Path 2 Essays
Relatively Strong Samples

Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (Wk 9)

option one: why might Dickens begin chp 77 with such an extended description of the day's fair weather?

option two: in the final analysis, does Hugh deserve the label of anti-hero or villain?


Sample Student Response

Dickens chooses to begin chapter 77 of Barnaby Rudge with a lengthy description of the day’s weather, which happens to be exceptionally bright and cheerful. Several likely reasons are apparent for the author’s lingering on the weather of this, the day of Barnaby’s scheduled execution. First and most obvious is the emphasis of the idea that the immediate terror of the Gordon Riots is past, leaving only the swift justice of its aftermath. Perhaps more significant, though, and more troubling, is the underlying suggestion about the casual, trivial way in which society regards the value of human

Regarding the first of these two reasons, some striking similarities and contrasts between Barnaby’s final day and the days of the riots are obvious. Dickens’s language in describing the later day is soft and warm, referring to “light summer clouds” and “clear atmosphere (640). The riots, however, are sparked on an afternoon that is “intensely hot, [with] the sun striking down his fiercest rays upon the field” (402). The day of Lord George’s petition is a threatening, portentous one indicating a storm to come, and yet a little more than a month later, once the furor has died down, Barnaby’s problems are his own, weighing only on those close to him. By and large, the world around him has washed its hands of the bloodshed and moved on.

On such a day, a little death can hardly spoil the fun. Indeed, if done properly, the end of a life is merely an amusing spectacle. “All was brightness and promise, excepting in the street below,” Dickens says, adding that the sun looks down on the gallows like an “eye [looks]… into a dark trench.” (640) Here, the sun is the author’s surrogate, seeing the irony that the assembled crowd misses. They swarm in the streets, lying about in idle anticipation much as they did before the chaos of the riots set in. People watch from the windows, encouraging the violent proceedings just as they initially spurred on the rioters. Indeed, Dickens seems almost disgusted as he notes that “children were held up above the people’s heads to see what kind of toy a gallows was, and learn how men were hanged” (640).

One of the common observations about Charles Dickens, generally considered to his detriment, is his penchant for idealism. He is seen by many as the Steven Spielberg of his time, furnishing happy endings and easy outs. While he undeniably does this in Barnaby Rudge, this novel has a savage, bitter side to it that makes it more human than much of his other writing. His anger at the stupidity of humanity shows through clearly in this chapter, and the passage in which he contrasts the pleasant weather with the gruesome events about to unfold can be taken as pitch-black comedy at best and cynical, world-weary irony at worst. Dickens holds out hope for humanity, but he pulls surprisingly few punches here in exposing us for the brutes we are capable of being.

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu