Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
Coke is an important element in the Victorian Age because it is essential for factories, as a matter of fact it is setting during the industrial revolution.
First of all it is presented as a manufacturing centre; in the Victorian Age you can find numerous industries. The speaking voice describes the grey town.
The only colours we can notice are black and red: black stands for shadow and death, red stands for blood and passion. So we can find a contrast between the colours of the city: they are opposite!
The town is made of red brick, but everything is covered in smoke and ashes.
The reader understand that Coketown is not a nice city, as a matter of fact it appears in a negative way: the narrator does not like it and so he describes it underlining its negative aspects.
An important aspect is pollution: the town has a lot of industries and so you can find smoke and ashes, because it is "a town of machinery and tall chimneys".
Coketown is also an uncivilized town ("the painted face of a savage"). The negative idea of the town is given by the imagine of "interminable serpents".