Coketown

Hard Times; Charles Dickens; 1854

Chapter 5, The Keynote

    The extract belongs to the fifth chapter of Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times.
    In first lines of the extract the narrator puts into evidence the object that is at the centre of the description. In the following lines the Coketown is describe like a monotonous city through the use of adjective red brick, that convey an idea of equivalence and repetition. In addition he appeals to the sense of sight in order to shock the reader through the use of the parallelism with the colour of savage’s skin.
    Charles Dickens appeals to other senses (for example sense of smell) to convey a negative idea of the city. There are a lot of reference to the technologies of his times like “the piston of the steam-engine”. The reference is not only the aspect linked with Charles Dickens’ time, but also it convey an idea of labour in line with the principle of utilitarianism. The simile with “the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness” creates an idea of repetition and annoyance in the reader’s mind.
    The narrator use the appeal to another sense, the sense hearing, to express the feeling that someone can fell in the city. The identical streets underlines the monotony of urban landscape. In addition the inhabitants attitudes are under strict routine in line with the middle class mentality.
    The narrator puts at the centre the question of the work. Indeed this aspect is very important to the organization and life of the city. The consequence of the work like a principal aspect of the life in the city is the meticulous and strict organization where the waste of time is a heresy.
    In the description of the church Charles Dickens underlines the strong influence of the puritan mentality (“in severe characters of black and white”). In the conclusion of the extract the reader can notice the repetition of the word “fact”. The anaphora is used in order to increase the idea of monotony of the city. In the last lines the human relation, the school and hospital etc. are limited to fact, calculation, numbers and other aspects that lack sentiments and humanity.