Wednesday, October 17, 2012
From Chapter 2, "Murdering the Innocents"
"The square finger, moving here and there, lighted suddenly on Bitzer, perhaps because he chanced to sit in the same ray of sunlight which, darting in at one of the bare windows of the intensely whitewashed room, irradiated Sissy. For, the boys and girls sat on the face of the inclined plane in two compact bodies, divided up the centre by a narrow interval; and Sissy, being at the corner of a row on the sunny side, came in for the beginning of a sunbeam, of which Bitzer, being at the corner of a row on the other side, a few rows in advance, caught the end. But, whereas the girl was so dark-eyed and dark-haired, that she seemed to receive a deeper and more lustrous colour from the sun, when it shone upon her, the boy was so light-eyed and light-haired that the self-same rays appeared to draw out of him what little colour he ever possessed. His cold eyes would hardly have been eyes, but for the short ends of lashes which, by bringing them into immediate contrast with something paler than themselves, expressed their form. His short-cropped hair might have been a mere continuation of the sandy freckles on his forehead and face. His skin was so unwholesomely deficient in the natural tinge, that he looked as though, if he were cut, he would bleed white" (44).
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I don't even know where to begin, so please excuse me if I go off on any tangents.
ReplyDeleteI think the repetitiveness of light and dark images represents division between factual and imagination, two issues we touched upon in class earlier. Sissy's dark hair and dark eyes benefit from the sun's rays, kind of like a flower during photosynthesis. Blitzer, Sissy's pale-faced classmate, whose factual intelligence surpasses hers, loses out on the innocent childlike imagination that cannot be taught by a teacher or book. He, along with his possible "white" blood, fall under an almost dehumanized category, like a robot whose factual knowledge is programmed into its database. Between Blitzer and Sissy, he'd be the numbered student, while Sissy remained enigmatic, unnumbered, and would most definitely bleed red.
Dickens's usage of sharp characterization and exaggerated physical attribution is nothing new. I think he does a better job here than in Oliver Twist. It is almost too easy to envision what this classroom's layout looks like. I'm not an artist, but I am certain I could draw this passage to scale perfectly.
Your comparison to these children and plants is awesome!!! London needs both in order to flourish, no? Dickens has made it very clear that nature helps to nurture happiness, Homes, and essentially better living. London needs children to grow up in abetter society so that they may contribute to those around them, much like the impact Oliver Twist did.
DeleteWhen I read this passage I could not help but to notice the inequality. Sissy is placed at an inferior position than Blitzer. Blitzer is placed more at the front of the classroom and is able to satisfy Gradgrinds with his factual answers. However, we are able to see how fragile he is to the point where he is so pale that if cut his blood would be as white. Sissy on the other hand, may not be as factual, but is percieved as a stronger character. If she were to be cut, her blood would be red for she has spirit; she has imagination and is able to enjoy her surroundings unlike Blitzer who is more like a robot.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both classmates above. This passage makes a clear distinction between Sissy and Bitzer. The play on the characters’ physical appearance with the sun light is a case of good versus evil. The sun light is natural and is associated with nature and The Creator. Dickens’s decision to illustrate the sunlight having a negative effect on Bitzer, suggests that Bitzer’s behavior is unnatural. The sunlight has a positive effect on Sissy, showing that she is accepted by nature. Dickens has made this contrast before between Oliver Twist and The Artful Dodger. Similar to the Artful Dodger, Bitzer has been robbed of his childhood. He is forced to live in a strict and factual world. Unlike Sissy, Bitzer does not enjoy the simile things in life such as, nature or a nickname. Sissy is colorful, happy and healthy. Bitzer is dull, emotionless, and possibly unhealthy.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because this is something I wanted to bring up myself, but could not word it for the life of me. The sun = The Creator, is pretty genius. It kind of reminded me of that cliched sunbeam we've all seen on television that parts the clouds and sheds light on one particular radius. We've all seen The Lion King, right? Sissy = baby Simba.
DeleteI had the same interpretation with the use of sunlight in this passage- how the sunlight enhances, or or brings out negative qualities in Sissy and Bitzer. Bitzer seems like the better catch at first glance, but in the sunlight, we are able to see the negative contrast between him to Sissy.
DeleteSay more -- how does Bitzer seem like the better catch?
DeleteThis passage does not have the same passion in its words that the other letters of Dickens or "Oliver Twist" displayed. This passage doesn't even seem to be of any Dickensian style whatsoever. Dickens just seems to have written this passage with a detailed description of the characters but yet these characters seems to be without the passion that he normally puts into his other writings. After having read "Oliver Twist" and the descriptions that caused the imagination to easily become cloaked in the garments of the characters, as well as be transported to the very streets on which they walked. This passage is truly lackluster at best!
ReplyDeleteSo Gregory, take your insight one step further. If you are finding the language here lackluster, might I even say "colorless," why might that be? What is Dickens up to? If we are not on the lively, colorful streets of London, where are we in this passage?
DeleteI am just going to echo what everyone has said. There are several points that I want to bring up. First, Dickens’s writing has really changed when compared to his other writings we read in class. I do not exactly know what has changed, but his detailed descriptions in the passage are full of confidence and more daring than before. Second, there is an obvious comparison between the natural and the unnatural, the living and the mechanical—between Sissy and Bitzer. Lastly, the positions of both the boy and the girl combined with the rest of the class suggests the class resembles a factory more than anything.
ReplyDeleteDickens shows how robotic "facts" are versus "fancy", "His skin was so unwholesomely deficient in the natural tinge, that he looked as though, if he were cut, he would bleed white" (44). The "white blood" that Blizter would bleed shows the: plain, oppressed, colorless, depressive culture of a factual schooling--versus someone who has a fancy education. I also noticed how there is no in between in this description--either it's black or white; theres no in - between.
ReplyDeleteI agree! And it's very noticeable how the passage shifts from being factual and dry to fanciful and descriptive. As mentioned in class, there is a mechanical perspective to how the classroom is set and how the students are trained to be. Even the narration seems mechanical--"the face of the inclined plane in two compact bodies, divided up the centre by a narrow interval"--giving it a "tetris-like" feeling; and without any transition, there's the fanciful description, "His short-cropped hair might have been a mere continuation of the sandy freckles on his forehead and face." This instability of the narrative is also mirrored by the students when they say either "Yes, sir" or "No, sir" after one another.
DeleteExtra points for the tetris reference!
DeleteI like that you all are picking up on the many oppositions (and wait, there still are more so keep going!) in this passage. But also, then, consider the title of the chapter: "Murdering the Innocents." Is Bitzer also an innocent?
ReplyDeletePerhaps. When Dickens writes "is skin was so unwholesomely deficient in the natural tinge, that he looked as though, if he were cut, he would bleed white" I feel that "bleeding white" is a reference to purity. To go one step further, if he bleeds white, then that can be an allusion to "no bad blood", in which case Bitzer can be considered innocent as he does not have any corruption coarsing through his veins.
DeleteThis representation of Bitzer first struck me as seeming to suggest that he was dead. In many ways we would describe a corpse in a similar manner especially the pale, blood-less, skin. This is perhaps what is meant by the title of the chapter. But what I find most troubling of all is that in the chapter Bitzer is not referred to by a number. In falling into line with this form of education, he has gained, in Gradgrind's eyes, an identity. Though Sissy is characterized in more positive terms (or at least as being more healthy) she is simply a number to him.
ReplyDeleteJohn, it's quite interesting how you brought up the word "identity." That's precisely what I had intended to say. What I perceive from reading this passage is that the "whitewashed" classroom setting we are given is Gradgrind's norm or reality. Gradgrind is able to place an identity with children like Bitzer because he has already washed away their youthful, fancy souls whereas Sissy, whom Gradgrind can only identify with something factual like a number, is possibly one of the few in the class who may be immune to the influence of Gradgrind's kind. I was also thinking of Sissy's upbringing. Perhaps the spirited and nurturing environment she grew up in gives her the kind of strength she needs to repel the bleak ways of the factual world. On the other hand, perhaps Bitzer had been raised by parents who advocate the same principles as Gradgrind. This idea of familial influence is quite similar to what we discussed when reading about Rose and Nancy's upbringing in "Oliver Twist."
DeleteGreat how you are picking up on the whitewashed walls of the classroom and the whitewashed -- denuded of all color -- characterization of Bitzer. Oftentimes, Dickens represents physical places (houses, buildings) as human and humans as physical places. Why might he do this?
DeleteI also like your observation that we meet Bitzer without a family but Sissy's family is invoked even as we meet her. What is Dickens saying about family in these first chapters?
On the subject of color, I do agree that Dickens description of Sissy and Bitzer were "colorless" for the obvious reason that he doesn't mention any color at all. He describes their eyes and hair in shades of light and dark. I believe this was done intentionally by Dickens for two possible reasons. First, he probably wanted to leave the color to the imaginations every individual reader to make the illustrations more personal.The second reason may be because he wanted to take a different approach away from his traditional way writing.In most of his novels and sketches we find that Dickens tends to over load the reader with details almost leaving nothing to the imagination.As usual i think Dickens is just experimenting with the different styles of writing and that what makes him such a phenomenal writer!
ReplyDeleteCheck again -- are both children described in the same way?
DeleteI agree with Troy and Miranda that it is a representation of dark and light. Dickens use heavy diction as well as significant descriptions to show the contrast between Sissy and Bitzer. I looked at the meaning of "murdering the innocents" at the bottom of the page it means Herod's attempt to destroy infant Jesus. This definition is relative to Bitzer's character. He is not physically murdered however, his innocence is murdered . Dickens uses words like "dark-eyed" and "dark-hair" to symbolize his "dark" nature.he also describe sissy as light to symbolize her youthfulness and innocence. Dickens mentions this contrast in order to show Bitzer's is not youthful and innocent like other kids. Bitzer innocence is lost due to his dark past
ReplyDeleteRead that again -- your insight is correct, but the characters are flipped. Nevertheless, it still remains a good question: are they both innocents?
DeleteSorry I misread it.sissy has the dark hair and eyes.bitzer is described
DeleteTo have cold eyes and have unwholesomely deficient face while Sissy hair is described as deep and more lustrous color from the sun.the sun is a symbol of light.dickens describes bitzer in a negative light to contrast his loss of innocence from Sissy youthful and innocent nature
Dickens's contrast of the two characters says so much about Blitzer and Sissy in few lines.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to 'Murdering the Innocents' and the two characters as well as the reference to blood made me think which character may be innocent or perhaps not innocent. According to the passage, it would seem as though the way Sissy is described that she is innocent.
And maybe Blitzer by his description is not innocent.
'Murdering the Innocents' leaves many unanswered questions and theories as to what Dickens may be getting at:
Are classrooms ran by people like Gradgrind 'murdering the innocents'? Maybe it could mean it is murdering the INNOCENCE a sort of play-on word by the style and insititutions ran by such people.
Maybe Sissy will end up like Blitzer maybe her innocence will be murdered too.
I agree some of Gregory's idea in saying that the passage had a lack of passion. The passage read more like a blueprint or transcript rather than prose. The passage was boring and distracting. It was distracting because I would not describe a classroom in such a way. The passage actually reminded me of when Bitzer gave the definition of the horse. Although the information on both the classroom and the horse are not wrong they did not say everything, there are information left out. While Bitzer, Mr. Gradgrinds and their facts cannot be disputed in their correctness they do lack something. Sissy on the other hand could potentially represent a more whole person. I think Dicksons in detailing the classroom in this way is to show the readers what a world of just facts would look like. A world of facts would be dull, cold, and incomplete. This passage also represents a critique of the industrialization of England. In that if people only rely on machines and industrialization they themselves will become incomplete.
ReplyDeleteUnlike some of my fellow classmates, I think this passage/story is very Dickension. Both Blitzer and Sissy are essential cut from the same dough;however, the way in which Blitzer rose is arguably higher than Sissy. [ back track: doesn't this remind anyone of Nancy and Rose!!!] The start of Nancy and Rse was similar the inbetween varied, but both females rose to the occasion, no? I digress, the title f the passage causes me to wonder if in fact Dickens is asking his readers in both the last novel and this story to consider the children; the children that London has way to long overlooked need to be attended to.
ReplyDeleteHonestly this is my third time reading this passage because I was really trying to make sense of Dickens's two very different descriptions of the boy and girl, Blitzer and Sissy. If i am understanding correctly, Sissy was dark haired and dark eyed, was this a symbol of beauty versus Blitzer's light hair and eyes? From what I know about Dickens and the setting that he writes I feel that Sissy is more natural than Blitzer who seems to have no color which is symbolic for soul.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think facts what I imagine is thick textbooks containing only words and full of information. When the first speaker from chapter one is introduced we automatically know he believes in facts and nothing else. It is fare to say he represents facts. Because he represents facts Dickens makes his appearance depict that “the speaker’s square forefinger …the speaker’s square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base… the speaker’s mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set… the speaker’s voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial ...the speaker’s obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders.” Dickens’s description of the speaker dehumanizes him and makes him sound like an object, a book. His appearance is square- ish like a book full of facts.
ReplyDeleteThe children are only taught facts making the classroom a representative of facts as well and looks like pages from a book. The “intensely whitewash room” is the white pages while the “boys and girls [sitting] on the face of the inclined plane in two compact bodies, divided up the center by a narrow interval” are the words on the page. Bitzer is light eyed and has light hair and what little color he has is quickly taken away when he steps foot in the classroom, and being taken over by facts. Bitzer no longer posses color which represents imagination or innocence. Bitzer seems to be so drained of color/ imagination that “ if he were cut, he would bleed white.”
Nice connection with earlier passage describing Gradgrind. Yes, you are right, he is a book.
DeleteI think that the title of the chapter is really worth taking into consideration. Murdering the Innocent describes the way Dickens felt about an education which is solely based on facts and no imagination. I think it is both sissy and Bitzer who are symbolically being murdered as they are taught that a practical and mechanical way of thinking is the only way to be successful. The contrast between Sissy and Bitzer is the fact that Bitzer conforms to the whole "live your life based on facts" mentality while Sissy doesn't. This is best seen as Dickens describes the fact that Sissy was "at the corner of a row on the SUNNY side." Sun represents life, something which Sissy is full of and is condemned for. The contrast between light and dark is really important in this passage.
ReplyDelete