Victorian? What does that mean?

So far my knowledge of Victorian England exists of appearance for appearances sake.  No one was allowed to act out, show leg, or say the wrong thing.  Of course, this lends itself to the theory of the preacher's child being the wildest of the bunch.  From the reading however, I've noticed a HUGE difference in the class system.  As I read, I feel both wealthy and snobby as well as dirty and hungry.  There are the dark scenes when I need a bath or I think I smell sewage.  Then I move to happier times with servants, food, and uncomfortable clothing.  I don't like Victorian England.  I want to read my Kindle and not worry about who I know. 

I also like being an independent woman.  Even by today's, and I mean my mother's standards, I am far behind where I should be in the southern woman's role.  After reading Dickens, I am no where near unfortunate.  These women cross roles by being the mother, sister, daughter, and caregiver.  They are either married to men who can afford to support them or they are unfortunate souls left to fend for themselves.  There is the middle, like Wilfer's wife, who is married to a man who can provide but not to the extent that Veneering can.  I would never make it as a housewife.  I would probably have blood on my hands.

Now I've been in college for ... years.  I love being in class.  Does it stressful? Yes.  Is it expensive? Yes.  But I have the freedom to get an education for as long as my little heart, and wallet, desires.  The Victorians seem to have quite a gap.  Charley secretly educates himself so that his father won't get angry.  Boffins hires someone to help him with his education and Bella could care less about learning.  She just wants a rich man to put her up for life.  I could not imagine living in a world where education was frowned upon in such a way.

OMF Predictions Ch 1-7

• Bella desires wealth more than anything in the world but her sister is going to be the one wealthier than her.  This is going to cause more tension within the family.  Bella is going to do something to cause her sister grief...ie. affair with husband, murder, etc.
• Charley is going to have a hard life on his own.  He tries to get an education but ends up in his father's line of work to make some money.  Later in life, after his father's death, he and Lizzie will reunite in a tragic way.
• The Veneerings have skeletons in their closet which make an appearance later.  This causes them to lose their social standings and their dinner parties become even MORE uncomfortable.  Twemlow quits coming to dinner...that's how bad it is.

Our Mutual Friend (OMF) 1-7

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

I would like to apologize for my organization of thoughts.  I have made several random notes on the reading and in blogging I want to simply journal them as I write them.  Of course, this doesn’t present the material in an organized fashion.  My apologies!

PART I:

Confusion presented itself as I read through Part I.  The characters came at me and fast.  While there are often characters with ties to others, I find myself confusing myself with how they are connected.  My hope is that in continuing the reading this confusion will begin to subside.

Family and connections:

• One overlapping theme I noticed in the first part is that of family and connections.  Connection is a vague term but it doesn’t limit itself to only family ties.  I meet a variety of characters and am given an introduction to their place in London and its surrounding area.

• Gaffer and Riderhood have a falling out in the beginning of the book which later has an effect on Lizzie’s life.  It is unclear at this juncture what they do for a living.  It’s clear they work at night and often on the river but it isn’t until later that I am made aware of their partnership.

• Making the connections: I am introduced to the Veneerings who are introduced via a mutual friend to Twemlow.  At this juncture, I am introduced to Lady Tippins and the attorney of Harmon.  It is then that I find out that Harmon was found in the river by Gaffer and was promised to Bella, R.W’s daughter.  R.W. works for Veneering. 

• I am made very aware of the complicated nature of the story line.  In its complication however, I am also left wondering what’s going to happen next and who it’s going to happen to?  At this moment, I see quite a bit of overlap in the characters but am waiting on more. 

PART II:

Education, money, and one’s place in society:

• RW’s family longs for money.  Bella makes her desires for wealth quite clear, “I want money – want it dreadfully.  I hate to be poor.”  Bella’s mother does her financial part for the family by teaching.  RW wants to take care of his daughters by marrying them.  Possessing daughters can be quite stressful at this time.  To take care of them requires a husband who can provide for her since they are not considered a valuable source of family income.  This puts quite a bit of pressure on a father.  RW is the master of the house and his wife reminds him of that on several occasions during this our encounter with the family as she says, “You are master here, R.W”.  This seems quite ironic however.  He is characterized as quite shy at work.  In fact, no one knows his first name unless they are a close friend.  This dynamic proves interesting for a “master” of a household.

• Poor Lizzie.  She loves a father who is kind to her but hits her brother.  She then makes a sacrifice so that her brother can leave for an education.  Of course, Charley, her best friend and tutor, must leave the house and never return.  She is now stuck without someone to help her continue her learning and with an angry dad.  I am the Hollywood optimist and am hoping things work out well for both children.  I can see them reuniting later in the work after a lifetime of struggles.  But here in the work the father disowns the son for choosing an education over the family.  Was an education such a bad thing during this time or was the father simply afraid of losing control of his only son?

• Wegg’s relationship with Boffin is based on education.  While I find it strange that Boffin is so connected to his wooden stick, it’s admirable that he’s searching for someone to educate him on the value of his current inheritance.

RANDOM COMMENTS:

• I am doing my best as I’m reading to make connections with the characters and the “mutual friend”.  I find myself working too hard to do this and begin confusing myself.  It then hit me that maybe the “friend” isn’t a character at all.  What if the “friend” is London or education or fate or greed or money or some other concept?  If this is the case, I am going to be disappointed at myself for trying to tie all these characters to a human “friend”.  Is anyone else having trouble with their connections?  Maybe I am alone in my endeavors.

• Dinner with the Veneerings was extremely awkward.  In my notes I wrote, “awkward, high school drama, all about who you know and not who you like.”  Those were my exact thoughts as I read this interaction.  It reminded me of a time in high school when it was about being in the “cool, popular” group even if you didn’t like any of those people.  It just looked good to be associated with them.  Take, for example, the Veneerings.  They name the Podsnaps to be the Godparents of their baby but Podsnap didn't even know who they were when he first walked in the door.  It seems to be all about playing politics.

• One character I am extremely intrigued, confused by is that of Lady Tippins.  It is somewhat troubling to me that she adores nursery rhymes but has multiple lovers.  I am left wanting more background on her character and am left wondering what her place is?

• RW’s daughters were a breath of fresh air.  As I read this portion, my notes said, “sisterly dispute and cat fight”.  Having a sister myself, I could relate to their interactions with one another.  It was quite comical and a relief to know that there did exist childish family arguments during the Victorian period but more importantly, that Dickens chose to write about them.  This put a smile on my face.

• Wegg’s encounter with the, as I call him, Bone Collector.  I read this section and played an episode of CSI in my head.  Of course, my episode was much more graphic and dramatic than Dickens’.  I think this proves the influence television can have on a reader or the influence literature can have on television.  I’m not sure which but I could at least picture a one legged man sitting in a dark room with a creepy Bone Collector.  I am left wanting to know what happens to Wegg?  Does he end up as one of the “Bone Collector’s” specimens?

CHARACTERS WITH WRITER’S CONNECTIONS:

One thing I noticed as I read was some potential autobiographical connections to our writer.

• Bella’s mother has a school = Dickens’ mother begins a school to help with the family finances

• Charley’s dad disowns him for wanting an education = Dickens’ mother doesn’t disown him but doesn’t want him in school

• Lizzie makes sacrifices for her brother Charley = Dickens makes sacrifices to help and support his siblings and their families

Web Writing Style Guide

Wow...what pressure!  After reading this style guide, I was reminded how many potential readers there are on the web.  It became apparent that I must always pay attention to what I'm saying, how I'm saying it, and to whom I'm saying it.  Before, I just thought of writing online for me and my family as I traveled.  Reading about the woman fired for blog comments put that into perspective.  Of course, I then thought of the past, present, and future professors who might potentially look at my online randomness.  My stomach then turned into knots thinking of the style and grammar mistakes I have and will make.  This has taken some of the fun out of online writing but on the same hand refreshed my memory of all the "blah, blah" I find on the web.  It will be my goal not to become one of these bloggers.  Let’s see if I can actually achieve that goal.

I was also shocked that there is etiquette for online writing.  Of course, I shouldn’t be shocked.  After all, there is proper etiquette for putting a new roll of toilet tissue on the roll.  One interesting topic was the choice of color and design for the webpage.  Colors are important to add a little something extra to the page but it never occurred to me to design my page to aid my topic.  For instance, I am enjoying Dickens thus far so black and red would not be appropriate color choices as those are most associated with anger.  I also took a look at the website Color Meanings by Culture.  I found it quite enlightening to the variations in color meaning.   

This guide was, for me, much like an MLA guideline.  It presented the proper use of hyperlinks, photos, and videos.  Speaking of hyperlinks, it’s amazing that there is a correct way to post them.  I had never really thought much about punctuation when it came to adding a hyperlink to a site.  The guide also reminded me of the gray area that is copyright.  As an educator, it’s often easy to use the “educational purpose” clause for material used in the classroom.  When posting something online for the world to see, it’s a different story all together.  The up side is that this blog is for a course so the “educational” part might potentially fly but it would be in my best interest to play it safe and give credit where credit is due. 

First day of Dickens

Ahh...the wonderful world of Charles Dickens has now been presented in a 21st century light.  I never thought I would get a kick out of blogging and tweeting in a graduate lit course.  Believe it or not, I am excited about the semester to come.  There was mention of scandal and gossip.  It's like a Victorian discussion of your favorite prime time television drama...at least that's what I'm thinking right now.  I can't wait to get to the details!