There is perhaps nothing quite as iconic of the Victorian era, whether in London, Paris, New York, or any other large city of the time, as the image of a street urchin, clothed in rags, begging or stealing, and doing so with such clever spirit and vigor that one hardly remembers to feel sorry for him. The truth was hardly so cheery, but the urchins, the guttersnipes, the street children, the sprogs, and the gamin have been preserved in a romanticized setting which will forever remain part of the image of the industrialized nineteenth century.
This did not come about by accident. As often as street urchins and orphans are seen in modern imaginations of the Victorian era, they were seen just as often by real people on the streets of many Victorian cities, and found their way into many novels of the time.
The Gamin of Paris
Victor Hugo is famous for his picturesque and often stark visions of Paris in Les Miserables, his honest exposure of the suffering which was felt by the lower classes, and especially his depiction of children, thrown into the midst of the French Revolution. Gavroche is described as 'this little great soul', a boy who has the bravery, resourcefulness, grit, honor, and experience of someone thrice his age. He lives on the streets, often taking refuge in a large, hollow statue of an elephant, which was a real location near the Bastille. The elephant was commissioned by Napoleon for a fountain, but never finished, and was quite possibly used as a shelter by real gamin during Victor Hugo's lifetime.
Unlike his parents, the Thénardiers, Gavroche is not hardened by the difficulties of his life, and uses what resources he has to help other gamin, including - unknowingly - his own two younger brothers, who have been abandoned to fend for themselves following the arrest of their caretaker. It is Gavroche in Les Miserables which sparks the Revolution and ignites a fire in the hearts of his older comrades. He embodies the best ideals of the Parisian Gamin, and there is more than a little of him in my own character, Lapin, 'the rabbit', from the Callahan Chronicles.
Cosette's position is equally miserable, though she lives with Gavroche's parents, the Thénardiers. At the start of the nineteenth century, street children were still placed into three categories: My own character, Lapin, would be considered an orphelin, or orphan, where both parents were known to be deceased. Enfants trouvés were probably the most common, where children were found abandoned on church steps, by orphanage doors, or other areas designated for 'found children', and it was unknown if the parents were alive or dead. The third category was enfants abandonnés, where the children had at least one known parent who had given the child to an orphanage or public care, or simply abandoned them to the street. Gavroche and Cosette would have fallen into this third category. While Gavroche is simply left to his own devises by sheer neglect, Cosette's unwed mother sends the Thénardiers seven franc a month for Cosette's upkeep. The Thénardiers use the money for themselves, however, and treat Cosette like something between a slave and an animal. Victor Hugo describes her diet as 'everyone's leftovers, a little better than the dog, but a little worse than the cat', which she eats on the floor. She wears the rags which the Thénardier's pampered daughters have outgrown, and is expected to do most of the menial labor which the family refuses to do. Still, as cruel as her treatment was, her position was still far better than many children who lived on the streets.
Another such character which falls into one of these categories is Benedetto from The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Benedetto falls into the category of enfants trouvés. He is left for dead by his father and mother, who conceived him from an adulterous affair, and is rescued by the Count's helper, Bertuccio. Bertuccio gives the child to an orphanage for a time, claiming he found the child on the road. The orphanage would have considered the child an enfant trouvé, since as far as they were concerned, it was impossible to know if the parents were living or dead. The child had been wrapped in monogrammed linen, and Bertuccio cuts this in half, leaving half with the orphanage, and keeping half for himself.
This was done for the purpose of identification, and was a common practice for poor families who were forced by necessity to give up one or more of their children, but hoped to reclaim them in the future. Some token was often left behind to identify the child, should the parent's circumstances change for the better. These tokens, whatever form they took, were faithfully recorded by the hospitals and orphanages which cared for the enfants assistés, as they were later called, grouping all three categories together. Sadly, these tokens often did little good, as it was exceedingly rare for a family to recover from the poverty which forced them to abandon a child to the care of the state or church. Benedetto is recovered by Bertuccio, however, and is raised as Bertuccio's own son. Benedetto's end is tragic, but the tragedy comes from his own choices, rather than the circumstances of his birth.
Both Les Miserables and The Count of Monte Cristo are immense, sweeping visions which cover decades, presenting Paris in a sweeping view that covers miles of story and a multitude of complex characters. They may seem daunting, but in both cases, the ending is superb, and has the satisfaction of many loose ends finally coming together into a rich tapestry that can only occur when genius comes together with a story of such epic proportions that movies simply cannot do justice to them. They are both stories of terrible tragedy and ultimate triumph, covering the entire scope of human emotion. I have read The Count of Monte Cristo twice, and found it even better on my second round. I plan to read both of them again.
The Gamin of London
Street children are not limited to the writings of French novelists; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also makes use of them, though they are not key characters, as they are for Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. Sherlock Holmes often relies on his 'Baker Street Irregulars' for information. These are street children as well, and Holmes pays them for information, using them as a network of spies and informants. Rather than taking advantage of their misfortune, this approach by the often cold and seemingly indifferent Holmes is a sincere and useful method of aid. The gamin of Paris and the lost children of other nineteenth century cities often held a strong sense of pride. Many of those who managed to eek out an existence on the streets by theft or opportunity disliked the idea of charity, and especially the rules that often went with it. They were hardened by their brushes with the criminal class, and suspicious of any gift which smacked of being 'too good to be true'. Holmes offers them a way to earn some money without insulting their dignity, while also providing Holmes with valuable information. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement which might otherwise be rejected or viewed with suspicion.
It is without question that the most influential and prolific writer on the tragedies of the Victorian urchin was Charles Dickens. It is rare indeed to find a story by Charles Dickens that does not contain at least one orphan or child suffering from poverty. This is also not by accident. Though Charles Dickens was not an orphan, his father was put in a debtor's prison, and Charles went to work at a factory at the ripe old age of twelve. His early life was hard, and he became an ardent supporter of children's rights and social reform. His novels are based on his own experiences and on the many people and places he saw. His stories of David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Pip, Nell Trent, and many others bring to life the hardships endured by the children of Victorian England, and it is without question that they are based on true examples, though the reality often did not have the joyful endings which Charles Dickens gives his characters, and which are made so much better by the contrast of the hardship which his characters endure.
Charles Dickens had the incredible ability to write about perfectly mundane people, places, and events with a brilliance that makes his stories both vivid and compelling, while retaining that spark of realness which is so often lacking. His characters include compassionate thieves as well as cruel brigands, religious hypocrites and merciful Christians, rich and poor. He adeptly exposes the class problems of his day without pointing fingers at any particular group. Victorian England is presented in such a way that one finishes the book with a feeling of having been there. I am quite certain that after reading Oliver Twist, I found London dirt under my fingernails.
The Gamin of reality
There is a definite link between the orphans and street urchins of the Victorian city and the criminal element. However, as over a third of Londoners at this time lived in poverty, it is no wonder that many children – as well as adults – were forced to endure a life on the street, and many inevitably turned to a life of crime in order to survive. The poor houses, orphanages, and hospitals which took in these poor souls were sometimes little better. Through uncaring negligence, overcrowding, or a simple lack of funding and shortage of staff, these places of refuge were often little better than the street, and sometimes worse. There is little written about these places by those who frequented them, since many poor lacked the materials or the knowledge for writing down their thoughts. Adults were sent to workhouses, which offered a pittance of pay, food, and shelter by the day for those willing to work, but the work was difficult and often not worth the reward, especially for the old or disabled, who were unable to work. For many, even gaining entry to a workhouse was impossible, as any criminal record would disbar an individual from entering, and criminal infractions were easy to come by as an indigent.
The orphanages and reformatories for children were little better. Some children preferred to run away, risking a life on the streets - equally harsh, but at least without the rules of conduct and risk of punishment enacted by the orphanages. Though there were many people who sympathized with the plight of the homeless, much of the aristocratic society simply ignored or avoided them. Police were expected to keep anyone from sleeping on park benches or in public areas, and those living in poverty mainly kept to themselves in the slums and crumbling tenements, far out of sight of the upper classes.
One of the most insightful looks into the poverty of London's East-End is The People of the Abyss, by Jack London. The book is not a novel, but a factual account of Jack London's experiences while posing for several weeks as a homeless indigent, living among them in the same terrible conditions, and seeing things which would not have been revealed to anyone but their own. It is a shocking and sad look into the miseries of poverty which are the inevitable result of large cities, and which still exist today.
The story of Oliver Twist also points to the connection between the poor gamin and the criminal. Oliver falls in with Fagin, who is perhaps the antitheses of Sherlock Holmes. While Holmes uses the Baker Street Regulars as his spies, Fagin exploits his own army of gamin as thieves. Some, like the Artful Dodger, became quite good at the art of picking pockets. Thievery was a common occurrence, often organized by an adult, who knew the value of a young, innocent face and a pair of small, quick hands. The young criminals who survived to adulthood sometimes took on the role of mentor and trainer in the criminal arts, while others focused on larger crimes, and often ended their lives in prison or by execution. However, this dismal scene was not the common occurrence that it is often claimed to be. Though the conditions in the workhouses was often dismal, the reformatory schools for delinquent youth had a startlingly high rate of success.
These schools of industry took in young orphans arrested by police for thievery or other crimes, and also children whose parents or guardians were imprisoned. Though stories do exist of harsh punishments and neglect, these are the exception, rather than the norm. Daniel Merino from The Conversation indicates that in Victorian England, some ten thousand children per year were admitted to industry and reformatory schools. Of that number, only 22% committed crimes as adults, and only 2% committed more than a single crime. Compare this number to modern England, where the number of juvenile re-offenders is a staggering 40% - nearly double. What made these schools so much more successful than modern ones? There are likely many reasons, however, it should be noted that the schools of Victorian England were predominantly Christian, while the schools of Modern England are overwhelmingly secular. Despite the hypocrites which abound in religious institutions as much today as in the time of Charles Dickens, it is the principles of Christianity which provide the necessary moral requirements for helping others, living honestly, and the reward of labor. Despite the problems which did exist in Victorian reformatories, the results seem to speak for themselves.
Growing up on the streets
Those that did not gain entrance to an orphanage or reformatory often banded together. It was far easier to survive as a group rather than an individual. Gangs formed through innate social processes, rather than any conscious effort toward organization. Each group had their section, and rivalries between gangs were common, though communication did occur between different groups regarding which areas were most likely to provide safe shelter or a hot meal, and which areas or people should be avoided. The gamin looked after their own, and though they sometimes blended with the older criminal element, most were wise enough to avoid hardened criminals, choosing rather to stay with their peers, who they found more predictable, if not more trustworthy.
As with all groups of children, they developed their own rules of conduct and their own unique superstitions. Although the rules were not followed with any level of commitment, the superstitions and rules were handed down by word of mouth, and often grew with each retelling, expanding into an entire philosophy which is now mostly lost. Losing any visible body part was considered lucky, possibly because it meant a greater reward from begging, since the loss of a hand or leg made the potential giver that much more sympathetic to the plight of the gamin. Losing a right hand was particularly lucky, as was losing an eye. There is no indication of where or when this belief originated, but it is possible that it started as a means of consoling those who had suffered such a catastrophe, or from a single instance where someone who had recently lost an appendage was later adopted by a wealthy benefactor. It is impossible to say, but superstitions abounded, as they often do with children who are left to interpret reality on their own.
The life of the gamin of Paris or the guttersnipe of London has been glamorized by countless retelling and the passage of time, but the reality was far from idyllic. For many today, the conditions are no better, but one would hardly consider the tent cities of San Francisco or the vast homeless in New York City as a charming theme for a novel, yet these were the places where Charles Dickens placed many of his stories which we find so charming today. Perhaps part of the secret to the timeless endurance of such stories as Oliver Twist, Les Miserables, and The Count of Monte Cristo is that the human condition has not improved since their time, yet within the midst of such poverty and hardship, the human spirit endures. The stories of Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Charles Dickens are filled with pain and suffering, but we love them still, because the author's promise is that the ending will be a happy one. This life is no different. Often, our lives are filled with pain and suffering, but the human spirit endures, and the Author's promise is that the ending will be a happy one.
In the end, the light will overcome darkness.
For more information on gamin, guttersnipes, or my novel, Grayscale, check out these links:
The Callahan Chronicles, by Paul Campbell
The Success of Victorian Reformatories - blog post by Daniel Marino
Red Children and Foundling Wheels - Parisian Fields
Charles Dicken's 7 most unfortunate orphans - Brianna Evans
The works of Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Jack London, Alexandre Dumas, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are in the public domain, and can be found on most free book apps, or you can download free audiobooks through Librivox
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