Benjamin Disraeli: The Two Nations p499

Disraeli’s passage was similar to Dickens. It’s easy to see that the two had the same view of the coming modern age. In this passage, there is a focus on the widening gap in society between the rich and the poor. It’s obvious that as the rich get richer, the poor become poorer. I will never understand how so many could stand aside and do nothing while whole communities suffered with starvation and disease. How people attempted to justify and defend the advancement of modernization, even with the increases conditions of poverty, shows just how much the society and individual communities were dividing.

“Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws.” (p499)

I find this thought to be very true. Not only did that truth hold during this time, but is still true today. Our society is divided between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” and the two are unaware of the others existence. The beginning of modernization created this gap, and after all these years it has yet to disappear. Disraeli also focuses on the diminishment of religion:

“Christianity teaches us to love our neighbor as ourself; modern society acknowledges no neighbor.” (p499).

As Dickens pointed out in his passages, society became based on individualism; people were doing whatever needed to be done for personal gain. While entire families (men, women and children) were working in the dangerous conditions of factories, the owners were enjoying their riches. Can we honestly say that introducing modernization in our societies was a wise choice?