children

One connection I made is how Pip and the child factory workers in “The Cry of the Children” can be viewed as similar. Throughout the poem, images of a factory Hell are contrasted with the Heaven of the English countryside, the inferno of industrialism with the bliss of a land-based society. This is much like how Pip feels after he is introduced to Miss. Havisham and Estella’s lifestyle. Forced to learn the trade of a blacksmith he is miserable similar to how the children in the factories feel. They are both abused and work under poor conditions as well. Both of these works are told from the point of view of a child which also seems to be a reoccurring theme in Victorian literature. In “Great Expectations”, because the story is being told from Pip’s perspective, we have a more sympathetic view from young Pip and really feel and connect to his emotions much like the factory children in the poem. Although the works share some similarities, such as the abused child and emotional perspectives,  Pip is able to escape his fate unlike the children of the factory.

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