As we all know Charles Dickens talked a lot about 19^th century problems that exist in London in his text. In Oliver Twist we know he talks about social injustice, poverty, etc.  One passage that stood out to me talked about workhouses and the life like in these conditions.

“So they established the rule that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they) of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. With this view, they contracted with the waterworks to lay on an unlimited supply of water, and with a corn-factor to supply periodically small quantities of oatmeal, and issued three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week and half a roll on Sundays. They made a great many other wise and humane regulations . . . kindly undertook to divorce poor married people . . . instead of compelling a man to support his family, as they had theretofore done, took his family away from him, and made him a bachelor! There is no saying how many applicants for relief, under these last two heads, might have started up in all classes of society, if it had not been coupled with the workhouse; but the board were long-headed men, and had provided for this difficulty. The relief was inseparable from the workhouse and the gruel, and that frightened people.” (Dickens, p. 37).

This passage talks about the conditions of the workhouse Oliver was sent too. When I was reading this, I felt bad for Oliver and what he would have to go through. The “being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a supply of water”, the workhouse is a painful experience no matter what the speed is.  Reading this you don’t want a kid to experience this type of labor. That’s why I feel bad for him, no kid should be experiencing what he is going through.

During our trip we talked a lot about the workhouses during this period. Workhouses were created to stop laziness and work can lead to success. Husbands and wives were separated like he stated, “instead of compelling a man to support his family, as they had theretofore done, took his family away from him”. When they come to work to support their family they are separated doing the exact opposite on what they should be doing.  He wasn’t exaggerating on anything and was actually stating the truth. The tone Dickens uses might come off in a mocking way, but in reality, he is showing his frustrations of the society his is living in. Throughout this whole novel not just this passage he calls out his frustrations and protest against what is happening in London.

Blog Post 5: Poverty in “A Christmas Carol”

In the time of Charles Dickens there was a large gap between those who could afford to live and those who could not. The poor of Victorian England had a hard life, especially after the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. This demolished the old ways of poor relief that was run through the churches and created a system that sent the poor to workhouses where many of the poor died of starvation, disease or simply being overworked. A particular depiction of poverty that sticks out in Dickens’ writings is “A Christmas Carol.” In this short story an old miser is visited by three ghosts on Christmas eve and warned to change his behavior or this Christmas will be his last.

One particular instance of poverty creeping into the cushy life of Ebenezer Scrooge is whenever he is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past. The ghost takes him back to his childhood and how he was a poorer soul at one point:

“This is the even-handed dealing of the world!” he said. “There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth!” “You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?” “What then?” he retorted. “Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then? I am not changed towards you.” (Dickens 40)

Here the ghost is telling Scrooge that his life has turned out the way it has simply because he feared the life of the poor. The poor had a very harsh life in his time and many of them died young. The lavish, but isolated, life that Scrooge has is because he’s afraid that he’s going to lose everything that he’s earned. Dickens has making a commentary about the workhouses and the state of the poor. He made his main character so terrified of falling into that kind of life that he pushed away all of his loved ones and lives an isolated life with his riches. A life of poverty was so terrifying to him as a child that he shut himself off from the world and decided then and there that the only person he needed to worry about was himself. This may also be a commentary on the upper-class of the time as well and their unwillingness to help the poor of the country.

Blog Post 4: Tennyson vs. Malroy

The two poems “The Lady of Shallot” by Tennyson and “Fair Maid of Astolat” by Malroy are two poem of women who die presumably from a lack, or denial of love. “The Lady of Shallot” focuses around a mysterious maybe even mystical maiden who leaves her tower after seeing the face of fair Lancelot and then dies from an unknown curse. “Fair Maid of Astolat” is about the lady Elaine who falls in love with Lancelot while he is participating in a tournament and tells her father that if they do not wed she will die, and she indeed does when Lancelot refuses to marry her.

Though both the Lady of Shallot and Elaine are from two different stories the two ladies are very familiar. They both live in towers away from the town and both end up falling in love with Lancelot and dying because of unrequited love (or a curse), either way both maidens have shown that falling in love with Lancelot does not do anyone any good. Something interesting that both women also share is their initial descriptions include the fact that they live in towers. To the Lady of Shallot the tower is a place that she is kept away from the world and her only contact is with the world is through a mirror, but Elaine is free to leave if she pleases.

However, when reading “Fair Maid of Astolat” after reading “Lady of Shallot” something that has changed my perspective of the two ladies is who different they really are. Elaine actually meet Lancelot and her stories has more religious overtones than The Lady of Shallot’s. Elaine has a pretty strong voice in her poem and advocates for her heart as well as her life while the Lady of Shallot only has about two lines throughout her entire story. The Lady of Shallot’s death also has a different kind of meaning after reading “Fair Maid of Astolat”. Elaine dies fighting for her right to love and to love who she wants while The Lady of Shallot’s death can have multiple meanings. She could’ve died from the curse, or unrequited love, but after reading about Elaine’s death it just seems like a waist of life. She left her tower to die for a reason we don’t know. Elaine’s purpose is straight forward and righteous but The Lady just kind of fades away out of existence from a place that barely knew she was there.

Although this was only my first time reading Pride and Prejudice, I can honestly say it has been added to my list of favorites! I somehow have managed to avoid all of the movies and the novel until this point in my life, but I am glad I finally read it! As illustrated by some of my peers’ blog posts, Jane Austen tackles many different aspects of the expectations placed upon women in the 1800’s. One of these reoccurring themes in Pride and Prejudice that greatly impacts Elizabeth as well as the other women around her is the presence, emphasis, and importance of a woman’s reputation.

It is absolutely no secret that women played a much different role in society in this time period than they do today. Although expectations and reputations do still catch up with women nowadays, it was even more important in the time of the novel for women to remain inside their respective roles. Breaking societal norms could entirely make or break a woman’s chance of participating important things such as marriage, and it could bring shame to the entire family. Never marrying would forever burden the family financially and shame could ruin every aspect of their lives. Reputation in terms of social class is also important for marriage prospects. By marrying someone with more money, the reputation of the woman, as well as her family, would increase. But with a poor reputation, this would be impossible to achieve, and the woman’s social class would remain the same or even fall.

The strong impact of a woman’s reputation is illustrated through Lydia’s decision to go with Wickham. When Lydia elopes and lives with Wickham out of wedlock, Austen emphasizes how catastrophic this is for not only Lydia but as well as the other Bennet sisters and the entire family. Elizabeth condemns Lydia’s choice, and she goes as far as to say that “she is lost forever” if she does not marry Wickham. Jane writes to Elizabeth, “Imprudent as a marriage between Mr. Wickham and our poor Lydia would be, we are now anxious to be assured it has taken place, for there is but too much reason to fear they are not gone to Scotland.” Jane wishes for the wedding because it looks a lot worse for Lydia and Wickham to run off unmarried than it does for them to run off married. Jane is conscious of how this decision will impact her and Elizabeth’s futures if the marriage has not happened. By not marrying Wickham and living with him, Lydia challenges social norms, but in a straightforward manner that is not accepted by society at all. It is fine for Elizabeth to challenge female expectations in little ways such as dirtying her skirt or being vocal situations where women normally would be silent, but Lydia’s decision has the potential to create a huge mark on the family reputation. This may not seem like a big deal from today’s viewpoint, but this decision could have pulled the entire family down. A woman truly was as valued as her reputation would allow, and Austen illustrates the weight reputation played on women perfectly. If Darcy had not paid Wickham the money for the wedding, Elizabeth would have been plagued by her sister’s decision, unable to marry well due to the shame it would bring, and the novel would probably have an entirely different ending.

Although I was planning on responding to this prompt before the trip occurred, I am glad I decided to save this response for after our return. The trip heightened my appreciation for Dickens’ works, and with the added knowledge from our tours, visits, and sessions, I think this response will be more whole than it ever could have ever possibly been before.

Dickens rarely shies away from touching on social themes in his fictional works. He develops characters and fictional plots to represent real injustices and horrors of those living in his time. Although these characters can sometimes come off as flat, they are still effective at illuminating the conditions of the lower classes to the often ignorant upper classes. One common theme he focuses on in two of his most famous works, “A Christmas Carol” and Oliver Twist, is social injustice, specifically towards children. In the time of his texts, lower class children often found themselves trapped by their parents’ debts and were forced to work. This exact thing happened to Charles Dickens due to the debts of his father, John Dickens. Due to Charles Dickens experiences with poverty and child labor, I think it is safe to say he had a particular soft spot in his heart for children trapped in these positions, and his own experiences strongly influenced his choice to focus on these subjects. For this reason, he represented social injustices towards children, and he created ignorant characters of upper class citizens to represent what he saw happening.

In “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge is not condemned for being a miserable member of society, but rather he is condemned for ignoring the poor, refusing to help, and caring only about his own wellbeing. In one of the most famous scenes of the text, Scrooge denies charity collectors.

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

This scene speaks to the position of the upper social classes towards the poor. To them, the issue of poverty was not one they were involved in nor obligated to assist in relieving. From here, Dickens later uses these exact words against Scrooge as the Spirit of Christmas Present illuminates the insensitivity of his comments while showing him suffering children. Scrooge asks, “Have they no refuge or resource?” The Spirit responses only with Scrooges own inhumane responses from before. These two scenes particularly work well at drawing the connections between the insensitivity of the upper class and the unjust conditions of poor children at the time.

In Oliver Twist, Dickens similarly presents injustices towards children in poverty by members of the upper classes. Child labor in the workhouse is one of the main focuses of Oliver Twist. Dickens illustrates the dark, unbearable conditions children were forced to endure all throughout the novel. Mr. Bumble represents the larger population of people running the workhouses as well as larger populations involved in the mistreatment of children. Although Mr. Bumble is a working man, he cannot comprehend the situations the children below his power are in. He is ignnorant to their suffering entirely. Mr. Bumble threatens all different kinds of cruel punishments on Oliver for asking for more food. Mr. Bumble expects for Oliver and other victims of the workhouse to be delinquents and unworthy of better treatment. These misconceptions have been fed to people of the upper classes as well as to the enforcers of the unjust rules. At the end of the novel, Mr. Bumble ironically meets his fate by being forced to live in the workhouse he used to rule over. By presenting this twist of fate, Dickens show what he thinks justice would be. By ending Mr. Bumble’s role in the story in this way, Dickens implies that the horror that has been placed upon these vulnerable children will come back to haunt those that enforced the cruel treatments. This also includes the bystanders who did nothing to help. I cannot imagine a more just ending for Mr. Bumble’s storyline as it perfectly places him with what he deserves.

Mr. Bumble’s fate is a bit harsher than Scrooge’s fate, but this is because of Mr. Bumble being unable to realize the truth about the poor. Scrooge is able to change his stance when faced with the suffering children and help part of the poor population, while Mr. Bumble continues to agonize the children. Both “A Christmas Carol” and Oliver Twist work to present the mistreatment of the poor and illustrate the role of upper class ignorance in the injustices.