Charles+Dickens'+A+Sleep+to+Startle+Us

//Household Words// was a weekly journal conducted and edited by Charles Dickens. This magazine was meant to be read by “people, of both sexes, and of all ages and conditions”and to lead the “discussion of the most important social questions of the time”( “ Household Words ” ). The masthead “ Conducted by Charles Dickens ” along with //Household Words// // ’ // motto, a Shakespeare quotation “ Familiar in their Mouths as Household Words, ” branded the top of the paper. These two main identifiers signified the importance of Dickens ’ name in the literary community and who its audience was. Though most of the magazine’s contributors were unsigned, Dickens had great influence as editor, and as a contributor, to the paper; readers would associate the paper with Dickens because his name trademarked the paper as editor. The magazine, which stood for family values, was dissolved and eventually merged with //All the Year Round// when Dickens’marital problems became common knowledge. Charles Dickens, now a well-known Victorian author, was born on February 17, 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens. John Dickens worked as a clerk, but struggled to manage his own finances, which led to his imprisonment for debt in 1824. This impacted Charles’life greatly as he was then pulled from school, at the age of 12, and sent to work in a blacking factory. For Charles Dickens, this was the moment in which he said goodbye to his childhood and it “haunted him all of his life but […] became a source of both creative energy and of the preoccupation with the themes of alienation and betrayal which [emerged…] in //David Copperfield// and in //Great Expectations// // ” // (Cody). Dickens became a free-lance reporter until he was hired as a staff reporter for the //Morning Chronicle// in 1834, and later “embarked on a full-time career as a novelist” (Cody). In 1849 he founded //Household Words,// a weekly magazine, for which he was the editor. Dickens published numerous pieces in //Household Words// including “A Sleep to Startle Us,”an exploration of the Ragged Schools published on March 13, 1852 (Donovan and Rubery 54). As Donovan and Rubery, editors of //Secret Commissions: An Anthology of Victorian Investigative Journalism,// explain in their introduction to the article, “A Sleep to Startle Us”explores the Ragged schooling, specifically Field Lane Ragged School in its new location of Farringdon Street. Ragged Schools were educational institutions that, in the ninteenth century, were maintained through a charitable organization called the Ragged School Union; they taught elementary schooling, industrial training, and religion to poor children and provided free food, clothing and lodging for some of these children. Some 350 schools were established by 1870 (in Britain) when the state took responsibility for elementary education and introduced national compulsory education (Donovan and Rubery 54). Charles Dickens, appalled by the conditions he saw on his few visits (beginning in 1843) to the Field Lane Ragged School, was determined to bring awareness and financial support to these schools.
 * Household Words: **
 * Biography and Introduction: **
 * Ragged Schools and **** “ **** A Sleep to Startle Us: **** ” **

In this article Dickens combines different narrative styles, such as fictional devices (such as dialogue and realism) and social commentary to set up the narrative as both entertaining and informative. Dickens’powerful imagery, and use of fictional devices, makes this article read like part of a novel, as he describes the horrible conditions of the school and dormitory, which housed the homeless but had few beds. He begins by criticizing the state for “embellish[ing] England on a great scale…while there was, in every corner of the land”people living in poverty, and goes on to describe the state of the Ragged school he visited (Dickens 55, 56). Dickens describes the school as “struggling for life, under every disadvantage”and the dormitory as “a very discouraging Institution”(Dickens 56, 57). On his second visit however, he finds that both the school and the dormitory have grown and somewhat improved, his only praise goes towards those working at the school.

The title of the article signifies the vast number of people who are turned away from the dormitory, particularly those who are “close to death”(Dickens 61). Dickens describes an old man and a sickly little boy who are turned away and sent to the workhouse simply because if either of them were to die overnight, the school would not be able deal with their bodies and had nowhere to put them. These “representatives of many thousands,”Dickens states, “reflect that [the] Government, unable…to plead ignorance of the existence of such a place … proceed as if the sleepers never were to wake again”(61). He is so enraged by this, in particular, that in his conclusion he steps out of his role as the reporter and takes on a didactic, sermon-like tone in his request for charity for the schools. He uses religion to construct pathos within the article, stating that these people are “being driven out of all religion”whilst “lords and gentlemen”concern themselves with “controversies”(Dickens 62).

Charles Dickens’passion for social commentary and aid for the poor stemmed from his own upbringing and became present in all aspects of his writing, including his famous novels and articles like “ A Sleep to Startle Us. ” Dickens ’ particular focus on poor //children// aided his plight to bring awareness to the issue of ‘the poor’in Britain by emphasizing children ’ s innocence and using it to create pathos; Dickens used //poor children// as evidence as to why the poor needed help, by setting them up as innocent and undeserving of living in the terrible conditions that he described. HH/Engl387/UVic/Fall2014


 * Works Cited **

Cody, David. “Dickens: A Brief Biography.” // The Victorian Web. // n.d. Web. 6 October 2014. Dickens, Charles. “A Sleep to Startle Us.” // Secret Commissions: An Anthology of Victorian Investigative Journalism. // Ed. Stephen Donovan and Matthew Rubery. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2012. 54-62. Print. Donovan, Stephen, and Rubery, Matthew, eds. //Secret Commissions: An Anthology of Victorian Investigative Journailism.// Toronto: Broadview Press, 2012. Print.