Bleak House Themes

When Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, was published in 1853, it did not go unnoticed by critics. The reviews of the period where anything but tepid in tone or opinion in regard to Dickens’ newest novel. Most notably, the critics were concerned with the structure of the novel, characterization, and, in particular, Esther as a plausible character. By singling out reviewers from different publications of the time, it is possible to see what the public in 1853 was reading about Bleak House in regard to these issues.

In the book Devil in the White City Larson’s use of themes greatly impacted the flow and message of the book. Themes such as evil, existing anywhere and everywhere in the world with those committing these acts of evil usually hiding behind a facade of goodwill and well meaning intentions. Another theme that was a key concept in the book, was that of delusions and the consequences of them. As the book progressed, the characters that represent the themes delved deeper into the depths of what these themes really represented until their whole essence is what they represented. The themes that Lason used are independent to one another but in their extremes they morph into a similar if not just one an over arching theme. This is the same for

The repetition of the motif of time in both Prufrock and Rhapsody shows the degradation over a period of time. In Prufrock, the notions of "grow old" and "there will be time" are repeated in various forms to show the degradation of a person but in Rhapsody, the continual references to the time: "twelve o' clock", "half-past one" emphasise the degradation of the society as a whole.Eliot's fragmented writing structure, his quick movement from one image to another, such as in: "trying to peer through...and a crab one afternoon..." accentuates the disjointed thoughts and actions that were prevalent in this urbanising society. Eliot's usage of desolate and eerie imagery of "like the world gave up the secret of its skeleton … stiff and white … hard and curled and ready to snap" describes the continual decay of the world he lives in. The reference to the automation movement, brought about by industrialisation, in "the child's hand, automatic" shows the idea of corruption affecting everyone in the modernist society. This is further emphasised by Eliot's allusion to the religious notion of 'eyes are the window to the soul' contrasting with the idea that the persona "could see nothing behind that child's eye" connoting the negativity of sin and crime. The abrupt endings to both Prufrock and Rhapsody, "...and we drown" and "...last twist of the

There are some other cases in this story which involve time, such as the actual time that passed between the departure of Hebert to his job and the arrival of the man who announce his death, fact that can even determine the credibility of the story told by the narrator, which not only make the reader interact with the story itself, but also it makes them become a crucial interface between the words and the meanings behind them.

The first paragraph of Bleak House alone gives the reader an instant idea of how Charles Dickens saw London to be around 1842. He has portrayed the streets to be muddy and extremely polluted, "As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth." Here Dickens has used a slight amount of Hyperbole to emphasize his point. He also uses personification when referring to the snow flakes, saying that they have gone into mourning, ?smoke lowering down from the chimneypots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes?gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun.? the contrast of the imagery he is using helps for the reader to imagine the scene,

Hirsch’s poem is not polluted by rhyme or punctuation, Hirsch’s lines manage to manifest Gabriel’s wild child energy; like a fading memory of a boy running. But the form, enacts a grieving father’s struggle at ordering the chaos that is now in his life. When he writes of “Time with its medieval chambers . . . jagged edges/ and blunt instruments,” he is also talking about how he is writing the stanzas, lines, and words and how sometimes the stanzas are short and to the point. Which being quick-tempered and resentful is an emotion that is common

I have spotted multiple themes though out this novel but, the main two themes I was were Good vs. Evil and Being Self-Sufficient. The main characters the tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Loin were heavily insecure about themselves. The scarecrow didn’t t think he was smart enough so he traveled with them to get a brain. The lion didn’t think he was brave enough so he traveled with them to get some courage. Though out the novel we see that the scarecrow is the smartest out of the group and that the lion risked he own life many times to save his friends.

In Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, there are many important themes that pop throughout the book. Although there are many themes, the most essential one is how a hard past forces people to learn to rely on themselves to make their life better by pushing through their struggles, this changes how a person thinks and acts ultimately defining their identity. This theme is the most prominent throughout the book.

Returning to his childhood home as an adult, Cory tries to explain to his mom why he can’t go to Troy’s funeral, that he has to “find a way to get rid of that shadow.” Rose responds that he’s “Troy Maxson all over again.” (96) Many of the characters in Fences have had a troubled relationship with their parents and their resentment causes them to act in a similar manner. However, as the epigraph says, the only way to banish the sins of our fathers is with forgiveness. Rose, Troy and Cory all struggle with the faults of their fathers and eventually must either forgive them or play host to their sins. Ultimately none of them are able to completely forgive their fathers and end the cycle.

Theme is the hidden morals within a piece of literature that the author is trying to get readers to understand. In both Angela's Ashes and The Street, we can distinguish a similar theme. One similar theme in both stories is struggling to get through life’s complications. After reading the two different excerpts, we can use character, events, and the setting to further our understanding.

Have you ever felt like time was running past you? That the world kept spinning while you just stood still? Time is a central theme in many of Kenneth Slessor’s poems, however it is primarily explored through ‘Out of time’ and ‘Five Bells’. Slessor has made it obvious that he is aware that time continues whether we want it to or not and this is what allows us to put into perspective the notion of humanity’s dominance.

Thesis: Because he was unable to find comfort from human cruelty in common human institutions, Billy Pilgrim turns to the Tralfalmadorian concept of time.

The names of the characters in the story Great Expectations symbolize who they are and how they act. In Great Expectations there is a great deal of symbolism throughout the book as there is in life. There are symbols of isolation, manipulation, and wanting to be something else. These are all seen in the book through the characters of Estella, Abel Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Pip, and Biddy.

Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned British writers with well-known and widespread work. Dickens was born in England in 1812 and died in 1870. During this time, Victorian England experienced an Industrial Revolution, which impacted his life tremendously. New factories and industrial machinery changed many lives of the lower class citizens. The family grew up impoverished and struggled to maintain a good lifestyle. The family’s financial situation was strained as John Dickens, Charles’s father, spent money that the family didn’t have. These societal factors were influential in Charles Dickens’s life, and the same themes present themselves in his works. When an author creates a work, frequently themes of their life events are incorporated into the theme of the book, consciously or unconsciously. Victorian Age industrial-influenced strife was a common theme in Dickens’s life and presented itself throughout Dickens’s books.

The passage of time is intrinsically connected to every aspect of life, as it is the construct through which we understand human experiences and the framework through which we comprehend our existence. The essence and effects of temporality reverberate through narratives; acting as a catalyst for action, or becoming an impediment to the future. Through the response that characters in The Wanderer and The Tempest have towards the transience of time, it becomes clear how these effects echo throughout the narrative, prompting these events into movement, and how they seep throughout every aspect of these texts.