What is Dickens Attitude to the Working Classes in Chapter XX (Book 2, Chapter 4)?Does Dickens portray the Unions with as much Sympathy as the Workers? Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times in 1854. What is Dickens Attitude to the Working Classes in Chapter XX (Book 2, Chapter 4)? Does Dickens portray the Unions with as much Sympathy as the Workers? Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times in 1854. He lived in London and because he was writing about industrialisation in the North at that time he went up to Preston in 1852 to explore the industrialisation there and to witness the strike of the weavers. He was horrified by the oppressing industrialists he witnessed and also horrified by seeing the way the common people were made to work. …show more content…
Whereas Dickens’ portrayal of Stephen is completely different. Stephen is portrayed as the hero in this chapter and almost characterizes Dickens own personal thoughts to the problem at the time. Stephen is telling the crowd in the chapter that going on strike is not the answer. When he starts speaking, we lapse into Coketown dialect which is almost uncomprensible which puts Stephen lower than the rest of the workers but shows him as a man of the Earth type; this draws a line of complete difference between the characters of Slackbridge and Stephen again, because although Slackbridge has a lot to say and says it with noise and enthusiasm, Stephen speaks with the same tone and is portrayed as quiet and Jesus-like, good. Before Stephen speaks, the crowd sympathises towards him, in respect to what he has to say, ‘then the place was wonderfully still.’ Again an almost Christ-like image. In one part of Stephen’s speech, he uses a biblical reference towards the Good Samaritan, he being the Jew in the road and the crowd, the people choosing to walk past. The reader is drawn to feel sorry for Stephen and we see him as an outsider. For all this, the gulf between the portrait of the Preston …show more content…
Dickens had also seen what had happened when the workers did eventually revolt as 1848 was the Year of Revolutions; France, Germany and Russia had all revolted and we see that from the Chapter XX of Hard Times Dickens was definitely against the English workers forming a revolution too. It seems probable that Dickens’s life-long distrust of political association and his early experience as a reporter in the House of Commons are partially responsible for his attitude to trade unions aswell. So although the tone of this chapter is revolutionary, it actually fails to be revolutionary. Hard Times was one of Dickens weakest novels as he didn’t follow through his points and the most obvious question that he left unanswered and ambiguous is his solution to the industrial
Attitude Toward the Poor in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Dickens encourages readers to change their views by showing what scrooge is like before, during and after the ghosts have visited him. " A Christmas Carol" is about a horrid old accountant and how people react around him on Christmas Eve. He is visited by 3 ghosts and they try and change his wicked ways. Dickens knows what it is like to work in factories because, as a child. he used to work in one, putting labels on shoe polish bottles.
On February 7, 1812, a popular author named Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England during the Victorian Era and the French Revolution. He had a father named John Dickens and a mother named Elizabeth Dickens; they had a total of eight children. In Charles’s childhood, he lived a nomadic lifestyle due to his father 's debt and multiple changes of jobs. Despite these obstacles, Charles continued to have big dreams of becoming rich and famous in the future. His father continued to be in and out of prison, which forced him, and his siblings to live in lodging houses with other unwanted children. During this period of depression, Charles went to numerous schools and worked for a boot cleaning company. This caused him
In this essay, I will argue that one of the underlying motives in Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the reinforcement of Christian values in 18th century Victorian England. Dickens was very concerned with the accepted social norms of industrialized England, many of which he felt were very inhumane. Christian values were challenged, largely due to the recent publication of Darwin's Origins of a Species, and philosophy along with literature was greatly affected. In 1859, the industrial age was booming, making many entrepreneurs rich. However, the majority of the lower economic class remained impoverished, working in unsafe and horrific environments as underpaid factory workers. Additionally, child labor was an accepted practice in Victorian England's factories. Dickens, who worked, as a child in a shoe polish factory, detested this social convention with such strength that only one with experience in such exploitation could.
12. Oldham, R. (2000) Charles Dickens’ Hard Times: Romantic Tragedy of Proletariat Propaganda [Online]. Available: http://www.pillowrock.com [Accessed: 25th April 2005].
Hard times is set in the 1840’s in the North of England. It’s set at a
When considering representation, the ways in which the authors choose to portray their characters can have a great impact on their accessibility. A firm character basis is the foundation for any believable novel. It is arguable that for an allegorical novel - in which Hard Times takes its structure, Dickens uses an unusually complex character basis. The characters in Hard Times combine both the simplistic characteristics of a character developed for allegorical purposes, as well as the concise qualities of ‘real’ people (McLucas, 1995). These characters are portrayed to think and feel like we as readers do and react to their situations in the same way that most of us would. Such attributes are what give the characters life and allow us to relate to their decisions.
How Dickens Establishes a Strong Sense of Character in the Novel Great Expectations In the novel, ‘Great Expectations’, Dickens employs a number of techniques to create a strong sense of his characters. One way in which he does this is by describing the settings in which Magwitch and Miss Havisham are placed, and using them to reflect the characters themselves. He situates both in environments that echo neglect, abandonment and decay, and both have an eerie, hostile feel about them. When introducing Magwitch’s setting, Dickens writes, “this bleak place overgrown with nettles”, whilst he says of Miss Havisham’s room, “everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre” These examples show a distinct lack of care toward the setting.
Stephen Blackpool represented the most abundant and least represented caste in industrial England, the lower class (also called the hands) in Charles Dickens' novel. Stephen was an honest, hard-working man who came to much trouble in the novel, often because of his class. He came to Mr. Bounderby one day seeking a divorce from his alcoholic and runaway wife who did nothing but drink his earnings away. When he asked about if there were any laws that could separate them, Mr. Bounderby replied that there was but "it's not for you at all. It costs money. It costs a mint of money" (70). Later, Stephen was framed for the robbery of a bank, in part because of his class. Young Tom Gradgrind made it appear that Mr. Black...
labors over the idea of how to live life in this changing society and contend
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Ed. Fred Kaplan and Sylvere Monod. A Norton Critical Edition. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2001. 5-222
Perhaps the clearest illustration of Dickens’s neutrality is located in the very first sentence of the novel. He shows his neutrality through the description “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .(7).” This unusually comparative sentence single-handedly starts the book with a feeling of un-bias. In the final chapter of the book, six carriages carry “the days wine” (people) to La Guillotine to be be-headed (374). In this passage, Dickens shows his remorse for what is done. He gives hint that the common-folk were once a good people who are perverted by the aristocracy, and given the same conditions will be perverted again.
Dickens saw it as his role to write about the plight of the poor and
Importance of Social Class in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations Social class played a major role in the society depicted in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Social class determines the manner in which a person is treated and their access to education. Yet, social class does not define the character of the individual. Many characters were treated differently because of their social class in Great Expectations. Seeing the contrast between how the poor and the rich were treated will give a clearer understanding of how much social class mattered.
Dickens' Hard Times as a Critique of the Educational System Industrialization made Victorian England a brave new world. A world bereft of justice, humanity and emotion. In Hard Times, Dickens critiques this world in several ways: it's pollution problems, factory accidents, divorce laws, utilitarian ideals, and educational systems. The goal of this essay is to focus strictly on Dickens critique of the educational system which was influenced by Industrialization. In his novel, Dickens shows us how children were indoctrinated at very early ages, that "facts alone are wanted in life" (47).
In the novel Hard Times, Charles Dickens connives a theme of utilitarianism, along with education and industrialization. Utilitarianism is the belief that something is morally right if it helps a majority of people. It is a principle involving nothing but facts and leaves no room for creativity or imagination. Dickens provides symbolic examples of this utilitarianism in Hard Times by using Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, who has a hard belief in utilitarianism. Thomas Gradgrind is so into his philosophy of rationality and facts that he has forced this belief into his children’s and as well as his young students. Mr. Josiah Bounderby, Thomas Gradgrind’s best friend, also studies utilitarianism, but he was more interested in power and money than in facts. Dickens uses Cecelia Jupe, daughter of a circus clown, who is the complete opposite of Thomas Gradgrind to provide a great contrast of a utilitarian belief.