“A Walk in a Workhouse” by Charles Dickens

Introduction

Charles Dickens is one of the most celebrated story tellers because of his unique description of existing realities. This uniqueness can be seen in the character development of the story. He uses similes, metaphors and imageries in all his writings. This story “A Walk in a Workhouse” is one among the best works of Dickens presenting the elements of literary style by use of similes and metaphors. When this story is being analyzed we come to know that there is a lot of life touching realities that is picked up and depicted in this story.

Pauperism was a misery that exited at the time of his life. He has used metaphors to show depict the pauperism in the society. In this story we can see ‘dragon’ which is the word used as a metaphor to show the existing poverty in the society. He really depicted the effect of the poverty by drawing the different shapes of the people.

An analysis on the story

The writer really wants to show the clutches of pauperism in the society. The focus of the paragraph starting like “Among this congregation, were some evil-looking young women, and beetle-browed young men……. “ ¹shows the roots of poverty in existence. This paragraph tells that there were all kinds of people in the congregation such as old people, children, widows, men, women etc. All these people are depicted in a variety of forms.

There were fools, lamed people, people who are not able to speak, hear and see things, people who wear spectacle and people who are dirty. The ensuing sentence is shown the reality very clearly. “Mumbling, blear-eyed, spectacled, stupid, deaf, lame; vacantly winking in the gleams of sun that now and then crept in through the open doors, from the paved yard; shading their listening ears, or blinking eyes, with their withered hands; poring over their books, leering at nothing, going to sleep, crouching and drooping in corners.” ²

This sentence in the story shows what type of people was gathered there. Work houses were existed in England in Victorian age. The challenging realities that the people faced in the work houses are the plot of this story. The coming sentence is clearly drawn attention of the way of life of the people who stayed there in the work house. “There were weird old women, all skeleton within, all bonnet and cloak without, continually wiping their eyes with dirty dusters of pocket- handkerchiefs; and there were ugly old crones, both male and female, with a ghastly kind of contentment upon them which was not at all comforting to see.” ³

In the Victorian age there were several poor people. All the poor people irrespective of the deaf, the lame, mentally challenged people were drawn to the work housed where these people were compelled to work what they can do. The miseries of this life created unhealthy impact on the poor people. “It was inhabited by a population of some fifteen hundred or two thousand paupers, ranging from the infant newly born or not yet come into the pauper world, to the old man dying on his bed.” ⁴

Use of metaphor in the story

Charles Dickens is a unique story teller who uses similes and metaphor to depict the prevailing challenges and miseries in the life. Here we are going to analyze the metaphor he used in the story. Pauperism is the main concept and reality he wants to convey in this story. He has used metaphor to show the clutches of the poverty in the society. “Upon the whole, it was the dragon, Pauperism, in a very weak and impotent condition; toothless, fangless, drawing his breath heavily enough, and hardly worth chaining up.” ⁵

In this sentence he has used a word to intensify the effects of the reality. The work is ‘dragon’ instead of pauperism. This is the metaphor here and whenever Charles Dickens uses a word instead of something it points out a universe. The meaning of the metaphor is not limited and it does not have a demarcating line. Metaphor does not give us objective knowledge and experience. But metaphor is a subjective experience that can be understood differently for each person. Therefore, the use of metaphor and simile is the main thing that differentiates Charles Dickens from other writers and this is why we are attracted towards the writings of Charles Dickens.

Conclusion

Charles Dickens is a well-known writer who gives importance to the literary styles using simile and metaphors in his writings. This paper analyzes the story of Charles Dickens “A Walk in a Workhouse” by way of picking up the metaphor he used in this story. Pauperism is the main plot he wanted to develop in this story and he want to declare the effect and impact of poverty in the society. The dragon is the metaphor he used to depict the pauperism as an exiting reality. We can understand a dialogue with the existing realities in all his writings.

Bibliography

Dickens, C, A walk in a workhouse, Household Words, 2008. Web.

Footnotes

1. Dickens, C, A walk in a workhouse, Household Words, 2008.
2. Dickens, C, A walk in a workhouse, Household Words, 2008.
3. Dickens, C, A walk in a workhouse, Household Words, 2008.
4. Dickens, C, A walk in a workhouse, Household Words, 2008.
5. Dickens, C, A walk in a workhouse, Household Words, 2008.