Concealed heritages: Twist, Deronda and the adoption triad in Victoria fiction

Abstract

The figure of the adoptee (especially orphans) was popular in fiction throughout the Victorian Era. Serving as a lens for social and legal ideologies of birth and inheritance, these fictional adoptees are often critiqued independently. However, adoptees are always part of an adoption triad of birth parent(s), adoptive parent(s) and the adoptee themselves. The birth parents and the frequently overlooked adoptive parents are likewise significant lenses into authors’ critiques of birth, inheritance and importantly, nurturing. When viewed collectively, it is clear that Victorian fiction of adoption ultimately highlights the author’s position on the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate coined in the later part of the era. Using the adoption triads of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Daniel Deronda by George Eliot, this thesis will deconstruct the individual and collective ideals promoted by the authors. Viewing the adoption triad members individually, Dickens' novel appears to be criticising the Poor Law (Amendment) Act 1834, discussing the intricacies of inheritance law and championing adoption. Together however, the adoption triad in Oliver Twist thoroughly demonstrates the author’s anxieties concerning an indomitable middle class. Dickens represents children as the product of a born class whose domestic hearth is founded on their mother’s chastity and if disturbed, should only be reestablished by middle class adopters to avoid indentured servitude. Comparatively, Eliot’s Daniel Deronda positions children as the product of a natural, racial propensity and nurturing, environmental influences. Particularly, Eliot promotes a nationally rooted familial hearth, equal education and legal rights; and criticises primogeniture inheritance as an overvaluing of birth that fails to recognise children (especially daughters) as individuals rather than links of inheritance. Therefore, each author uses the adoption triad to promote a personal position on the nature versus nurture debate.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Anthony Uhlmann (Supervisor)