“New Thought and the Inner Child in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy”

Stiles, Anne. “New Thought and the Inner Child in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy.” Nineteenth-Century Literature 73, no. 3 (2018): 326–52

Stiles examines late nineteenth-century literary references to the “inner child,” which she defines as “a person’s original or true self,” in the writings she associates with New Thought. These include Frances Hodgson Burnett, Emma Hopkins, Mary Baker Eddy, and others. Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy was perhaps the strongest example of popular literature featuring a child as a model of health, innocence, and optimism. For Stiles, the novel illustrates themes central to New Thought and positive-thinking traditions: the triumph of mind and positive attitudes over material conditions and life’s obstacles. She notes that visualizing one’s self as this inner child—free from worldly woes and burdens—was often recommended as a path toward improvement and healing. Stiles traces similar ideas echoed in the works of Plato, Carl Jung, and the biblical image of the Christ child. Stiles also highlights maternal imagery within Eddy’s church, including her description of God as Father-Mother, the designation of the denomination’s central institution as The Mother Church, and the tendency of followers to refer to Eddy as “Mother.” Stiles finds these themes of the fearless healing purity of the inner child in Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy and links them to Burnett’s earlier exposure as a student of Eddy’s teachings.

ISSN: 0891-9356
eISSN: 1067-8352

See also annotation:

“Christian Science Versus The Rest Cure in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden” by Anne Stiles.

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