The divide between rich and poor

Thomas HardyBorn - 2 June 1840). Dorchester, England.Died - 11 January 1928) (aged 87).

Thomas Hardy was a great English novelist and poet.. Some of his most famous novels were "Far From the Madding Crowd" (1874) and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles” (1891).

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Other novelsThomas Hardy wrote novels,

poems and short stories. These are some of his novels.

• He was from a poor background, so this can tell us something about his opinion in his novels, because when he writes about division, there is just rich and poor, he never writes about middle class. Overall, his opinion would be that he does not approve of the division of rich and poor.

What Thomas Hardy thinks about poor and rich people?

Stereotypes?

Do you think the money we give him/her is going to the use of drugs or alcohol? Or just for materials they need?

Greed? Or need?

John Durbeyfield is a poor man in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. He sent his daughter Tess to go to claim next of kin.

Is he NEEDY or is he GREEDY?

The work

Even though women in the 19th century were portrayed as being the inferior sex and the men were superior, women relied on their husbands and their husband’s pay. However, the 1833 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act did not stop Britain from having slaves, cleaners and maids. A lot of these workers were women, so equality was given.

One could say that poor people never had to worry. This was because even though they did not have a lot of money, they would always have a job where it was needed.

The poor

Now, people are hesitant to give people on the streets money, because stereotypically, we think that those people will spend it on drugs or alcohol. Back in the 19th century, the rich would have looked down on the poor and they were inferior to the rich. The rich would not have given the poor anything such as food or money.

The rich

Stereotypes are never going to change for poor people. There is always going to be a divide. Overall, there was a huge divide between rich and poor in the 19th century because everybody was seen to be in groups (the rich and the poor). Now, we have learnt a lot and the divide is much smaller. Even though I think that some people (middle class etc) would ask themselves if the really needed to help these people, because if they can make their money on their own, then why can’t they?