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 basic, ‘Oliver Twist,’ has been hit with a “set off warning” by a UK college over considerations that its themes of “youngster abuse,” “home violence” and “racial prejudice” may trigger “anxiousness” and “misery,” the Every 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 response to the paper. Particulars of the alert emerged following a Freedom of Info request by the Every day Mail.
Among the many materials considered 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 help the psychological well being and well-being of our college students.” He described it as a “normal and accepted observe inside academia.”
They exist to coach and inform college students upfront round doubtlessly delicate matters 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 guide 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.”
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Royal Holloway’s content material warning is the most recent in a sequence of such set off alerts launched by UK universities in latest months, in response to the Every day Mail. The paper famous that Salford College had posted related warnings about one other Dickens basic, ‘Nice Expectations,’ and about Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre.’
The College of Northampton had executed the identical for George Orwell’s anti-censorship work ‘1984’ whereas the College of Chester positioned a content material word on JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter guide, warning that it may immediate “troublesome conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and id.”
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