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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
In Gothic fiction, external environmental conditions (like weather or landscape) are frequently written to reflect characters' internal turmoil. While Nicholas Nickleby does employ such gothic techniques, Dickens takes the device one step further. In Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens utilizes place settings as tools to reflect or shed light upon characters' internal conditions; these external place settings, in turn, reflect the broader societal conditions that impact the characters' internal lives.
One such prominent place setting in Nicholas Nickleby is London. Dickens includes a wide range of descriptions of the city throughout the novel, taking particular note of impoverished areas and the people who live there. Dickens tends to perseverate on these squalid districts and slums, using the descriptions he writes as a method of social commentary. London both represents the internal struggles of Dickens's characters and externalizes them, connecting Nicholas and his family's financial difficulties to the general state of living for poor Londoners.
Similarly, Dotheboys Hall both represents the internal struggles of the characters who live within and connects their situation to broader social conditions. The school is dilapidated, decrepit, and miserable; so are the characters who live and are forced to work there. The school's dilapidation reflects both Squeers's neglect of the boys and a general societal neglect of impoverished people.
Related Themes:
