A Reflection on Class in British Literature
Nowhere else in the world sees as much literature about kingdoms and royalty as the United Kingdom. From Beowulf to King Arthur, British literature fills volumes with the representation of knights and rulers. Then, when Christianity swept through Europe, the United Kingdom faced the crippling grip of religious texts and beliefs.
These beliefs dominated art and literature for the next few hundred years. Yet, thanks to a few great authors and a larger literate class, a shift would happen from literature dominated by the upper class to literature that depicts the struggles of the ordinary person.
These authors, William Blake, Charles Dickens, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o, spoke powerfully about the lower class, or the perceived lower class, depending on how the British crown saw you. Works like A Christmas Carol, The Chimney Sweeper, and Decolonizing the Mind proves that the shift was more potent than those in the upper class liked. When reading these pieces, the idea of class becomes apparent.
In fact, we can see that each piece speaks to the lower classes rather than appease the elite class. Because of their works, the literature focuses less on religion and rule and more on individual struggles, defining the idea of self. This is a reflection on class in British Literature.
The Chimney Sweeper
William Blake wrote The Song of Innocence and The Song of Experience to reflect the transition in life we all face. Though many go through a loss of innocence, the struggles that faced the speaker of The Chimney Sweeper started early in life. The speaker comments on the loss of his mother and the burden it placed on his father. He says, “my father sold me while yet my tongue could scarcely cry ‘Weep!’ ‘Weep!’ ‘Weep!’ ‘Weep!’ so your chimneys I sweep” (Blake 131).
Here we see that because of the struggles of keeping the family together; the speaker lived the hard life of being a chimney sweep. This type of work was for the lowest of classes, and if the speaker came from a family any more prominent, he would not have had to face these struggles.
James Harrison argues, “though his few years seniority have given him a protective sense of responsibility, they have robbed him of little if any innocence” (Harrison). Harrison feels as though the thoughts of heaven provide solace for the poor man, it also signals a movement toward individual thoughts and feelings. While times were indeed challenging for the speaker, the idea that he could find peace is an element of literature not seen before.
A Christmas Carol
One piece, A Christmas Carol, is world-famous for its commentary on the division of class. Charles Dickens, in general, uses literature as the medium of choice when attacking the upper class for allowing the poor to live in such conditions. Dickens uses the lines, ‘Come, then,’ returned the nephew gaily. ‘What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.’” (Dickens 266) shows that Scrooge is rich enough to buy happiness yet still chooses to be grumpy.
A Christmas Carol uses several moments like this to make the upper class understand that there’s no reason for their wealth to cause dismal attitudes toward the poor, who have struggles the wealthy could never imagine.
In fact, Audrey Jaffe states in Spectacular Sympathy: Visuality and Ideology in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that “[A Christmas Carol] exemplifies the literary and cinematic use of visual representation to reinforce ideological values in Western culture” (Jaffe). Jaffe is saying that these comments from the lower class to the upper class, such as the exchange between Scrooge and his nephew, are purely ideologically driven and ultimately an unrealistic expectation of the elite class.
Despite this evaluation of A Christmas Carol, the literature aspect shows a desire from the lower classes to be accepted as unique individuals and equally as important as the elite. Scrooge’s attitude shift by the end of the story is indicative of that sentiment.
Decolonizing the Mind
Finally, we come across literature from former colonies that speak about the oppressive nature of the British Empire. In the eyes of the colonists, the native peoples and their culture were nothing more than savages needing proper European rule.
No author better exemplifies the drive to rid Africa of such oppression as Ngugi wa Thiong’o. His work, Decolonizing the Mind, was translated from his native tongue in a pure act of defiance of the English education he was forced to endure. He states, “And then I went to school, a colonial school, and this harmony [culture] was broken. The language of my education was no longer the language of my culture” (wa Thiong’o 869) which is a clear act of an elite class forcing a perceived lower class into oppression.
Once Africa was freed from the suffocating grip of assimilation, it was the only response native writers had to reclaim the identity that was lost. Rasib Mahmood and his colleagues support the idea that authors attempted to regain identity in defiance and reclamation.
They state, “After the colonization [of Africa], an aggressive response came from the African writers. They have only condemned colonization but also restored their culture and social norms and traditions through their writings” (Mahmood).
It is evident that despite the extensive education of Ngugi wa Thiong’o and others, the desire to preserve what makes them unique overpowers the perceived advantage of such education. Another hallmark of the shift in literature toward the individual.
Conclusion of A Reflection on Class in British Literature
Class structure remains a tricky topic to comprehend. There were only two classes for much of human history, the elite, and the servant class. With the establishment of a middle class and the further development of a literate public, the status quo, the conceptual perceived balance of the elite over the poor, was broken.
Because of writers like Dickens, Blake, and wa Thiang’o, the growing middle class and ultimately lower class would break free of the religious and elite-focused literature that dominated Britain. In the process, literature that comprises the thoughts, emotions, and actions of “regular” people helps build identity.
Where the ruling class dictated ideas, works like A Christmas Carol, A Chimney Sweeper, and Decolonizing the Mind show us that thought was liberated. Thanks to this shift in literature, we have the luxury of perusing the struggles of the average person, identifying with others going through the same struggles, and being free from scrutiny from any ruling class.
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Sources
Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper .” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, by Stephen Greenblatt and M.H Abrams, Norton, 2019, p. 131.
Greenblatt, Stephen, et al. “A Christmas Carol.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Norton, New York, NY, 2019, pp. 264–320.
Harrison, James. “Blake’s the Chimney Sweeper.” The Explicator, vol. 36, no. 2, 1978, pp. 2–3., https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.1978.9939304.
Jaffe, Audrey. “Spectacular Sympathy: Visuality and Ideology in Dickens’s a Christmas Carol.” PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. 109, no. 2, 1994, pp. 254–265., https://doi.org/10.2307/463120.
Mahmood, Rasib, et al. “Restoration, Hybridization and Cultural Transformation of Africa during British Colonization.” New Horizons (1992-4399), vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 51–62. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.ccco.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=138449752&site=eds-live&scope=site
Thiong’o, Ngugi Wa. “Decolonising the Mind from The Language of African Literature.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, by Stephen Greenblatt and M.H Abrams, Norton, 2019, pp. 868–872.