On The Binary Oppositions In The Water Babies

The Water Babies, Charles Kingsley's best work, is one of the classics in the traditional children's literature. Through the eight chapters and a moral,the book centers on the chimney sweep Tom who changes into a water baby. With the help of the fairies, he goes through a series of trial, and finally becomes a real man. The book reflects Kingsley's positive and optimistic attitude toward Britain. In The Water Babies, binary oppositions can be found everywhere. And this thesis analyzes the novel by using the approach of binary oppositions and gets the conclusion that Kingsley shows his optimistic attitude to both Tom and the Britain.The introduction is mainly about Charles Kingsley's life and career, the literature review on The Water babies and binary oppositions. The originality lies in analyzingThe Water Babies by using the approach of binary oppositions systematically and profoundly, especially the pair of animal instinct and social property. The main body of the thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One discusses the dirty land and the clean water world. Chapter Two deals with the hero's—Tom's deaths and rebirths. Chapter Three discusses the most common binary opposition: man and woman. The male characters have moral flaws, yet they contribute more in the society. Though the females represent the social virtues, they are limited to the family and judged by the appearances as a view to the males. Chapter Four analyzes the binary opposition of social property and animal instinct. Animal instinct is the source of all the problems in the society, such as selfishness and greediness. Kingsley emphasizes the good social property, which is, to him, the cure to the evil animal instinct. Overcoming the bad animal instincts makes the society better. On the other hand, man can benefit from initiating the physical characters of animal. Such as the ship models on the fish. Tom becomes the half fish, so he can take a voyage around the world.Conclusion, through the textual analysis of binary oppositions in The Water Babies, states that Kingsley shows his optimistic attitude toward Tom and Britain.