Street, Brian V. The Savage in Literature:
Representations of ‘Primitive’ Society in English Fiction 1858-1920 (London
and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975).
Street briefly discusses Kingsley’s depiction of degeneration of society,
of race, of individuals. The main reason for degeneration was weak
morality as exemplified by the Doasyoulikes in The Water-Babies.
On the other hand, man might also progress once he adheres to the proper
Victorian ethical values. “By following Christian ethics, we will
progress ‘up’ the evolutionary scale, but if we are sinful and lazy, like
the savages, then we will degenerate” (91).
Degeneration
of Society; Evolution. |
