Charles dickens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Charles dickens - Essay ExampleDickens uses the setting communicate Nells emotions to the reader. Nells snappishness is reflected by the alleys and rooftops of London. As Nell keeps her anxious vigil, the windowpane serves as Nells peephole into the life of the outside world. The unaccompanied child has no lively companions of her own age and no parents. She spends most of her time waiting for her granddads return form his trips outside the shop. As she gazes on the windows of the houses facing her, she wonders about the lives which go on in those fashions. Nell projects her aloneness on to the setting and wonders whether those rooms were as lonesome as that in which she sat. Her loneliness is further emphasized by her perception that the people living in those rooms do non want her company, as she sees them look out and draw in their heads again. She interprets their failure to communicate with her as a sign of their rejection. In spite of this rejection, the street is Nells o nly glimpse of life and she is sorry when wickedness falls and her tableaux of the world comes to an end. She is forced to return to the dull room, in which everything was in its place and hadnt moved. Here again, the rooms setting is used by Dickens to communicate the unchanging routine and boredom of the exact girls days. ... As Nell looks at the crooked stack of chimneys on one of the roofs, she sees in her image the ugly faces that were frowning all over at her and trying to peer into the room. This is an example of Dickens powerful tomography in his settings. The image of the ugly faces staring disapprovingly at Nell is a metaphor for the threat of loser and evil hovering over her life in the guise of Daniel Quilp. Dickens also uses the sombre setting to necessitate to the reader his characteristic criticism of the poor living quarters and the squalid environment of London. In this context, the evil-looking chimney stacks may be seen as a metaphor for the smoke-spewing m onster of industrialization. Dickens attitude is reflected in Nells plea to her grandfather to exchange life in London with a life in the country where they can walk through country places, and sleep in fields and under trees and subject area in open roads or fields. The dark and gloomy streets of London outside Nells window symbolize the dark side of city life. Dickens setting in this passage connects to the next chapter in the novel. In the shadows of the street below, Kit lingers, standing guard over his precious Nell. His attention is totally cerebrate on her window. As Nell keeps anxious vigil at her window, Kit keep his own vigil over her. Nell is sitting alone at that window, while Kit remains watching in the open street for fear any harm should come to her (Dickens, Chapter 10). This is a very poignant depiction of Kits love for Nell. Dickens cleverly links his setting in this passage in Chapter 9 with the chase chapter to move