Oliver Twist hit with content warning – media — Analysis
Royal Holloway at College of London reportedly issued set off alert to guard ‘psychological well being and well-being’ of Masters-level college students
The Charles Dickens traditional, ‘Oliver Twist,’ has been hit with a “set off warning” by a UK college over issues that its themes of “little one abuse,” “home violence” and “racial prejudice” may trigger “anxiousness” and “misery,” the Day by day Mail reported.
A Masters-level course on ‘Victorian Literature, Artwork and Tradition’ on the Royal Holloway, College of London, has issued the content material warning for the 1838 novel, in accordance with the paper. Particulars of the alert emerged following a Freedom of Data request by the Day by day Mail.
Among the many materials regarded as deemed as doubtlessly upsetting to some college students, the Mail reported, is the chapter that includes the well-known workhouse scene, whereby the orphan Oliver is hit by a soup ladle after delivering the memorable line, “Please, sir, I need some extra.”
An unnamed spokesman for the college defended the content material warning, noting that it was part of “our accountability to assist the psychological well being and well-being of our college students.” He described it as a “normal and accepted apply inside academia.”
They exist to teach and inform college students prematurely round doubtlessly delicate subjects which may trigger them anxiousness or misery, maybe as a consequence of previous expertise.
However critics pointed to the novel’s enduring reputation, with historian and writer Jeremy Black telling the paper that the e-book was “a part of [the UK’s] literary heritage.” He added that the “traits of life” explored in such works “can disturb,” however famous that that is “a facet of maturity.”
READ MORE:
Harry Potter e-book will get set off warning
Royal Holloway’s content material warning is the most recent in a sequence of such set off alerts launched by UK universities in current months, in accordance with the Day by day Mail. The paper famous that Salford College had posted comparable warnings about one other Dickens traditional, ‘Nice Expectations,’ and about Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre.’
The College of Northampton had finished the identical for George Orwell’s anti-censorship work ‘1984’ whereas the College of Chester positioned a content material observe on JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter e-book, warning that it may immediate “tough conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and id.”
You may share this story on social media:
[ad_2]