Charles Dickens

It was evident by Dickens' work that he was critical of the railroads. In "Dombey and Son," he described how they destroyed neighborhoods and land. Dickens writes, "Houses were knocked down; streets broken through and stopped; deep pits and trenches dug in the ground; enormous heaps of earth and clay thrown up; buildings that were undermiend and shaking, propped by great beams of wood. Here, a chaos of carts, overthrown and jumbled together, lay topsy-turvy at the bottom of a steep unnatural hill," (496). I was able to mentally visualize this destruction, thanks to his graphic description. I loved how he used the term "topsy-turvy" to show how the carts laid. It was evident in his writings that he was an amazing writer, able to bring the reader to the scene. I nearly felt as though I was standing outside looking at the torn down homes, the mounds of dirt, and the "chaos." (496). He portrayed the scene in a sad tone. He wrote about "brigdes that lead nowhere" and "unfinished walls." (496).

Dickens did not see the excitement like Fanny Kemble. He saw the destruction of the land, of the home, and of the world as he knew it. He did not want to see change. He was not ready for what this new technology would bring. Dickens took his feelings and wrote them down. In his work "Hard Times," he depicts a town, Coketown, which was now covered in coal residue. He writes, "It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage," (497). He describes the appearance as like a "savage," where clearly shows his feelings. Dickens saw this new change as a step, or a leap, backwards. He did not see it as an advancement, but destroying how far society had gotten thus far.

He goes on to further show the chaos that the railroad brought to Coketown. He wrote, "It was very strange to walk through the streets on a a Sunday morning, and note how few of them the barbarous jangling of the bells that was driving the sick and nervous mad, called away from their own quarter, from their own close rooms, from the corners of their own streets, where they lounged listlessly, gazing at all the church and chapel going, as at a thing with which they had no manner of concern," (498). It was sad to read this and made me understand what his point of view more clearly.

He thought they represented a loss of self identity. I look at his writings, and overall I am impressed at the manor in which he wrote about them. I thought he did an excellent job simply portraying his thoughts in a way that left it up to the reader to decide whether the trains were a good thing or not. He wrote about his encounters in a dim light, but I felt as though he did not force the reader to think the way he did. He simply wrote down his thoughts, which I appreciated.