Book the First
Ch. 11 - No Way Out
Pg. 72
Stephen has approached Mr Bounderby to speak of his marriage and his wishes to dissolve it.
" 'Now, you know,' said Mr. Bounderby, taking some sherry, 'we have never had any
difficulty with you, and you have never been one of the unreasonable ones. You
don't expect to be set up in a coach and six, and to be fed on turtle soup and
venison, with a gold spoon, as a good many of 'em do!' Mr. Bounderby always
represented this to be the sole, immediate, and direct object of any Hand who
was not entirely satisfied; 'and therefore I know already that you have not come
here to make a complaint. Now, you know, I am certain of that, beforehand.' "
This passage further exemplifies the disconnect between employers and
employees that I mentioned in my first analysis. Bounderby's equally ignorant
and arrogant, single-minded view of his workers being selfish money-whores
always seeking to suck from Bounderby's teat of success couldn't be more
blatant when we are told that "Bounderdy always represented this to be the
sole, immediate, and direct object of any Hand who was not entirely
satisfied". It is that unfortunate and unjustifiable cynicism that creates
the unrelenting chasm between Hand and boss. Stephen's honest request is
therefore manipulated and distorted to appear greedy and will not be considered
by Bounderby – forcing Stephen to endure further the marriage that has broken
him so much.
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ReplyDeleteI feel this really establishes Dickens' point about how the classes seem to be on different playing fields. Throughout the entire book Stephen's opportunities are extremely limited, and even more so Bounderby is shown to be entirely hypocritical when his marriage later goes bad. Through this, Dickens is able to paint Stephen as the Martyr, and Bounderby as the hypocritical force keeping these harmful societal structures running.
ReplyDelete-Bret O'Brien