Conclusion

While death is a reality that everyone must face, it has affected society in many different ways throughout history. In the nineteenth-century, it was not uncommon for children to pass away before reaching adulthood. As a result of this, it was crucial that children were educated on the concept of dying. Rather than deeming the topic taboo (as it has become today amongst younger children), Sunday Schools regularly incorporated death into their teachings through fictional and nonfictional stories. Throughout these stories, death functions in multiple ways in order to successfully convey biblical lessons and morals. Sometimes, death is portrayed as a tragedy that teaches people about God. While always tragic, however, the tragedy of death itself is not always emphasized. In some cases, death functions as a platform upon which the dying can impart their advice and teach the living. Other times, death is emphasized through the comfort of knowing that Heaven exists beyond it. While death seems terrifying and unknown, these selected books reinforce the idea that those who have faith in Christ have nothing to fear from death because of the salvation and redemption that comes from Christ’s sacrifice. These themes all strive to show that death is not the end. That is, for those who are devoted and loving and fearful of God will go to heaven. In stark contrast to these themes is the ways in which death is portrayed throughout the secular literature of the nineteenth-century. Not only is death viewed as unknown and seemingly permanent, but the attitudes expressed towards it are nervous and uncertain. Through studying the theme of death throughout nineteenth-century religious and secular literature, new insights have shown a clearer idea of how Christian children were being raised and educated in a world where they may not reach adulthood.