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Smike in Nicholas Nickleby and Victorian Fear of Idiots

尼古拉斯.尼克貝中的斯麥克與維多利亞人對白痴的恐懼

摘要


This paper explores the Victorian discourse on fear of idiots, namely the intellectually disabled in twenty-first century. In the nineteenth century medical knowledge of Down syndrome and other types of learning disability had not yet been developed, and the distinction between the intellectually disabled and the insane was not established. Influenced by Enlightenment thought, which worshipped reason, the Victorian felt disgust at the intellectually different and thought they were not qualified to be humans since they did not perform the ability of reason like the normal people. From William Wordsworth's "The Idiot Boy" to the changeling folklore, it was apparent that the nineteenth-century people thought the intellectually disabled did not deserve love and assumed they were evil children of fairies. In "Happy Idiots," however, Charles Dickens looks into the education of the intellectually disabled and finds that they can be trained and their intellect can be improved. In Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens portrays the character Smike and illustrates his adventure with Nicholas. In the story, Smike acts as the leader of rebellion against Squeers and encourages Nicholas to leave Dotheboys Hall, a school which abuses poor boys. Smike, in comparison to other intellectually disabled characters, is more subtle and interesting. Therefore, Nicholas Nickleby was pioneer in emphasizing the possibility for the intellectually different to develop and establish his individuality. Although the Victorian's biased view on the intellectually disabled might still be rigid, Dickens's effort devoted to endowing them with humanity in his works was significant.

並列摘要


本論文旨在探討維多利亞對白痴的恐懼論述,而白痴也就是廿一世紀所說的智能障礙。十九世紀對於唐氏症及學習困難之病症缺乏相關醫學知識,甚至未建立智能障礙與瘋癲的區分。受到啟蒙運動的影響,理性受到崇拜,而白痴因為無法如正常人運用理性,而不被視為人,讓維多利亞人對白痴感到厭惡。從威廉華滋華斯的詩《傻孩子》到調換兒的民俗傳說,很明顯地十九世紀人們認為智能障礙者不值得被愛,並且是來自妖精的邪惡小孩。然而,在《快樂的傻瓜》中,迪更斯記述了智能障礙者受教育後,他們的智力有所提升。在尼古拉斯.尼克貝中,迪更斯描寫了斯麥克與尼古拉斯的冒險歷程。故事中斯麥克甚至成為反抗史貴爾的領袖,並鼓勵尼古拉斯離開長期虐待他們的寄宿學校。與其他智能障礙者的文學角色相比,斯麥克顯的更富有趣味和轉折。因此尼古拉斯.尼克貝在發展和奠立智能障礙者角色的個體性上乃一先驅之作。雖然維多利亞人也許一時無法改變他們對智能障礙者的偏見,迪更斯努力賦予他們更豐富的人性仍具有意義。

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