Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2-11-2026

Department 1

First Year Seminar

Department 2

English

Abstract

This project analyzes the 1788 children's story "Paul and Virginia" by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Written in the pastoral literary genre, it tells the star-crossed love story of Paul and Virginia, childhood friends who live on the French colony Île-de-France (present-day Mauritius). The work exemplifies many highlights of the Enlightenment progressivism, socializing its young readers to criticize the oppressive class systems in Europe. However, the work is limited by the physiocratic view of slavery, which maintained that the slave trade was justified if the enslaved humans were treated "humanely". As a result, Paul and Virginia's slavery plot line includes problematic white savior implications. Additionally, the text is emblematic of how white colonists romanticized the lifestyle of Africans who lived on Île-de-France, believing they lived in a golden age of liberty. Enlightenment philosophes aspired to live like these "noble savages", free from the social constructs of monarchial France. Thus, "Paul and Virginia" reflects both the progressiveness and the limitations of Enlightenment ideology, teaching children to value individual liberty yet be complacent with problematic narratives about colonialism and slavery's place in society.

Comments

This poster was created based on work for FYS-W 124: Curious and Curiouser: Children's Literature and the Invention of the Modern Child and presented as a part of the eleventh annual CAFE Symposium on February 11, 2026.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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