This passage was really enlightening. In it Engels takes his readers on a journey through the slums and ghettos of England. It was interesting how he began describing the beauty and greatness of the cities:
“All this is so magnificent and impressive that one is lost in admiration. The traveler has good reason to marvel at England’s greatness even before he steps on English soil.” (p500)
Then he dives into the cold darkness that is hidden beneath all of this beauty:
“It is only later that the traveler appreciates the human suffering which has made all this possible. He can only realize the price that has been paid for all this magnificence.” (p500)
It’s distressing to read about how for so long the poor have been hidden away in the back alleys of cities, and to this day this continues in so many places. In reality it is the working-class that keeps the cities functioning. It is by their sweat and strength that the rich can live in luxury. While at the end of the day, the workers went home to filthy water and air, deteriorating homes, and cramped neighborhoods. I don’t understand how they put the working-class people in these poor and unhealthy conditions, but yet they expected them to work day and night. One thing I often wonder is how modernization continued even though there was such a massive growth in poverty.
I grew up in a family that taught me to work for everything that I need; I’ve been taught that nothing in life will come on a silver platter. But those who do have things handed to them are unable to appreciate the finer things in life. They don’t know that someone did have to put in the work in order for them to obtain what they desire. I think that today’s society has become accustomed to trying to find the quickest and easiest way to get rich, and I think that it began during the beginning of modernization. Engel’s sums of his attitude toward the conditions of that time very well in the following words:
“It is only the industrial age that has made it possible for the owners of these shacks, fit only for the accommodation of cattle, to let them at high rents for human habitations. It is only modern industry which permits these owners to take advantage of the poverty of the workers, to undermine the health of thousands to enrich themselves. Only industry has made it possible for workers who have barely emerged from a state of serfdom to be again treated as chattels and not as human beings…Industry alone has been responsible for all this and yet this same industry could not flourish except by degrading and exploiting the workers.” (p507-508)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Trenae,
ReplyDeleteVery good insights into Engel's expose of Victorian slums. You make very astute observations about it, and do an effective job of bringing in your own experiences. At the end of the post, though, you quote a long passage but do not discuss it; I would prefer that you always comment on quotations, so your reader can see what you observe in it, and how it fits in with the rest of your post. (Without such commentary, long quotations can be misinterpreted by your reader, or just seem like padding to make your post look longer.)