Abstract This paper considers Charles Dickens' novel "BleakHouse" in reference to other works. The paper highlights the major conflict in the novel, which involves a lawsuit. Many quotes are used to support the paper's comparisons and contrasts. The paper also analyzes various symbols that appear in "BleakHouse." Finally, the paper evaluates women's roles in Victorian society, giving a general history of those roles and citing examples from the novel.
From the Paper "In the representation of gender in relation to crime, men are usually those that are acitvely involved in society and the institutions of law, like Mr. Tulkinghorn or Detective Bucket or Krook, who is called " Lord Chancellor " because of his habit to collect a lot of useless things, thus making a mess out of his home, and whose death by " spontaneous combustion" is very significant because it is as if the evil purges itself. Many of the men in the novel are part of the "system " and thus play their part in the crimes."
Tags: Charles, Dickens, BleakHouse, Victorian, literature, women
Abstract This paper discusses how in "BleakHouse", Dickens' expressed opinion of the entire British legal system is bleak, at best. It looks at how Dickens' long-winded story, although interestingly woven with plot and characters, paints a portrait of a corrupt, confused and hopeless legal justice system. In particular, it examines how the case, Jarndyce & Jarndyce, which has been in litigation for so many years that no one alive, except one person knows what it is about, is the centerpiece for Dickens' portrait of a system gone to seed and how the local chancery, under whose jurisdiction Jarndyce & Jarndyce languishes, is a portrait of bureaucratic waste and greed.
From the Paper "Dickens treated the issue of poverty very seriously, and the appalling conditions that prevailed at Tom-all-Alone's reveal his great compassion and even anger over England's poor. One review points out that by describing areas such as Tom-all-Aloe's, Dickens " shows that, had the court used the money that was tied up in foolish legal issues on repairing and maintaining such areas as these, many citizens could have found some hope" (Lecki). In 1853 in a review of the story, Henry Chorley comments on Dickens' poor young character, Jo, saying that , "Perhaps among all the waifs and strays, the beggars and the outcasts, in behalf of whose humanity our author has again and again appealed to a world too apt to forget their existence, he has never produced anything more rueful, more pitiable....The dying scene with its terrible morals and impetuous protest, Mr. Dickens has nowhere in all his works excelled" (Jecki). "
An analysis of the literary work "BleakHouse" by Charles Dickens, with the purpose of discerning and discussing the prevailing genres that have been employed.
Abstract This paper evaluates the thematic, stylistic and political content of Charles Dickens' more mature work, "BleakHouse". This paper discusses the modes of genre in which this novel could be categorized.
From the Paper "The later works of most creative genii have been construed as practically spiritual manifestations as it is in this period that the definitive masterpieces are known to emerge, such as Shakespeare's late romance play, The Tempest, or Mozart's Magic Flute. Shakespeare's genres grew less palpable, and the music of Beethoven became more unearthly than ever before. In the same manner, a more mature work in Dickens? career, Bleak House, proved to be more obscure in the rendering of genre, and instead, bears its weight equally with the tone of a popular melodrama, a realist novel, moral fairytale, political satire and a hard-boiled detective story, encapsulating the richest elements from his previous works. Dickens? unrelenting concern for harmonious social order, justice, and universal comfort became the major motifs throughout his writing, in which he produced a cross-section of characters from his society, and duly criticised or embraced their behaviour in relation to their context. In the Victorian period for which Dickens wrote, London society was notoriously bleak, dank, and disorderly. In Bleak House, Dickens succeeds in revealing the corrupted behaviour of the court and the idleness of the general public. Social mayhem marks the predominant hue for his canvas, and the city of London is painted with heavy grey strokes. It could well be that Bleak House represents the highest point of his intellectual maturity."
Abstract Moving from close analysis of the style and flow of the text to new and original interpretations of the main characters and subplots, this paper explores how language is used and abused in "BleakHouse". It looks at how it can obscure as well as clarify and how it can express little or nothing even in, or especially in, enormous quantities. It explains that, ultimately, the novel redefines 'language', from its ideological throne as the cornerstone of civilisation, to a hindrance to expression and to society as a whole.
From the Paper "Another problem with language in Bleak House is its abundance. The novel is filled with references to writing and paperwork. The significance of Nemo's handwriting, the paperwork of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, and Mrs Jellyby's endless correspondence are just a few examples of this. Dickens even takes the quantities of writing to ridiculous levels, with the claim that 'I believe now, Mrs Jellyby, that you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?' (p. 51). Although writing is an important theme, the contents of the documents are very rarely considered. Lady Dedlock is more interested in the handwriting on a document than what it contains (p. 168), and we constantly encounter enormous piles of forgotten paperwork."
Abstract The paper discusses "BleakHouse" by Charles Dickens. The paper examines the main themes of the book - the disconnection of society, the complexity of society, and the difficulty present in understanding and managing society. The paper further discusses the structure of the novel and the impact of the structure on the novel's interpretation. The writer examines how people live in the society described in the novel. The paper concludes with an analysis of how the government appears to have lost control and what the reasons for this could be.
From the Paper "Daniel Hack describes how this point is made by performing a close analysis of the portion of the novel where an observer watches a civic parade and tries to understand the meaning of it. The observer describes the parade as "a kind of practical riddle for all beholders to make guesses at" (Dickens 234). The observer then takes advantage of the opportunity to interpret the events as he sees fit and develops a strange and amusing theory on what it means. In the end, it is revealed that the real meaning of the parade was to represent the coming together of various cultures into one unified whole. The problem is that the only person who can understand this meaning of the parade is the person who created the parade and the meaning, which is the mayor."
Abstract The paper describes how Dickens, in "BleakHouse", employs the neighborhood, the building, the store and its wares and the character of Mr. Krook himself, as caricatured reflections of the court of Chancery and the Lord Chancellor. In particular, the paper portrays how the use of Mr. Krook as a counterpoint to the High Chancellor allows Dickens to satirize and mock the court of Chancery.
From the Paper "Additionally, both the Lord Chancellor and Krook are creatures of habit and resistant to change; the chancery suits over which the Lord Chancellor presides are intentionally extended and artificially lengthened by both the barristers on either side of the court case and the Lord Chancellor himself, so as to increase their legal fees, and thus are plodding, almost never-ending affairs which work against change as hard as possible; change is in fact against their best interest, as the faster the suit gets resolved the less pay they get. Their entire existence depends upon their ability to create their own work, as it were, by taking a simple chancery suit and turning it into a "perennially hopeless" quagmire (17). Krook, in the same fashion, is very hesitant to change his ways, or the things around him: "I can't abear ... to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing done around me" (70). This goes so far as to stop Krook, nominally a store-owner who profits from the sale of things, from ever parting with any of his possessions."
Abstract This paper discusses Charles Dickens' book "BleakHouse" , focusing particularly on the significance of the character Jo and the way in which he met his death.
From the Paper "In Bleak House, Dickens paints a portrait of England with the broad strokes of fiction dwelling, as he himself admits, "upon the romantic side of familiar things"(6). As the title of the novel suggests, Dickens shows his audience a bleak portrayal of their homeland that is shrouded in imagery of fog, mire, and darkness. These images of physical obscurity represent the less tangible obscurity present in English institutions, such as in government, organized religion, and the legal system, in particular the Court of Chancery. The original purpose of these institutions, which was to serve the people who had created them, has been so obscured by a distortion of human values that these institutions have lapsed into a state of inertia, serving no one but themselves. It is of this inert society that Bleak House is a model. The novel also illustrates, through the theme of convergence, the interdependent structure of society, as characters of all social levels are seen to interconnect. Of all these characters whose existences infringe upon each other's, perhaps the darkest is the homeless little cross-sweeper Jo. In his appalling mental and physical darkness, Jo represents all of those who live and grow in the neglect produced by the inertia of his country's institutions."
Abstract This paper explains that the Ghost's Walk, which is a symbol for Lady Dedlock's secret past, is one of the most haunting images in Charles Dickens' "BleakHouse". Specifically, the paper relates the ways that Dickens uses this literary device to create an overall tension, to foreshadow connections between characters and to symbolize Lady Dedlock's guilty conscience. The Ghost's Walk is particularly significant to the book as a whole, the paper relates, because it brings the novel to its main climax.
From the Paper "Esther's fascination with the Ghost's Walk is fitting, since she is personally a key to the fulfillment of its prophecy. How appropriate, even ironic, that just as Esther is wondering about the family curse, Lady Dedlock arrives to make her aware of her own part in it. This connection becomes blatant and fever-pitched when Esther later decides to explore the Ghost's Walk. "I was passing quickly on...when my echoing footsteps brought it suddenly into my mind that there was a dreadful truth in the legend of the Ghost's Walk; that it was I, who was to bring calamity upon the stately house.""
Abstract This paper looks at Dickens' relationship with the city and the unique way in which he writes about it. It discusses his 'attraction of repulsion' to the city and it's poverty, crime and pollution, as well as the excitement and opportunity and its sheer size and density represented for Dickens. It examines four of Dickens' major novels - "Oliver Twist", "BleakHouse", "Little Dorrit" and "David Copperfield".
From the Paper "As Wordsworth would wander the hills, lakes and woodlands of his home searching for inspiration, Dickens traversed his home, the city, endlessly, and in it he found what made his imagination tick. For him, romance was to be found not in the trees, the flora and other objects of natural beauty, but in the city streets; the hustle and bustle, the mixture of people from every place, the confusion and excitement, even the dirt, the disease, the crime and the poverty; all of it freed his imagination and filled it with theatrical characters and scenes."
Abstract The paper discusses how the subsidized housing situation in Chicago is growing bleak, as it is doing in many of America's urban communities. The paper explains that the combination of a reduction in public housing and the increasing reliance on Section 8 has caused public housing situations to become critical. The paper notes that some have seen this development as an opportunity to segregate and a lawsuit has been filed to that effect. The paper discusses that whether or not this kind of accusation has a foundation in the truth is a subject of its own, but maintains that regardless of this, public housing is becoming scarcer and cities like Chicago will feel the negative effect more than most.
Abstract The United Kingdom and the Netherlands have made commendable contributions to social housing over the past century. The successful collaboration of nonprofit builders has resulted in low-cost and efficient social housing in these countries. This paper shows that perhaps the most notable achievement is that housing at affordable prices is easily available to people who need it and, more importantly, at the time they need housing. Many other developed countries, including the Unites States, are struggling to provide acceptable levels of social housing and trying to copy the successful community housing models of European countries.
Paper Outline
Social Housing in Europe
Social Housing in Britain
Housing Associations in Britain
Social Housing in the Netherlands
Housing Associations in the Netherlands
Private Rented Housing Conclusion
From the Paper "In many European cities, low-cost housing is taken for granted; for instance in Tillburg in the Netherlands with a population of 165,000, a single association owns as much as 51 percent of the housing. Rentals charges by this association is only half or maximum two-thirds of market rates. Even in London, one of the high cost cities in the world, housing project developers are required to have 25 to 35 percent of the newly built units in the affordable category. (Johnson, Building a Better City: Europe's Affordable Housing Standard). A unique feature in these countries is the successful integration of "affordable" housing with "market-rate" housing in the same location, which means that people with high and low incomes live together and there is no social stigma attached to such practice."
Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine some of the general policies and history of Housing Connections, a social housing provider in Toronto, Ontario. Those policies are referenced to some of the more basic changes made under the Social Housing Reform Act (2000) before being compared to the policies of another Toronto-based social housing provider, Toronto Community Housing. The end goal is to provide readers with a basic understanding of the role and function of social housing providers within the Toronto area. Specifically, the benefits and limitations of Housing Connections are expanded upon.
Abstract This paper discusses affordable housing and what the involvement of the community and the black church should be on this issue. The writer looks at programs including Habitat for Humanity to define the ways that the community can become involved in providing affordable housing to its residents who are in need.
From the paper:
"There is an ongoing effort to attract African Americans to the affordable housing development industry. In Sacramento California an internship program was piloted that matched minority students to non-profit housing organizations. African American churches and communities could easily use this idea for their own memberships to encourage social understanding and involvement in the ongoing need for affordable housing (Ware, 1998). "
Abstract The objective of this paper is to examine the status and condition of African-Americans as compared to whites in the area of housing. The city of Chicago is used as a specific example, both historically and presently, in relation to access to and cost of affordable housing. The paper includes statistical information which highlights the proportion and number of both groups that occupy public and privately owned housing, the median/average monthly payment for housing. Finally this work reviews how these facts relate to the overall lives of African-American living in the United States.
Table of Contents
Objective
Historical Chicago Housing Facts
Covenants
The Gautreaux Case
Recent Studies and Their Findings
Summary & Conclusion
From the Paper "Seitles claims that integration has been a success in the fight against racial prejudice and states that: "Social consequences of racial isolation intertwine with grim economic realities for minorities. Due to the lack of interaction between racial groups, African-Americans are unprepared to work and socialize in a white majority society, while conversely, whites are not relating to, working with, or living with blacks. Prospects for African-American children raised in such communities are greatly diminished because of the lack of interaction between blacks and whites. Moreover, minority possibilities for advancement consequently decline from the lower quality of education afforded to them in ghetto schools, precluding them from competing for high-income employment. Although these inequalities are not always directly caused by intentional discrimination, residential racial segregation perpetuates these inequalities. Thus, minorities who live in racially homogeneous communities are faced with disadvantages beyond the present economic and social inequalities associated with minority neighborhoods." (Seitles, 1996)"
Abstract This paper reviews Sandra Cisneros' novel, "The House on Mango Street", by focusing on the symbol of a house as presented in the book. According to the reviewer, a house is used as a symbol of comfort, freedom and self-expression instead of as a physical space. Quotes from the book are used to illustrate this thesis. The reviewer further examines the protagonist Esperanza and her views of a house. The author concludes that a house is a symbol of escape for Esperanza.
From the Paper "Not only is the house important, but the conditions that caused them to move around so often are also worth pondering. It is because the family couldn't afford a house of their own that they had to move in and out of various houses. That intensified the desire of the family to have a house of their house especially Esperanza whose desire is most pronounced. Esperanza, the protagonist of the novel, is a young child whose sense of self respect is often dented by the humiliating comments made by others. She grows up believing that her sense of self worth is closely connected with having a house of her own- a white house "with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence" (p. 8)"
Tags: Sandra, Cisneros, The, House, on, Mango, Street
