Monday, October 22, 2012
Dragging up the Stairs
"Much watching of Louisa, and much consequent observation of her impenetrable demeanour, which keenly whetted and sharpened Mrs Sparsit's edge, must have given her as it were a lift, in the way of inspiration. She erected in her mind a mighty Staircase, with a dark pit of shame and ruin at the bottom; and down those stairs, from day to day and hour to hour, she saw Louisa coming"(195). The symbol of Mrs. Sparsit's staircase represents Louisa's "climb" from what is perceived by Coketown society as being rebellious and barbaric "a dark pit of shame", her individuality. As time goes on, "day to day" and "hour to hour" Louisa makes her way out of the dark pit, and becomes more and more tame and acceptable to the status quo conformity of Coketown. For this reason, she turns into a viable threat to Mrs. Sparsit's easy and effortless life, because Louisa is now turning into a model citizen of Coketown, and Bounderby no longer needs Mrs. Sparsit to be present in his home, using her reputation as a platform on which he builds his rags-to-riches, my mother abandoned me in a ditch, story that he so often uses to justify his actions in focusing on work and facts in Coketown's production driven society.
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Hi Waldo, I was just noticing something interesting about the staircase. As Mrs. Sparsit is shown throughout the three chapters that talk about it, she is once described as having, "hawks eyes" (197), and "cat-like observation" (199). She is described as a predator and this is further emphasized by Dickens using animals/nature once again, "The smaller birds might have tumbled out of their nests, fascinated by the glittering of Mrs. Sparsit's eyes..." (203). I am not actually sure what Dickens was trying to suggest by portraying her as a predator, but could it mean that people are willing to act like animals to get to be what they want within the upper class?... Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point, and throughout the entire text, Mrs. Sparsit is leeching off of Bounderby for a place to stay. By portraying the "civilized" and "fact-based" members of society as predators, it furthers Dickens' idea that that element of society is cold, emotionless, and stagnant. It furthers his criticism shown in the animalistic scenes with the rebellion of the Hands. Do you think that Sissy's dog Merrylegs ties into this somehow?
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