"You only knew the town was there, because you knew there could have been no such sulky blotch upon a prospect without a town. A blur of soot and smoke, now confusedly tending this way, now that way, ... a dense formless jumble, with sheets of cross light in it, that showed nothing but masses of darkness:..."
These quotes are found at the very beginning of Book Two Chapter 1. I found it interesting that Dickens decided to open up this new Book with such a negative description of the setting. During the Industrial Revolution, factories became major contributers to environmental issues such as air pollution. Dickens is strongly recognizing the smoke and pollution of this time, so he obviously acknowledges it. Why do you think Dickens made it a point to address this? What feelings of this issue does he convey through his writings? In other words, what do you believe he is trying to say to his audience at this time by simply describing the matter in his novel?
Through Charles Dickens' description of the environment during the Industrial Revolution, readers are able to see that he does not look upon it positively. "You only knew the town was there, because you knew there could have been no such sulky blotch upon a prospect without a town." This excerpt tells readers that Dickens seems to not be very found of towns, seeing them as destruction of the clear air that once surrounded him. He wanted to enforce this problem into the heads of readers during his era, showing that he was one that could not stand for the dull, black pollution taking over the lives of the residence.
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