Charles dickens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Charles dickens - Essay ExampleDickens uses the setting communicate Nells emotions to the reader. Nells mood is reflected by the streets and rooftops of London. As Nell keeps her anxious sentry, the window serves as Nells peephole into the life of the outside world. The lonely child has no lively companions of her deliver age and no parents. She spends most of her time waiting for her grandfathers progeny form his trips outside the shop. As she gazes on the windows of the houses facing her, she wonders about the lives which go on in those rooms. Nell projects her loneliness on to the setting and wonders whether those rooms were as lonesome as that in which she sat. Her loneliness is further emphasized by her intelligence that the people living in those rooms do not want her company, as she sees them look out and draw in their heads again. She interprets their failure to communicate with her as a sign of their rejection. In spite of this rejection, the street is Nells only glimpse of life and she is sorry when night falls and her tableaux of the world suffices to an end. She is forced to return to the dull room, in which everything was in its place and hadnt moved. Here again, the rooms setting is used by Dickens to communicate the unchanging routine and ennui of the little girls days. ... As Nell looks at the crooked stack of chimneys on one of the roofs, she sees in her imagination the ugly faces that were frowning over at her and trying to peer into the room. This is an example of Dickens powerful imagery in his settings. The image of the ugly faces staring disapprovingly at Nell is a metaphor for the holy terror of bankruptcy and evil hovering over her life in the guise of Daniel Quilp. Dickens also uses the sombre setting to convey to the reader his characteristic criticism of the abject living quarters and the squalid environment of London. In this context, the evil-looking chimney stacks may be seen as a metaphor for the smoke-spewing monster of i ndustrialization. Dickens stead is reflected in Nells plea to her grandfather to exchange life in London with a life in the country where they can walk with country places, and sleep in fields and under trees and work in open roads or fields. The dark and gloomy streets of London outside Nells window symbolize the dark side of city life. Dickens setting in this passage connects to the next chapter in the novel. In the shadows of the street below, Kit lingers, standing(a) guard over his precious Nell. His attention is totally focused on her window. As Nell keeps anxious vigil at her window, Kit keep his own vigil over her. Nell is sitting alone at that window, while Kit remains watching in the open street for fear any harm should come to her (Dickens, Chapter 10). This is a very poignant depiction of Kits love for Nell. Dickens cleverly links his setting in this passage in Chapter 9 with the following chapter to move