My name is Courtney Kiesecker,  I am a senior graduating in December and am double majoring in English and Asian Studies. I was interesting in taking this class not just because it was one of the very limited English major electives that I haven’t already taken already, but because I absolutely enjoy the culture that had spawned out of Victorian London. I was torn between studying abroad in London and Japan last semester, but ultimately went ahead and studied in Tokyo to improve my Japanese language skills. After graduation I hope to go back to Japan to teach English to Japanese students ranging from primary to secondary education.

From the Robinson reading, I gathered many of the broad topics of poverty, expansionism, industrialism, the division between the social classes and so on that is typically taught in history classes and throughout readings of novels like Dickens, Doyle, the Bronte sisters, and the Brownings’ poetry. But what I happened to find interesting was the distinct separation of the social class through the massive body of water, the Thames River. That physical, geographical representation of social diversion is essential to the theme of space that we had talked about on the first day of class. But where poverty was, the industrialized Victorian Era’s bridges to connect the north and the south brought about industry and banks. But not only did poverty play a part in poor living conditions, but now with the introduction of industry, including heavy industrial industry creating poor health decisions that would cause harder living conditions. And because of the heavy concentration surrounding the Thames River, the overcrowded nature of London, the city that had a concentrated population boom, was another key part of Victorian London’s decline in living conditions. The great innovations that were brought about in London society to bring the city into the modern era also held a negative impact on the livelihood of London citizens.