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.

London is to Holmes as Oxygen is to life. Holmes would be incomplete without London as his greatest companion. With the development of police professionals in the city of London, less crimes were being solved by crows of people on the street as seen in Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Thank God we developed a more organized police force. In light of these new police developments, there are always internal and external problems with new organizations. Police officers are valuing themselves high above the “theoretical and fantastic” people like our dear Holmes. The place of London is expanding in both economic production but also population. This makes an influx in criminal activity more likely to occur. It makes sense that Holmes would find more crimes to solve in London than in a smaller town outside the big booming & heavily cramped city.

The balance between the various colliding religions and social classes can cause issues for the criminal activities in the city of London. Holmes is faced with a clashing of differing people in a tense time in London’s history. The accusations of social misconduct & bad behavior could expand on the number of crimes that would normally be committed in a city. Holmes is going up against a growing professional organization and a growing population but still manages to keep his name in people’s minds. I guess that’s the benefit of living in the big city, word travels fast.

In this photo (the right picture), the man has a traveling selling table perched in the side walk of an unidentified corner of the city. The box is very clean and the advertisement is clearly labeled and explained for the buyer. The lady behind the box has a look of disgust on her face. Perhaps she is a shop keeper or disapproving neighbor, regardless she does not seem interested in the peppermints. The girl looks to be 19-21 years of age from the side view of the picture.  Her arm looks cut possibly implying that she works and gets sick or hurt often. The man in the hat looks polished and looks like a convincing business man.

The picture is black and white with elements of contrasting colors. The young girl is wearing a black dress with a simple headpiece, maybe she is a widow? The woman in the doorways is wearing a black coat over a white dress, while the man is in all black with a white button down underneath. The setting looks to be a lower-class community, perhaps not poor but most definitely not rich.  Although he appears to be wealthy or professional doctor, I do not think he is.

My reaction to the photo was fueled by my extensive knowledge of 19th century doctors from my various British Netflix Dramas. The John Tomson photo “Street Doctors” (pictured right) made me laugh. These “street doctors” are what we would refer to as street vendors (or so I think). A typical doctor would not sell ointment on the side of the street without any examination of the patients. The man in this picture does not have any identifying features or characteristics that would distinguish him as a doctor. The gentleman in this picture also seems to have a hemmed jacket and dirty shoes. Doctors would have more of a professional attire that differs from the above (right) picture. I think it is significant to think about the role of a doctor in the society. Doctor’s would make home visits to patients which required them to be both professional and discrete. The use of a table outside a home seems rather sly or slick. Possibly using modern words, promoting a scam.

Literature from 19^thcentury England portrays London in many different ways. The fact that this time was very controversial era between the success and beauty of the city and the treatment of the working and lower-class citizens is reflected through the works of writers such as William Blake and Charles Dickens. In Blake’s poem “London,” he details the tragedy that is the lives of common Londoners. Every face Blake sees has “marks of weakness, marks of woe.” His repetition of the work “every” emphasizes how widespread these injustices are and show that every man, every infant, every person he sees is suffering. Men and children are crying, soldiers are dying, women are forced into lives as harlots and have even more children that cannot be taken care of. The image Blake paints of London in this poem is a dreadful and almost hyperbolic one, and one that represents disgust for a city plagued with such horrors.

In his essay “Night Walks” Charles Dickens paints a more realistic but equally depressing image of London. Blake focuses on the weariness of the people in his poem, but Dickens acknowledges it as a whole in London; not just found in the people, but in the rivers and architecture as well. Dickens is more realistic in his portrayal in that there seems to be no use of hyperbole in his text, but rather a tone of frankness. For example, he states that “to walk on to the Bank, lamenting the good old times and bemoaning the present evil period, would be an easy next step, so I would take it…” He is rather straightforward in not only his admitting that the present times are “evil” but that the activity he described is the easy thing to do, so he did it. This tone carries throughout the piece. He still admits the wonders of London, such as the “perfection of [the] stupendous institution” that is the walls of British Parliament and that “Covent-garden Market, when it was market morning, was wonderful company.” It is these admissions intertwined with the descriptions of the horrors Dickens has seen during his night walks that supports the reality of his portrayal of London. Overall, both writers have some rather unpleasant things to say about London in the 19^thcentury, but whereas Blake is more hyperbolic in his approach, Dickens is more realistic and still shows that there is something to be admired in the great city. London used to be great, and could be great again, but in the present time of these works she and her people are suffering.

I would like to focus first on the significant of Wordsworth’s language choice, formal choices, etc. Wordsworth’s poem “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” depicts the speaker’s view of London with the voice of a modern English man in a beloved style. The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet as opposed to a Shakespearian Sonnet, which to me is slightly unexpected. Seeing as Shakespeare is one to the most well known British writes & Wordsworth is writing about England, one would think that he would compose a poem in the Shakespearean sonnet rather than the style of a famous Italian Renaissance poet. A typical Petrarchan sonnet has fourteen lines that are divided into two sections: one with eight lines and one with six. At the ninth line, the poem makes a “turn” (or volta in Italian) and begins to elaborate in a different way on the subject or, sometimes, introduce a new topic altogether. Wordsworth’s sonnet has a more subtle turn. In the first eight lines he introduces the idea that he has never seen such beauty before and then describes the scene. In the last six lines he returns to the idea of unparalleled beauty, this time comparing London to the countryside. The rhyme scheme of Wordsworth piece is fairly simple: ABBAABBA CDCDCD. Only one pair of rhyming lines is slant (not quite a real rhyme, but almost): “by” and “majesty” in lines 2 and 3. The poem is written in a loose iambic pentameter, consisting of five (“penta”) pairs of unstressed and stressed beats (“iambs”):

Dear God! | the ver|-y hous|-es seem | a-sleep.

But not all of the lines follow this pattern. The first two lines, for example, both begin on stressed beats: “Earth” and “Dull.” This loose rhythm comes closer to capturing momentary experience and a conversational tone than a stricter meter would. Wordsworth tried to write how regular people speak, which is one of the reasons he is considered one of the first “modern” English poets.

Now focusing on the connection between man and nature, in the first line of the poem “Earth has not anything to show more fair”, the speaker gives “earth” all the credit for the beauty of the world around him. But what about all the people who designed and built the towers and domes? In lines 4-5, “Like a garment, wear..The beauty of the morning”, the speaker talks about Nature brining out the beauty in the landmarks of London. Interestingly, the affects of the light are compared to clothing, a product of human culture. This tells us as readers that it is hard to tell nature and culture apart. Both work hand in hand, how can you separate them? In line 12 “The river glideth at his own sweet will”, the images of nature play against the expectation of feelings rushed and hurried by the city. Unlike humans, he river does not allow itself to be rushed. It flows at a slow and even pace. Humans should look to nature for its simplicity but perfection.

Wordsworth London seem slightly unreachable, the city is always bustling with an influx of tourists and events (royal wedding 2018). It seems impossible for someone to go wandering around the city and staring at the untouched natural beauty. This poem reminds me of American Transcendalist writers such as Thoreau & Emerson. These writers called for people to step away from the busy modern world and look around at nature.

This poem makes me think about the time I was in London and walked along the river early in the morning. The tourist spots weren’t open and there were no lines anywhere. It’s amazing what a city like London looks like without the giant crowds and hustle. Wordsworth highlights the important thing to remember, London is a beautiful city even without the tourist spots and gags. This poem has challenged me to find the inner heart of the city and spend time to look at the nature hidden behind the large crowds.

Dickens in both Oliver Twist and in Night Walks discusses this theme of being born into poverty and the concept of homelessness. In his novel Oliver Twist, Dickens portrays these themes through the main protagonist, Oliver himself, where Oliver is born into poverty and homelessness after his mother died shortly after giving birth. For nine years, Oliver lived in an orphanage until he was old enough to be moved to a workhouse where he worked alongside other boys his age. Afterwards, we see Oliver find a place with an undertaker, then he flees to London where he encounters Fagin and the rest of his gang, who happens to be pickpockets and thieves. After being wrongfully accused of a theft, Oliver lives with his accuser, Mr. Brownlow. He then is kidnapped by Fagin and his crew, is forced to participate in a home invasion where he is shot and then taken care of by Mrs. Maylie, who returns Oliver back to Mr. Brownlow and is eventually adopted by him at the end of the novel. Throughout this roller coaster of events, Oliver is without a home for the majority of the novel and is in a constant search and yearn for shelter and comfort. One can definitely consider Oliver to be homeless at many times in the novel. The same themes are discussed in Dickens’ Night Walks, where he is walking the streets of London on a cold, damp night in March. He observed masses of homeless people whom he refers to as Houselessness. Dickens is having a restless night so he decides to take a walk outside and roam the streets. Here he sees homeless people and describes them as constantly walking in the rain and other elements following the drunks who stumble out onto the streets. The other people he encounters are the cops who happen to be carrying on a conversation amidst the tangling streets. Dickens in his essays discusses themes of homelessness and poverty but different from Oliver, there are groups of people who are experiencing homelessness and poverty. Perhaps Dickens is suggesting that there were a large number of people who were considered homeless during his time and that London, while it may be one of the wealthiest cities, does have some poor people who call it home.