Kirsten Wilkie's Dissertation

[mcf]

Hi Kirsten,

If you have any questions please ask them here.

Hope this helps. ;D

[kirsten (:]

ah wow, i have my own folder! okay well i do have a question, it's not dissertation related but i'll ask it here anyway can you pleeeease look over my personal statement? I've got a meeting with ayersy on friday, so can i give you it after that? You see, I've just re-read it after leaving it for a while, and it is AWFUL. So i reeeeeally need you to destroy it ... please

[mcf]

Hi Kirsten,

That is not a problem. Just drop it off when you are ready.

Hope this helps. ;D

[mcf]

Hi,

Enjoy this article.

The very purpose of the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist is to explore poverty and social class. England has always been a country divided by class and social status though that's never more been the case than it was in Victorian England. Dickens wrote Oliver Twist by means of both exploring and considering this premise as well as in an attempt to entertain and enlighten the general public.

The story's central character Oliver was the perfect vehicle to use in exploring the concept of poverty and social class because he symbolised both classic lower class poverty (the very dreg of society) while at the same time coming across as appealing, innocent and I daresay even loveable to some. As the story progresses we find Oliver is joined by fellow social outcasts including the common thieves Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin, Nancy and Bill Sikes.

Dickens employs a heavy use of symbolism to surround these lower class characters wherever they go. They duck and dive through the middle class crowds looking to empty them of the contents of their back pockets. They live in filthy run down over-populated slums and seem to be followed by dark nights and dramatic weather wherever they go. Meanwhile we mostly see upper working class characters like Bumble, head of the orphanage, walking on the finer side of the slums while middle class characters like Mr Brownlow, Oliver's gentleman saviour, always seem to be walking in the sunshine.

In this story we see that poverty and social class are deemed to be one and the same thing. The poor are on the bottom rung of society while the working or the born wealthy appear on various rungs up the ladder. Though this may seem a natural assumption to make, those who are born into middle class families will not necessarily remain wealthy throughout their lives the same as those who are born into poverty will not necessarily die penniless. However this is more likely than not and so Dickens has chosen to make the assumption and remains firm to it through the story.

Initially it appears as though the good is to win through and the poor really can succeed to great things with the right heart and will. We see Oliver persistently battle with his inner moral conscience and even take on the great Bill Sikes at one point, much to Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin and Nancy's astonishment. His moral standards are such that he is unable to accept that the beautiful Nancy should be treated as coldly and disrespectfully as she is. He cannot stand to live the life of deception, cruelty and downright bad manners that his peers all around him appear to thrive on.

As Oliver Twist comes to a close, there's a final twist in the tale when he is taken in by wealthy middle class gentleman Mr Brownlow. For we discover that Oliver Twist is no ordinary orphan, but a gentlewoman's son and heir to a small fortune. In many respects I find this to be both a thought-provoking and amusing ending on several different levels. Not only is this a twist you would be hard pushed to see coming but it brings with it a very solid message: Money breeds money.

Meanwhile Bill Sykes manages to accidentally hang himself and Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin winds up in Newgate prison awaiting the death penalty. Mr Bumble manages to lose his job and on the brink of poverty he finds he has no alternative but to turn to the workhouse on his knees where he used to be lord and master. The finale finishes off this social exploration in a subtle yet essential manner. One of Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin's boys, Charley Bates, decides to turn over a new leaf following Nancy's murder and Bill Sykes' accidental suicide. He leaves the city and embarks on a new honest life where he goes onto achieve wealth and happiness. The final moral of the story coming through loud and clear: Regardless of who you are or where you come from; life is what you make of it.

Hope this helps. ;D

[mcf]

Hi Kirsten,

'Hard Times' is a lot shorter and will fit perfectly.

Hope this helps. ;D

[kirsten (:]

thank youuuu .. however, in my report your opening word is "kirstin" - YOU SPELT MY NAME WRONG!

[mcf]

If MCF has done so he apologises.

Hope this helps. ;D

[kirsten (:]

i'm seriously struggling to find a quotation for my introduction, i've gone on dozen's of sites on google but i can't find anything relevant. I found one, then realised its the one fiona's using, and all the others are either to do with Christianity or America or i don't understand what they're saying. It's not going well..

[mcf]

Hi Kirsten,

See the last few sentences - there is ideas you could lift for a quotation.
Fiction in the Victorian period had its specific elements. The world in a fiction novel represents a social world that shares our world’s features, and the events characters encounter resembles what any person could experience in actual life:
The experience that Victorian novelists … depict is the set of social relationships in the middle-class society developing around them. It is a society where the material conditions of life indicates a social position, where money defines opportunity, where social class enforce a powerful sense of stratification, yet where chances for class mobility exist. 1059
The task of the protagonist is to define his or her place in society, which is the main concern of the plot (1059). Consequently, a tension is constructed between “surrounding social conditions and the aspiration of the hero or heroine whether to be loved, social position, or a life of adequate to his or her imagination” (1059).

This is the source below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol. 2.

Hope this helps. ;D

[kirsten (:]

dissertation is going fantastically, but just to let you know, i don't know how to do footnotes so there won't be any in this draft, but if you show me how to do them i'll put them in the redraft i should also probably write an introduction..

[kirsten (:]

hello, me again right, basically, I'm doing mr Gradgrind's house (don't worry I've done Hard Times last) and the issue is that it really doesn't describe to sound very working/middle class.
" A very regular feature on the face of the country, Stone Lodge was. Not the least disguise toned down or shaded off that uncompromising fact in the landscape. A great square house, with a heavy portico darkening the principal windows, as its master's heavy brows overshadowed his eyes. A calculated, cast up, balanced, and proved house. Six windows on this side of the door, six on that side; a total of twelve in this wing, a total of twelve in the other wing; four-and-twenty carried over to the back wings. A lawn and garden and an infant avenue, all ruled straight like a botanical account- book. Gas and ventilation, drainage and water-service, all of the primest quality. Iron clamps and girders, fire-proof from top to bottom; mechanical lifts for the housemaids, with all their brushes and brooms; everything that heart could desire."
this is the description of his house, and I personally think it sounds like quite an okay place. He has maids... So, my thinking is, I could do Sissy's house, cause she's lower class, and she doesn't really even has a house cause she's with the circus. I haven't actually looked into the book to see if there's a great deal on it though yet. Alternatively, I could just not do that bit for now and discuss with you tomorrow and have it done for monday? sorry for the rambleyness

[kirsten (:]

don't worry, this isn't another question, just to let you know that since it is half ten ( ) I am going to go to bed so won't get any replies to my questions, and therefore if you were planning to tell me to just do the setting of Mr Gradgrinds house anwyay i wanted to warn you that i have decided to not do that section because after looking on several sites Mr Gradgrind keeps being described as upper class, so I'm not really sure what to do

[mcf]

Hi Kirsten,

Some notes on setting in 'Hard Times'.

Like so many of Dickens' novels, "Hard Times" puts societal problems of the day on trial. In this work, the problems Dickens focuses on are those of the povery-ridden, dehumanizing factory towns that sprung up in England during the Industrial Revolution. In the world depicted in the novel, workers are treated as little more than interchangable parts in the factory's machinery, given just enough wages to keep them alive and just enough rest to make it possible for them to stand in front of their machines the next day.
The town in "Hard Times" is called Coketown, taking its name from the "Coke," or treated coal, powering the factories and blackening the town's skies. It is modeled on Manchester, England, one of the most notoriously unlivable factory cities of the time. (If you want to read Dickens' description of Coketown in the novel -- a classic example of Dickens' writing skill and a great thumbnail description of these towns -- click here and a new window will open with the passage.)
Dickens chooses to begin the novel in the classroom, which he depicts as a microcosm of the inhuman world outside. However, this is not simply a literary device in which the author creates the world of the novel in miniature to foreshadow coming events. In Dickens' view, this classroom has been intentionally created as a factory whose express purpose is to manufacture future workers. Education in Coketown is a process by which innocence and imagination are rooted out of the children so they will grow into souless automatons expecting nothing other than the drudgery of industrial life. By depicting the potential evils of mass education in this very cynical light, Dickens adopts a position often espoused by radical theorists who state that the power structure uses society's supposedly benevolent institutions to perpetuate its own power and to subjugate those whom these institutions are supposed to help.
Dickens is a master at using overstatement to make a point, but the Coketown schoolroom is drawn more from fact than fancy. It is based on a type of schooling referred to either as the Monitorial System or as the Lancasterian System after its originator, a London teacher named Joseph Lancaster. The system was employed both in England and the U.S. in the early and mid 19th century, especially in urban centers and especially with poor children. In a classic Monitorial classroom, 100 or more students are taught by a single teacher. They are divided into a number of smaller groups presided over by older students, or monitors, who are in charge of general instruction and discipline. Dickens chose well when he used this factory-style method of mass education to begin his novel about the depersonalization and dehumanization caused by the excesses of the Industrial Revolution.
Most of the literature in the "School Tales" collection is from the U.S., but for Dickens, I make an exception for a few reasons. First, Dickens is one of the great 19th century writers, so he can be counted on to give a rich and revealing picture of contemporary schooling. Second, his stance as social critic gives this passage a ferocity absent from even the most negative portrayals presented by other writers, making it unique among the school-based 19th century fiction I have read. He portrays mass education as a sinister force whose aim is to destroy in its students those qualities Dickens most treasures. Even the most negative among other writers who depict an individual teacher's incompetence or cruelty do not question the underlying value of the schooling the way Dickens does. And finally, most 19th century U.S. fiction about schools is placed in non-urban settings with small schools run at the discretion of individual schoolmasters. Dickens gives us a view of what a more systematized urban school might have been like at the time.

Hope this helps. ;D

[mcf]

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Explain the importance of places and settings to Dickens’ depiction of Victorian society in Hard Times In Hard Times, Dickens’ descriptions of places andsettings not only contribute to the narrative
impact of the novel, but also to his delineation, and criticism, of Victorian society. Dickens
conveys the sufferings of a population of working class citizens taught and raised on the
contemporary Utilitarian philosophy, designed to produce obedient citizens, in order to highlight
the shortcomings of such a system. The places described by Dickens, particularly Coketown,
reflect the austerityof the life of the stereotypical factory and mill workers featured within the
novel, as well as the schoolchildren whose lives are so regimented and governed by ‘fact’ that
attitudes like that of Bitzer, who believes that ‘every inch of the existence of mankind, from birth
to death, was a bargain across a counter’.

The most prominent setting within Hard Times is Coketown, which is expressed as the ‘key note’
by Dickens, and which dominates the lives of the protagonists. The author’s ironic reference to
Coketown as a ‘triumph of fact’ is intended as a criticism of the Utilitarian philosophy adopted
by Bounderby and Gradgrind, and the contemporary Victorian society, and also contributes to
Dickens’ portrayal of life within Coketown. Dickens’ depiction of Coketown likens the area to a
machine, and the mill hands as working parts of the machine, bred to live emotionless,
monotonous lives. This analogy exemplifies the attitude of the population of Coketown, who
have been rendered incapable of affecting their lives due to the education they have received and
the contemporary social system. Dickens utilises the repetition of the word ‘same’ to emphasize
the monotony of the lives of the mill hands; ‘the same hours…same sound…same pavements…
same work…same as yesterday’. The syntax used by Dickens during this description is further
reiteration of the incessant, maddening noise present in Coketown. In addition, Dickens uses
metaphors relating to animals, both to accentuate the perturbing effect created through his
description of Coketown (‘like the painted face of a savage’), and to highlight the nature of the
‘mill hands’, who are related to ‘caged elephants in a state of melancholy madness’. This effect
is continued when Dickens describes the ‘interminable serpents of smoke [trailing] themselves
forever and ever’, compelling the reader to consider Stephen Blackpool’s reflection on the
quality of life in Coketown (‘tis a muddle. And that’s awe’). The author’s portrayal of Coketown
enhances the empathy felt by the reader towards the ordinary mill hands, who have been cruelly
treated due to contemporary Utilitarianism, and consequently vilifies the exponents of the system
within the book. This technique was commonplace during the Victorian period, when novels
commenting on, and often criticising, the condition of England, were popular. Authors such as
Dickens and Charles Kingsley wrote such novels with the intention of altering people’s views on
contemporary issues, and often succeeded in doing so. Dickens’ description of public buildings
in Hard Times implies the similarly unhappy state shared by the entire population of Coketown,
regardless of situation, which renders all buildings similar in nature, so that ‘the infirmary might
have been the jail...or anything else’.

Hope this helps. ;D

[kirsten (:]

completely forgot to come give you my dissertation on Friday so apologies, but I assume you'll still be on prelims so hopefully its all cool anyways here it is (minus bunderburry and gradgrinds' homes)



“A comparative study of the social class divides in three Dickens’ novels – Hard Times, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist – and how he highlights the cruelty of humanity.”

“It is a society where the material conditions of life indicates a social position, where money defines opportunity, where social class enforce a powerful sense of stratification, yet where chances for class mobility exist”
Writers have often been seen to depict great conflict between those of differing social statuses in their pieces set during the Victorian era. This is evident throughout Charles Dickens’ work, including his novels ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Hard Times’. Throughout these such novels, Dickens illustrates the unjust nature of the inequality between differing social classes. He questions the way in which the measure of one’s wealth and refinement defines our character and life. Furthermore, he queries the morality and sincerity of those in varying social circumstances, and the detrimental effect the inheritance of vast amounts of money can have. This can be seen none more clearly, than in ‘Great Expectations.’ The protagonist, Pip, is shown to embark upon a journey of great social conquest. Having been presented with the opportunity to become educated and increase his social standing, Pip leaves his family behind in search of a life of wealth and prosperity. The happiness he wished to attain in such a life remains absent, and it is clear that Pip’s sense of morality decreases as his social status escalates. The novel ‘Oliver Twist’, encapsulates the life of a young boy, Oliver, who has been born into grave social circumstances. Having been left with no family, the novel depicts Oliver’s search for his place in life. He initially appears most suited among his fellow working class citizens, however, ultimately his morality and honourable sole allow for him to ascend the social ladder, and become an upper class citizen. ‘Hard Times’ demonstrates Dickens questioning the integrity of the upper class and illustrating the good hearted nature of the working class. In ‘Hard Times’ the upper class inhabitants of Coketown attempt to educate the citizens in practicality and in learning facts. However, this stern, inhuman attitude results in the upbringing of unfeeling children who are left unable to show emotion or love. Lacking such a fundamental part of their lives, the upper class citizens must accept that they must follow the lead of the working class and learn how to be compassionate. Throughout these three novels, Dickens investigates the social divide between different classes during the Victorian era and highlights the cruelty of human nature.

In the novel ‘Great Expectations’ the differing social status of characters is illustrated through setting and their contrasting homes. Pip is depicted to represent the working class – housed in confined accommodation with his sister and her husband (Mr and Mrs Joe).
“Joe’s forge adjoined our house, which was a wooden house.”
Joe must work studiously in the forge, doing manual labour, in order to provide for his family and ensure their survival. In conjunction with this, Pip’s humble home, and lack of affluence underline his family’s poor social standing. They live in a desolate village, surrounded by marsh lands – a poor foundation upon which to build a prosperous life. This conveys very bleak prospects for Pip’s future, if he remains among the working class society. This desolate atmosphere is further illustrated through the use of pathetic fallacy.
“The rains were heavy... the sky was just a row of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed.”
Through this dark description, Dickens successfully uses pathetic fallacy to create a dismal atmosphere – foreshadowing the introduction of Pip’s pitiful, working class life.

Conversely, Miss Havisham’s home, ‘Satis House’ represents the upper class lifestyle, and symbolises Pip’s romantic perception of the aristocratic society. The house is initially depicted to be of great grandeur – reflecting Miss Havisham’s affluence. The name ‘Satis House’ epitomises the superficiality of the upper class. ‘Satis’, to mean ‘enough’, represents the way in which the house is supposed to provide great satisfaction, and in owning it, you will wish for no more. However, upon taking a closer look inside the house, the true nature of Miss Havisham’s lifestyle is unveiled.
“No glimpse of daylight was to be seen it.”
The setting of ‘Satis House’ is depicted to be grim and uninviting. The house is shown to be dark, and a pitiful representation of the grand home it once was. Having been abandoned by her husband on her wedding day, Miss Havisham is left traumatised and bitter - unable to move forward with her life. In her refusal to accept the passage of time, her house too suffers. It lies dormant – its majestic structure decaying with its extreme lack of attention. The deteriorating state of Miss Havisham’s house and her mental state are the first suggestions to Pip that materialistic values and riches are not the key to a content, prosperous life. In that Miss Havisham was left by a fiancé who merely wished to marry so as to inherit her money, Dickens illustrates the gluttonous values that can be acquired after being exposed to the upper class lifestyle. He foreshadows the lesson Pip must learn about the detrimental effects of possessing excessive amounts of money and being amongst such a refined society. Having visited Satis House, Pip is no longer content with his home, and longs to be of the same social standing as Miss Havisham – illustrating his naivety towards his belief that with money, comes the attainment of complete happiness.

As in ‘Great Expectations’, Dickens carefully constructs the setting in ‘Oliver Twist’ so as to illustrate the division between those of differing social statuses. In the opening line of ‘Oliver Twist’, the setting of the workhouse is immediately established. Through the description of Oliver’s birth taking place at the work house, it instantly conveys his working class status. He is shown to have been born into a life of misery and misfortune, having lost his mother and been forced to live in the work house. The work house is depicted to be a greatly desolate place, where naive children, such as Oliver, are forced to endure wholly unjust circumstances. They are provided with minimal amounts of food, as the workhouse owner, Mrs Mann, wishes to keep their money and entitlements for herself. The unfair treatment, received by Oliver Twist at the work house, conveys a very bleak atmosphere and underlines the miserable circumstances endured by the working class. So as to heighten the impact of the conditions, the city in which the work house is located remains nameless – thus not detracting from the harsh circumstances endured at the work house.

To further illustrate the poor living conditions the working class were forced to tolerate, Dickens depicts Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin’s home to be greatly inadequate. Throughout ‘Oliver Twist’, Dickens illustrates the difference between the moral working class citizens who work diligently and honestly in attempt to earn a living, and the immoral, people of working class status, who thieve as a means of survival. Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin falls into the latter category, and furthermore, enrols many naive children to steal for him. He houses these such children, with himself, in a secluded house, concealed from society. It is described to be located in a grim area, and hidden up a flight of stairs – so as to be inconspicuous and discreet. When first entering the home, Oliver is forced to confront the reality of their living conditions.
“The walls and ceiling of the room were perfectly black with age and dirt.”
The setting of this refuge for the outlaws highlights the secluded life they are forced to lead due to their illegal methods of survival. In choosing to thieve in order to survive, they are forced to live a life of secrecy – segregating themselves from the rest of society. Through both these settings, Dickens demonstrates the dismal living conditions the working class were forced to endure no matter how honourably they conducted themselves.

To act as a contrast to the living conditions of the working class, the setting of Mr Brownlow’s home is used to represent the lifestyle of the aristocratic society. His house is described to be an iconic London home of the upper class. It is grand, with multiple floors, majestic paintings hung on the wall, and employed servants to attend to Mr Brownlow’s needs. This underlines the ease of life for a member of the superior social class. Through the depiction of this setting, Dickens further illustrates the divide between the Mr Brownlow and Oliver and Small sliver of wood generally used in fire-makingin; the upper class, and the working class.

Through the setting of Coketown in ‘Hard Times’, Dickens once again conveys the inequality between different social class. The town and its inhabitants are depicted to be greatly practical and industrious.
“It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves forever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple.”
The town appears very mechanic and artificial – lacking in human emotion and character. It is a town built purely for purpose and profit - not for enjoyment, nor creativity. However, in such an industrious environment, only the owners of factories are prosperous and may enjoy the benefits of such industries. Characters such as Mr Bumble are shown to relish receiving the great profits of his business, whilst continuing paying his workers such an unethical amount that they struggle to survive. Evidently only the upper class may thrive in such an industrious environment, whilst the working class have no hope of prosperity. Thus, through the setting of Coketown, Dickens successfully highlights segregation between differing social classes.