"Hard Times", Charles Dickens, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica "Hard Times", Charles Dickens e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE VICTORIAN AGE “HARD TIMES”, CHARLES DICKENS (1854) -COKETOWN- Coketown is the classic city that reflects the period of the Industrial Revolution: it’s an imaginary town but it’s possible to locate Preston-City, near Manchester. In this passage there are many symbols that give the idea of the existing problems of this place. The town is depicted by different colors: red and black bricks, a black canal and a purple river, and it’s evident the atmosphere of pollution due to the chimneys and machines that work continuously. The town appears monotonous not only in its colors, but also in the sounds, noises, in its buildings and streets. The inhabitants’ expression communicates only the monotony and sadness of life in this industrialized town. People have lost their personality because they are equally like one another and look like robots. By the use of metaphors, it can be distinguished two types of risks that coexist and cause physical and psychological problems. The alienation due to the monotony life in Coketown represents the psychological risk that workers may suffer. Coketown is: • a place of rationality and irrationality because of the social protests • a dangerous place because of the pollution and the machines Marx and Hegel wrote a similar book to the one of Dickens, which was based on the condition of workers. The two gave two different solutions to this problem: 1. Marx and Hegel: the solution is → REVOLUTION 2. Dickens: the solution is → REFORMS -NOTHING BUT FACTS- • Caricature achieved through exaggeration and repetitions • Detailed description of settings and characters • The voice of the narrator exaggerates some features • The narrator is an obtrusive narrator who intervenes in the narration by commenting it. Dickens is an obtrusive narrator who interrupts the flow of the narration • Strong over sentimentalism + strong realism