Pawnbroking in the Victorian Era
Pleasant Riderhood “was an unlicensed pawnbroker, keeping what was popularly called a Leaving Shop, by lending insignificant sums on insignificant articles of property deposited with her as security.” The Leaving Shop was set up by Pleasant’s mother before she died (Dickens 345).
Pawning
To pawn goods was an easy, legal way to get cash. The shops were maintained to help people hide their hocking habits. Many shops had the entrance at the back of the building (“Pawnbrokers”). Pawning showed how desperate people were for money because the pawning business only provided temporary relief. The pawnbroker’s “lend bank notes on ‘Goods honestly come by’ at five per cent., and which they sell if not redeemed” (Poovey 240).
Employment in the Pawnbroking Business (1871)
* # men=49; # women=79
* Figures also include shopkeepers and dealers (“The economy”)
The Pawnbroker’s Shop
The pawnbroker had “trinkets and expensive jewellery, while the more humble money-lender boldly advertises his calling, and invites observation.”Dickens described...
Prima facie this constituted carrying on a business of lending money on the security of pawned goods in its natural and ordinary meaning. Furthermore, the second reading speech of the 1996 Pawnbrokers Act did not show an intention to reduce the ambit of the businesses subject to the obligations of licencing under the Act. It was designed to “prevent and remedy problems in the current marketplace’’ , ‘‘streamline’’ licensing of pawnbrokers and second- hand dealers who deal in ‘‘high-risk-of-theft goods’’, and provide for record keeping to assist in the return of such goods where it could be shown that they had been stolen from their true owner. A technical legal meaning of ‘‘pawned goods’’ would thwart the achievements of these objectives. Kirby J finishes his judgment with yet another attack on the reasoning of the majority, and asks whether it can “seriously be suggested that it was the purpose and object of the New South Wales Parliament to exempt a person, such as the appellant, carrying on the business of lending money on deposited goods, from the obligation to secure and comply with a licence as a pawnbroker under the Act?”
Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-Bits” is a story about the changing relationship of Missie May and Joe Banks after their morals and values are tested with material items. A clear message in “The Gilded Six-Bits” is one that contradicted the beliefs of the American society during this time period, the idea that money or the urban life would bring happiness to the American household. Early in the story, Missie May and Joe Banks are a happy couple. They live an average and modest lifestyle, but are content with what they have because their relationship is what mattered most to them. However, the arrival of a character that represents a materialistic way of life turns their marriage around because they began to want the wealth most people wanted. In “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Missie May’s character is a character that is loving, innocent, and vulnerable, and she provides an excellent example and connection to the themes in Hurston’s story of marriage, love and betrayal.
Charles Dickens’s powerful novel encompasses the notion that generosity involves more than just the giving of money, it requires the giving of one's goodwill and compassion, this required for Scrooge’s own redemption as well as attempting to insinuate within the reader a reflection of their own values and behaviours. Dickens’s novella also acts to warn Scrooge and the audience of the ramifications of their actions if they do not take this into consideration, that generosity always involves more than just the giving of money, it requires the giving of one's goodwill and compassion.
From the period between the 1870’s through the 1890’s, it became an era known as the Gilded Age. The term was characterized by a famous American Literature author named Mark Twain. The writer tried to point out that the term means that while on the outside society may seem perfect and in order, underneath there is poverty, crime, corruption, and many other issues between American society’s rich and poor. This era’s gild is thicker than the cheaper material it’s covering. This can be shown through the countless numbers of achievements and advances America has made during the period of reconstruction and expansion, industrialization, and foreign affairs.
One of the strongest of these critics is George Brimley, who, in his article entitled “Dickens’s Bleak House” published in The Spectator in 1853, writes that “Bleak House is, even more than its predecessors, chargeable with not simple faults, but absolute want of construction”(161). He finds that the structure of Bleak House fails because there is no connection between actors and incidents. Brimley points to the interest of Richard Carstone in the Chancery case. The case only serves to draw out Carstone’s personality faults that would have been drawn out in any other interest he may have had. The Chancery case, then, is trivial for it fails to exert any real impact on the characters...
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.
During the Victorian Age in England, individuals revealed their class and prestige by flaunting their money, yet they were only disguising their inner character with the riches. Strong relationships are a key to a fulfilled life; in Dicken's Great Expectations, the contrast of the Forge and the Satis house uncover that happiness is born through relationships with others and not through money.
A significant English novelist, Charles Dickens was born during the Victorian-English era on February 7, 1812 in Landport, now part of Portsmouth, England. He was the second child and the eldest son of eight children to John Dickens and Elizabeth Dickens. Theatrical and brilliant, his mother, Elizabeth Dickens, was a storyteller and an impersonator. On the other hand, Dickens’s father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. John Dickens was an unselfish, welcoming, and loved to live a high quality life, even though he could not often afford it. He put his family through continuous insatiability because of financial debt. This eventually resulted in him being sent to prison, “His wife and children, with the exception of Charles, who was put to work at Warren's Blacking Factory significant novelist, joined him in the Marshalsea Prison” (Victorian Web). Later after his release form prison, he retired form the Navy Pay Office and worked as a reporter. One can conclude that these problematical events in his early childhood made his life arduous because he had to pay of his father’s financial debt, but also he had to maintain a well education to become who he wanted to be.
Charles Dickens’ (1812-1970) father had great financial difficulties. The boy had a rather miserable childhood, and the lad spent much of his time in poorhouses and workhouses. Did poverty overwhelm Charles Dickens? Was his negative environment to blame for an unproductive and fruitless life? No it wasn’t. Dickens retreated into his imaginary world and incisively wrote about the need for social reform in what later became such literary classics such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
We all have gotten paid or saved up money to buy something expensive. From getting three dollars from the tooth fairy or getting your first real job paycheck, you always have the urge to take that money and go take a day out and spend it. In the short story by author Kate Chopin called “A Pair of Silk Stocking,” the main character receives fifteen dollars which she wants to spend on her kids, ends up spending it all on herself. This story takes place in the 1890’s and back then fifteen dollars is equivalent to four hundred dollars now. The main character, Mrs. Sommers. Takes a day out and goes around town spending her money. She goes to the shops and buys a pair of silk stockings, which she had been wanting for awhile. Mrs. Sommers ends up going out to dinner and then to the theatre. A huge theme of the short story focuses around the idea of consumerism. Consumerism is an increasing consumption of goods that are desirable. Mrs. Sommers shows her wants for the goods throughout the story. She goes around town buying things she doesn't need but buys them because she desires or wants them. Throughout the short story “ A Pair of Silk Stockings,” Kate Chopin uses the literary elements of conflict and symbolism to develop the theme of consumerism.
The author’s description of Dombey’s appearance gives an inkling of his disposition. He is characterized with a bald head and his skin tone is a tint of red. The man is known for looking “stern and pompous.” (7) Dickens is already gradually conveying the sense that he is a serious man. Dombey is dressed with a watch-chain
Louisa Gradgrind, the daughter of Thomas Gradgrind, has always followed her father’s philosophy of leading a factual based life, ever since her upbringing in her fathers school and up to many important decisions in life. Not until her marriage to Mr. Bounderby comes close to failing, does she realize the mistakes made in her life. She charges to her fathers home and expresses her concern to her father in a time of need. Dickens uses this moment of Louisa’s to showcase his mastery of imagery...
Dickens, Charles. The Uncommercial Traveler and Reprinted Pieces. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. Nearly 40 essays by Dickens originally collected in 1861 and subsequently expanded.
While the novel does act as a social commentary on the disparaging treatment of the poor in England, Dickens fails to do more than comment on the situation. The fact that the social classes are fighting for survival against one another provides for the establishment of a further embedded social caste system of us against them. The very poor in David Copperfield, are at times overlooked by even the middle class characters in the novel. While some of the middle class characters do look out for a few of the lower class characters, these actions are taken as a result of their need to feel needed by others. My paper will examine the desire for the author to write a social commentary on class inequality, survival, and the search for happiness at all costs in David Copperfield.
He earns a sizable income trading furs and cloths around England and haggling for better prices. Unlike the Sergeant of Law, who is in a constant struggle to reach nobility status, the Merchant is striving to reach prominence in the rising middle class, or bourgeoisie, in 14th century England. Chaucer writes of the Merchant, “So estatly was he of his governaunce, / With his bargaynes and with his chevyysaunce” (281-2). This means that he manages his financial affairs in a very dignified and stately manner in loans, bargains, and negotiations that nobody knows that he is actually in debt, except for Chaucer, who seems to figure it out immediately, implying that the Merchant thinks he is better at hiding his debt than he really is. He covers up for his debt seemingly by purchasing expensive outerwear. In contrast to the Sergeant of Law, the Merchant is much more concerned with his outward appearance. Chaucer begins his description of the merchant as, “…ther with a forked berd. / In motlee and hye on horse he sat, / Upon his heed a Flaundryssh bevere hat. / His bootes clasped faire and fetisly” (270-3). The Merchant, with his forked beard, gaudy clothing, Flemish beaver hat, and elegantly clasped boots, sits pompously on his horse. This description elicits a sense that the Merchant relies on appearances to sell his products and make him a recognizable figure. However, Chaucer cannot even remember his name