Charles Dickens’ - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Charles Dickens’fiction

andcontemporary realitySlide2

SIMILARITIES…

2

Dickens’ fiction

Contemporary

reality

…AND

NOT SO MANY DIFFERENCES

Common

topicsSlide3

FOREWORDBy

the following bringing up to date of

the

main

problems

denounced

by

Dickens in

his

fiction

one

will definitely notice how two social realities, the industrial one of the second half of the nineteenth century and the contemporary one, share many features. As the audience can see the two pictures in the first slide, which portray the English city of London and the Russian industrial pole of Norilsks, are quite similar, even if they had been taken with the distance of 150 years.

3Slide4

DICKENS FICTION – CURRENT TOPICS

SOCIAL THEMESIndustrial background: pollution and hygieneCapitalists

profits

and

working

classes

conditions

Faults

of

legal system and corruptionMechanization of humans: alienation and educationMonotony of ordinary working lifeExploitation of children4Slide5

EXTRACTS IN EXAM BY CHARLES DICKENS

From Hard Times:Book I, Chapter

2 – Murdering

the

innocents

Book I,

Chapter

4 – Mr.

Bounderby

Book I,

Chapter

5 –

Coketown

From

Oliver Twist:Chapter 2 – Oliver wants some moreFrom Bleak House:Chapter 1 – In Chancery5Slide6

Industrial background: pollution and

hygieneHard Times, CoketownThe name Coke-town

connotes the city

as

an

exclusively

industrial

one

.

Factories create polluting “serpents of

smoke

” and

produces ashes which cover roofs and threat hygienical conditions.Words like “coke”, “smoke”, “ashes” recall a narrow range of dark colours, which convey a black and white picture of a city subdued to a grey anonymous sky. Today Many cities still exist as industrial poles, seldom deployed far from residential areas.The building of nuclear centrals consists a further environmental danger, both for humans and ecosystem.Pollution, in the

form

of

smog,

is

a

current

issue

,

especially

in

overcrowded

urban

centers

full

of traffic.Despite of scientific progress many people still live in unhealthy conditions.

6Slide7

Capitalists profits and

working classes conditions

Hard Times

,

Mr

Bounderby

Mr

Bounderby

defines himself as a “

self-made

man”

which started from the bottom and, according to Puritan principles, made progress on the social ladder.His person is exemplar to reflect on the conflict between industrialists and the working class.Dickens denounces workers’ ambitions were subdued to the law of laissez-faire which privileged the free action of capitalists.Today The working class still submits to the little percentage of wealthy businessmen.Industrials and capitalists still has fun at workers’expense.Fiscal pressure is a further

obstacle

for

poorest

classes

and

their

ambitions

.

All

those

factors

make Puritan social progress more and more difficult in contemporary reality.7Slide8

Faults of

legal system and corruptionBleak

House & Oliver Twist

The

novel

’s

core

is

the

long-running

litigation “Jarndyce v Jarndyce” whose

court

costs amounted £60,000 - £70,000.Dickens denounces the failure of Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery and the flaws of judicial system.The novel of Oliver Twist is useful to expose corruption of charitable institutions.TodayLegal procedures still take too long and unresolved, with expensive parcels and without taking legal advantage.Legislation still includes many gap which allow lawyers to make their interests without leading to an objective verdict

.Many

humble

people

still

report

the

lack

of

justice

.

Corruption

is

a current topic, especially in political and economic context.8Slide9

Mechanization of

humans: Alienation and educationHard

Times, Murdering

the

innocents

The

teacher

Mr.

Gradgrind

is

“a man of facts” who

wanted

students

to be “filled with facts”, according to Utilitarian principles.His method is in line with the Industrial Revolution: pupils had to repeat definitions mechanically. Educational process did not foreshadow any form of entertainment, reflecting the Victorian vision of the world.The teacher’s commands convey a claustrophobic, oppressive, suffocating atmoshpere.Today Education seems to follow its etymological meaning: the word is derived from the Latin verb educere, composed by e (=from, out of) and ducere (=I

lead, I

conduct

).

Indeed

fo

r

the first

stages

of

compulsory

education

teachers give space to imagination, ambitions and feelings, promoting curiosity and

making

lessons

more

enjoyable

and

less

boring

.

The

learning

process

has

the

aim

of

a formative

effect on the way one thinks, feels or act.

9Slide10

Monotony of

ordinary working lifeOliver Twist & Hard Times

Oliver and

his

companions

were

fed

with a basin of gruel

per

diem

, as they daily performed the operation of polishing bowls.The monotonous working of the pistons of the steam- engine in the description of Coketown stands for the “same” repetitive actions of workers.Humans are forced to perform the same monotonous tasks, becoming like machines: mechanized, depersonalized and alienated. TodayAfter the introduction of Fordism machines gradually replaced humans in many sectors of standardized mass production.However many workers, especially office-holders, are still subdued

to

daily

routine.

The

ordinary

performance

of

the

same

operations

during

the

hectic

Western

life often brings to widespread diseases of contemporary society like mental

stress, mood swings

,

panic

attacks

and

physical

disorders

.

10Slide11

Exploitation of

childrenOliver TwistChild slaves powered

the Industrial Revolution. They

were

exploited

in

most

industrialized

cities, mines and farms. Orphans

were

banished in parishes: Oliver is “sold” for five pounds to anyone who needed a versatile apprentice.Children suffered the tortures of starvation.TodayChildren are still victims of capitalists’interests.Multinational corporations moves their factories in developing countries to save on labour costs.Children and women are a cheap source to keep a high yield and to hold down manufacturing costs. In the Third World many children still suffer hunger pangs.

11Slide12

OVERALL CONCLUSIONSAs

seen in the previous comparative analysis many

themes

deduced

by

Dickens’fiction are

still

current

topics

:

from the exploitation of children for capitalists’interests, to alienation of men for industrial productivity.Now one last question: is it worthwhile to sacrifice majority’s health in return for the minority’s wellbeing?12