What Really Matters? /// Bug Olsen

 

          Throughout Bleak House, both the concept of a useless, corrupt court system and the concept of desperate children continually appear interrelated to each other. Every court case mentioned is proved to be useless and drawn out, such as the man from Shropshire’s case, and almost every child is poor, alone, and/or starved. Dickens continually juxtaposes these two ideas, a corrupt court obsessed with the movement of money and children in need of care, to prove what society truly valued at the time. This was also shown in Mrs. Jellyby’s misguided attention to Africa rather than to the care of her own household, and Mrs. Pardiggle’s obsession with charity and her children pretending to be righteous. While the legal system is necessary, as is charity work, it is better to address the tangible problems in front of you before expending all your energy in the pursuit of more fruitless concepts.

            My favorite character from the reading is the man from Shropshire, as he is one of the few characters who has his priorities straight and legitimately cares about children. Dickens has an amazing ability of creating relatable children who truly pull on the reader’s heartstrings, and reading these sections almost brought me to tears at times. This comes largely from his traumatic upbringing as a child after being forced to work in a factory at the age of 12, and he is famous for his orphaned children in his many of his works, not only in Bleak House. Since many of the motherly characters ignore their maternal duties, the man from Shropshire serves as one of the only functional parental figures in the novel (even though he is not truly the Coavinses’ father). He is a consistently angry man and detests the court system, as he has been waiting for a verdict over a very small suit for 30 years, but he has a soft spot for the children. Unlike other characters seen throughout the novel, he actually has his priorities straight.

            The section detailing the man from Shropshire and the children also contains an interesting realization from Mr. Skimpole. He realizes that, while he detested Mr. Coavinses in life, his poor habits actually allowed him to provide for his family. Mr. Coavinses had previously been in charge of capturing Mr. Skimpole for his debt, and thus Mr. Skimpole naturally did not like him. However, he now realizes that everyone must provide for their family somehow, another indication of what truly matters in life. Caring for one’s family should be a very high priority, not a trivial lawsuit or one’s outward moral standing. While these are not inherently bad things, they should not be above providing for one’s family.    

       I will comment on Braylan Stringfellow's and Emma Landry's posts.