A Question for the group....School Fights

[Mary Auxier]

Hi all,

 

I am working on a project on school fights in 19th century literature.  I have, of course, looked at the famous scene in Tom Brown's Schooldays, but I was wondering what other not-to-miss examples and discussions of this topic you might recommend. 

 

Thanks!

Mary

[Helen Schinske]

Have you already looked at the Encyclopaedia of Boys' School Stories?

 

There is at least one fight (quite likely more than one) in The Cock House at Fellsgarth, I know, and there's Dan and Emil's fight in Little Men, if you're covering American books as well.

 

Helen Schinske

[Naomi W]

This is too early, but there's a splendid fight in Sarah Fielding's
_The Governess, or Little Female Academy_ (1749); the girls really
tear into one another, then justify themselves and sulk in a very
realistic manner. It might be interesting to consider the gendered
implications of the reasons and causes for the fighting.

Naomi

[Melynda Huskey]

There's a splendid fight in *The Daisy Chain* by Charlotte Yonge.

 

Melynda Huskey

[Michelle Smith]

This sounds like a fun project. I'm guessing you're concentrating on
boys' school stories because of their comparative prevalence, but it's
interesting to note how different "fights" are in girls' school
stories. Angela Brazil's fiction is a ripe source for these, even if
they are early twentieth century texts. From the dozen or so I read,
they often took the form of girls being suspected of commiting some
heinous crime such as cheating and subsequently being socially snubbed
until given the chance to redeem themselves.

Michelle

On Oct 30, 5:24 am, "Mary Auxier" <mary.aux...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am working on a project on school fights in 19th century literature.  I

> have, of course, looked at the famous scene in *Tom Brown's Schooldays*, but

[Mary Auxier]

Thank you all, these are a huge help!

~Mary

[Sarah Wernsing]

I'm not sure if you would also be considering American literature, but
in Louisa May Alcott's _Little Men_ I believe there's at least one
(maybe several) fighting scene that Professor Bhaer breaks up. I
think almost any of the fights would concern Dan, the "firebrand" bad
boy who comes to live at the school and behaves in a way that disturbs
the harmony of the school. There's also some "girl fight" evidence in
_Little Women_ when Amy March brings limes to school and one of the
other girls tattles on her and gets her punished. I know that one's
pretty vague and more gossipy than anything else, but it might be
interesting to look at, too.

On 29 Oct, 11:24, "Mary Auxier" <mary.aux...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am working on a project on school fights in 19th century literature. I

> have, of course, looked at the famous scene in *Tom Brown's Schooldays*, but