Oliver Twist and Child Labour

During Victorian Times, England suffered lots of changes (social-political-economical). But, what of the main issues was child labour. In this process of changing, there were more work to do and cities began to increase its population. Workers were mainly adults, but when industries needed more hands; they needed cheaper labourers and who could be better than young children.

Oliver Twist shows perfectly how children were abused in Victorian times. Thanks to the movie, we can realize the lack of knowledge about an appropriate child’s development. Because of their little hands and small bodies, children were excellent workers in delicate jobs, even if those were licit or not.

Unfortunately, today we still see the same. Adult thieves use children to steal different things in supermarkets or on the street, because they can not be imputed if they are less than 14 years old. Therefore, it is easier for everybody. But, Is there anybody who thinks about children’s dreams and emotions?

The Signal Man (Modernity)

I like the analogy made by Dickens, when he illustrated modernity with a train. The train represents how fast modernity is arriving to the signalman’s life, even with the loneliness in the man’s life. I think that the train’s power is exactly the same one in modernity arrival, because it is very fast. Unfortunately, modernity is misunderstood. It is usually related to technological advances and not to people’s mind growing. Therefore, I also have fears about it. Modernity is not allowing people’s time to think about themselves and take a breath, rest and reflect on our own actions. Modern times consume us in their speed.

Is modernity considering a growing in mind? Are people understanding modernity? Modernity what for? If we think that evolution is a technological issue, I have to say that we are losing our focus in life. If so, I’m sure that there are more than thousand people frighten about modernity, as well as the signalman in the short story. How can we think about evolution, if we don’t have an evolution in mind before? Maybe the signalman was thinking about the same.

Have you ever...?

Have you ever thought about how useful Frankenstein’s novel is? Written by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein is one of the most useful and beautiful novels to take into account in our teaching practices. Seeing as gothic, romantic, scientific-fiction or a long fable, there are lots of current topics to talk about, even if it was written in nineteenth century.

Through the novel I could see how alone the creature was after its creation. Selfishness and own ambitions were stronger in Victor Frankenstein’s life. Hence, when the creature saw himself alone, without education and someone to talk to, he could not understand what was his mission in life and society could not allow his uncertainty and difference.
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“But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother blessed me with smiles and caresses. I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? (Shelley, 106)”

This represents that the monster did not have an identity. First of all, he did not have a name, which is our first identification. Have you ever thought about the importance of a name? If I don’t have my own identity; I can not have any relationship with society. Immediately, there is marginalization. Society does not allow differences (physically, emotionally, intellectually and so on); it assumes us with at least few common characteristics, for instance our names.
People need to be educated and guided by someone to discover identity and be part of society. We are when we have someone else to share with. Loneliness and Marginalization may not occur in an educated society. In this sense, teachers want students to be autonomous, respectful, self-awareness and with self-esteem to participate actively in society. If, there is not any relative to guide and accompany a person; teachers have this mission. Therefore, the novel made sense completely when I was reading it.

Simply Nature

I wandered lonely as a cloud deals with very delicate metaphors about nature’s enjoyment, as other romantic poets do. The author shows how proud and happy he is looking daffodils in the lake. In fact, they dance for him. Daffodils are shines to our darkness in the earth, as well as starts in the sky. Perhaps, people not very often stop and look at roses, moon or The Andes. They run every day and they fill themselves with routine and problems, which dull their lives. When I feel a huge cloud on me; I used to go out and enjoy the nature, in places such as Parque O’Higgins or Parque Forestal. To me, that is the best jocund company. Wordsworth writes “A poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company”. This stanza makes me think about the appreciation of simplicity and how simply details make us shine our hearts. How can you be gay if you have the most beautiful environment around you?

FEARS OF LIVING

Throughout Keats’s poem my feelings about the life’s process come into my mind and they star to give time to think about myself. I always think about how would be my life in the future, even though I live it every day doing my best. But, I can not cease to think about how complex living is. Having read this poem and after the discussion in class, my fears about death are complex to explain, because death is part of our process here in the earth. However, the way of my death and one of my family’s deaths is what I am scared of. I used to feel alarm of pain, illness, loneliness and how much love I can leave here.Maybe it is that fear of beung remembered or not.
I try to live with all implications (good or bad). I try to take advantages from wrong or right issues and naturally I try to do my best to overcome the wrong ones. But, what I fear the most in my life is being alone. Not loving someone, not taking care of someone and not hugging someone else is extremely painful for me. I can not predict the future, If I die without love I will die empty. Maybe after my life in the Earth I will live in somewhere else and there; I wish I could continue loving someone and sharing with someone.

Kubla Khan (Coleridge)

1. “Poetry is an art…of representing, in words, external nature and human thoughts and affections, both relatively to human affections, by the production of as much immediate pleasure in parts, as is compatible with the largest sum of pleasure in the whole”.

According with what I felt reading some romantic poems so far this is the best quotation for me. Nature is always present metaphorically in romanticism. Considering what Coleridge was trying to say in his poem Kubla Khan we can say that throughout the external nature he is showing his own thoughts and affections. People were not leaving with the simplicity of the life. They just wanted to have more pleasure, which is represented by sexual pleasure, luxury, goods, money and so on.
It’s not easy to express ourselves without care of what other people can think. Hence, using metaphor is an artistic way to say thoughts. Poetry is an art says the quotation.I can say that it is an artabsolutely , because of the mixture of simplicity and complexity of words and feelings.

Interpretation of The Little Black Boy

The Little Black Boy is a very appealing poem, because it has elements which are tangible to the reader. At the same time, there are some important elements which are intangible, thus there is a good mixture into the poem. God, Nature, Man and eternity are established aspects into The Black Little Boy. Certain words give to the reader what the poem’s environment is and even more if we can put the poem in paintings. I chose a Mary Cassat’s painting called “Woman preparing to wash her sleepy child” I focused my election mainly o what the poem made me felt. Throughout the painting we can see affection, love, security, confidence, protection or simply the nature of being mother. The author tells us how her mother educated him and how much love and protection she gave him. Hence, I chose this painting based on the protection and affection of mothers to their children.