A feral child is a human child who has lived in isolation for a long time from a very young age. Feral children have little or no experience of human contact, and as a result of this do not understand basic social skills and human language. Some feral children have been confined or abandoned by people (usually their own parents). Others have lived alone in the wild, or in some cases have been raised by animals, like Mowgli in the Jungle Book.
Famous feral children in literature include Tarzan, Peter Pan and Mowgli. These mythical children are commonly presented as having superior strength, intelligence and morals compared to "normal" humans, implying that because of their upbringing they represent humanity in a pure and uncorrupted state, similar to Rousseau's "noble savage" theory. This idea also has links with religion, as before Adam and Eve ate the apple they lived in the wild in a pure/uncorrupted state.
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