The author I chose to use for this essay is Charles Dickens, one of the most influential and respectable writers of the Victorian Era. He experienced first hand what industrialization did to families and towns all across Europe. As a result, his work was able to accurately portray the Victorian Era and all the events that occurred. For example, Charles Dickens “Hard Times” is a great reflection of the events that occurred in regards to the Industrial Revolution during the Victorian Era. Particularly, the section that talks about Coketown is a great representation of the massive affect that industrialization had on various cities. The Victorian Era was also a period of massive migration into large cities which frequently led to overpopulation …show more content…
in a variety of places. All of these elements can be seen throughout “Hard Times”, especially when Dickens describes Coketown. The Victorian Era offered much evolution in terms of manufacturing, and the growth of manufacturing, yet “Victorian standards have often been decried as unnecessarily oppressive or even inhumane” (Mizel, 176). There were many positive aspects that came with the Victorian Era, such as increased progress and social reforms, but things such as injustice and poverty often overshadowed these aspects. Additionally, the Victorian Era was a period of much change in regards to the political state, particularly of Britain. This in turn led to a variety of different problems that made the lives of many people very difficult. In regards to the political state of the Victorian Era, Charles Dickens was able to portray much of the injustice that was occuring for many people during the time.
While there was some stability in terms of the population of Europe, many people were left to live in dire environments such as those in Coketown. This was largely due to the massive shift that came with industrialization, and the imbalance of wealth it created between factory owners, and those who were left to work in the factory and face terrible conditions. This in turn created somewhat of a social hierarchy that could be seen in almost all aspects of everyday life during the Victorian Era and shortly …show more content…
after. Likewise, The Victorian Era and the industrialization that came with it, made necessary for a change in how cities were built and operated. An emphasis on efficiency in regards to how structures were built was set in place, and as a result many buildings looked the same, and variety was practically non-existent. Dickens makes this evident in lines such as “The jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail, the town hall might have been either, or both, or anything else” (Hard Times, Charles Dickens). This description of Coketown shows the common state of many cities across a variety of countries during the Victorian Era. Additionally, the living conditions were not desirable during the Victorian, especially for the lower and middle classes that were established.
This was largely due to the amount of pollution that was being put into towns from factories that dominated cities and led to unfavorable living conditions. Dickens knew firsthand about conditions such as these due to the time he spent living near and working in one of the many factories that were apart of his hometown growing up. Various elements from his younger life are evident in the description of Coketown, especially when describing the city as “A town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves forever and ever.” (Hard Times, Charles Dickens). This same description could be used for many towns during the Victorian Era, and Coketown is able to accurately reflect majority of
them. Furthermore, I plan on majoring in the field of civil engineering, and the Victorian Era and Charles Dickens “Hard Times” have a direct correlation with this major. Along with being an engineer comes the responsibility of designing, implementing, and innovating a number of different things, particularly for cities. The Victorian Era was filled with all of these aspects especially in regards to the great industrialism that occurred. However Coketown from “Hard Times” demonstrated to me the negative consequences that can take place if buildings or machines are poorly designed and lack any type of creativity or imagination when creating the design. Although efficiency is necessary, so is quality, or else the end result will not be desirable. Perhaps the most important thing that “Hard Times” taught me, especially in regards to Coketown, was that creativity is important when designing and creating things, a lesson I carry throughout my education and career. Overall, “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens and his portrayal of Coketown give an accurate overview of the Victorian Era and majority of what it entailed. This can be seen in description throughout and the correlations they make with the time period. These connections included things such as: the impact of industrialization, the lifestyle of the time, and the many negative occurrences that took place. On top of all this, “Hard Times” taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of creativity, and that it is necessary for places such as large cities to have in order to be both efficient and enjoyable to live.
...the poor were supposed to be upgraded by industrial innovations; but, on the other hand, company waste and inadequate working conditions, exploitation, took a severe toll on the very people this revolution was supposed to help. The mass presence of disease was due to the degradation of society. Poor conditions of various institutions, a side effect of the revolution, presented a dangerous risk of exposure for lower, working class families. Tuberculosis and typhus fever were painful, contagious, and long-lasting epidemics that killed people of all classes. Naturally, the lower classes suffered the most. The upper classes reaped the financial benefits from this new urban society, while the working classes were subjected to filthy, disease-ridden atmosphere. The impoverished have always been the disadvantaged, but in 19th century England, they paid with their lives.
Dickens used his great talent by describing the city London were he mostly spent his time. By doing this Dickens permits readers to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the aged city, London. This ability to show the readers how it was then, how ...
Many people that did not come from rich families lived a life of extreme poverty. They sent kids to work in factories to help pay for things needed to survive, such as food, clothing, and other necessary materials. There were many poor families living in poverty during the Victorian Era: ‘I reflected. Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea industrious,...
Mystery and Suspense in Dickens' Writing Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. Most of his books were written in the mid-eighteen hundreds and some of them include Great Expectations, Hard Times, and Little Dorrit. The three I will be referring to are Oliver Twist, The Signalman and A Christmas Carol. Back in Dickens' time there was a lack of education, a huge wealth divide between the rich and the poor, and the environment was unpleasant compared to todays. Dickens' creates mystery and suspense in his books through techniques of writing language, the background, the characters, and the weather.
The living conditions of Great Britain developed into a very poor country due to overpopulation because of the Industrial Revolution. The houses they lived in were very dilapidated and not in great condition for people to be living in. “The wife’s face was dirty and tangled hair hung over her eyes. Her cap was ill washed and slovenly put on.” “The wet came in at the door of the only room, and when it rained, through every part of the roof also: large drops fell on her as she lay in her bed: in
The Industrial Revolution in nineteenth-century England brought about many changes in British society. It was the advent of faster means of production, growing wealth for the Nation and a surplus of new jobs for thousands of people living in poverty. Cities were growing too fast to adequately house the numerous people pouring in, thus leading to squalid living conditions, increased filth and disease, and the families reliance upon their children to survive. The exploitation of children hit an all time peak in Britain when generations of its youth were sacrificed to child labor and the “Coffers” of England.
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.
Families during the Victorian era tended to be large, and it was evident during this time that families could not survive if the children did not work. There was an immense “increase in population” during this period, by the end of the century most lived in cities rather than the country (Bristow 5). Due to economic conditions at this time only a...
In the time period of Queen Victoria's reign the population alone of Britain had grown from 10 million at the start of the 1800's to over 26 million by 1870. The British Empire grew and now held over a quarter of the world's population. When the empire was at its climax, it was the largest in history. The industrial revolution in Britain came with fantastic outcomes, such as huge technological revolutions and production of iron, coal, and cotton cloth increased dramatically. This increase in population and industrialization flooded the cities with peasants looking for jobs. Most of these people were living in poverty and hazardous conditions. This was when the first railway took form, allowing people to spread out and not crowd in the cities. Although people spread out, many still lived in slums and working conditions at the time were atrocious. Around 1833 through 1844 the Factory Act was finalized controlling child labor. Now children could not work...
Marx and Engels lived in the nineteenth century, and they witnessed the atrocities of the Industrial Revolution. The rise of factories in Western Europe led to more work, but the work was long and dangerous. Many people had to work sixteen hours a day or more, and injuries were common. Children were forced to work because their families needed the extra help and money. As work in cities became more necessary, the cities became overly crowded. Whole families lived in small one-room apartments. Famine, sickness, and poverty spread throughout the cities.
Readers of Charles Dickens' journalism will recognize many of the author's themes as common to his novels. Certainly, Dickens addresses his fascination with the criminal underground, his sympathy for the poor, especially children, and his interest in the penal system in both his novels and his essays. The two genres allow the author to address these matters with different approaches, though with similar ends in mind.
A Critical Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities & nbsp; Three Works Cited A Tale of Two Cities is a novel that is very complex and intense Once you get to know the characters, you can feel what they are going through and form a kind of bond with them. A Tale of Two Cities grabs the reader’s attention with the history of revolutions in the nation and the generations of that time, but it also keeps the reader reading with a sense of pure violence that is hard to create. & nbsp; The combination of critical literary and historical methods brings out the novels complex structure and intense impact on the reader. Dickens brings out the historical side of the Victorian age with examples and details of the French Revolution and Victorian Revolt. Lee Sterrenburg says that Dickens' vision of the revolution was probably influenced by "a personal day dream only he can fathom.
In conclusion, by amplifying his ideas throughout his book by utilizing popular Victorian beliefs as the center of mockery, Dickens wishes to contribute his ideas to society through his writing. Within Oliver twist, he uses irony and sarcasm, in addition to a constant sardonic tone to uncover the reality of life in the Victorian era, such as the idea of Social Darwinism and the environmental conditions of the time. Overall, Dickens has a stimulating method to share his ideas with audience, and exposes serious issues meticulously using this variety of literary devices. With his unorthodox beliefs during the Victorian era, Charles Dickens uses literary devices, such as irony and sarcasm to contrast the reality of what was truly occurring in England
The death of God for many in the Victorian era due to scientific discoveries carried with it the implication that life is nothing more than a kind of utilitarian existence that should be lived according to logic and facts, not intuition or feeling – that without God to impose meaning on life, life is meaningless. Charles Dickens, in Hard Times, parodies this way of thought by pushing its ideologies and implications to the extreme in his depiction of the McChoakumchild School.
Charles Dickens creates characters that are either good or evil, catches the main character in between the two, or misguides the main character. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, which is a bildungsroman, Pip the main character is very torn on who is good or evil. Pip’s love, Estella, is bad but Pip is blinded by love and sees her as a good person. Whereas, Pip sees the convict as a evil character but changes heart by the end of the novel and decides the convict was a good man but in the wrong place at the wrong time. Charles Dickens writes using good or evil characters, characterizes Pip to be torn by the true intentions of the good or evil people, and Dickens characterizes Pip to be confused whether some are good or evil.