Little Lord Fauntleroy is a popular children’s book by Frances Hodgson Burnett about Cedric Errol, a sentimental child who discovers he is the heir to an earldom. His good deeds and Americanisms annoy his grandfather, but ultimately transform him. The conflict of Cedric’s true heirship is resolved, and the book ends with the reconciliation of his mother and grandfather, symbolizing the hope of respectful cooperation between America and Britain.
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a book about the title character, also known as Cedric Errol. The book was first published in serial form in 1885 and has been a popular children’s book ever since, though popularity has declined. The author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, was an English-born American writer, whose other popular children’s books The Secret Garden and The Little Princess received much attention.
Little Lord Fauntleroy is the loving and sentimental child who discovers he is the heir to the earldom of Dorincourt. Because Fauntleroy grew up in relative poverty with his widowed mother in America, his response to a county inheritance is mixed.
His grandfather, the current earl, persuades Cedric’s mother to allow him to grow up in England. Yet the grandfather refuses to have anything to do with Cedric’s mother, as he feels that her late and beloved son has made a bad match by marrying an American.
Fauntleroy’s mother, very dear to him, resides in a small house away from the earl’s estate. His good deeds to the poor of Dorincourt soon annoy the earl. While the Earl hopes to instill aristocratic values in Fauntleroy, he instead finds himself deeply loving the boy for his “Americanisms,” such as less distinction between classes, sensitivity and kindness to the poor, and an independent ability and undaunted to speak His mind.
The count, despite himself, begins to adopt his nephew’s point of view and finds that he is behaving in ways very foreign to his former self. Fauntleroy represents the transforming power of love, and because the Earl loves Fauntleroy more, he begins to change his fundamental view of caring for the people in his county than he does.
The conflict arises when suggestions arise that Little Lord Fauntleroy may not actually be the true heir. However, this conflict is brushed aside due to Cedric’s previous contacts with an American grocer and shoe shiner. The resolution occurs when Cedric’s grandfather realizes that such an amazing child is indeed the result of a kind and gentle mother.
Little Lord Fauntleroy ends with the reconciliation of mother and grandfather. This can also be seen symbolically as a lessening of tension between the Americans and the British. As the story moved further and further away from the Revolutionary War and further incursions, Britain and the United States aligned more closely. So the book was in part a commentary on the hope of respectful cooperation of two great nations, as they discover that there are more similarities than differences.
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