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Coram Boy Essay

Decent Essays

What do we learn about life in the 18th century and how successfully does the writer convey this information whilst telling us a good story?

The story is set in the 18th century and includes factual information which plays a vital part in the storyline. It uses this information whilst entertaining the readers with a fictional storyline. It is based on one thing in particular, hence the title "The Coram Boy", this is The Coram Hospital.

A main factor in the storyline is the way the writer portrays society's attitude to poverty in the 18th century. The poor people were treated tremendously different to higher classed people. A lot of people were even living on the streets. For example, "He picked his way through the hordes of homeless …show more content…

Alexander is much higher classed. It shows how he feels to be in the company of those higher classed. This is then contrasted by "The food was borne in on silver platters by white-gloved manservants; food he had never even seen before: venison pie, partridge breasts, grilled trout, slivers of ham, trifle with cream and jam, cheese and little biscuits" this shows the wealth of Alexander's family. These two examples clearly show the difference between different classes.

The next main factor in the story is society's attitude towards illegitimacy. Any woman who bore a child out of wedlock was treated with disgust and held an air of shame and disgrace. This caused those who did happen to have their children out of wedlock to give them up and send them off to orphanages in hope their child would be alright. A lot of these single mothers tried to send their children to one such orphanage called "The Coram Hospital". An example is when Melissa, a young girl just found out she was pregnant and says "'And Mama? What about Mama? The disgrace. We'll both be thrown out. Destitute." This is a good example of the consequences of illegitimacy. If anybody found out about such circumstances the mother and her acquaintances would be thrown out and homeless. The writer includes this factual information in the story and it entwines

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