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Analysis: "Coketown"

by PTurco - (2012-05-28)

Up to 5 C. The Victorian Novel and Utilitarianism

ANALYSIS: COKETOWN Coketown is a Victorian city described by Charles DIckens in "Hard Times", he uses this description to criticize Victorian high classes, Hutilitarism and the Industrial revolution. This city is expression of capitalism and economic progress. The description of Coketown is hiperbolic, because with the use of grottesque he wants to denounce the system. He uses the symbolism to describe the the smoke like a "serpent" and also a black "canal", these images suggest to the reader an idea of a city connected to the evil because the black is the color of darkness. Anoher symbolic use of the lenguage is the color "red" rapresented by the red brick of the town; this image is used to connect the color of the city with the color of the red, to make clear to the reader the human costs of the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian Age. Dickens using also the figures of speech of repetition repeat the word "fact" a lot of times; this repetition can be interpreted like a criticism to the Utilitaristic and Puritanistic society.