Manchester in J. Winterson and A. Tocqueville

Both J. Winterson and A. Tocqueville deal with the same city: Manchester, in the period of post-industrialization.

In the second chapter of the novel "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?" J. Winterson wants to bring to the surface the contradictory nature of Manchester; In fact she says that the city is in the South of the North of England and that there was wealth, but living conditions were very bad . So the writer provides geographical features to make it easy to understand and she has a positive judgement of Manchester, in fact she states that it was a good place to be born. The town was radical because of the tendencies of Marx and Engels and it was repressive because of the massacre of Peterloo and the Corn Laws. In addition J. Winterson describes the setting of Manchester: there were filth, smoke, stink, the deafening noise of looms. So the living conditions of the people were worst: misery was caused by working conditions under the factory system and by the high prices.

A. Tocqueville provides a description of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, first from the geographical point of view, then he examines the condition of the town. There were unpaved roads, heaps of dung, stink, smoke, noises from the shriek of steam from boilers, from the looms and from the heavy carts.

Both the writers adopt the description in order to make the story real and to involve the reader. Unlike A. Tocqueville, J. Winterson also uses elements derived from her own experience, in fact she also speaks about the conditions of her family.