Childrens Needs And Violence Against Children

Childrens Needs And Violence Against ChildrenI do non believe in a child world I believe that child should be taught from the very first that the whole world is his world, that pornographic and child should sh be one worldPearl S. BuckThe amaze of the following thesis is to present the film of a child in Charles monster novel Oliver Twist. On the strength of this novel, the source w grim attempt to contend the importance of a childs psychological, physiological and horny admit, and ways of their fulfilment in the process of a childs using.Children are innocent and defenceless human beings and to ensure their caoutchouc and proper growth, they need to be provided with an environment conducive to their healthy development. Adults a lot overlook the importance of their childs ask, they are simply un awake of their existence, and in consequence, children mature into luxuriant and unstable individuals. The lack of parental support, which a good deal offsprings in neglect, outcry and childs humiliation, whitethorn in fact seriously injure the childs psyche.Most Charles daemon novels feature an image of a child Pip, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield in his portrayals Dickens argues that children and adults perceive the world variantly. In spite of their limited knowledge and experience children are acute and sensitive observers. In his novels, Dickens shows children, who struggle with the adversities of adult animation, children who have no childhood and must survive against the hostile society of the strait-laced England caught in the frenzy of the Industrial Revolution. The author relies often on his own experiences, his childhood was disturbed by the tragedies in his own family, which gives his novels a sense of authenticity.Charles Dickens was born on 7th February 1812 in Portsmouth in England as a son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. His fathers irresponsibility and lack of ambitions were the reasons why his family situation was often uncertain . He was unceasingly in debt and, as a consequence, in 1824, when Charles was only twelve years old, his father was imprisoned, together with his family. However, with his uncles instigation, young person Charles found employment at a newly opened color factory and was spared from the prisons sentence. Michael Slater, Dickenss biographer, shows how this experience influenced small DickensDickens leaves no doubt as to the degree of the psychological and emotional earthquake suffered by his twelve-year-old self It is extraordinary to me how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age No advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no consolation, no support, from either one I might easily have been, for any care that was taken of me, a little robber or a little vagabond.1Dickens is an expert at childrens feelings and emotions, and through and through his works, he urges adults to be sensitive towards their fragile personalities. His novels, and his child characters, witness the abuse of children in the victorian Period. His works were to give articulate to children who desperately needed help and who rarely were able to communicate their of necessity and pull down more(prenominal) seldom obtained the help they needed.The first chapter of the following thesis is dual-lane into four partings. In the first part, the author will describe the importance of childrens psychological need necessary to their proper growth. The emphasis will be dictated upon the needs fulfilment methods and the consequences of non fulfilling them a lack of a childs psychical stability, problems in adolescence, etc. In the second part of Chapter wizard, the author will hold forth military group against children in the Victorian Period and its consequences. On this occasion, the ideas of a Polish psychologist, Aleksandra Sobkowska will be presented in the stage machinateting of the recent findings of New Psychology. Still in Chapter One, I will introduce Abraham Maslo ws psychological theory of the hierarchy of human needs. At the end of the same chapter, the author of the thesis will present the haoma of Charles Dickens as a victim of the Victorian epochs Industrial Revolution, a victim of social injustice and frugal deprivation, a victim of childhood interrupted.The indorse Chapter will focus on the characterization of and the role of children in the Victorian society in the period of the Industrial Revolution. On that occasion, Oliver Twist, Dickenss portrayal of children in the diachronic and socio-economic context, will be discussed in detail and placed in the context of the Maslowian theory of the hierarchy of needs. In this chapter, the author will also ponder on Dickens involvement in the struggle against a childs exploitation it is not clear whether in his books, the author aimed at evoking sympathy for the children and their p barge, and thus he wrote primarily for the adult readership or attempted to elucidate children on the caus es of their unjust and despicable conditions.Chapter OneChildrens needs and violence against children.The aim of the following chapter is to present the importance of needs in childrens psychological growth. In the course of Chapter One, the author of the thesis will refer to the foundations of Abraham Maslows theory of the hierarchy of needs. The author will also discuss different types of violence against children as the most detrimental element in a childs psychological development. Finally, Charles Dickens life will be placed in the context of the Victorian period.Childrens psychological needsPsychological needs of a human being are of great importance first and foremost for children, however, adults very often forget closely it. Satisfying a childs material needs such as clothing, feeding, etc, they are convinced that they adequately fulfil their parental responsibility. In the light of modern psychology such an attitude is viewed critically. Though easily convinced that mater ial goods are all they need, children be watch over increasingly dissatisfied. Disturbing signals in our passing(a) life children committing serious crimes, children becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs, adolescents dropping out of school are all but proof of the existence of an area in a childs psyche that re chief(prenominal)s overlooked and neglected.Children differ significantly from one another therefore, each child has to be treated separately whether it is by its parents or educators. Adults usually realize far too late how important they are for their childrens development, generally when their children start misbehaving and cause problems.2In order to prevent such a situation, it is necessary to study the mechanism of the needs formation then consciously new and positive needs a need to discover, to know, to feel good about oneself can be created. As far as the mechanism of creating new needs is concerned, they are formed first through satisfying the needs that alrea dy exist. It is very important to offer children the opportunity to develop new and valuable needs, and rewarding responses of the environment have a great influence on childrens psychic growth.One of the main needs that are worth mentioning here is the need of emotional suffer between a mother and a child. At the beginning, this contact has a more fleshly character, but in time, the character of this contact changes. It has a more psychological sense and needs another form of fulfilment.3Parents are able to create proper conditions to form a childs personality to achieve this aim, parents must continuously observe and recognize their childs needs and try to catch them. many an(prenominal) factors have an influence on a harmonious course of a childs development, including all psychophysical processes, and affect the childs coming(prenominal) stance point of view, and the way she or he is perceived by the society.4Human needs are divided into material, biological, organic and p sychological ones. Generally, psychological needs are additionally divided intoA need of safety shaped in ontogenesisA cognitive needAn activity needA need of independence and personal developmentAn emotional and social interaction needA sense of belonging and acceptance needA possession needb. Violence against children as the negation of properdevelopmentA child who is harmed is the one who is suffering due to improper behaviour of other lot, mainly parents and guardians, and who experiences injustice and a sense of powerlessness. This process, whether intentional or unintentional, and resulting from adults actions, may have a negative influence on a childs physical or psychological development.5Dickens stories abound in episodes involving both psychological and physical abuse among children. Children rob one another of dignity and belongings. They accumulate anger and frustration in themselves. They are weak and dominated by adults and find abusing their equals or weaker ones as the only possible way of venting their anger. Violence against children leads unavoidably to violence in children. This too is a result of a childhood interrupted, of a thwarted development. Violence against children is the most perverted form of violence children are defenceless and innocent human beings at a formative stage, who are nonimmune to a physical and to psychological injury. Though violence may reside in children themselves, for example, in unwanted, problematic, chronically ill or disabled children in the absolute majority of cases, children are victims of violence perpetrated by adults. Violence occurs in many different circumstances, and may have different forms, but generally three groups of reasons for its occurrence may be distinguishedviolence in children directed against others (children as well asadults) is a result of the childrens frustration with their own health (disabled and chronically ill children), with their social and indirectly economic status (orp haned children, children of alcoholics, etc.) and, importantly, often is a consequence of warviolence in parents directed at children which often is a result of social pathologies dysfunctional familiesviolence being a result of a familys social isolation owed to their religion, ethnicity, social or economic status, etc.According to Aleksandra Sobkowska, a Polish psychologist, there is a conventional division of violence against children based on its type physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Negligence of children is sometimes considered to be the mildest form of violence, however, it is most common, and it is extremely harmful and just like any other form of psychical abuse beatings, torture, etc. extends its effects into the sphere of a childs psyche. Therefore, the tone between physical and psychological abuse, at least in terms of their lasting effects psychical and psychological scars overlap and blur.In Sobkowskas view, psychical abuse of children has cognitive, emot ional and behavioural consequences a childs abuse syndrome may be manifested bya lack of a sense of securitya lack of a sense of belonging to the closest multitudea lack of or low self-esteemspiritual barenessa feeling of being harmeda feeling and consciousness of guilt and shamedifficulty in forming relationships.In Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, there are many examples of child abuse and violence ranging from the very rudimentary lack of alimentationUnfortunately for the experimental philosophy of the female to whose protecting care Oliver Twist was delivered over, a similar result usually attended the operation of her system for at the very moment when a child had contrived to exist upon the smallest possible portion of the weakest possible food, it did perversely pass in eight and half cases out of ten, either that it sickened from want and cold, or fell into another world, and there gathered to the fathers which it had never known in this.6through terrible living cond itionsAn unfinished coffin on black tressels, which stood in the middle of the shop, looked so gloomy and death-like that a cold tremble came over him, all time his eyes wandered in the direction of the dismal object from which he almost expected to see some frightful form slowly skunk its head, to drive him mad with terror. The recess beneath the counter in which his flock mattress was thrust, looked like a grave.7resulting in a sense of fear and spiritual lonelinessHe was alone in a strange place and we all know how chilled and desolate the best of us will sometimes feel in such a situation. The boy had no friends to care for, or to care for him. The regret of no recent separation was fresh in his mind the absence seizure of no loved and well-remembered face sank heavily into his heart.8Psychological violence is a conscious destruction or significant limitation on a childs opening of proper development. Ranging from insults, as can be seen in the following episode from Oliver Tw istGet downstairs, little bag o bones. With this the undertakers wife opened a side door, and pushed Oliver down a steep flight of stairs into a stone cell, damp and dark, forming the ante-room to the coal-cellar, and denominated the kitchen.9It is hard to draw any conclusive ideas as to what future awaited Oliver, and whether his childhood modify with pain brought to bear on his life as an adult. There is a note to the preface of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist which verbaliseIt tells the story of an unfortunate orphan boy from his early years in the harsh environment of the workhouse, to his struggle for survival in the life-threatening world outback(a) its gates.10A parallel between the story of Oliver Twist, a boy who dares to ask for more11and the life of Charles Dickens is evident. As a young boy, Dickens was agonistic to work in one of Britains infamous sweatshops, or as they were often referred to, children factories. His fathers debts put the whole family in prison only young Charles was spared his freedom, however, in transfer for hard bear on in a blacking workshop. In a way similar to most children from poor neighbourhoods of capital of the United Kingdom, Dickens suffered pains of poverty crave and all things most children his age would take for granted. Hunger haunted little Charles, something that is echoed in the story of Oliver Twist, but what pained him more was his hopelessness against the odds set by the cruel society of the 19th century Britain. Britain was undergoing a period of transformation the Industrial Revolution was at its peak many people fled the devoid countryside and settled in big cities. There, they were exploited by the capitalist industrialists. Slavery was by then outlawed in Britains overseas colonies, importing cheap labour was out of the question, yet the growing economy needed hands, many hands, inexpensive hands. In such circumstances, children became a commodity cheap and easy to manage. Factories soon fill up with little children whose parents, all the while working themselves to near death, still failed to make ends meet. This is an era of Britains great economic expansion this is an era that witnessed the birth of communism.Britain was getting rich, or at least the rich were getting richer for the rest the society was falling apart. Many children faced a very bleak future orphaned (mostly through abandonment) deprived of any possibility for social advancement, just like Oliver Twist, veered onto the dangerous path of crime. Dickens resisted the temptations of becoming a criminal perhaps, in that sense, he was palmy his contacts with Londons underworld remained luckily within the confines of his fantasy. I might easily have been, for any care that was taken of me, a little robber or a little vagabond12Dickens, a literary giant of the Victorian England, was first and foremost, its victim. As a child, he suffered all the deprivations shared by most of his books characters Nicholas N ickleby, Oliver Twist, Pip and David Copperfield whose lives stories became a great testimony of Britains shameful past a past tainted by abuse against the innocent and the weakest children.c. Maslows hierarchy of needsThis part of the thesis is based on the psychological theory authored by Abraham Maslow. Among other things, he wrote about human nature being good or at least neutral. It cannot be assumed that a child is born with a bad nature.13Because of its pessimistic, negative and restricted conception of human nature, Maslow became very critical of psychology. dissimilar other scientists, he conducted his tests on healthy people, people without, for example, brain injuries and he reached a number of new and innovative conclusions concerning personality. He claimed that psychology is much more occupied with peoples weaknesses rather than strengths that the main focus of psychological studies is sin, and virtue tends to be omitted.14Maslows hierarchy of needs is represented b y the following diagramMaslow recognises, and illustrates his notion by means of a pyramid, that human needs can be divided into five directs, four of which represent deficiency needs (referred to also as basic needs) and are associated with human physiology. Only when those needs are satisfied, a human develops a need of self-actualization (referred to also as growth needs).d. Society in the Victorian AgeDickens hero, Oliver Twist, lived in a difficult time characterised by changes and the resulting serious crisis in the politics, economy and religious life. Victorians expected progress, rapid changes that were to improve their everyday lives apart from the elite, life in the nineteenth century was very hard for most of simple citizens, especially for children. Many peasants, driven away from the countryside by the prospects of cave in lives in the cities, fell victim of industrial exploitation and the capitalist system of economy. Cities grew in population too rapidly, forcing many to live in squalid neighbourhoods filled with filth and crime. Urbanization meant more places of work, but the cost of living in big cities often exceeded an average familys means. Families were large or too large people lived in overcrowded houses in hand-to-mouth conditions. Industrial production was carried on at great risks and causing suffering of men, women and children. Britains status as the workshop of the world was achieved at a great human cost15.People including small children worked fifteen or sixteen hours a day in, most of the time, unbearable conditions. The majority of people the so-called working class, which ironically included the un busy, lived in the scruffiest of households.The industrialists treated the less fortunate, especially children, simply, and only, like objects, manpower. Children were exploited more than adults, because they never dared to ask for more. What is more, parents willingly concur to this exploitation, even of very small children (o ften younger than six years of age), because they, too, could earn a few pennies. This extra income for starving families was at times a consider of life and death. Children employed in industry, suffered and often fell ill, at times irreversibly. Their childhood was taken away from them, but what is more, the precarious working and employment conditions, often forced them into the streets where they begged or stole to survive.Most children were denied the stability of having a home, being abandoned by their parents. Sometimes they were subjected to violence or solitude, being under-nourished or even starving, covered with rags, sleeping in empty cellars. Deprived of love and support from adults, they were neglected and lonely among others. The working class children had no rights and their hardship earned them no respect.People in Victorian England believed they were doing what was best for their children. besides they were gripped by an idea which was widespread at that time th at children were empty vessels, containing nothing worthwhile until filled with what adults judged best.16Dickens in his novels depicted the Victorian societys major problems. The writer portrayed the society in all its variety, touching all their problems but the theme to which he always returned, was the family, childhood, injustice, inequality, crime, corruption, scandals, poverty, as well as the suffering of children. Whatever he wrote was written with passion, because he experienced seeing life, from the point of view of the poor people and abuse children.In his time, few people understood children as well as Dickens did, and he was the first writer who described childrens thoughts and feelings capturing the way they spoke, behaved, and suffered.Chapter twoChildrens needs and violence against children based on Dickens novel Oliver Twist.The aim of the following chapter is to present the connection between a childs needs and life in the Victorian Age on the basis of Dickens no vel Oliver Twist.Oliver Twist is the first novel in which Dickens speaks out against social injustice and an inadequate economic system that condoned the plight of the poorest, yet the largest, segment of British society. His, is not a portrait of a happy and harmonious family, but a debt-ridden, broken family where children, unless employed in Britains worst workshops, are viewed as a burden. The author tries to show terrible conditions in workhouses where poor people were forced to live and work if they could not pay their debts. In his novel Oliver Twist, Dickens also draws a critical picture of charitable foundations and their involvement in childrens orphanages. Additionally, Dickens sheds light on Londons dangerous criminal underworld.The main character of the novel, Oliver, is a neglected, illegitimate child. He does not know his father and his mother died at his birth. He is brought up as an orphan in cruel conditions in an orphanage typical of the Victorian Age. This small and lonely child is skeletal into the world of brutality and violence. The fact that he does not have parents increased his loneliness and difficulties in life because he is deprived of their support which is very important, especially at the beginning of everyones life. Having a normal life is important for a child, but for Oliver that proved an unattainable dream. Oliver spends the first nine years of his life in a badly run home for young orphans and later he is transferred to a workhouse for adults. There, not only does he lack means to secure himself a decent upbringing, but is constantly short of the immanents such as sufficient amount of food, a room to sleep or clean clothes. When he is nine, he is still a child and he does not understand the world around him, especially his own status. Once, he asks an adult what it means to be an orphan Boy, said the gentleman in the high chair, take heed to me. You know youare an orphan, I suppose? Whats that, sir? inquired poor Oliver . The boy is a fool I thought he was, said the gentleman in a whitewaistcoat.17Oliver is afraid of adults he does not understand why strangers decide about his future and his life, and in their presence he often trembles and cries. One of the most important and memorable images in the novel is the moment when Oliver feels extreme hunger and asks for something more to eat Please, sir. I want some more.18This famous mount is symbolic in that sense that it expresses Olivers revolt against his situation. He does not understand that such behaviour is unacceptable in the workhouse and he is beaten as a result and then put up for sale, like an object, not a human being. Oliver acts against the rules because the situation in the workhouse is abnormal his basic needs are not satisfied.The living conditions in the workhouses of the 19th century Britain were very severe and often these harbingers of modern day sweatshops resembled more prisons than houses. The treatment of children was terri bly bad, some of them even sharp-set to death. The sufferings of children in the Victorian Age indicate that their basic needs were not satisfied. The fundamental, basic needs which are essential for our survival, such as proper nourishment, a place to sleep, warmth were not met then.According to Maslow, food occupies the lowest level of the pyramid in the hierarchy of needs, and belongs to the very primitive group of needs, which are essential for survival refusing proper nourishment to hungry people, especially children is the negation of humanity. What is more, Oliver Twist is denied safety and stability he is an unloved and lonely child thrown into unsympathetic adult world, where he lacks parental love, affection and protection.In Maslowian theory, Oliver is denied access to the second developmental level and his need to feel safe remains unfulfilled.At the beginning, Oliver is not aware of his situation gradually, however, he comes to realize his standing I am a very little b oy, sir and it is so- so So what? inquired Mr Bumble in amazement. So lonely, sir So very lonely Cried the child .19This small boy feels he should have some rights as a human being and he seeks love. It is only rude(a) for a boy like Oliver to look for love and a sense of belonging, a feeling that gives people a sense of stability. Again, the fundamental need, the third level of the Maslowian pyramid representing the hierarchy of needs necessary for a childs proper physiological and psychological development remains unfulfilled. Although he leaves the workhouse, his circumstances never improve he moves in with Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker. Subjected to moral and physical oppression, Oliver continues to feel lonely, cold and abandoned in his new home he has no place to sleep Then come with me, said Mrs Sowerberry, taking up a dim dirty lamp, and leading the way upstairs your beds under the counter. You dont mind sleeping among the coffins, I suppose? But it doesnt much matter whet her you do or dont, for you cant sleep anywhere else.20Another boy, named Noah Claypole, who too is a worker at Sowerberrys workshop, constantly abuses Oliver, but the main character endures his fate without a word of complaint. One day however, acting on an impulse, Oliver fights off Noahs attacks. He fights in defence of his mothers name but patronage his innocence, Oliver is severely punished. This situation illustrates the Maslows notion of violence being a result of a thwarted development in an environment where a childs basic needs remain unfulfilled violence and other forms of anti-social behaviour are a consequence. In other words, a child who is deprived of an opportunity to fulfil his needs uses aggression, turns to aggression he/she does not act like a normal child. This moment in the novel marks another important transition Oliver demands to be respected he reacts with violence against the insults used with regard to his mother an action that points to the fourth leve l of the Maslowian pyramid, the need of esteem.Oliver decides to escape because he refuses to endure his treatment. He chooses London hoping to change his life for better. In spite of being exhausted and hungry he does not give up and is still full of hope and determined. He meets Dodger, who offers him a helping hand. Unaware, Oliver joins a gang of juvenile pick-pockets, run by a Jewish emigrant named Fagin. Dodger and other young boys, and now Oliver, wrap the streets of London stealing, when they can, hanging out, laughing. Fagins gang creates an authentic society and provides these unwanted boys with security and a sense of belonging. Oliver has never known this kind of life he is drawn to it to gain respect amongst peers, but also to feel accepted, relied on, and needed.At the beginning, Oliver does not realise that he has joined a criminal group. He does not understand the whole situation but tries to be a quick learner and to acquire new skills, i.e. pick pocketing. However , because he has little experience, or simply because he still is a nave little boy, he gets caught and arrested. Fortunately for Oliver, Mr. Brownlow, one of the gangs victims, recognizes the boys innocence, exonerates the boy during the investigation and takes him into his custody. Oliver leads now a better life, at last, but he is not sure if his benefactor will not one day send him back into the streets of London. He asks Mr. Brownlow Oh, dont tell me you are going to send me away, sir, supplicate Dont turn me out of doors to wander in the streets again.Let me stay here and be a servant.Dont send me back to the wretched place I came from. put one across a mercy upon a poor boy, sir21Mr. Brownlow, however, reassures the boy of his true devotion to his upbringing My dear child, said the old gentleman, moved by the warmth ofOlivers fast appeal, you need not be afraid of my desertingyou, 22