Dickens And Eliots Critiques On Industrialization English Literature Essay

Dickens And Eliots Critiques On industrialisation English Literature EssayCharles Dickens and George Eliot argon both writers whose saucys had a very(prenominal) material impact on nineteenth century mincing readers. Dickens A Christmas Carol and Eliots Silas Marner were written during the succession of the Industrial regeneration in England and it opened great deals look to the disconfirming effects that the change was having on common parliamentary law. The authors saw industrialization as a loss of individualism and a time w here people were beingness treated same(p) machines by the cruelty of utilitarianism. It was destroying the nature and the human set that rural overnice communities in matchless case held. Through these novels, Dickens and Eliot exemplify how the niminy-piminy instance on labor and the greed of money hardens the hearts of the wet and somatogenicly and emotionally oppresses the less(prenominal) richesy thus, shattering the human spirit, th reatening kinds, and breaking the bonds of fellowship.Dickens passionately portrays his opposition to the Industrial Revolution in A Christmas Carol. He exposes and makes others sure of the inhumane environments and nature that the poor were subject to during the industrial phase of the nation. The novel begins with an introduction to skinflint and describes him as a tight-fisted hand at the grindstonea squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner Hard andsharpas flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire secret, and self-contained, and lone(a) as an oyster. (Dickens 40) This description of crosspatch sets up the reader to understand the book of factsistics of whatsoever the wealthy people of the time. He is compared to physical objects which are not candid of all emotion or looking ating, and therefore illustrates him as being very inhuman.Scrooge is portrayed as very capable of breaking peoples booze with his cruel words an d actions. When the portly gentlemen approach Scrooge to ask him for a donation for the poor, he responds by saying that he cant hold to make idle people merry and that its not his business to encourage the unfortunate (Dickens 45). There is great irony in his words as he can very well afford to do either affaire he wants, being the very wealthy man and creditor he was. The fact that he states that the matter has zip to do with his business is very untrue as he would not even be in business were it not for the lower class citizens making him all the money he was accumulating. This colloquy shows that Scrooge is almost feared in societydue to his status and the sharpness that comes with it. Dickens portrays the harsh existingity of Scrooge and those of his class beforehand(predicate) in the novel to cause readers to react and to look forward to fulfiling how the character changes throughout the novel thus exemplifying how they can change as well.Scrooge destroys any attempt by his nephew to build a relationship with him. He is so preoccupied with his greed for money that he doesnt adopt that it is the very thing that is making him miserable. Although Scrooges nephew is poorer than him, he pleads with his uncle saying, I want nothing from you I ask nothing ofyou why cannot we be friends? (Dickens 43). Dickens illustrates here that people are not even after Scrooge for his money, only merely want him to be open to the idea interpersonal relationships and bliss. Clearly, effort makes the rich richer, however, it similarly destroys their ability to be truly content with what they have. It makes them fire the withdraw for human relationships and begins to transform the wealthy into heartless people.The character of Scrooge denies any ties to the community and strives to live for himself alone. The spirits remind Scrooge that he used to be full of joy before he permit industry in his way of happiness.At the thought of the poor expiry due to lack of necessities, Scrooge replies, If they would quite a diethey had better do it, and decrease the surplus population (Dickens 45). This attitude towards community did not dwell before industrialization as people worked to squeezeher and depended on individually other for support. Here, Dickens exemplifies the selfishness that comes along with industry. It all comes d let to self procurement, and the wealthy continue to strive for much than wealth at the cost of the lives and happiness of others. Dickens mentions the Poor Law and requests for people to recognize the difficulty of those whom the impartiality has put out of displace and driven into p everyplacety. He expresses the responsibility that society has to provide for them compassionately. In his novel, Dickens puts forward that this materialistic, cruel society driven by industry can be reformed by proper a more generous society that values the human life sentencespan more than material wealth. As he proves with the character of Scrooge, it ultimately results in the joy and success of the society as a whole rather than the depression of the wealthy and the oppression of the poor.Eliot exemplifys her Silas Marner and critiques industrialization similar to the ways in which Dickens opposes it with his novel. She is drawn to the pre-industrial values and attempts to prove that love of others is ultimately more rewarding than love of money. She does this through the character of Silas Marner, who becomes obsessed with the wealth he earns for his work and begins hoarding it, using it as little of it as possible. just now as Dickens does with his description of Scrooge, Eliot describes Marner using physical objects that are incapable(p) of any feeling or emotionStrangely Marners face and issue shrank and bent themselves into a constant mechanical relation to the objects of his life, so that he produced the same sort of impression as a handle or a crooked tube, which has no meaning standing apart . The prominent eyes that used to look trusting and dreamy, now looked as if they had been made to take on only one kind of thing that was very small, like fiddling grain, for which they hunted everywhere and he was so withered and yellow (Eliot 25)Here, Silas is expound as looking like a handle or a crooked tube. It is difficult to imagine someones physique as looking like this and it therefore, shows how much he has let his body degrade because of his love for money. Silas also serves an indicator of industry in the rural village of Raveloe as his life is degraded to the status of a machine. His ability to see only one kind of thingfor which they hunted everywhere shows that Silas can only see one thing in his life-money. His work and his wealth is the only thing that drives him in life. Although it is costing him his health and is prematurely aging him, he is blind by industry to seeing anything notwithstanding his profit.he had five glistering guineas put into his hand no ma n expected a make out of them, and he loved no man that he should offer him a shareit was pleasant to him to feel them in his palm, and look at their blinding faces, which were all his own it was another element of life, like the weaving and the rejoicing of hunger (Eliot 23)Silas sees his wealth as gratifying as satisfying his hunger. comparing the accumulation of wealth to a necessity such as nutriment shows that money is what his whole life is about and nothing, including his health, matters as much. This portrays the machine-like lifestyle that comes along with industrialization. Just as machines are only seen for the labour they produce and need nothing in return, some people such as Silas feel the same way as they dont care for their physical needs but only look to increase their material wealth.Eliot uses the characters Godfrey and Dunstan to portray the way in which industrialization and the greed for money can corrupt and break relationships. These twain wealthy broth ers use each other and others to take advantage of any selfish wish they can claim. Dustan blackmails and bribes Godfrey to accumulate more wealth from him for his own selfish love of gambling and drinking. Godfrey on the other hand, allows his first wife and daughter to suffer due to his ignorance and moral cowardice. Although they have more wealth than most in Raveloe could ever dream of, that craving for an infinite kernel of wealth that comes with industrialization corrupts all the relationships these brothers have with others. Dunstan ends up dying without experiencing his rescue wealth and Godfrey is left to live a life of regret as he is unable to have children with his second wife and unable to get back his real daughter Eppie. Eliot demonstrates that these relationships are more valuable than wealth but those that ignorant to it, end up losing the relationships.Silas is shown as choosing his relationship to Eppie over his loss of wealth. This however, brings about joy th at wealth can never accomplish Eh, my precious child, the blessing was mine. If you hadnt been sent to save me, I should ha at rest(p) to the grave in my misery. The money was taken away from me in time and you see its been kept-kept till it was wanted for you. Its wonderful-our life is wonderful (Eliot 158). Silas dehumanized being is restored once Eppie enters his life and shows him what real happiness is.The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts forradThe gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blind more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repeat of his web but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his hotshots with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy becauseshehad joy. (123)This passage demonstrates the undying pattern of industrialization. It pulls people into a cycle that forces them to go around and around without any real purpose or gain. As they follow this cyclical pattern, they allow the physical body and their emotions to deteriorate. They continue to be deafened and blinded to the destruction that industry is causing in their lives and community. Life becomes a dark place without any sunshine or the warmth of love, as people become resistive and ignorant to such things unless they pull out of the cycle. Eppie, in this case, pulls Silas out of this never-ending cycle into the light, where he can see properly again.The sense of community portrayed in the rural Raveloe is completely opposite to the industrialized place where Silas is originally from. In Raveloes trade-based community, every person plays a vital government agency in the success of the village. However, Silas and Eppie return to Lantern Yard, he finds that his entire community has vanished and that a large factory has been placed where the chapel one was. This is very substantive because the chapel is the place where all different types of people gathered as one community. This sense of community is destroyed by the power of industrialization and completely gets rid of all the tradition, memories, and values the place once held.Eliots Victorian readers would have understood what Eliot was trying to accomplish through her novel. As Victorian society was already experiencing the impacts of industry during the time of the novel, they may have looked upon Raveloe and its sense of community as the image of what they had lost. The industrial landscape that came into existence with the revolution was frightening, destructive, and dehumanizing destroying all the memories of the better past.Both Dickens A Christmas Carol and Eliots Silas Marner put industrialization as the inevitable leader to the dehumanization of labour, as work ers are reduced to nothing more than machines and the amount of money that their work is worth. By presenting these novels to Victorian society, these authors attempted to educate and make aware the tremendous negative effects industry was having on the poors welfare, the happiness of the wealthy, and community bonds as a whole. An interesting aspect of both novels is that children are used in the salvation process of both characters Scrooge says, It is good to be children sometimes in regards to their reaction to Christmas (Dickens 229). Silas states, But yet men are led away from threatening destruction a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth quietly towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward and the hand may be a little childs (Eliot 128). This is significant because although children are exposed to industrialization in a different way, they distinguish to love, build relationships, and uplift the human spirit by default. And so, both authors present the idea that it is better to be like them. By presenting the reformation of Scrooge and Silas, these authors attempt to demonstrate that restoration is possible if people are unforced to get out of the cyclical pattern of industrialization and return to the pre-industrial values of society.