Bleak House

Bleak House In the book “Bleak House” Charles Dickens expresses his contempt towards the vast amount of pollution in the air, water and lives of the citizens due to the filthy and unsanitary conditions in London. Throughout the book, Dickens describes very vividly the mud in the streets, the fog in the air and the dung in the streets. The polluted conditions in London were described as being a layer of thick fog that held within it components of gas, dirt, grime dung and grease. Just about every area of the book demonstrated some sought of bleakness, either literally or figuratively. From the very opening of the book in the first chapter Dickens writes: Foot passengers, jostling one another 's umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest. (Dickens 5) In the abovementioned passage a reference is made to the “crust upon crust of mud.” This brings to mind Dickens ill feelings towards the Courts of Chancery where there are layers and layers of files and exhibits and documents which have accumulated as crust upon crust with contents so muddied that clarification is much needed. The compound interest can be viewed as all the fees that have been assessed as the expenses continue to build up over the years. As polluted as the streets of London is the on-going polluted Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce case – so polluted and bloated with its many parties, counselors, law clerks, judges, motions upon motion, continuances, etc. The Polluted fog in the air can be compared to the fog in the court with its corrupted and polluted politics and misguided litigants; dirtied by the greed of the ones most beneficial by this congestion – the attorneys, judges

Cited: Dickens, C. (1977). Bleak House. A Norton Critical Ed. New York: Edited by Ford, G & Monod (Original work published 1812-1870) Dickens, C. (1977). Consecrated Ground Sketch. Bleak House. A Norton Critical Ed. (p. 203) New York. Dickens, C. (1977). Tom-all-alone’ Sketch. Bleak House. A Norton Critical Ed. (p. 552) New York. Mayhew, H. (1977) The Spa-Fields Burial Ground. Pollution, Bleak House. A Norton Critical Ed., Page 901-916) New York. Miller, T. (1977) A London Fog Pollution, Bleak House. A Norton Critical Ed., (pp. 901-916).