Fiona M.

Significant Passages:

A) p. 131 Chapter 3 Whelp

“It was very remarkable that a young gentleman who had been brought up under one continuous system of unnatural restraint, should be a hypocrite; but it was certainly the case with Tom. It was very strange that a young gentleman who had never been left to his own guidance for five consecutive minutes, should be incapable at last of governing himself; but so it was with Tom. It was altogether unaccountable that a young gentleman whose imagination had been strangled in his cradle, should be still inconvenienced by its ghost in the form of groveling sensualities; but such a monster, beyond all doubt, was Tom.”

 The excerpt from an early chapter of Book 2 is an example of the narrator giving his opinion and perspective not only on the character, Tom, that it revolves around but also other parts of the society and other important characters. A narrator who is passive in telling the story and offers no opinion or bias about the happenings is not one who says “It was very remarkable…” or “it was certainly the case with Tom.” Both these phrases describing Tom are not only sarcastic but through their opinionated voice, paint Tom as one who is weak. But when the reader is able to combine the sarcasm and satire that the narrator is incorporating with the description of what has happened to him: “brought up under one continuous system of unnatural restraint” and “a young gentleman whose imagination had been strangled in his cradle,” they reach the verdict that the narrator has an opinion and view on what is happening in the book and is making a commentary on the institutions and society that the characters live in.

 B) p. 250 Chapter 5 Found

“The spectacle of a matron of classical deportment, seizing an ancient woman by the throat, and haling her into a dwelling-house, would have been under any circumstances, sufficient temptation to all true English stragglers so blest as to witness it, to force a way into that dwelling-house and see the matter out. But when the phenomenon was enhanced by the notoriety and mystery by this time associated all over the town, with the Bank robbery, it would have lured the stragglers in, with an irresistible attraction, though the roof had been expected to fall upon their heads.”

 The excerpt from a middle chapter of Book 3 describes a scene and various background characters not in a passive tone, but one with opinion. It is almost as though the narrator is a person and the readers are just hearing their account of what is happening in the slum area of Coketown. The paragraph is again in a sarcastic voice when describing the treatment and the expectations of how to treat the Hands—or stragglers—in Coketown. The narrator seems to make a commentary that the expectation on how to treat the Hands is to “Seize an ancient woman by the throat” and how actions like these are expected when interacting with the low working class. Then the narrator goes on to make a commentary on how the scandal that occurred would have thought to “lure the stragglers in” but then the “roof had been expected to fall upon their heads.” This interpretation is not one through a passive narrative voice but one that is interpreted and told in a certain way and light.

Appreciating Language:

A)     Book 1 Chapter 3 p.16

“No little Gradgrind had ever seen a face in the moon; it was up in the moon before it could speak distinctly. No little Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, Twinkle, twinkle, little star; how I wonder what you are! No little Gradgrind had ever known the wonder on the subject, each little Gradgrind having at five years old dissected the Great Bear like a Professor Owen, and driven Charles’s Wain like a locomotive engine-driver.”

I really enjoyed the language that Dickens used in this passage and how it was clear, due to the various allusions and analogies, that it took so much time to formulate such a descriptive paragraph, especially one so early in the book so Dickens is still introducing characters and the setting.

B)      Book 2 Chapter 11 p. 205

“Mrs. Sparsit saw him detain her with his encircling arm, and heard him then and there, within her (Mrs. Sparsit’s) greedy hearing, tell her how he loved her, and how she was the stake for which he ardently desired to play away all that he had in life. The he had lately pursued, turned worthless beside her; such success as was almost in his grasp, he flung away from him like the dirt it was, compared with her.”

In this passage, I enjoyed how Dickens was able to portray so much of the two characters, Mrs. Sparsit and Bounderby, in such a short excerpt. It is clear through the scene and actions painted of them that they are both materialistic characters and how Dickens is in fact making a commentary on the bigger picture of the story and what happens in the story.