Annotated bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Brown, Marilyn R. "Images of Childhood." Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: In

History and Society. 2.1 (2004): 449-463. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 Nov. 2010.

Marilyn Brown takes her readers on a long journey starting with the fifteen century continuing all the way to the twenty-first century, where she clearly shows how the attitude towards young innocent kids had changed. Brown’s goal in this article shows the readers how the image of children had changed and got worse with time. It had gotten so bad by the 18^th century that children were being exploited and taken advantage of their innocence. Brown clearly shows her point in her article. Although the article is quite lengthy, I believe that it effectively demonstrated the readers about how the image of children had changed over time.

Chadwick, Edwin. “Report of Poor Law Commissioner to the British Parliament on Sanitary

Conditions”. Bloomu.edu. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. 1842. Web. 5 November 2010.

In his report, Chadwick discuss about the living conditions and daily struggles of working families living in London during the 18^th century. The report makes suggestions on how to improve on these factors. Chadwick especially wanted to help poor working families

and protect younger children who were uneducated and those who were engaged in tough work that would permanently destroy their bodies. I think, Chadwick does a great job with his report. He was calling for improvements which were desperately needed at that point of time. I agree with Chadwick that young kids should not indulge themselves into tougher jobs instead they should pursue education which will earn them a better living.

George, Dorothy, Mary. London Life in the 18th Century. Illinois: Academy Chicago Publishers,

2005. Print.

In the book “London Life in the 18^th”century”, George went into greater details about the conditions in London during the 18^th century, She painted images in the readers’ mind about what it was like to live in London during that time. She even described how malnutrition, maternal ignorance, bad water, dirty food, poor hygiene and overcrowding all contributed to an extremely high mortality rate of young kids. George succeeded in her goal which was to give readers a better understanding of what life was like during this time period. I found George’s book to be very insightful and a pleasure to read.

Harrison, James. “Blake's the Chimney Sweeper.” Explicator 36.2 (2002): 1-3. Literary

Reference Center. Web. 4 November 2010.

The writer, Harrison, is contrasting two characters i.e., the Speaker and Tom Dacre. The writer also discussed about how the characters have different viewpoint and tone of voice which affect reader’s understanding. The speaker is a bit older and has got many years of experience in cleaning chimneys. The speaker actually believes that this job is his “calling”. However, the less experienced Tom Dacre does not feel this way and is often sad when forced to do this job, which shows the irony of the story. I think Harrison’s article is reliable, useful, and unbiased. Harrison’s goals for this article is to provide readers with better understanding, show the irony and the big contrast in their viewpoints. Actually, the irony is what gives the poem its power, so Harrison wants his audience to pay attention to that. If one accepts it and the other knows it isn’t fair, that is a big contrast in the viewpoint. I believe Harrison points out the irony to make readers think about the idea of fate. Remember that the readers know the boys’ fate that the job will kill them, but at least the speaker does not. So we can feel sorry for the boy, even if he doesn’t feel sorry.

Malthus, Thomas. “Essay on Population”. Fordham.edu. Fordham, 1798. Web. 5 November

2010.

In his essay, Malthus made a point that there were many things that should be fixed during the 18^th century which includes increasing population and poverty. Malthus believed that families were growing at a faster rate than the supply of food. Due to the growth in size, most families could not afford to buy food or supplies. The growth in population resulted in decrease of cost of labor, which caused problems for many families. Malthus made his point in this essay, although I believe that he used longer and confusing words and sentences to describe things which could have done in more articulated and organized form. Basically, he was trying to convey that there were things which need to be addressed during the 18^th century. The increase in population was one of the problems due to which many families were forced to have their young kids do tougher jobs.

Murray, Christine. “18th Century London”. PBS. PBS, 2001. Web. 6 November 2010.

In these articles, Murray’s goal was to show that during the eighteenth century, London was an uglier place for everybody; especially young children. Murray told us about how children were forced to work longer hours and were paid very little or nothing at all. Almost all of the children were forced to live in work- houses, because their parents could not afford to feed them. To keep the children from starving to death, parents would sell their children to people who could feed them. Also, she discussed about the living conditions, which were terrible. Families would drink dirty water, and would leave their trash everywhere. I think, Murray does an exceptional job in describing the conditions during the 18^th century, what people were going through, and how they were treated during that time. Murray’s articles are simply a delight to read, and I would recommend them to everyone. Murray clearly, yet interestedly, proves her point about how this century in London was uglier and unfavorable.

Schrumpf, Ellen."Child Labor in the West." Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: In History

and Society 1.1 (2004):159-162.Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 Nov. 2010.

The point of this article is to provide the readers with some details on what these young kids were forced to do. Ellen Schrumpf provides the readers with a brief look at the history of child labor in the West. Schrumpt tells that kids at the age of 4 had to indulge themselves into tougher jobs and were looked upon to contribute to the household income. Schrumpt also discusses how the terrible crime lasted for centuries until laws against child labor were made. I think Schrimpfy did an excellent job with this article. She was unbiased and presented the article in a very unique way. I would surely read more of these kind of books if written in the same style as this one. However, I have one suggestion for Schrimpfy about not providing sufficient information. I still have some glaring questions about the child labor in the west. I think the article is great, however it would have been better if more details were provided.