56 pages • 1 hour read
Jonathan AuxierSweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: Rapid Industrialization in England
During the 18th and 19th centuries, England went through a period of intense industrialization known as the Industrial Revolution. This transitional period fundamentally and irrevocably changed everyone’s way of life in England. Before this period, England was ruled by the feudal system and was largely a pastoral, agricultural country; most people were involved in farming and lived in small hamlets that were overseen by local aristocrats. Those who did not farm produced goods on a small scale for their local communities; clothing and equipment were made with locally produced materials. Before the Industrial Revolution, travel between places was also costly and time-consuming, so people mainly stayed in the same general area for the entirety of their lives.
Industrialization changed the fabric of English society. Mechanized farming procedures meant that food could be produced on a large scale; these techniques favored larger farms rather than many individually run farms. This shift meant that people needed to earn wages in order to buy food, rather than producing food themselves. Many people drifted into cities for work, where factories had replaced hand-looms for mass producing material and clothing. Furthermore, mechanized means of transport meant that people could more ably travel long distances between places. There was a resulting boom in production, transport, and sales.
However, industrialization did not necessarily improve the lives of all English people, despite the massive leaps in technological knowledge and production. A country which had once been dotted with hamlets was soon characterized by enormous, industrialized cities which housed a large number of impoverished, desperate, and destitute people. Exploitative work arrangements quickly became common in the rapidly expanding cities; desperation forced many people to work extortionate and exhausting hours for minimal wages. Working conditions were unsafe and unsanitary, and disease and poor health became endemic. Educational opportunities were limited to the very rich; most children in cities worked rather than attending school. (Moorhouse, Dan. “Before the Industrial Revolution.” Schoolhistory.org.uk, 2023).
Historical Context: Chimney Sweeps
After the fire of London in 1666, thatch-roofed houses were banned in London in favor of houses made of brick or stone. Given that fires were needed for warmth and for cooking, chimneys became a staple in these houses to allow smoke to escape. However, chimneys posed a fire risk if not cleared regularly of accumulated coal and soot. This necessitated chimney sweeps, hired workers who were employed to clean the city’s many chimneys. Children (usually boys, but sometimes girls) were often hired by chimney sweep businesses, as their small, slender frames allowed them to climb into tight, narrow chimney flues: spaces that adults simply could not reach. These chimney sweeps, or “climbing boys,” endured harsh conditions. They were sold into the profession by desperate parents and were therefore legally tied to their masters until adulthood, with no option of escape.
The profession was perilous. Many chimneys (or flues) were built in tiny proportions with awkward angles; children would often become stuck in their narrow confines. While some could be saved with ropes, others often suffocated and died; chimneys would then need to be partially deconstructed to remove the bodies of these unfortunate children. Other risks of the profession included being burned by still-hot chimneys, growing deformed bones from the taxing and awkward work, and developing lung problems from inhalation of soot (which often resulted in early death). Some children even went blind from rubbing soot into their eyes, or developed soot wart (testicular cancer) due to the hazardous conditions. A number of individuals and organizations finally began to document and object to the treatment of these unfortunate children. In 1875, the government finally passed a series of laws collectively called the Chimney Sweepers Act, which banned the employment of children as chimney sweeps and insisted on accountability for cruel and neglectful employers. (Brain, Jessica. “Chimney Sweeps and Climbing Boys.” Historic UK, 2021).
Literary Context: William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
These two illustrated books of poetry were published in 1789 and 1794, respectively. Both texts contain a poem entitled “The Chimney Sweeper.” In Songs of Innocence, Blake details the misery of the life of the child sweep but concludes on a hopeful note with the reminder of a joyful and heavenly afterlife. On the other hand, “The Chimney Sweeper” that appears in Songs of Experience cynically condemns Christianity and churchgoers for ignoring the desperation and cruelty experienced by chimney sweeps. The chimney sweep depicted in this second, darker poem is happy to die to escape such a hellish life while others remain criminally indifferent to the child’s absolute misery. In this work, Blake openly attacks the hypocrisy and cruel indifference of the church and of his society as a whole (“William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.” Tate UK, 2023).
Jonathon Auxier pays homage to Blake’s work and underlying social critique by organizing the novel into two parts, each of which refer to Blake’s poems; Part 1 is called “Innocence,” while Part 2 is called “Experience.” Nan herself also reads both of Blake’s poems and condemns the more cheerful representation of sweeps in Songs of Innocence, while identifying with the chimney sweep poem in Songs of Experience. She later sings this poem to the gathered Londoners in the square below the matchstick as part of the May Day protest.
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