British And American Culture In Dickens’ Eyes-a Study On Trains In Dombey And Son And American Notes

Dombey and Son is one of Dickens’representative works of critical realism. It tells a story about Mr. Dombey, a capitalist who believes the supremacy of money. Dombey treats everything and everybody cold-bloodedly, including his wife and daughter, and finally goes bankrupt. In this work, Dickens describes the train and railway in details and makes train the dominant image, which promotes the development of the whole story. Trains and railways also appear in other works of Dickens. In American Notes created in the same period of Dombey and Son, we can find his observation on trains and passengers. The experience on the train lets Dickens know the American culture from one side.Trains and railways are undoubtedly the important symbols of industrial civilization in the 19th century, so they have a rich meaning. Dickens’descriptions of trains and relevant scenes provide us with a special perspective to analyze his views on British and American culture in the 19th century. In the 1840s, Britain, which had already finished the industrial revolution, had a rapid development in capitalist economy. With the increase of material wealth, people’s consciousness had changed correspondingly. In all aspects of life, they were pursuing the same speed as the train. Through observing the British society through the railway and the train, Dombey and Son also reflects the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the class conflicts. This phenomenon did not occur only in Britain. By traveling in America for half a year, Dickens found America, which was constructing the railway vigorously, had a persistent pursuit for speed. Different services provided by the train for passengers of different status also reflect the similar social problems and class conflicts with Britain. Certainly, Dickens also found differences between British culture and American one. Overall, his experience on the train makes him more confident in the British culture, so he keeps a more positive view to Britain. Therefore, in the end of the novel, he shapes a completely changed Dombey, who is a specimen of the social improvement. His experience in American trains shows his prejudice against young America and his sense of superiority as a British citizen, yet it does reveal some truth of American life in the 19th century when the country was not as civilized as Britain.