Teaching Bleak House

Instructions for You

Objective: No one will be surprised if your students feel overwhelmed by the many characters in Bleak House. Even we here at Shmoop get a little discombobulated reading this one.

In this assignment, students will be making heads and tails of all these people, their relationships, and their importance in the story.

As students are reading, they'll be gathering names and specific information about each character. We recommend using these information-gathering sessions as a jumping off point for classroom discussions. 

Surprise: the second half of the assignment will be a written paper. Students should brainstorm and nail down their thesis in class so that you know they're on the right track. The written portion of the assignment could really take several class periods, or the assignment can be completed at home. We'll leave it up to you, wise one.

Materials Needed: Pen, paper, Copies of Bleak House, and/or Shmoop's handy summary , and a place to upload papers (Google Docs, Dropbox, whatevs).

Step 1: We want students to start gathering information about all these characters as soon as they start reading. After you do a quick intro to this assignment, we're going to create a simple four column chart to keep track of everyone. The far left hand side will have the characters' names, followed by a column for social status, a column for where the character lives, and lastly a column for any additional notes.

Step 2: Folks start popping up pretty fast and furious once this novel gets going; as students read, they should populate their charts with information as it's revealed and definitely make copious notes in the notes column. These notes should focus on how they think Dickens uses the character for social commentary.

Step 3: What's that? They've gotten through the whole book? Already? They have all the names and notes? They're good.

Now we'll consider Dickens' subtext, and what he's saying with all these characters. He's got his nasty third person narrator who is pure vinegar, and it's through this voice that we get to "hear" more about what Dickens is really trying to say.

We've got some questions for a great classroom discussion about Dickens' views in Bleak House:

• What does Big Daddy Dickens think about the justice system? Consider the following: this case has driven folks (literally) nuts, driven them to suicide, isn't resolved until the estate runs out of money, and only serves the interests of the system.
• What does Dickens think about poverty? What keeps poor people poor in this novel? What are the consequences of poverty?
• Does the stigma of poverty change according to social status? How is Skimpole's indebtedness different than the poverty of folks like Jenny?
• What about rich folks and their assumptions about the poor? (Hint: think about Sir and Lady Dedlock.)
• What power do women have in this novel, if any? What jobs do they have? What is their primary social function? How do women in different social circles have different social functions?
• What are men like, according to Dickens? Think about Mr. Jellyby, Skimpole, Jarndyce and other male characters. What jobs do they have? What is their primary social function?

Step 4: That's some real talk, and could take up most of a class period and into the next. Our next step is to have each student think about which of those discussion questions speaks to them. Which do they find the most compelling?

You guessed it: they should choose a question they'd most like to explore in the form of a paper.

Step 5: Ready for a little fun? Not too much; we're still in Victorian England. Have students get into groups of three to four; each person in the group should be writing about different questions.

The groups will help each other generate mad evidence for their essays, pulling quotes and ideas from the text for themselves and for each other. They should use the notes on characters that they gathered as they were reading. See what we did there? That's right. Full circle.

By the end of this activity, each student should have a minimum of five quotes from the book that they can use as evidence.

Step 6: This can happen at home or in class: now that each student has loads of evidence to work with, they should determine how they'll answer their question. Have students come up with a single statement: this is their thesis.

Maybe it looks something like this: In Charles Dickens' Bleak House, women are the hapless victims of their male counterparts.

…Ouch.

Step 7: Now students will write their first draft. We'd like them to churn out at least a three pager here (or about 600 words). They'll need to include an intro (with thesis statement, name of the author, and novel title), body paragraphs with evidence, and a convincing conclusive paragraph.

Have them write the entire first draft, either in class or at home, before moving on to the next step.

Step 8: Once they have a first draft, students will get back into their old groups. This time around, students will share their first draft and get feedback from their buddies. Have everyone put eyeballs to paper and mark up all manner of mistakes (hey, we all make 'em). Remind them to be respectful and nice.

Step 9: Once the clean up crew's been through, students will go back to their paper and polish everything up nice and tidy. Once they're finished, they should upload their paper to submit to you, and then kick back and relax after a job well done.

Instructions for Your Students

For this one, we're going to track who's who in Bleak House and take note of things like characters' social status and where they live. The characters will help us to figure out just how Chuck Dickens felt about things like women's role in society, poverty, and the justice system. The good stuff.

Surprise: You'll also be writing a paper, choosing a theme from the book you find especially interesting (we know there's at least one), and using the information you gathered about the characters as evidence. It's a lot to sort through, but we know you got this, and you'll also have your classmates to lean on. More like Fleek House.

Step 1: Before you even start reading the novel, you're going to create a simple four column chart to keep track of everyone who shows up. The far left hand side will have the characters' names, followed by a column for social status, a column for where the character lives, and lastly a column for any additional notes.

Step 2: Folks start popping up pretty fast and furious; as you read, you should fill out your chart with information as it's revealed and definitely make notes in the notes column. These notes should focus on any thoughts you have on how Dickens uses the character for social commentary.

Step 3: What's that? You've gotten through the whole book? You have all the names and notes? You're good.

Now we'll consider Dickens' subtext, and what he's saying with all these characters. He's got his nasty third person narrator who is pure vinegar, and it's through this voice that we get to 'hear' more about what Dickens is really trying to say.

It's time to discuss. We've got some questions for a great classroom discussion about Dickens' views in Bleak House:

• What does Big Daddy Dickens think about the justice system? Consider the following: this case has driven folks (literally) nuts, driven them to suicide, isn't resolved until the estate runs out of money, and only serves the interests of the system.
• What does Dickens think about poverty? What keeps poor people poor in this novel? What are the consequences of poverty?
• Does the stigma of poverty change according to social status? How is Skimpole's indebtedness different from the poverty of folks like Jenny?
• What about rich folks and their assumptions about the poor? (Hint: think about Sir and Lady Dedlock.)
• What power do women have in this novel, if any? What jobs do they have? What is their primary social function? How do women in different social circles have different social functions?
• What are men like, according to Dickens? Think about Mr. Jellyby, Skimpole, Jarndyce and other male characters. What jobs do they have? What is their primary social function?

Step 4: That's some real talk. Think about which of those discussion questions speaks to you. Which do you find the most compelling, or want to explore more in depth?

You guessed it: you should choose a question you'd like to explore in the form of a paper.

Step 5: Ready for a little fun? Not too much; we're still in Victorian England. Your teacher will split you into groups of three to four, in which each person will be writing about different questions.

You'll help each other generate mad evidence, pulling quotes and ideas from the text for yourself and for each other. You'll use the notes on characters that you gathered as you were reading. See what we did there? Full circle.

By the end of this activity, you should have a minimum of five quotes from the book that you can use as evidence in your essay.

Step 6: Now that you have loads of evidence to work with, you should look at your quotes and determine how you'll answer the question you chose. Answer your question in one single statement. Congrats: this is your thesis.

Maybe it looks something like this: In Charles Dickens' Bleak House, women are the hapless victims of their male counterparts.

…Ouch.

Step 7: Now you're ready to put together your first draft. We want at least a three pager here (or about 600 words). Your essay will need to include an intro (with thesis statement, name of the author, and novel title), body paragraphs with evidence, and a convincing conclusive paragraph.

You'll write the entire first draft, either in class or at home, before moving on to the next step.

Step 8: Got that? Now back into your old groups. This go-around, you'll share your first draft with your classmates and get feedback. We want you to put eyeballs to paper and mark up all manner of mistakes (hey, we all make 'em). Be nice, buddy.

Step 9: The clean up crew's been through, and it's time to polish everything nice and tidy. Once you've given your paper the once over, you'll upload it for your teacher to check out. Then, kick back and relax after a job well done.