Charles Dickens's 'Dombey and Son' Part V
It is not, truly speaking, the labour that is divided; but the men: -divided into mere segments of men- broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail...[B]ut if we could only see with what crystal sand their points were polished,- sand of human soul...[B]y a determined sacrifice of such convenience, or beauty, or cheapness as is to be got only by the degradation of the workmen; and by equally determined demand for the products and results of healthy and ennobling labour.2
Such a system of a division of men lends itself naturally to the corruption a system which is capable of breaking men in their quest for ambitious gain. This corruption and self-destructive nature is demonstrated by Dickens's focus on Mr. Carker's predatory likeness; his teeth are too white and sharp and are to be recognised as distressing; however, unlike Uriah Heep of David Copperfield, Carker's technical purpose within the novel may be seen as a rather crudely developed stage villain. Dickens likens Carker the Manager's smile to that of a cat; his smile was in fact close to a snarl and his business skills were 'feline from sole to crown'. This predatory image will continue as Carker will eventually become the hunted after Edith's betrayal. Working and dedicating oneself to a profession rooted in 'studious gloom' and formed on pretences lends itself only too well to corruption of one's soul and morals.
G.M. Young discusses Victorianism as being a myth which created by the long ruling sovereign over her colourful subjects.21 He saw Victorian history as being a 'history of opinion and was one in which ideas embedded themselves in parties, institutions, both of which included and developed their own ides. The Britain of the middle of the century saw rapid growth both politically, ideologically and economically: the environment in which Dickens wrote Dombey and Son was reflected in its themes of precedence of nature over artificiality and the importance of free-trade. A nonconformist preacher once told his congregation : 'There have been at work among us three great social agencies: The London City Mission; the novels of Charles Dickens; the cholera'.22 Dombey and Son is complete with all of the
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