ABSTRACT

The term home is very current by the persons to name the place where they live and that is narrowly related to a safety sensation, comfort, belonging and calmness.
An infantile home is pedagogic space destined to qualify the relations of the adults and of the children in the one that must show an environment that allows them to be realized as human beings, propitiating the participation in the decisions, the formation of ethical qualities and the development of all the values.
But when these children are in a context of absent parents, though because his father isolated of the family to be able to find a work that sustains his lives and inevitably the mother at the time, it tries to occupy both places (as mother housewife, and absent father) or because it was left by the same ones, we send ourselves directly to the function that the children´s homes fulfill before the appearance of these events.
In this work of investigation we will take charge giving account of the functioning of this type of establishment specifying us in what it differs to the place San Nicolás de los Arroyos.
We will look for the possibility of coming to a reasoning that justifies the presence of the children´s homes in San Nicolás having in account the gubernamental participation in the same ones and the effect that it causes these to a society that collaborates with the same ones and on the contrary it questions his continuity give social "help".
It is there where we will stop to try to give an end to the worries on if the children´s homes establish an ideal environment for the development of our future generations without making forgotten the rights of the children and teenagers, in order that we contribute in a formation of a better society.

BACKGROUND

The ghost story: The Canterville Ghost is a ghost story.Ghost stories belong to the genre called horror literature, whose purpose is to scare the reader with situations that cause horror or fear. The most common technique is suspense, the slow insinuating of a doubt or of a frightening revelation, which keeps the reader interested. Horror stories were born in the nineteenth century

because there was a growing interest in the fantastic and the supernatural. The most important literary production of this period belongs to the English, American and Nordic writers, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Howard Philip Lovecraft, nowadays considered the fathers of this

genre. Among the current writers one of the most famous is Stephen King, who wrote a lot of best-sellers. However, this story can be defined an inverted ghost story, because a lot of elements are different from the traditional ones. The main difference is the fact that Mr Otis is

not scared by the ghost, while usually people should be. Moreover, the Ghost itself is frightened by the Otis twins. There is also comic relief bordering on farce, including trip wires, butter on the top of the stairs and buckets of water balanced on half-open doors. But the story has a

dark centre. The crime and retribution which led to the haunting is ghastly, and this is really not a comedy at all, but a tale of redemption through the power of love. The innocent girl of the family, appropriately called Virginia, prays for the ghost and endures terrifying if unnamed

experiences to release the ghost from his purgatory.

American vs. British society: Wilde compares the behaviour of the American Otises with that of the British upper classes. It is a study in the differences between the English, with their ghosts and their history, and the practical Americans, with their commercial remedies to all

problems, even the supernatural, and the money to buy what is left of Europe.

CHARACTERS

The ghost: The ghost of the castle for centuries. He was Sir Simon de Canterville and died in 1584, his spirit still haunts the Chase. His aspect is very terrible: “He is an old man, his eyes were as red burning coals, long grey hair fell over his shoulders in matted coils, his garments, which were of antique cut, were soiled and ragged, and from his wrists and ankles hung heavy manacles and rusty gyves.”

Mr. Otis: The father of the Otis family. He is a middle-aged American minister; he is determinated, inflexible, rational, practical and pragmatic, in conclusion a true American. In fact at the beginning he believes that the ghost doesn’t exist, then, when he personally meets him, he is indifferent: he has more important things to do, making money, for example.

Virginia: “She is a little girl of fifteen, lithe and lovely as a fawn, and with a fine freedom, in her large blue eyes. She is a wonderful amazon. In respect to her family she is kind and with weling heart.” The daughter is the only one in the family who is scared by the ghost. She never speaks except to the ghost, at the end of the story.

Washington: the Otises' oldest son; “he is a fire-haired rather cood-loooking young man; gardenias and peerage are his only weaknesses.”

The twins: “they are usually called The stars and stripes, they are delightful boys and the only true republicans of the family.” These children always play tricks on the ghost and make him depressed and desperate. All  along  the story, they imagine jokes and even dress up as ghosts.

Mrs Otis:  The mother isn't scared of the ghost and even asks him if he wants a remedy for his stomach. “She is a very handsome middle-aged woman with fine eyes and a superb profile. She has a magnificent constitution and a wonderful amount of animal spirits.”

Lord Canterville: A respectable descendent of the Canterville family, that was the owner of the Canterville Chase. “He is an English men of the most pounctilious honour.”

Mrs.Umney: the old house-keeper of Canterville Chase is very terrified by the ghost and tries to warn the family.

THEMES

Wilde takes an American family and places them in a British setting. He creates stereotypical characters that represent both England and the USA satirizing the unrefined tastes of the Americans and the determination of the British to guard their traditions.
Wilde tends to reverse situations; the ghhost story is not told from perspective of the castle occupants, as in all traditional tales but from the perspective of the ghost. It is Sir Simond who faces adversity.
The Canterville Ghost is a parody of a traditional ghost story and also satirizes American materialism.
Besides the humorous tale, Wilde has a message: Virginia says that the ghost helped her see the significance of life and death.

SETTING

The story takes place in an old country house, Canterville chase, which is a traditional haunted house.
The author mixes the gothic atmosphere with witty comedy. He mixes creaking floarboards, clanking chains and ancient prophecies with modern American consumerism.
Wilde´s gothic setting helps emphasize the contrast between cultures, settings modern Americans in a classical symbol of British history.

BIOGRAPHY

Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde) was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854 to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane. Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (1820-1896), was a successful poet and journalist. She wrote patriotic Irish verse under the pseudonym "Speranza". Oscar's father, Sir William Wilde (1815 - 1876), was a leading ear and eye surgeon, a renowned philanthropist and gifted writer, who wrote books on archaeology and folklore. Oscar had an elder brother, Willie, and a younger sister, Isola Francesca, who died at the early age of 10.

Oscar Wilde was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh (1864-71), Trinity College, Dublin (1871-74) and Magdalen College, Oxford (1874-78). While at Oxford, he became involved in the aesthetic movement and became an advocate for 'Art for Art's Sake' (L'art pour l'art). Whilst at Magdalen, he won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna.

After he graduated, he moved to Chelsea, in London (1879), to establish a literary career. In 1881, he published his first collection of poetry - 'Poems' that received mixed reviews by critics. He worked as art reviewer (1881), lectured in the United States and Canada (1882), and lived in Paris (1883). He also lectured in Britain and Ireland (1883 - 1884). From the mid-1880s he was regular contributor for Pall Mall Gazette and Dramatic View.

On May 29, 1884, Oscar married Constance Lloyd (died 1898), daughter of wealthy Queen's Counsel Horace Lloyd. They had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886). To support his family, Oscar accepted a job as the editor of Woman's World magazine, where he worked from 1887-1889. In 1888 he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, fairy-stories written for his two sons. His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1891 and recieved quite a negative response. This had much to do with the novel's homoerotic overtones, which caused something of a sensation amongst Victorian critics. In 1891 Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed 'Bosie', who became both the love of his life and his downfall. Wilde's marriage ended in 1893.

Wilde's greatest talent was for writing plays, his first play, 'Lady Windermere's Fan,' opened in February 1892. He produced a string of extremely popular comedies including 'A Woman of No Importance' (1893), 'An Ideal Husband (1895)' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895). These plays were all highly acclaimed and firmly established Oscar as a playwright.

In April 1895, Oscar sued Bosie's father for libel as the Marquis of Queensberry had accused him of homosexuality. Oscar's case was unsuccessful and he was himself arrested and tried for gross indecency. He was sentenced to two years hard labor for the crime of sodomy. During his time in prison he wrote De Profundis, a dramatic monologue and autobiography, which was addressed to Bosie.

Upon his release in 1897, he wrote “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, revealing his concern for inhumane prison conditions. He spent the rest of his life wandering Europe, staying with friends and living in cheap hotels. He died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900, penniless, in a cheap Paris hotel.