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Parody
Definition of Personification
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the... read full definition
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Newgate:
In Chapter 4, the narrator takes the time to describe Newgate Prison, dwelling in particular on its location within London. Dickens personifies the penitentiary in the following excerpt, highlighting the effect the building has on its surroundings:
There, at the very core of London [...] stands Newgate; and in that crowded street on which it frowns so darkly – within a few feet of the squalid tottering houses – upon the very spot on which the vendors of soup and fish and damaged fruit are now plying their trades.
In the above passage, the entirety of Newgate prison "looks down" on the populace below it, leveling sentences against its "squalid tottering houses" and "damaged fruit," waiting for the opportunity to swallow people whole. Newgate "frowns so darkly" down upon the "squalid" houses, as though the prison itself judges the impoverished citizens living inside and outside of its walls. This use of figurative language reflects the exploitative, excessively punitive treatment of poor people within the greater prison system. It would not have been uncommon in Dickens's day and age for a person to be forced into debtors prison if unable to recoup their financial losses. Dickens characterizes Newgate and other prisons like it as predatory, menacing and intimidating the poor into compliance.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Gothic Nature:
Chapter 6 consists of several stories/parables told inside of the main narrative, including one about the Five Sisters of York. These sisters allegorize 1830s society, representing the secular, materialist worldview Dickens seeks to satirize in Nicholas Nickleby.
For this particular story, Dickens uses imagery in the gothic sense of the word, relating upsets within the natural world to upsets within the characters themselves. Within the story of the Five Sisters, the following instance of gothic imagery precedes their worldly condemnation for refusing to give up on materialism:
‘There was a sullen darkness in the sky, and the sun had gone angrily down, tinting the dull clouds with the last traces of his wrath, when the same black monk walked slowly on with folded arms, within a stone’s-throw of the abbey. A blight had fallen on the trees and shrubs; and the wind at length beginning to break the unnatural stillness that had prevailed all day, sighed heavily from time to time, as though foretelling in grief the ravages of the coming storm.'
This passage also includes an important instance of personification: "the sun had gone angrily down, tinting the dull clouds with the last traces of his wrath." Dickens's use of imagery and figurative language in this passage points to some sort of dour future for the young women in the story. Nature is angry; in Gothic fiction, this always foreshadows something bad.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Dreams:
Toward the beginning of Chapter 8, the narrator reflects on the quality of Nicholas's dreams, even taking the opportunity to personify the dreams themselves:
A ride of two hundred and odd miles in severe weather, is one of the best softeners of a hard bed that ingenuity can devise. Perhaps it is even a sweetener of dreams, for those which hovered over the rough couch of Nicholas, and whispered their airy nothings in his ear, were of an agreeable and happy kind.
In a curious use of figurative language, Dickens personifies the dreams that "whisper airy nothings in [Nicholas's] ear." This passage represents further exploration of the idea that dreams "sweeten" reality and provide an escape from the banal evils of life. Compare Nicholas's dreams to those of the Dotheboys Hall boys: his are of little substance, whispering "airy nothings" in his ears. Nicholas has not lived a life entirely without hardship, but his life has been far less difficult than the lives of Smike and the other orphaned boys. Nicholas's dreams are of little substance because they are not required to sustain him against a harsh reality. The Dotheboys Hall boys must dream dreams of great substance, however, for dreams are all that exist to sustain them in the face of hardship.
Chapter 32
Explanation and Analysis—Describing London:
In Chapter 32, the narrator includes a description of London, detailing the hustle and bustle of the metropolis. Dickens uses the passage to dwell on lives lived in parallel—connections made between strangers in a large city, even as they go about their day-to-day activities never speaking to or acknowledging one another. To discuss this phenomenon, Dickens utilizes personification:
There was a christening party at the largest coffin-maker’s, and a funeral hatchment had stopped some great improvements in the bravest mansion. Life and death went hand in hand; wealth and poverty stood side by side; repletion and starvation laid them down together.
In the above passage, the narrator specifically highlights the fact that in such a large city, every potential aspect of life that could occur does occur—and does so concurrently with all others, given the close proximity of so many human beings. The narrator personifies these aspects of life: wealth and poverty, repletion and starvation, even death. Each of these stand hand in hand, representing and represented by the people that flood the London streets. If one person is dying, somewhere, another person is being born; if one person has lost their spouse to death, somewhere, another couple is getting married. Dickens dwells on this cycle of life within a city setting, personifying London's component experiences.
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