Dickens

-What image of Birmingham do you get from this selection by Dickens?

That was just a dreadful image. He said things like “when orphans cried” and “where not a bud put forth its promise in the spring”.

-Why is it so powerful?

I feel like it is so powerful because of the language he used. He tried to make Birmingham sound a terrible as possible. He said the children were “scowling half-naked from the doorless house”.

-What does it reveal about Dickens himself and the roles European writers played in the reform of nineteenth-century society?

Well Dickens made this place sound like hell. But, I feel like he over exaggerated. I mean no place can be that terrible. If there was any good in this place, he did not mention it. It could have been as simple as mentioning a blue sky. I think Dickens and other European writers were trying to make a point. To get others to realize that things really needed to change.