Charles Dickens

Although the era of the Industrial Revolution was filled with excitement and curiosity of many new commodities, some saw this era of change as disruptive and traumatizing. As a result of industrialization, many people experienced disorientation as everything around them began to change. Charles Dickens dramatizes some of these pessimistic feelings in The Coming of the Railway from Dombey and Son. In this passage, Dickens describes the "vast demolition of neighborhoods and upheaval of the landscape" associated with the moving in of railways(495). 

The passage begins by equilibrating the moving in of the railway with the aftermath of an earthquake: 

"The first shock of a great earthquake had, just at that period, rent the whole neighborhood to its centre. Traces of its course were visible on every side. Houses were knocked down; streets broken through and stopped; deep pits and trenches dug in the ground; enormous heaps of earth and clay thrown up; buildings that were undermined and shaking" (496).

In this quotation it is clear that the construction of these railroads is destroying the community and as a result, society is in turmoil. The railway has torn through the community, as would a natural disaster- damaging everything in it's path. This event was unwanted, unexpected and the people seemed to be incredibly unprepared. All that was once familiar to the people is gone, such that, they feel they have lost the identity of their community, which has since gained an "incompleteness" about it (496). As a result, the people responded with "fiery eruptions" while some "lent... confusion to the scene"(496). 

Dickens also makes a very interesting comparison to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel when he writes, "Babel towers of chimneys, wanting half their height"(496). In the book of Genesis, the people of Babel attempt to build a tower tall enough to reach the heavens, but because the tower was built not to honor God but to glorify man in the name of "progress," God divided the people by language barriers and scattered them throughout the earth. Dickens relates this to the arrival of the railway, also built for the glory of man and towards greater "civilization and progress," but it also ends in "dire disorder" and "confusion" of the people(496). 

I believe these descriptions to be a little too pessimistic and dramatic. The comparisons with the earthquake and the Tower of Babel allow for a well-developed illustration, but it disregards the positive aspects associated with industrialization such as the convenience and novelty of new methods of transportation. Dickens makes it seem that the people of this community were completely taken aback, while "progress" destroyed all they knew while they stood helpless and angered as the railway continued through. Perhaps if the people of this community had responded with less anger and more of an open mind, there would have been less confusion and chaos and more of an innovative spirit. Such a spirit could be used by the people to utilize the railway in the most beneficial manner and to revitalize the community, as opposed to tear it down.  

Dickens goes on to write, "the yet unfinished and unopened Railroad was in progress; and, from the very core of all this dire disorder, trailed smoothly away, upon its mighty course of civilisation and improvement"(496). This quotation allows the reader to witness Dickens' sarcasm as he references 'civilization and improvement' towards which the railroad travels although it leaves a community overturned in it's wake. Here it seems as if the railroad's purpose is only to pummel through for some unknown purpose. Again, if society could have looked into the purpose and productivity of this technology, the apprehension and fear associated with this new era could have been lightened and eventually taken advantage of. Even after the railroad had come in, the people were hesitant to take this advantage. One of the taverns of the community "had taken for its sign The Railway Arms" and was therefore deemed a "rash enterprise"(496). Even those who did try to accept change were considered too daring or irrational, although they were the few who were actually looking at the situation in the most beneficial manner. 

The "mighty" railroad is conveyed as some unexpected force, unwelcome and unappreciated regardless of the progressive attributes it had to offer. In this community described by Dickens, change was harshly rejected, and as a result, the people were angry and confused. Change is inevitable and sometimes undesirable, but in order to make the best of the situation, society must accept change so that they may eventually thrive from it.