The Railway Children

Gender roles play an important part in The Railway Children. Consider how characters such as Mother, Bobbie, Mr. Perks, or Dr. Forrest embody certain traditional ideals of masculinity or femininity. How do these traditional ideals shape his/her characterization? What do these roles tell us about social expectations for men and women at the turn of the twentieth century?

Maintaining pride and dignity despite poverty is an important value shared by several of the characters in the novel. How does Mother attempt to maintain dignity despite her impoverishment? How does Mr. Perks attempt to maintain his dignity? Why do such characters seem to place such a high value on the idea of personal dignity above all else?

Justice is a complicated underlying thematic element in the novel. Mother speaks to her children about how the Russian Exile was imprisoned by his own government for attempting to alleviate the plight of the poor, and the children’s own father is serving a prison sentence in England for a crime he did not commit. What, then, is true justice in The Railway Children? In what ways are there differences between moral justice and legal justice in the novel, and how—if ever—are these differences reconciled?