Similarities Between Bleak House and The Man of the Crowd

Poe begins his narrative by introducing us to a variety of city dwellers from the upper class gentry to town drunks. He is the detective like observer taking note of every detail of a person’s attire, expression and character. Structurally Bleak house functions in the same way. As the cast is introduced we are taken into the High Court at Chancery where we are once more introduced to the business men and clerks old and young, gentlemen and pick pockets as described by Poe. As we get a closer look at the cast of characters we can see that Mr. Skimpole is the pickpocket in form of the “dandy” and Mr. Boythorn might just be the “sharper” in the form of the military man, if we go by his booming voice. We even see the “drunk” at Mrs. Jellybee’s house in the form of the cook. But why do both authors take so much care in describing these classes with so much unflattering detail? Is it to highlight their poverty, their desperation or their shrewd and false criminality? In Poe’s introduction of people he observes them with skepticism by describing them as “professional beggars” who scowl at those in need of charity. He describes the young clerks as “facsimiles of the gentry”, everywhere he looks there is a copy or imitation of the upper classes. He even expresses disbelief in that gentlemen actually confuse these people as one of their own sometimes. Dicken’s does the same in his narrative by making people pleasant to the cast of characters but with the underlying disquietude of incertitude about the given character. Our most obvious examples are Mr. Skimpole, whose name alone suggests that he “skimps” out on his children and mooches off of his friends. There is always the underlying current of suspicion held by the reader when introduced to new characters. Mrs. Jellybee for all her proclamations of doing good in Africa does not succeed in convincing the reader of this “truth.” Another similar character is Mrs. Padriggle. I do not have the answer to the question of  why these characters are represented in this light, but it seems to me that the narrators report from a privileged point of view. Poe’s narrator is an outsider, casting judgments and in someway Dickens’ two narrators do so as well. Are the authors projecting the views of the upper classes on those who dare to dream of rising above their stations one day. Is it to express the disgust that one will feel at entering into the lives of the poor in order to create an awareness of their situation?

            Another point of interest to me was the narrator in both stories. Poe’s voyeuristic narrator seemed in some ways to be the “Man of the Crowd” himself. The entire narrative the narrator functions as a shadow to this mysterious man, able to be in tune with his body language and facial expression from behind. Their illnesses are almost the same, unknown but drive them to move about the city. It is almost as if the man is narrating for the audience from an out of body experience if one looks a from a psychoanalytic point of view. It is eerie. The same can be said about the alternation of narrator in Bleak House, like a split personality coming to life at night while the real person sleeps. The third person narrator disappears when Esther enters the scene but reappears when Esther is gone to bed and vanishes once more when she awakens to resume her narrative. Once again why have the authors chosen to tell their stories in this bizarre manner?