In this extract Hawthorne is highlighting the extreme poverty he witnessed in the working class slums of Liverpool. The Victorian era had a rigid class system which resulted in extreme differences of wealth and standard of life for the Victorian people. As an American, Hawthorne would not have been brought up with a class system and so the wealth divide he witnessed during his time in Britain would probably have shocked him. Writing about the plight of the poor was unusual in 1863, however, there were some writers who wrote about this subject such as Charles Dickens.
Through Hawthorne’s use of sensory imagery the reader would have been able to see a vivid picture of life in the slums. The ‘sombre canopy of coal-smoke’ and ‘cesspool of misery and vice’ highlight the awful conditions. The image Hawthorne creates reminds the reader of Gustave Dore’s etchings. The French artist, like Hawthorne, was shocked and appalled at the terrible conditions he witnessed in the East End of London. The alliteration of ‘stifled and squalid’ sums up the uncomfortable accommodation the poor were forced to live in.
However, he also creates an unsympathetic view of the working class people. He...
