THE STRUCTURE OF THE OTHER WORLD IN CHARLES KINGSLEY’S “THE WATER BABIES”

Abstract

The fairy tale “The Water-Babies” by the British novelist Charles Kingsley depicts the other world as water kingdom. The boy chimney sweeper Tom gets there having drowned in the river. The paper analyses how the other world is organized to provide the Victorian up-bringing and support the ideas of Darwinian evolution. Tom’s life in water is interpreted as the period of moral transformation and the study of nature. The topography of the other world is structured around the magic Isle of St. Brendan. The boundary between this world and the other world is crossed through mirrors, water surfaces and by looking in the eyes of fairies. “The Water-Babies” are interpreted as part of a specific literary tradition. The article compares different versions of the archetypal plot about a chimney sweeper in English literature. The analysis is focused around the poems about the chimney sweeper by William Blake in “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience”, narrating the tale of children getting into the other world and the following Redemption. “The Three Sleeping Boys of Warwickshire” by Walter de la Mare is the final text in this tradition. In conclusion we examine beliefs about chimney sweeper in folklore sources and in particular the connection between chimney sweeper and good luck.