Chapter 25: Princesses and Paupers: American Child Labor Revision and Realities in A Little Princess: Film: A Little Princess (1995)

Princesses and Paupers: American Child Labor Revision and Realities in A Little Princess

A Little Princess takes place during World War I. Sara Crewe has been living with her father, a British Army officer, in India prior to the outbreak of war. When he is called to the front lines in France, Capt. Crewe enrolls Sara at a girls’ boarding school in New York City. She lives in luxury as her wealthy father tells the headmistress Miss Minchin to spare no expense to keep Sara happy while he is gone. When Capt. Crewe is presumed dead, the British government seizes his assets and his lawyer informs Miss Minchin that Sara’s bills will no longer be paid. Sara is now penniless and an orphan, with no relatives in an unfamiliar city. Miss Minchin informs Sara of her father’s death, and her new role as the school’s servant to pay off her debts. All of Sara’s things are confiscated, and she is moved to the attic. Sara works hard and grows close to Becky (a young Black maid) and her neighbor Ram Dass from India. Sara’s father is alive but is suffering from amnesia—Sara finds him recovering in the neighbor’s home when she escapes from the school and police. Sara pleads with him to remember her and when she cries out for her father as she is being taken away, Capt. Crewe recovers his memory. Soon afterwards the British government returns his company and fortune, he adopts Becky, and takes the girls back to India.