Subversion and Rebellion
Potter herself rebelled against the conventions of the Victorian era so it should come as little surprise that her characters are rebels, hellions, and subversives. It really almost defies belief, for instance, that no punk rock band ever called themselves the Squirrel Nutkins considering how much of a nonconformist that character is. But he’s not alone. “The Tale of Two Bad Mice” features a destruction orgy of subversive rebellion and even Peter Rabbit is prone to misbehavior and defying his mother’s authority.
Instinct and Societal Constraint
The dominant symbol associated with this theme is clothing. Potter’s menagerie is composed of anthropomorphic creatures who act, behave and even dress like human beings. What is subversive about Potter’s approach is the self-acknowledgement that animals should not be wearing clothes and so clothing becomes a symbol of social constraint upon the natural instinct and impulse. In stories about—but far from limited to—Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddleduck, and Tom Kitten, dressing like humans is revealed to be an affront to biological instinct to the point that at times remaining in such unnatural attire puts her animals in danger while removing the clothing and embracing their natural instinct becomes the pathway to safety.
Critique of Victorian Artificiality
The constraints that affected Potter to the point of pursuing them in her children’s stories was primarily what she viewed as the oppressive artificiality of Victorian life. Her own almost postmodern introduction of the self-awareness of the ridiculous of animals dressed in human clothing can be interpreted as almost the work of an agent provocateur. By raising the issue of the artifice of her own fictional construct, she more effectively is able to criticize it while also exploiting it as a necessity for Victorian readers. Nowhere is Potter’s critique of the artifice of the Victorians more direct, blunt or mordant than in her two of those “bad mice” who seem to destroy a dollhouse with blind rage. That urge toward destruction is not blind, however, though it is a portrait of rage. Potter’s hungry mice who have been fooled into thinking ceramic dollhouse food is real is a rage not just against the artificiality of Victorian society, but the insult added to the injury: wealth wasted on artificial representations of real life at the very same time that the bulk of those living that real life were doing so in poverty, filth, and economic inequality as unjust as it was unnecessary.
