Watermen's Hall

 One image that immediately came to mind after I read the question was the description of the Watermen’s hall in which William was accepted as an apprentice of Mr. Middleton. Even before William walked into the room, he described the staircase there as “out of a dream”. As he walks in he continues his extravagant description of the room by calling it grand and describing the furniture, such as the rug being Turkish and the table being mahogany, a foreign good, as foreign goods, which at the time were difficult to get and expensive. The image was described after we saw how hard and physically exhausting being a waterman is through William rowing from Hay’s wharf to Sufferance Dock and from Wapping Old Stairs to Fresh Wharf in a week. We, also soon after learned about how little William would make some rough days as he only pocketed pennies.


The description and context show me about the immense wealth and work proportion disparity between the business owners and the workers. The owners have luxurious goods that are expensive and live a rich extravagant lifestyle while the workers have to resort to thievery to provide for their families, as they sometimes made pennies after a day’s worth of work. The workers also have to do much more work, rowing a boat until they are physically damaged every day, while the business owners probably originally had to do the same work, they probably do not do it anymore, as they are rich.


Comments

  1. Eloise DanielloJanuary 15, 2023 at 11:01 PM

    Hi Paulos! I wish that my version of the book had pictures so I could understand more of what you're talking about. This image sounds super interesting and like it would've helped my understanding of the book. The hall sounds like it proves Mr. Middleton's wealth and would have been something stunning in Thornhill's usual world of poverty and plainness.

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    Replies
    1. Critical Thinkers and WritersJanuary 17, 2023 at 1:07 PM

      Research is one excellent way to try to find images of these locations and scenes!

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2023 at 12:03 AM

    I agree Paulos, Watermen's hall was a very interesting part of the text. While previously Mr. Middleton was the pinnacle of success for William, he was shocked to hear the condescending tone which with the men spoke to Mr. Middleton. This is when William realized just how deeply engrained the class system was. I wonder if any men of substantially greater wealth than Mr. Middleton could be considered self made, or just how rare it was to escape the working class at that time period.

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