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British Literature Since 1798, Work/Life Balance, Imagination, Thatcherism…

- - - - Hard Times by Charles Dickens
        
        In another paragraph I wrote a throwaway line: that Dickens became upper class with the help of others, and that is something that should be elaborated on. One of the only ways that people can move through the classes is if they get help from someone else, be that by marrying someone or winning the lottery or from charity. The way the system is set up is that it is impossible, or practically impossible, to move out of poverty by oneself.
        
        The main divide of this novel is based on class. Stephen and the other factory workers are lower class where Gradgrind, Bounderby, and their circles are wealthy. The two sides end up having a class when the factories started striking. Solely because of their job (and as one's job is almost always representative of their financial position - the poor), the factory workers were created as less than. They were forced to work long, intense, dangerous hours, and it was made clear to them that they were replaceable - so it they spoke out it would only result in them losing their job.
        
        When Stephen talks about this to Bounderby, what is interesting is that he, Stephen, is against striking. Rather, his solution is that everyone talks to each other. This is quite clearly Dickens' opinion coming out to play. He, and so Stephen, believe that workers shouldn't strike as it stops production and business people shouldn't mistreat their employees because it is wrong, and a conversation between the two groups will be the solution. Which is a great idea, but it is clearly made by someone who hasn't been poor for a while (Dickens was born lower class but with the help of others, he was able to become more upper class). Conversations won't help because the upper class doesn't really want to listen. Stephen ends up dying, and only than does real change happen.
  - - - Though class is not something that is clearly discussed in this novel, the themes are still there. Because of the class divides that exist in this county, Tess and her family do not have a lot of money and thys Tess is pressured to ask Alec for money. She is also pressured by her parents to marry him because it will bring her family up in class status. There is pressure to gain wealth as that will help make living easier. When Tess does not marry Alec her family gets mad at her, they view her as selfish. The main cause of the novel's start is centred around money and needing to gain money to stop being lower class.
  - - - The military and Strangman want to colonize London. It is now not their city, the plants and animals residing there are now the residents. However, Strangman does not view it like that. He drains the city - depriving it of its resources; He kills the plants and animals in the area, or enslaves them; and when the military arrives, they reward him for doing so. The similarities between this novel and Britians colonial history is eerily similar. Colonization only comes with violence and destruction.
      - When Kerans dies, (though we do not see it, it is clear that he will die soon) he becomes are martyr of sorts. A representation of the death of the old way of life - and a message to accept the new world and stop trying to live as though nothing has happened.
        
        Christianity is a prevalent theme throughout this novel, specifically the story of Adam and Eve. Kerans often calls himself the second Adam and Beatrice to the second Eve. Thus, London is the second Eden. Because Eden is paradise, the new swamp London is paradise, with Kerans and Beatrice being the new children of God - the original man and woman in this new world. What is different from the original story, however, is that they do not mess up and get exiled from Eden, but rather Eden (London), gets destroyed. The Serpent (Strangman) tries to corrupt the pair, but when that doesn't work he drains the swamp and destroys paradise.
  - - - Emma by Jane Austen
        
        Class is a very important part of this novel. Most of the characters are upper class and take great pride in that. And Emma convinces herself, as well as Harriet, that Harriet is from an upper class family even though she is an orphan. Because the society that they live in is obsessed with the idea of social class and staying with what you 'deserve' based on your class, Harriet suffers. She loses her opportunity to marry the person she wants because she thinks she is higher class than him - and she is unable to get married to anyone else because they feel that they are higher class than her. It is all very cliquey and based off an unnecessary hierarchy. Because of this idea that they are all supposed to stay in their class, a lot of people end up miserable.
- - - - This novel takes place mainly in council housing and follows the lives of four people who grew up in poverty. Natalie is the one who has moved the farthest out of poverty. She becomes a lawyer living in a standalone house and seemingly living 'the life.' However, she is not happier because she is out of poverty. She is miserable, in a relationship she doesn't like and in a job she doesn't enjoy. She made all these decisions to no longer be poor but she didn't really think about what life would be like once she got out of poverty. Money was a focus of her life for so long that what money was no longer an issue, her life didn't have a focus. She became unhappy and a shell of her old self. Poverty was not the reason her life sucked - but everyone told her it was so she believed them.
      - The character that are of a main focus in this novel are all the children of immigrants, specifically all from countries that Britain has colonized, such as Ireland and Jamaica. These parents were taken advantage of by the British government, which is the reason that all of them lived in estates. Thus, the reason that all these characters start out in poverty is not because they are not trying hard enough, but because the country they live in did not allow their parents to advance in society. Thus, as seen with Nathan, resentment towards the system begins to develop, and so it is abandoned.
  - - - Karim is a second generation Indian immigrant who faces a lot of biases because of that. He got yelled at by a partner's parent solely because he is Indian. The novel is riddled with microaggression against him, and people do not view him as British, even though his mother is White British, he has never been out of Britain, and is a British citizen. It is similar to his father, Haroon has lived in Britain for decades but people only view him as Indian. And again, the same is true for Anwar. All of these characters react to this differently though. Karim rejects his Indianness and his family. He travels around the world and gets drunk. He is doing everything he can to be seen as his own person, and to him that doesn't have a connection to his Indianness, though people around him force him to reconnect to it.
        
        Haroon dives into the stereotypes of what an Indian man is supposed to be. He tried since he first arrived in Britain to assimilate, yet no one would allow that to happen, so he became what they wanted. With Anwar, he reverted back to India. He became obsessed with moving back to India and following indian practices. He also spent years trying to assimilate but people would not let that happen. He went, in his mind, to the India of his youth and he wanted to go back there - even though he never could.
      - The characters in this novel move through the classes. Karim, Eva, Charlie, and Haroon all start in the working class and than move to upper class. The way they lived and acted changed according to their class. Eva at the beginning enjoyed meditation and living, and by the end when she was upper class she was all focused on working and becoming even more upper class. Even though she was working class, she became judgemental and shamed people who were still working class for not working hard enough to become upper class. She forget that she was once one of them and all the experiences that she had whilst working class.
      - Religion is something that connects people to their culture. In this novel Haroon is Muslim, yet because is Indian the White British people around him assume that he is a spiritual Buddhist. Because the people around him all assume that he is Buddhist he starts to dive into that and practice Buddhism. He will only be seen as a Buddhist and so, for him, there is no point trying to prove them wrong. In order to be accepted in Britain he feels as though he has to dive in to the stereotypes towards Indian men. He becomes a very spiritual Buddhist who meditates and practices yoga who speaks in an accent. Because people start to accept him he becomes happier. He wants to continue and slowly genuinely starts to practice these religious beliefs.
- - - - Wilfred Owens was a soldier during the first World War. His poetry focuses on the violence of war. Seen especially in his poem "Dulce et Decorum Est," he comments on how there is an expectation in England that people should die if their country asks them to. He also discusses how war is almost Romanized. That young men, children sometimes, are told to join the army and become heros. But the emotional and physical trauma that people experience in battle are never discussed and shushed.
- - - - Another of Hopkins' poems, "The Windhover," is written to Christ and is deeply religious. The poet describes a bird flying and compares it to Christ: if the bird is this beautiful, Christ is even more so. The poem is a sonnet, it is a love poem, and so Hopkins is expressing the love and joy that he has for his religion. The same is said for his poem, "Pied Beauty" which is about his love of religion and the joy that it brings him. He is happy and at peace because he has God to help him. Because of God, he can appreciate nature more an see the value in it.