In many works by Charles Dickens, material objects are described to possess human nature and human beings are depicted as mater -ialized. The transgression of the boundary, which reflects the characters` psychological operation, can be explained by th...
In many works by Charles Dickens, material objects are described to possess human nature and human beings are depicted as mater -ialized. The transgression of the boundary, which reflects the characters` psychological operation, can be explained by the concept of reification by Georg Lukacs. In The Old Curiosity Shop, commodities placed at the nexus of trade are reified in the capitalistic world. Nell loses subjectivity in her response to the visual image of commodities, and comes to death in the end. Mr. Quilp representative of greedy capitalist dies with a stake in his heart, which is intended to satirize reification. Human identification with machinery for industrial production can be found in Black Country. The Victorian domesticity is under the sway of reification in Great Expectations. Pip`s responses to the material objects, often in the illusionary states, disclose the way reification has impact upon him at the unconscious level. Human identification with a house is a trait of Dickens. Miss. Havisham, who resides surrounded by the material things in the house, is assimilated to the house. That she is in the ironically miserable state satirizes reification. The change of Pip`s response to the material in the end reflects Dickens`s judgment on reification.