QUEEN VICTORIA

Queen Victoria was just 18 years old when she came to the throne in 1837. She ruled for 64 years
and gave birth to the "Victorian Age", an age of economic and scientific progress and social reforms.
She remained apart from the politics because the power was in the hand of the government and the
head parliament. She was the symbol of the unity and stability of the country and of the new
constitutional monarchy. In 1840 she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and, even if their
marriage was combined, they loved each other and were an affectionate and iconic couple: for this,
they represented the Victorian family and they were very much beloved by the country. They
encouraged British people to stick together and form the identity of the nation. Prince Albert was a
clever man and an active presence in the reign: he came from German and introduced a lot of
Christmas tradition just like the tree. He used to give advice about the political situation that were
followed and appreciated by the queen. In 1857, to highlight the important of his figure for the
country, she intituled him "Prince Consort", starting a new tradition (To remember that Victoria was
very innovative and she introduced a lot of new tradition just like the transfer of Buckingham
Palace).
Even if the Victorian age was a period of prosperity, it was very hard for low classes because most of
them lived in the street and there was poverty and lack of hygiene. There was a big social gap
between the lower class and the wealth class. The last ones were mainly composed by factory owners
that in the industrial revolution had the possibility to grow financially, but they ignored the problem
of poverty in the city. The main value of Victorian age was the family unity. but this was not a
possible value for the lower classes because they were mostly orphans or single moms. So, for this
reason, there were two parallels world living side by side.

AN AGE OF REFORM
The "age of reform" started in 1830. The first Reform Act in 1832 was also called the Great
Reform Act, a reform that was about the number of seats in vote; Before the industrial revolution
the society was mainly agriculture and there were very big rural areas that were very populated and
were ruled by a single person: the seats in Parliament were mainly conservatives so they voted
always for one part. The new industrial areas need seats in Parliament so they transferred the voting
privileges from the small boroughs, controlled by the nobility and the gentry, to the large industrial
towns like Manchester. The Factory Act introduced limits about the working hours for children
aged 9 to 13, that could only work for maximum forty-eight hours a week, while teenagers between
13 and 18 for maximum seventy-two hours a week. The Poor Law Amendment Act had changed
the old Poor Laws of Elizabeth I and created the workhouses, institutions where poor could have
food and accommodation during work.

WORKHOUSES AND RELIGION

In Britain, a workhouse was a total institution run by the Church where those unable to support
themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment, so they could both
live and work there. Life in the workhouses was characterized by the British system of
regimentation, hard work and monotonous diet. The workers had to wear a uniform and families
were split.
Workhouses didn't solve the problem of poors in the society, but they aggravated it.
The problem was that poverty was mostly correlated to laziness and British people couldn’t accept
the fact that poors could use something that was provided by their hard work: in fact, British
believed in Puritanism, so they were very narrow-minded and gave importance to the virtues of hard
work, frugality and duty. The idea behind the workhouses was that living in a such frightful life and
in depraved surroundings would inspire the poor to work and improve their conditions. For this
reason, poors were treated very bad: they were punished, obliged to work and the places where they
lived were always lacking of hygiene. So, the reform turned into a complete failure due to a wrong
mentality and concept of poverty.

TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
In the mid-years of the 19th century England experienced a second wave of industrialisation that
brought economic and cultural changes. While European monarchies experienced a lot of
revolutionary eras during 1848, England avoided the revolutionary wave for a lot of time because
they were already a constitutional monarchy and they could enjoy political stability and cultural
growing without needing a change in the structure of the country.
In 1851 Prince Albert organized a Great Exhibition to show the political and economic power of the
new industrialized England: more than 15000 people came from all over the world only to show and
sell their goods to the visitors. The exhibition was housed at the Crystal Palace, a huge and modern
structure of glass and steel erected in Hyde Park. The exhibition was very profitable and with the
fond received by the visitors England managed to build several museums where the entrance was
free, just like the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert
Museum. In 1860 life started to form under the city of London thanks to the birth of railways (used
in the past only to transport goods), that started to transform the landscapes and people’s live:
people started to travel for leisure and to enjoy visiting new places.

FOREING POLICY
In the mid-19th century England was involved in the two Opium Wars against China, which was
trying to take the complete control of the trade (as we know, opium was used for medical treatments
as a form of anaesthesia). The first Opium war was fought between England and China, while in the
second one England found itself allied with France. After the two wars, England took control of five
Chinese ports and of the city of Honk Kong.
India was submitted to England for years and was a profitable colony for the British Empire because
it permitted the friability of the trade of spices. But in 1857 a rebellion, called the Indian Mutiny,
started against the British rule and led to the reduction of responsibilities given to the Indian
administration.
England also supported some liberal causes, just like the demand of Independence of Italy against
the Austrians.
The Crimean War started in 1853, when the Turkish Empire, guided by Ottomans, began too weak
to fight Russia. England and France were afraid that Russia could became too powerful, so they
stepped in the war to try to limit the control of Russia in that area.
The Crimean War will coincide with two important events:
● - the birth of a new branch of journalism, the so-called reporters “on the ground”
● - the birth and development of a new nursing sector started with Florence Nightingale
and her institutions. She was a nurse that volunteered to led 38 of her colleagues at
Scutari base hospital during the war. She was also called the “lady with the Lamp”
because she wandered the battlefield to find the wounded and medicate them.

A COMPLEX AGE
The contradictions on the social-economic level in the Victorian Age were often
referred to as the "Victorian compromise". It was an age in which the political and social
stability of the middle and wealthy class coexisted with the poverty and the injustice of the lower
class: the latter was composed by factory workers that were punished, unpaid or unemployed and
prostitute and orphans, which tend to became pickpockets, living in the slams. Even if modernity
was the key of the society, there was a revival of Gothic and Classicism in art. Religion played an
important role in people's lives: in particular Evangelicalism encouraged public and political action
and created a sense of charities; especially middle-class women passed their free time by
volunteering and in this way they could feel satisfied and responsible of the living of the poor: in
fact, they thought that they could solve the problem by gifting clothes and food, because there were
people that were totally depended on the voluntary efforts of the wealthy class.
The major contradiction in Victorian Age was that they both believed in God and in progress and
science. Science, however, couldn't actually cope with inexplicable things just like the Divine.
Freedom was linked to religion and was characterized by optimism over economic and political
progress and importance of the national identity after the economic growth due to the industrial
revolution.

RESPECTABILITY
Respectability was a Victorian value shared both by the middle class and working classes and was
linked to self-restraint, good manners and self-help. A respectable person was, in fact, someone who
has a work, a family, a modest house and a rigid moral and religious behaviour: their purpose was to
assert a social status, keeping up appearances and looking after a family. However, the concept of
respectability was only the outward image of middle-class and it was also related to hypocrisy: in
fact, it was a way for middle-class people to hide the unpleasant aspects of society, such as poverty
or social unrest.
In this age women were seen as physically weaker but morally superior so men had the duty to
respect them as they were their divine guides and inspirers. Women also control the family budget
and the education of children.
Sex was a crucial aspect of respectability: sexuality was repressed in both its public and private
forms and single women with a child or prostitutes were marginalised as “fallen women”.
Highlighting prudery as an important aspect of respectability led to the denunciation of nudity in
art, the veiling of sculptured genitals and the rejection of word related to sex from everyday
vocabulary. But the actual truth was that, despite middle-class men were considered respectable
people, as they present themselves as narrow-minded puritans, they favoured the phenomena of
prostitution.

LIFE IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN

The Victorian era, which covered most of the 19th century in Britain, coincided with the Industrial
revolution, the period of growth of a new empire characterised by advances in medicine, transport,
education and commerce. Even if for the middle-class it was a time of wealth and privilege, the
majority lived in horrible conditions: lower class people, especially factory workers, had long
working hours in factory and mines and they were punished and unpaid. The industrial and urban
expansion gave advantages to the few at the expense of many working poor. The population doubled
especially in urban centres, where the ongoing industrial revolution attracted numerous workers:
they had the possibility to work, but they lived in overcrowded house in the slams of the city, where
there was no hygiene and no sanitation, causing a high mortality rate. Child labour was very
common and a lot of children were employed at minimum wages in dangerous jobs just like
chimney sweeping and in the coal mines. Other children worked in the streets as flower sellers,
errand boys or shoeblacks (the shoes were often polished because they were a luxury item, they were
made of fine materials such as leather or leather and got dirty due to the muddy roads). Charles
Dickens, for example, began working at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, so he experienced the
abuses of industries on children with his own eyes and made of what he saw the main themes of his
works. Some children, the luckiest ones, managed to find work as apprentices or as domestic
servants without a working hours limit. Moreover, orphan children lived in the streets and were
totally dependent on the support of others, and some of them were enrolled in criminal gangs,
becoming robbers or pickpockets.
The towns were populated by industrial and commercial middle classes, which increased the
demand for goods and services, especially unnecessary ones, such as toys, home decor items and
kitchen items. Goods that in the previous century would only have been seen in aristocrats’ houses
were now to be found in every middle-class home. Middle-class people were usually shopkeepers or
self-employed merchants who lived in a large house with employed servants. White-collar working
in the back or for the government formed the lower middle class. Meanwhile the queen became an
iconic symbol for the middle class and the ideal of the women dedicated to family, motherhood and
propriety. She and her family were seen as a model. The reality of the Victorian reign led to the
enhancement of childhood as a significant phase in life and to the importance of children's books as
a means of education: Victorians entertained their children with imaginative stories just like
reassure Island by R.L. Stevenson and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

THE FATHER OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

At the beginning of the 19th century, due to pollution and the spread of various disease, which then
led to an increase in mortality, proper environmental health measures were introduced. In 1831
cholera made its first appearance in England: the first symptoms of this disease were nausea and
stomach ache, followed by vomiting and diarrhoea so profuse that led the person mainly to death
due to dehydration. In 1854 the British physician John Snow demonstrated that the disease didn’t
spread by miasma, so by bed smells arising from the sewers and the garbage, but it was caused by
the lack of hygiene: people who didn’t have running water or a modern toilet used to dump their
sewage into rivers or town wells. He noticed that these conditions were widespread in many areas of
London and that wells and water pipes should be kept isolated from drains and sewers to reduce the
risk of infection. Doctor Snow was afraid that the other physicians could be sceptical about the
theory that cholera spread from an organism to another organism due to germs, and for this he
spoke about a particular “poison” that could “multiply itself” within the digestive tracts of the victim;
the disease then spread through contaminated food or water. From the end of 1894 until 1853 the
cases of cholera increased. In 1883 Robert Koch, a German physician, identified the bacterium that
caused cholera, called the Vibrio cholerae. He stated that the only way to get infected was the
assumption of unsanitary water or food supply sources, as it was stated by John Snow. The epidemic
ended in Europe towards the end of the 19th century, when cities finally improved water supply
sanitation.

SURGERY AND ANAESTHESIA

The procedure of anaesthesia was introduced a long time ago. Before the 19th century, to reduce the
pain of the surgery, doctors used alcohol, opium, a natural narcotic derived from the opium poppy,
or fumes from an anaesthetic-soaked cloth. Under these conditions, a lot of patients died of shock
caused by the pain itself. During the 1840s the first anaesthetic agents used in the operating room
were nitrous oxide, ether and chloroform. In particular, nitrous oxide was discovered in 1799 by the
English chemist Sir Humphry Davy and was first used by an American dentist during tooth surgery.
The surgeon Crawford Williamson was the first to use ether during an operation in Georgia in 1842;
however, the credit was given to another dentist, William Thomas Green Morton, who carried out an
operation using ether publicly in a Boston hospital in 1846. In the same period a surgeon removed a
tumour neck using ether, with the patient claiming that he felt no pain. After this episode, ether
began to be used as an anesthetic in the United States and in Europe.
In 1847 a Scottish obstetrician, Sir James Young Simpson, used chloroform to reduce the pain of
childbirth: this substance was also used by John Snow for the fifth birth of Queen Victoria in 1853.
When surgeons realised that unsterile equipment led to complications and fatal infection, they
started to improve the techniques, to use specialised surgical instruments and to sterilised with
carbolic acid not only the utensils, but all the environments.

CHALLENGES FROM THE SCIENTIFIC FIELD

In the mid-Victorian age new challenges came from the fields of geology, biology, archaeology and
astronomy. Geologist, for example, found fossils in rocks and began to question the Book of Genesis.
Charles Darwin, born in the Victorian Age, was an English naturalist: in his work “On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection” he presented his scientific theory of evolution by natural
selection, which he developed in his work The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex and
which became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. According to Darwin’s theory:
● -all living creatures developed with slow process of change and adaptation in a struggle
for survival;
● - favourable physical conditions determine the survival of a species, unfavourable ones
its extinction;
● -man evolved from monkeys, that were a less highly organised form.
On the one hand, Darwin’s theory rejected the vision of creation presented in the Bible; on the other
hand, it shows that the universe was not static but in constant development. This idea was the base
of social Darwinism, a non-philosophical trend and a social ideology which stated that only the
strongest will survive and the weakest, due to their laziness, deserved to be defeated.

The later years of queen Victoria’s reign

When Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria withdrew from society. She still remained an important
figure even though the political panorama was changing with the regrouping of the parties. The
liberal party included whigs, radicals and a large minority of businessmen; the party was led by
William Gladstone. The Conservative party reaffirmed its positions under the leadership of
Benjamin Disraeli.

Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1868. In his second term, his government:
● passed an Artisans’ and Labourers Dwellings Act which allowed local public
authorities to clear slums
 and provided housing for the poor;
● A Public Health Act, Which provided sanitation as well as running water
● A Factory Act which limited the working hours per week.
Disraeli’s foregny policy was dominated by the Eastern Question, that is, the decay of the ottoman
empire and the attempt by other European countries such as Russia.
Gladstone was Prime Minister four times starting in 1868. At that time, reforming legislation
focused on education. Elementary schools had long been organised by the Church; the 1870
education Act started a national system by introducing “board schools” mainly in the poorer areas of
the towns. By 1880 elementary education had become compulsory. Other reforms included the
legalisation of trade unions in 1871, with the Trade Union Act, and the introduction of the secret
ballot at elections in 1872, with the Ballot Act.Gladstone was re-elected three times. The third
reform act of 1884 extended voting to all male householders, including miners, mill-workers and
farm labourers.

The Anglo-Boer Wars

The struggle with France at the beginning of the 19th century had led to Britain’s global hegemony.
In this period many areas of the world were characterised by political and cultural fragmentation
and it was there that Britain began to gain control without major political intervention. This was the
situation in South America, where Britain controlled two colonies, Cape Colony and Natal. When
Britain took over Transvaal , the Boers rebelled and The Boer Wars broke out.

Empress of India
In 1877 Queen Victoria was given a new title, EMpress of India. The Empire was becoming more
difficult to control.There was a growing sense of the “white man’s burden” , a difficult combination
of the duty to spread Christian civilisation, encouraging toleration and open communication and at
the same time promoting commercial interests. It was a strongly felt obligation to provide
leadership where states were failing, especially in Africa and India. In particular India was
economically important as a market for British goods. In the late victorian period the new imperial
government became more ambitious and through free market economics it destroyed traditional
farming and caused the deindustrialisation of India.

The end of an era

The Victorian age came to an end with the death of Queen Victoria that had embodied decorum and
stability. She was buried beside her beloved husband in the Frogmore mausoleum at Windsor
Castle.

Social Darwinism
Darwin’s theory of evolution became the foundation of various ethical and social systems such as
Social Darwinism. The philosopher Herbet Spencer applied DArwin’s theory of natural selection to
human society: he argued that races, nations and social classes like biological species, were subject
to the principle of the “survival of the fittest” and that the poor and oppressed did not deserve
compassion.

The late victorian thinkers

Among the thinkers of the late Victorian period, a significant role was played by those who protested
against the harm caused by industrialism in man’s life and in the environment. Karl Marx based the
theories he expressed in his treatise in three volumes Das Kapital upon research done in England,
the most advanced European industrial nation of the time.

The spread of socialist ideas

The Independent Labour Party was set up in 1893; it was a non-marxist socialist party which
attracted both male and female intellectuals. Various socialist groups were joined by young skilled
workers and intellectuals who read John Ruskin’s criticism of the greed, competition and ugliness of
industrial society.
Patriotism
was deeply influenced by ideas of racial superiority. Towards the end of Victoria’s reign the British
considered themselves the leaders of European civilisation. There was a belief that the “races” of the
world were divided by fundamental physical and intellectual differences, that some were destined to
be led by others. It was thus an obligation imposed by God on the British to spread their superior
way of life, their institutions, law and political system on native peoples throughout the world. This
attitude came to be known as “jingoism”.

Readers and writers

During the Victorian Age, for the first time, there was a communion of interests and opinions
between writers and their readers. One reason for this close relationship was the enormous growth
of the middle classes. Although its members belonged to many different levels where literacy had
penetrated in a heterogeneous way, they were avid consumers of literature. They borrowed books
from circulating libraries and read the abundant variety of periodicals. Moreover, Victorian writers
themselves often belonged to the middle class.

The publishing world

A great deal of Victorian literature was first published in a serial form. Essays, verse and even novels
made their first appearance in instalments in the pages of periodicals. This allowed the writer to feel
he was in constant contact with his public. He was obliged to maintain the interest of his compelling
story because there was a risk that the public would not buy the magazine anymore.
There was a further advantage because an author could always alter the story, according to its
success or failure.

The Victorians' interest in prose

The Victorians showed a marked interest in prose, in particular in the novel. The spread of scientific
knowledge made the novel realistic and analytical, the spread of democracy made it social and
humanitarian, while the spirit of moral unrest made it inquisitive and critical.

The novelist's aim

During the 18th century, novels generally dealt with the adventures either of a social outcast or
a more virtuous hero (-> 3.8), but their episodic structure remained the same. The idea of a
thematic unity was brought in by Jane Austen and by the Gothic writers. In the 1840s novelists
wanted to reflect the social changes that had been in progress for a long time, such as the Industrial
Revolution, the struggle for democracy and the growth of towns and cities.
They were aware of the evils of their society, such as the terrible conditions of manual workers and
the exploitation of children. However, their criticism was much less radical than that of
contemporary European writers, like Balzac, Flaubert, Turgenev and Dostoevsky, because the
historical conditions of Britain were quite different from those of France or Russia. Novelists also
conceived literature as a vehicle to correct the vices and weaknesses of the age.

The narrative technique

The voice of the omniscient narrator provided a comment on the plot and erected a rigid barrier
between 'right' and 'wrong' behaviors, light and darkness. Retribution and punishment were to be
found in the final chapter of the novel, where the whole texture of events, adventures and incidents
had to be explained and justified.

Setting and characters

The setting chosen by most Victorian novelists was the city, which was the main symbol of the
industrial civilisation as well as the expression of anonymous lives and lost identities.
Victorian writers concentrated on the creation of realistic characters the public could easily identify
with, in terms of comedy - especially Dickens's characters - or dramatic passion of the Brontè sisters'
heroines.

Types of novel The humanitarian novel:

Charles Dickens's novels are mostly admired for their tone, combining humour with a sentimental
request for reform for the less fortunate.
They constitute the bulk of what is generally called the humanitarian novel' or the 'novel of
purpose;, which could be divided into novels of a 'realistic', 'fantastic' or 'moral' nature according to
their predominant tone or issue dealt with.

Characters
Dickens shifted the social frontiers of the novel in fact he became the creator of characters and
caricatures who live immortally in the English imagination. His aim was to arouse the interest of the
reader by exaggerating the habits of his characters as well as the language of the middle and lower
classes of London, he also freely ridiculed the vanity and ambition of his characters even if without
sarcasm.
He was always on the side of the poor, the outcast and also the working class. Children are often the
most important characters in Dickens's novels. Children become the moral teachers instead of the
taught, the examples instead of the imitators.
The novelist's ability lay both in making his readers love his children and putting them forward as
models of the way people ought to behave to one another.

A didactic aim
This didactic stance was very effective, since the result was that the more educated, the wealthier
classe acquired knowledge about their poorer neighbours, of whom they previously knew little or
nothing. Dickens's task was never to get the most wronged and suffering to rebel, or even encourage
discontent, but to make the ruling classes
aware of the social problems without offending his middle-class readers.

CHARLES DICKENS
Born in Portsmouth, England, on 7 Febrary 1812. When he was 12 years old his father went to prison
for money problem, Charles had to leaveschool and went to work in a factory, where he worcked
long hours in bad conditions, he neverforgot this terrible experience. When he was 19 Dickens
became a newspaper report; soon hebegan writing short story for magazine, who, in his times, were
published in parts every week ormonth. A lot of people want read his story. In April 1836 Charles
married Chatherine Hogarth, and they had 10 children. The “Pickwick Paper” was his first novel,
published in monthly parts, and itwas great success. Dickens wrote about all the many people he
met in hislife in his novels. He lived during the Victorian Age and in his books wrote about this
society, talk about poverty andsocial problems of time. He wrote 14 major novels: “Oliver Twist”
(1837-38), “A Christmas Carol”(1843), “David Capperfield” (1849- 50), “Nicholas Nickleby”
(1854) and “Great Expectations”(1860-61). Charles travelled so much in his life: to Italy,
Switzeland, France, United States, and also New Yorkand Boston, where he was very succesfull. He
died at the age of 58 and was buried in Poet’s Corner in London

Style and reputation

Dickens employed the most effective language and accomplished the most graphic and powerful
descriptions of life and character ever
attempted by any novelist. He did so with his careful choice of adjectives, repetitions of words and
structures, juxtapositions of images and ideas, hyperbolic and ironic remarks.
He is considered as the greatest novelist in the English language.

Dickens’s narrative
● Dickens's novels were influenced by the Bible, fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes, by the
18'-century novelists and essayists, and by Gothic novels.
● His plots are well-planned even if at times they appear a bit artificial, sentimental and episodic.
Certainly the conditions of publication in monthly or weekly instalments discouraged unified
plotting and created pressure on Dickens to conform to the public taste.
● London was the setting of most of his novels: he always seemed to have something new to say
about it and showed an intimate knowledge of it.
 ● He gradually developed a more radical social view, although he did not become a revolutionary
thinker. He was aware of the spiritual and material corruption of daily reality under the impact
of industrialism; the result was an increasingly critical attitude towards his society.

Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist first appeared in instalments in 1837 and was later published as a book.
The novel fictionalises the economic (1) insecurity and humiliation Dickens experienced as a child.
The name 'Twist, though it is given to the protagonist by accident, represents the outrageous
reversals of fortune that he will experience.
Oliver Twist is a poor boy of unknown parents; he was born in a workhouse in a small town near
London in the early 1800s. His mother dies almost immediately after his birth and he is brought up
in a workhouse in an inhuman way. The boy commits unpardonable offence of asking for more food
when he is close to starwing, so the parish official offers five pounds to anyone willing to take Oliver
on as an apprentice. In fact, he is later sold to an undertaken, but the cruelty and the unhappiness
he experiences with his new master make him run away to London.
There he falls into the hands of a gang of young pickpockets trained by Fagin, who runs a school for
would-be thieves. Unfortunately, Oliver is not a successful student:
he is caught on his first attempt at theft. Mr Brownlow, the victim, is strichen by the ragged and
unhealthy appearance of Oliver and rather than charging him with theft, he takes him home and
takes care of him. Oliver is eventually brindnapped by Fagin's gang and forced to commit burglary;
during the job he is shot and wounded Oliver is adopted by Mr Brownlow and at last receives
kindness and affection. investigations are made about who Oliver is and it is discovered that he has
noble origins. In the end the gang of pickpockets and Oliver's half-brother, who paid the thieves in
order to ruin Oliver
and have their father's property all for himself, are arrested.

SETTING AND CHARACTERS

The most important setting of the novel is London, which is represented at three different social
levels. First, the parochial world of the workhouse is revealed. The inhabitants of this world,
belonging to the society's lower middle class, are calculating and insensible to the feelings of the
poor. Second, the criminal world is described, with pickpockets and murderers. Poverty drives them
to crime and the weapon they use to achieve their end is violence. They live in dirty, squalid slums
with fear and generally die a miserable death. Finally, the world of the Victorian middle class is
presented. In this world live respectable people who show a regard for moral values and believe in
the principle of human dignity.

The world of the workhouse

With the rise in the level of poverty, workhouses run by parishes were built all over England to give
relief to the poor. However, the conditions prevailing in the workhouses were appalling and they did
not provide any means for social or economic advances. Furthermore, as Dickens points out, instead
of alleviating the sufferings of the poor, the officials who ran workhouses abused their rights as
individuals and caused them further misery.

Oliver wants some more

“Oliver wants some more” is an extract from Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”.
The passage can be divided into three parts:
● the setting and the description of the boys’ hunger,
● the main event and
● the consequence of Oliver’s request.
The extract takes place in a workhouse and denounces the boy’s greatest problem, hunger. One
evening the boys decide that one of them, Oliver Twist, should ask for more food.At his insisting
demand for more food, the Master hits Oliver and goes to look for Mr Bumble, the man in charge of
the workhouse.Every member of the Parish Board is astonished and considers Oliver’s request as a
sign of his criminal nature. Therefore the boy is confined to his room and five pounds are offered to
anyone who wants to take him away.The narrator is a voice outside and Oliver’s point of view is
adopted.
The story is developed through dialogues, descriptions and narrations.The description is detailed.
The narration compares the world of the boys with that of the institutions. Dialogues increase the
readers’ interest in the scene. The feelings which characterize the two worlds presented in the texts
are submission, fear and starvation for the boys’ world; power, lack of humanity and fatness are
linked to the adults’ world.

Coketown
“Coketown” is an extract from Charles Dickens’ work “Hard Times”, a novel which talks about the
problems of Victorian England, with a specific reference to the strict and uncreative education of
that age. It was an education that used mnemonic methods to learn encyclopedic information. In
this work, the main characters belong to the middle class and criticize the dissatisfaction of workers:
actually, they don’t know their conditions.
The writer's primary aim is to inform the middle class about the real conditions of these people.
Coketown is an imaginative town, but it’s possible to locate Preston-city, near Manchester. The
writer describes an ideal industrialized town of the Victorian Age.

The main themes are the description of the environment and work, with a reference to the
monotony and alienation of mechanised work in an industrialized society. Another important theme
is pollution: air and water are polluted. The air is polluted with the smoke of tall chimneys; the
water of the river is purple because it is polluted by textile industries.
By the use of metaphors, we can deduce two risks: a physical one (pollution) but also a psychological
problem. The city appears monotonous not only in the colors, but also in the sounds, in the noises of
industries, in the buildings and in the streets. Dickens describes this monotony with a lot of
repetitions. We can see an utilitarian society: in Coketown, everything has to be important and
useful for work. It’s a city of facts and figures, of concreteness and dramatic monotony. People
express the sadness of life in this industrialized town; they have lost their personality, they are
equally like one another and look like robots.