 Chapter Ten: Stephen Blackpool
The story turns to the workers of Coketown, a group of laborers known as "the Hands." Among them lived a decent man named Stephen Blackpool. He is forty but he looks much older and has had a hard life. In fact, those who know him have nicknamed him "Old Stephen." Stephen has very little as far as intelligence or social graces and he is very simply defined as "good power-loom weaver, and a man of perfect integrity." After his long hours in the factory, once the lights and bells are shut down, he looks for his friend Rachael. On this night, he cannot find her but just when he is convinced that he has missed her, she appears.
Rachael is also a laborer, she is thirty-five years old and she is a gentle, caring person. They have been friends for many years and Stephen takes consolation in this. Whenever his life seems unbearable, Stephen knows that Rachael will make him feel better. She repeatedly advises him that when life is as unpleasant as theirs, it is better not to think about it at all. They walk together towards the part of town where they both live. Here, the houses are extremely small and dirty. Stephen does not even live in a house‹he lives in a small room above a shop. He tries best to keep things as orderly as possible and he is always courteous in regards to the woman who rents the small room to him.
It seems that this night is full of bad luck for Stephen. He enters his room and he stumbles against a wretched figure that frightens him. A drunk and disabled woman is in his room and she is apparently someone that he knows. As the chapter ends, she laughs at Stephen scornfully. She has returned from some part of the past to ruin his life and give him even more to worry about. She passes out in a drunken stupor and Stephen is left to his misery.
Analysis:
Dickens' portrayal of Stephen Blackpool is a form of characterization that basically equates the figure and the scene. Stephen is the personification of his town and the symbol of the downtrodden working-class. The name "blackpool" relies upon basic negative imagery to suggest Stephen's dim prospects. This is entirely true and unwavering: only bad things happen to Stephen even though he remains an incredibly virtuous person throughout his adversity. Both Stephen and Rachel fit into Dickens' sentimental depiction of the working-class as more decent and morally fit than their alleged superiors. The drunken woman at the end of the chapter is a reminder of reality, that not all poor people are also decent.
The city is described using the imagery of a hell-like place. It is confusing, ugly and full of smoke. In one passage, the description of the scene contains an allusion to the "Labyrinth" of Greek mythology‹a maze in which a vengeful monster (called the Minotaur) lived. Coketown is a labyrinth in that it is maze-like; each building and street identically resembles the squalor and misery found in all of the other poor-houses and alleys. There is the irony of the factories being described as "Fairy palaces" featuring bells, an elephant and a serpent. Not only are the factories instances of fact versus fancy (and fairies) but there is nothing innocent nor anything harmless about these "Fairy palaces." The "titanic shadows," the serpent and the threatening words of the drunken woman complete the symbolism of looming threatening danger. In drunkenness, just as in a maze, everything looks the same and everything is unclear
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