Household Words, Sept. 11, 1852

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Introduction

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Stories are one of the best ways to teach people a lesson. Sometimes these stories are overflowing with obvious meaning, from espousing ideals of morality through a central protagonist to critical thinking about the human condition from conflict in the plot. Other times, these stories can be small things where meaning must be derived by audiences reading between the lines and finding less obvious truths from short-form texts that are more comedic, satirical, romantic, and genuinely informative. Whether that be from a summary of the War of the Roses to the history and construction of walking-sticks, Household Words, a weekly journal written by Charles Dickens and published in 1852, is just that: shorter form stories and articles that speak on a variety of topics that, in this case, converge on the themes of the corrupt nature of humanity, hypocrisy and personal power individuals desire through a lens of satire, comedy and love. By looking at the collection of stories in Household Words, which include “Boys to Mend,” “The Merry Men of Cairo,” “The Life of Salmon,” “The World’s Fairest Rose,” “Walking Sticks,” and “A Child’s History of England,” Dickens puts the inherent corruption of humanity on display and leaves the audience to find their own interpretations for finding personal meaning and life lessons.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 “Boys to Mend” is an informative piece written like an investigative article that focuses on the male children of the Philanthropic Farm School, a British reformatory “school” that focuses on “mending” troubled boys to make them reformed and able to rejoin society as “proper” adults. This is a satirical work that tells of the great benefits these schools have for troubled boys and creates many comparisons and contrasts to prison systems that many of these boys came from, yet when put side-by-side in the article it is clear to see that these schools are just prisons given another name. The boys are forced to do hard farm labor regardless of age to bolster their work experience when the Industrial Revolution is making such jobs more obsolete with time, the pay they receive from the hard work is taken from them to pay for things others think they need instead of investing it into their futures, and the article notes that while the children are given little supervision to allow for freedom of expression and personal growth, punishments up to and including solitary confinement are still a possibility for the more troubled boys. The article also makes many mentions of the boy’s parents being the main reason they are kept there; many of the boys are children of criminals, immigrants, and other such dubious things that seem out of the child’s control, yet are branding him. Finally, the school itself is run by a court chaplain who is suggested to be poor at his job and not very priestly, so the idea that at least these children are getting a good moral schooling is suspect. In the end, this article exposes the hypocrisy of these schools and their infringement upon these troubled boys while asking the audience a pointed question; do you truly want to help these children, or just put them in a new prison while feeling good about yourself?

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 “The Merry Men of Cairo” uses the outlets of comedy and trickery to act as commentary on the inherent corruption of humankind. In short, the story follows the narrator Abu Munchar, a man known simply as a “Merry Man” due to his jolly nature. In the beginning, Munchar is hunted down by the local authorities after being confused for a thief, but avoids any punishment due to a gesture of good he completed to gain the trust of the townsfolk. Munchar discovers a man named Ali was the origin of these rumors, and thus seeks to punish him in some way. Unbeknownst to Munchar, Ali’s goal is to understand what brings Munchar so much joy, believing there is a secret to a life of happiness he is unaware of, and that Abu Munchar is the key to that missing piece. Abu Munchar says he will say what the secret is if Ali performs a humiliating task to show favoritism to a fake lord that doesn’t exist. After Ali performs this task, he is beaten relentlessly by the townsfolk. While Munchar believes this taught him a valuable lesson, he still feels guilty. As a result, decides to repent by answering honestly when Ali asks him where happiness and wisdom can be found, to which Abu responds that Ali has already found it. In the end, the two laugh and share a conversation about the joyous experience of life.

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 “The Life of a Salmon” follows a compelling narrative that uses a unique lens and thinking process to compare and contrast humanity to the other species of the world’s ecosystems. The main character (whether it be Charles Dickens himself or who I believed to be an Irish Fisherman) serves as the lens of narration. Dickens creates a compelling narrative, comparing the simple, instinct-driven life of a Salmon and fascinatingly compares it to the lives of humankind, each filled with (what we believe to be) infinite complexity. Dickens shows that our birth, childhood, adult life, and even death are incredibly similar to those of other animals, even ones as simple as a fish. While we live on land and fish live in the sea, we are both born into the same world. The most compelling part of this story is that Dickens chooses to make his subject laugh at the complex nature of people, yet admire the simple lives of fish like salmon. Through this compelling narrative, Dickens reminds us there is beauty in simplicity and laughs at us for overthinking about the world around us.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 The story of the “World’s Fairest Rose” is a short story about a beloved Queen that had fallen ill and the people are searching for the fairest rose to bring her life, to make her well again. They searched through people’s gardens and in the land to find the beautifulest and fairest rose of them all, even suggesting finding roses from historical people that were full of love. In the end, the young prince came to his mother and showed her the fairest rose which was a man that sacrificed himself for all mankind on a cross. The Queen revived and exclaimed how this man is the fairest rose for his love is greater than all for sacrificing himself for all mankind. This short story shows that you need love to be able to live. From a religious perspective is that you need the love of Christ to be able to live but it could work as a non-religious perspective as well as you need love in general to be able to live. Love for yourself and love for others is a key ingredient to being able to live, the meaning of life, from this short story since humanity tends to lack it very often.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 “Walking Sticks” is another informative article that gives some history about walking-sticks (or canes), their construction, materials, and social impact on the European world. This article is also satirical in nature by pointing out how the humble walking-stick, an aid for locomotion, was corrupted into a symbol of wealth, nationality and social standing from such humble beginnings. This is done through absurdity, initially pointing out that the walking-sticks has no historical lineage for its creation and how it was made from the humblest woods, to the gaudy golden adornments that cover the stick, the unique woods used from many sources and their strange processes to smooth them, and it even dips into the size of their international market around the 1800’s. It even mentions sticks that are made to tell the temperature, time, and can even shock wielders, again showing the growing absurdity of their evolution. Finally, it shows how walking sticks can be used as symbols for various types of power from rulership to financial wealth by their make and attachments, showing that the walking stick is no longer a means to help move, but to ultimately judge and oppress. Through this article, a clear message about how the smallest things can be corrupted by humans in an attempt to gain power over another, in this case through a simple accessory, and makes the reader question what other small things in their lives have been perverted to such a degree.

¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 “A Child’s History of England” Chapter 22 is talking about the history of England in the period of the end of the 100 Years War and most of The War of The Roses. The chapter starts out with the death of Joan the Arc, with her burning for her crimes of witchcraft, cross dressing, and so on. This was the huge turning point in the war because this caused France to regain most of their land back at this point. Since England was losing, the blame went to the poor government of England, starting the fight for the throne which is also known as The War of The Roses. Going through the main events of the fight for the throne, the chapter ends with Edward of York, the eldest son of The Duke of York who’ve been fighting for the throne the whole time, becoming king since the people liked him better than the actual prince of England. This story of the historical events really show the true nature of humanity and their thirst for power. King Henry VI struggled to keep the crown from his poor ruling, putting the blame on other people to keep himself clean. Queen Marget getting an army from Ireland to help keep the throne for her husband and her son. The Duke of York fought for the throne since he felt it was in his birthright and wanted to bring victory to England. Many people die for their thirst of power, fighting against each other, showing the true nature of corrupted humanity.

¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 These stories from Household Words show that humanity isn’t perfect and has “corruption” on many levels of severity, and in vastly different forms, whether from pride, lust, thirst for power, and so on. Through this text, readers are reminded that despite how often the narrative persists that people are inherently good, that does not mean that people are not still flawed in many ways. But by pointing these flaws out to us in a way that is humorous, satirical, and even a bit romantic, it can give the audience a bit of hope for the future, and instead of despairing over the problems in the foreground, perhaps inspire people to look at situations more carefully and try to correct them. Or, at the very least, improve ourselves as an individual, for it is through these lessons that we can only hope that we can learn and improve little by little each day.