E X T E N S I O N CHILDREN IN LITERATURE Jude the Obscure (W. Hatherell, 1895). James Joyce. European and American writers have described childhood in different ways. Oliver Twist is the first novel where the protagonist is a child, because before that writers gave childhood little importance. The Middle Ages1 and also the Enlightenment2 had no interest in this period of life. Instead, during the Romantic period, childhood was considered under a new light. William Wordsworth, a Romantic poet, considers the child as the father of Man : it means that childhood is very important because it influences adulthood. William Wordsworth also thinks that childhood is a perfect state, because a child is closer to Nature and to the world of Imagination. Charles Dickens describes the life of children in a more realistic way: he wants to criticize the exploitation and abuse of children in the Victorian Age. He supports children against the adults because they are better than most of them, particularly those adults who have power and responsibility: Mr Bumble, Mrs Mann or even, Mr Fang, the magistrate. Thomas Hardy writes at the end of the Victorian period and his vision is pessimistic because, unlike3 Dickens, he does not believe in the power of man to change his destiny. His main characters are all tragic heroes. The murder-suicide of the children of a poor family in Jude the Obscure (1895) is a famous episode of this novel. scientists thought that science and reason were more important than religion and tradition. 3. unlike: different from. 1. Middle Ages: in European history, the period from about 1000 AD to 1500 AD. 2. Enlightenment: the period in the 18th century when many writers and 64