Thomas Carlyle was a role model for extremely talented writers such as “his fellow Victorians. Mill, Tennyson, Browning, Dickens, Ruskin, and many others” who “idolized him,” (top of p. 475) and still is a role model today. He was a man who envisioned great change for his country. What mattered the most to him was to make his country a better, stronger country with ideals and goals to reach, rather than concentrating on the people’s wealth. He had a strong sense of patriotism and wanted the people of Scotland to be proud. He was tired of seeing people giving up and urged them to take a stand and do “something” about their situation. “Crying” and “blaming” the situation you are in, will not help you be a stronger human being. Today, I actually read a quote from an “unknown author” that Carlyle would most likely agree with: "Smooth roads never make good drivers. Smooth seas never make good sailors. Clear skies never make good pilots. A problem free life never makes a strong and good person. Have a tough but winning day ahead! Be strong enough to accept the challenges of life. Do not ask life, “Why me?” instead say, “Try me”.” Through his words, Carlyle was able to motivate people to try to make a difference. I appreciated the fact that he expressed his ideas and points of view to a certain category of people like the “captains of industry” (p.482), for example, instead of addressing his message to the masses.
In “Past and Present,” Carlyle portrays the wealth of Scotland:
“We have more riches than any Nation ever had before; we have less good of them than any Nation ever had before. Our successful industry is hitherto unsuccessful; a strange success, if we stop here! In the midst of plethoric plenty, the people perish; with gold walls, and full barns, no man feels himself safe or satisfied” (p. 480, 2nd paragraph). Carlyle insinuates that Scotland should not try to get wealthier if that hurts the society overall. This is more than likely to be detrimental and doomed for failure in the future. Someone would need to take a stand and change the way society functions in order to keep up with the overwhelming growing industrialism. It is a burden on the people but FOR the well-being of the people and the development of the entire country.
In the “Gospel of Mammonism,” the poor Irish Widow is a great example of how poorly lower level class people were acknowledged at that time period. “At this Charitable Establishment and then at that she was refused; referred from one to the other, helped by none; ---till she had exhausted them all; till her strength and heart failed her: she sank down in typhus-fever; died, and infected her Lane with fever, so that “seventeen other persons” died of fever there in consequence” (bottom paragraph p. 480). This wonderfully written sentence, in which I admire the use of its complex sentence structure, is a perfect summary of the situation. When she cried out for help, everyone seemed to avoid her or to look at her in a pitiful way. However, once she “killed” dozens of people by spreading typhoid fever, she was seen as a problem and someone we should pay attention to. Her poverty did not catch anyone’s attention… But her death did? Why would society wait for her to be of any “harm” before acting appropriately? Was it so hard to just lend a helping hand to that lady? Selfishness and poverty were the main issues shown there. People lived only to solve problems concerning themselves and did not realize helping someone else might end up helping oneself on the long run. Remember the sayings: “treat others the way you would want to be treated” or again “care is the only thing you get more of by giving it away.” People did not understand those two concepts because they were scared and short-sighted. I would like to mention that in the 21st century, we tend to resemble to those who let that “poor Irish widow” down more and more. Honor and a sense of an accomplished duty does not matter that much anymore. Helping others has become of less importance. We take that for granted now and believe we can “get around” that and enjoy our own little fortune without worrying about others. Another factor causing that general animosity is the lack of trust due. Thieves use “imaginary poverty” to fool an individual.
I digressed a bit here but le us come back to the topic. This woman did not belong to those “new generation of crooks,” but was only reaching for people’s kindness and leniency at a charity place, a place you could believe her suffering sigh would be heard and taken care of. Nevertheless, she has been ignored and “forgotten on the side of the road” as so many like her did. If you preach to be a “charitable establishment” (p. 480) have the decency to follow through with it. You have for mission to provide care to everyone getting through your door. Vice had completely taken over Edinburgh, and Carlyle demonstrates a great lesson through that story whispering to human beings not to take on heartless actions because they will not go unpunished.
Every man does have some liability to the well-being of his neighbors, even if those less fortunate do not affect us directly.
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3 comments:
Ivan,
Excellent discussion of these particular passages from Carlyle's Past and Present, and his castigation of England's leaders and motivation of England's masses. (Note that he is talking about England, not Scotland; at this time Scotland was conspicuously less wealthy than England--and still is). Your observations on the "poor Irish widow" section is pretty good--I like the way you connect its relevance to our own society.
I liked how you described society's reaction to the irish widow. They responded to her when she caused death, but had no intentions to pay attention to her because of her poor status. It seems that Carlye has a big insight on how the government should be running because he sees that the future will end up in chaos if nothing is changed.
So Carlyle was like an early motivationalist and others have now fallen in behind him to make the world a better place. I think the Carlyle had many great ideas that might have been a little before his time.
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