name but a few.
“Victorian Literature and Politics for the Present” revisits texts both familiar and new - canonical and not - through the lens of current events. Addressing a range of genres, this course examines historical and philosophical trends that shaped the era’s literature and were shaped by it. Specifically, it will explore how the Victorians addressed, and sometimes avoided, issues of racial oppression, class conflict, public welfare, and imperial plunder. Moreover, it will consider what parallels and throughlines we can draw between the Victorian era and the twenty-first century and contemplate the value of continuing to study Victorian authors and texts today.
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Individual Entries
Manchester England was an area of England with a large amount of textile mills during the Industrial Revolution. Manchester was infamous for the poor working and living conditions for factory workers. Many of those workers were children. There 4000 children worked in the mills of Manchester at one time, and were subjected to long hours, dangerous work, and low pay until labor reform bills were passed.