The Great Trouble

“I might never have been on a farm in all my nearly thirteen years, but I’d seen my share of raging beasts at the old Smithfield livestock market, a fearful but exciting place.”

Eel’s discussion of where he has and has not seen animals establishes the insularity of his life in lower-class London. This prevents readers from making sweeping generalizations about the past, for although agrarianism was still a dominant occupation in Victorian England, not all who lived in that era were more familiar with farm life than with city life.

“You might say I was mired in my own murky thoughts.”

With this statement, Eel shows his capacity for metaphor. This knowledge of figurative language to express feelings more accurately highlights Eel’s education and intelligence: crucial talents that he will employ throughout the novel. Moreover, the comparison suggests the perpetual issue of Class Division in Victorian London, for just as Eel is stuck in his thoughts, he also sees himself as being “mired” in his limited capacity as a mudlark.

“I didn’t fancy getting scratched to shreds and having my arms turn bright red from dirty wounds. Last winter, another mudlark, a lad of only eight, had nearly lost his foot after stepping on a piece of sharp glass.”

Eel’s awareness that unclean injuries can lead to infection foreshadows the fact that he will be able to apply this understanding to discern the existing connection between sanitation and health within the context of the epidemic as well. With its focus on issues of safety, the novel brings attention to the changing attitudes around public health that took place in the Victorian era.