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SUST Journal of Humanities (2015) Vol.16.No. 1

ISSN (text): 1858-6724 e-ISSN (online): 1858-6732

The Conditions of England as Reflected by Dickens' Social Mashair Mohammed JumaaOshi 1 ، Yousif Omer Babiker 2 1 lecturer-English Department-Al-Baha University 2 English Department College of Languages-Sudan university of Science and Technology.

ABSTRACT: Conditions of England and the serious attempts of Social reform in England during the nineteenth were the common concern of many writers in the hope of bringing about change in the society. Indeed, the consequences of the Industrial Revolution and the awareness, particularly on the part of the reading public, paved the way for both nineteenth century and twentieth century welfare reforms. This paper attempts to focus on the fictional representations of the Conditions of England, and underline ’contribution to the changes and reforms that took place during that era.Nineteenth century England was the high noon of the social realist .The leading Victorian writers like Dickens, , and attempted to represent and diagnose the social problems of England in their works. Hence, the term social reform has come into use to refer to the social movements. Thosemovements took the form of group actions; which were large, sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organizationsthat focused on specific political or social issues.The novels that dealt with these issues came to represent a body of narrative fiction that adopted different means to bring about the demanded changes. One important means was the novel, which was also known asthe industrial or social problem novel.This type of novel is“a work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel”. More specific examples of social problems that are addressed in such works include poverty, conditions in factories and mines, the plight of child labour, violence against women, rising criminality, epidemics and poor sanitation in cities. Key words:Contribution, socialproblems, Social reform, Conditions of England.

اﻟﻤﺴﺘﺨﻠﺺ:

ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺍﻷﺤﻭﺍل ﻭ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﺎﻭﻻﺕ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﺩﺓ ﻟﻺﺼﻼﺡ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻨﺠﻠﺘﺭﺍ ﺨﻼل ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺴﻊ ﻋﺸﺭ ﻤﺤﻁ ﺍﻫﺘﻤﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﻜﹸﺘﺎﺏ ﻤﻥ ﺍﺠل ﺇﺤﺩﺍﺙ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺭ. ﻭ ﻓﻲ ﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﺍﻻﻤﺭ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺁﺜﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺜﻭﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻭ ﺍﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﺠﻤﻬﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺍﺀ ﺨﺎﺼﺔ ﻟﻸﻭﻀﺎﻉ ﺍﻟﺭﺍﻫﻨﺔ ﻗﺩ ﻤﻬﺩ ﺍﻟﻁﺭﻴﻕ ﻟﻺﺼﻼﺤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺼﻠﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺭﻓﺎﻫﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺸﺭﻴﻥ.ﺘﻬﺩﻑ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻭﺭﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺜﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﻜﻴﺯ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺍﻟﺼﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﺌﻴﺔ ﻟﻸﺤﻭﺍل ﻓﻲ ﺇﻨﺠﻠﺘﺭﺍ ﻭ ﺍﻴﻀﺎﺡ ﻤﺴﺎﻫﻤﺔ ﺸﺎﺭﻟﺱ ﺩﻜﻨﺯ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺭﺍﺕ ﻭ ﺍﻻﺼﻼﺤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺤﺩﺙ ﺨﻼل ﺘﻠﻙ ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺭﺓ.ﻴﻤﺜل ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺴﻊ ﻋﺸﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻨﺠﻠﺘﺭﺍ ﺍﻟﺫﺭﻭﺓ ﺒﺎﻟﻨﺴﺒﺔ ﻹﻨﺘﺸﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﻴﺎ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﻗﻌﻴﺔ. ﻭ ﻗﺩ ﻫﺩﻑ ﺍﻟﻜﹸﺘﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻔﻴﻜﺘﻭﺭﻴﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﺩ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻋﻤﺎﻟﻬﻡ ﺍﻤﺜﺎل، ﺩﻜﻨﺯ ،ﺠﻭﺭﺝ ﺍﻟﻴﻭﺕ ﻭ ﺒﻨﺠﺎﻤﻴﻥ ﺩﺯﺭﺍﺌﻠﻲ ﻭ ﺍﻟﻴﺯﺍﺒﻴﺙ ﺠﺎﺴﻜل ﺍﻟﻲ ﺘﺼﻭﻴﺭ ﻭ ﺤﻠﻴل ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺎﻜل ﺍﻷﺠﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻨﺠﻠﺘﺭﺍ. ﻭ ﻜﺫﺍ ﻅﻬﺭ ﻤﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﺍﻻﺼﻼﺡ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ ﻟﻺﺸﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻜﺎﺕ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ.

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ISSN (text): 1858-6724 e-ISSN (online): 1858-6732

ﻭ ﻗﺩ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻜﺎﺕ ﺍﻹﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺸﻜل ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺎﺕ ﻨﺎﺸﻁﺔ ﻜﺒﻴﺭﺓ ﻭ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺎﺕ ﺫﺍﺕ ﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﻏﻴﺭ ﺭﺴﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﺤﻴﺎﻨﺎ، ﺘﺘﺄﻟﻑ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻷﻓﺭﺍﺩ ﻭ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻲ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺘﺘﺭﻜﺯ ﻋﻠﻲ ﻗﻀﺎﻴﺎ ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻭ ﺃﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻤﺤﺩﺩﺓ. ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﻨﺎﻭل ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻘﻀﺎﻴﺎ ﺘﻤﺜل ﻨﻭﻋﺎﹰ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻘﺼﺼﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺍﺴﺘﺨﺩﻤﺕ ﻭﺴﺎﺌل ﻤﺨﺘﻠﻔﺔ ﻹﺤﺩﺍﺙ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻁﻠﻭﺒﺔ. ﻭ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺍﺤﺩﻱ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻭﺴﺎﺌل ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻰ ﺍﺼﺒﺤﺕ ﺘﹸﻌﺭﻑ ﺒﺎﻟﺭﻭﺍﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﺍﻭ ﺭﻭﺍﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﻜﻠﺔ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ.ﻭ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﻨﻭﻉ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﻴﺔ ﻫﻬﻭ ﻋﻤل ﻗﺼﺼﻲ ﻴﺘﻡ ﻓﻴﻪ ﺘﻨﺎﻭل ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺎﻜل ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﺒﻁﺭﻴﻘﺔ ﻤﺴﺭﺤﻴﺔ ، ﻤﺜل ﺍﻟﺠﻨﺱ، ﺍﻟﻌﺭﻕ ﺍﻭ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻘﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺨﻼل ﺘﺄﺜﻴﺭﻫﺎ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺍﻟﺸﺨﺼﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺭﻭﺍﺌﻴﺔ. ﻭ ﻫﻨﺎﻟﻙ ﺃﻤﺜﻠﺔ ﺍﻜﺜﺭ ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩﺍﹰ ﻟﻠﻤﺸﺎﻜل ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻴﺘﻡ ﺘﻨﺎﻭﻟﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻤﺜل ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻻﻋﻤﺎل، ﺘﺸﻤل ﺍﻟﻔﻘﺭ، ﺍﻻﻭﻀﺎﻉ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺎﻨﻊ ﻭ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺎﺠﻡ ، ﻤﻌﺎﻨﺎﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﺎل ﺍﻷﻁﻔﺎل ﻭ ﺍﻟﻌﻨﻑ ﻀﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﺃﺓ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺠﺭﻴﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺼﺎﻋﺩﺓ ﻭ ﺍﻷﻭﺒﺌﺔ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﻑ ﺍﻟﺼﺤﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺩﻨﻲ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺩﻥ.

ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﺎﺤﻴﺔ :- ﻤﺸﺎﺭﻜﺔ، ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺎﻜل ﺍﻹﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ، ﺍﻻﺼﻼﺡ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ، ﺍﻷﻭﻀﺎﻉ ﻓﻲ ﺇﻨﺠﻠﺘﺭﺍ.

INTRODUCTION :

Dickens was an outspoken write about abolition of the inhumane imprisonment poverty and of for debits, purification of the Victorian society. In a New York Magistrates’ Courts, a better address, he expressed his belief that, management of criminal prisons, and the “Virtue shows quite as well in rags and restriction of the capital patches she dose in purple and fine punishment.Dickens's novels belong to linen”.He effectively employed fiction to the humanitarian movement of the criticize economic, social and moral . He was from first to last a abuses in the Victorian era. He showed with a purpose, and wasalways compassion and empathy towards the ready to attack some specific the abuse vulnerable and disadvantaged segments in the existing system.Throughout he of the English society, and contributed to showed himself as the champion of the several important social reforms. His weak, the outcast, and the oppressed. In awareness of the social ills of his time nearly all hisnovels thelaunched attacks are derived from his traumatic childhood upon some legal or social evil. He experiences .He believed in the political satirized boarding schools in “Nicholas and ethical potential of literature, and Nickelby”, the court Chancery in “Bleak used his fiction as a springboard for House”, the new manufacturing system debates about moral and social reform. in “”, the workhouse in In his novels of social analysis, Dickens “", and the pettifogging became an outspoken critic of unjust lawyers in “Great Expectations”. economic and social conditions. His If you were living in early nineteenth deeply felt social commentaries helped century England, you would probably be to raise the collective awareness of the curios to get answer to some urgent reading public. Indirectly, he contributed questions:Howis it to live in a time of to a series of legal reforms, including the poverty? How would life be if you were

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poor and did not know from where you Naturally enough, he was led to write would be getting your next meal? What many novels about the suffering of poor would it be like to be forced to live in a children. Dickens’ attacks on society workhouse? Dickens, who was a lifelong were based on traditional moral beliefs champion of the poor, addresses these and humanism, rather than on social or crucial issues in his early novel and political theories and programmes. He timeless masterpiece Oliver Twist called for a secular ideal of human (1838). He himself suffered the harsh brotherhood. Fraser's Magazine, in its abuse of the poor by the English legal obituary of Dickens, noted this aspect of system. In the 1830s,the poor in England his beliefs: "He spent no thought on had no voice.Their children were often religious doctrines or religious reforms, mistreated and subjected to the poorest but regarded the Sermon on the Mount of working and living conditions. as good teaching, had a regard for the Indeed, the Victorian Era was village church and churchyard, and characterized by the use of children to quarrelled with nothing but help develop the economy. Child intolerance."About Dickens’s belief in labourers received less than the domestic life as the source of happiness essentials needed at home, school, and at and the alternative to social evil, Angus work. In a nutshell, the life of a young Wilson, argues "Even more vital to worker was in essence the life of a Dickens was the idea of pure love as the slave.Dickens’ attacks on the defects of means of redemption of flawed, weak, or existing institutions in his novel Oliver sinful men. Neither of these beliefs can Twits will be explained and analyzed. It properly take the weight that he imposed will be shown how he manages to create on them..." Dickens contemporaries saw a world in which he mirrored the truths him as a member of and the spokesman of the real world. Hence the need a for a particular class. A reviewer for closer looks at the historical background. Blackwood's in 1855 noted that Dickens' Like many writers, Dickens drew from represents a class that he owes his his own life’s experiences as a means to speedy elevation to the top of the wave produce many stories. These stories of popular favour, than any other author showed how evil society was, and how of his time, a class, and writer, the industries forced children into labour, historian and representative of one circle and the injustice done by the courts to in the many ranks in our social scale. the poor and weak.Dickens grew up as a Despite their descents into the lowest poor child who had to take up labour at a class, and their occasional flights into small age. He was ill-treated because of the less familiar ground of fashion, it is his poverty, and in a way different from the air and breathes of middle-class other children who were from wealthy respectability which fills the novels of families,Hence his deep sense of Mr. Dickens.The Social Reform system injustice and inequality, and the belief in the Victoria age was a mechanism that that everyone should be treated the sought to emulate the wave of initiatives same. He had firsthand experience of the that aimed at curing the social ills during bad working conditions at his time. the latter part of that era. Historically,

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such reforms were often rejoined to halt Tist, through Nickolas Nickleby, A the general practices that had been Christmas Carol, The Chimes, Dombey taking place for many years in short and Son, Bleak House, Hard Times, and bursts; hence reform was often ending with Little Dorit, Dickens accomplished by private citizens and expresses his complete rejection of the businesses, with little or no government claims of classical economics, and intervention. These reforms were also shows his moral concern for the social extremely diverse, ranging from the well-being of the nation. His early commonly cited safety or health codes of novels expose isolated abuses and the early 20th century, to the ill-fated shortcomings of individual people, and universally banned movements of whereas his later novels contain a bitter the late 19th and early 20th centuries. diagnosis of the condition of England. The historical facts about social reform The real significance of Dickens. Social are quite messy. For the sake of endeavours go far beyond the eloquent simplicity, it can be said that the phrasing, plot devices Victorian system displayed only the and characterizations and sensitive most common reforms and ignored the handling of the joys, lows, woes and private sector reforms , favouring the worries of the human condition. It is more easily managed state reforms. contingent on the readers immersing These reforms can be seen as helpful, or themselves in a perfectly observed and harmful, for overall, it depends on one’s created world, a world full of conflicts personal attitude, regardless of public and contradictions, inspiration and opinion which was mainly concerned intrigue, love and loss, and justice and about the cost and benefit of kinds of truth.Under the new system, the cost of reform that might be brought about. poor relief was reduced by more than Dickens was not only a novelist to draw one-third. Within three years.This the attention of the reading public to the system was sharply criticized and deprivation of the lower classes in censured: Oliver Twist provides a England. Indeed, he was much more truthful account of the state of affairs successful than his predecessors in and it is obviously clear that exposing the ills of the industrial society, Dickensiskeen to expose the work including class division, poverty, bad houses conditions and call for their sanitation, privilege and meritocracy and improvement. It can rightly be claimed the experience of the metropolis. He that the novel helped bring about some became universally associated with positive changes in the system. In Oliver social issues. In his fiction, most Twist, Dickens seems to go far beyond characters have a job, but he rarely the mere experiences of the workhouse. shows them at work. His novels are For depiction of poverty is extended to mostly concerned with social London’s squalid streets, dark houses, relationships; especially his later novels and thieves’ dens. Thus, Dickens gave which contain some of his most voice to those who had no voice, and by trenchant pieces of social commentary. so doing he established a link between Beginning with his second novel, Oliver politics and literature through social

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commentary.In Oliver Twist, Dickens destroyed. Fancy, imagination, shocks his readers with the images of compassion and hope do not disappear poverty and crime: He presents the completely. They are preserved by such everyday existence of the lowest characters as Sissy, Rachael and Sleary. members of the English society, and Even Mr. Gradgrindreveals eventually realistically portrays the horrible some traces of humanness. Ultimately, conditions of the nineteenth century Dickens did not take up Carlyle’s workhouses.Hence his bitter attack on favourite theme of the aristocratic hero the Poor Law of 1834 which renewed as the saviour of a disintegrating society. the importance of the workhouse as a Coketown, the city of fact, foreshadows means of relief for the poor.Hard Times the emergence of a monstrous mass is more than any other of his Condition urban society based on rationalism, of England novels that was influenced anonymity and dehumanization. The by Carlyle’s social criticism. It deals dominant feature of the town is its with a number of social issues: industrial inherent ugliness. Its inhabitants lack relations, education for the poor, class individuality and are the product of an division and the right of the common inhuman, materialistic society:“It was a people to amusement. It also draws on town of red brick or of brick that would contemporary concern with reforming have been red if the smoke and ashes divorce laws. Cazamian sees Dickens in had allowed it; but as matters stood it Hard Times as an “intermediary link was a town of unnatural red and black between the social thought of Carlyle like the painted face of a savage. It was a and Ruskin.” While the novel is town of machinery and tall chimneys, described by Raymond Williams as “a out of which interminable serpents of thorough-going and creative smoke trailed themselves forever and examination of the dominant philosophy ever, and never got uncoiled.” In Hard of industrialism of the hardness. On the Times human relationships are other hand, David Lodge wrote: “On contaminated by economics. Dickens is every page Hard Times manifests its concerned with the conditions of the identity as a polemical work, a critique urban labourers and the excesses of of mid-Victorian industrial society laissez-faire . He exposes the dominated by materialism, exploitation of the by acquisitiveness, and ruthlessly unfeeling industrialists and the damaging competitive capitalist economics. In consequences of propagating factual Hard Times Dickens has created a knowledge at the expense of feeling and condition of England novel, which imagination. However, although Dickens directly engaged with contemporary and is critical about , he cannot social issues. He echoes many of find a better way of safeguarding social Carlyle’s arguments against the power of justice than through ethical means. Hard social machinery and materialist Times proves that fancy is essential for consciousness. However, contrary to human happiness, and in this represent it Carlyle, Dickens shows that the positive is one of the best morally uplifting aspects of human nature are not easily novels. One last state to make is that

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Dickens avoided propagating employer who were concerned about social paternalism in the manner of Disraeli, analysis. It can be stated that Dickens’ Charlotte Bronte and Gaskell.Not only works played an important role in the was Dickens the first great urban implementation of social policies that novelist in England but also the most changed the lives of the poor. Apart important social commentators who used from his works, Dickens’ active fiction effectively to criticize the involvement in promoting social reforms economic, social, and moral abuses in raised public awareness in the fight the Victorian age. He showed against poverty, deprivation of compassion and empathy towards the education, child labour and prostitution. vulnerable and disadvantaged segments Therefore, Dickens can rightly be of the English society, and contributed to considered a reformist as well as a great several important social reforms. social critic of the Victorian era. Dickens succeeded in making the Victorian Methods:In this research the descriptive public opinion more aware of the analytical method is used. In other conditions of the poor. He depicted words, views about Dickens and his persuasively the disorder, squalor, light, ideas are presented and described, then decay, and the human misery of the analyzed and assessed against the three modern industrial city. Oliver Twist selected novels.The material sources of stands out asis an important this research are two-fold; primary and manifestation of Victorian social secondary . conscience. Dickens believed in the * The primary sources are the three ethical and political potential of selected English novels (1-Oliver literature and the novel in particular. He Twist,2-David Copperfield and 3-Hard saw his fiction as a springboard for Times) debates about moral and social reform. *While the secondary sources are books, In his novel Dickens show himself as a articles and others relevant writings. spoken critic of unjust economic and CONCLUSION : social conditions. His deeply-felt social commentaries helped raise the common Dickens as a social critic exerted a awareness of reading public. profound influence on later REFERENCES: 1- carlyer,Thomas. (19744) Critical and 4. Dickens, Charles.(1999)Oliver Miscellaneous Essay Volume 30. AMS TwistVolume 7.Oxford University Press press New York. Oxford. 2. Cazamian, Louis. (1903)The Social 5-Dickens,Charles. (1993)Bleak Novel in England (Translated by Martin HouseVolume II.Wordsworth Fido) .P. 173.Routlege and Kegan Paul ClassicsHerdfurtshire. London. 6- Dickens, Charles.(1994)Hard Times 3-Dickens, Charles. (1988)The Pickwick Volume 28.Oxford University PapersVolume 1. Oxford University PressOxford. PressOxford.

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7- Lodge, David. (1969) The Rhetoric of 9-Social Hard Times Volume 2.Prentice Class.http://www.victorianweb.org./histo HallEnglewood Cliffs, N.J. ry/class.html (25 September 2007). 8. Sanders, Andrew.(2004)The Short 10- Williams, Raymond.(1983)Culture Oxford History of English and Society.Columbia University Press LiteratureVolume 24.Oxford University New York. PressOxford.

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