Opium and the Industrial Revolution Essay - 1474 Words

Opium and the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution brought social change and economic growth for Great Britain. This era provided the perfect environment for a new social class to emerge from urban squalor. During the Industrial Revolution a group of citizens who breathed polluted air, drank toxic water, worked fourteen-hour days in dimly lit factories and lived in close quarters. This group is known as the working class. In Karl Marx’s Manifesto of the Communist Party he predicted that the development of Modern Industry cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie (the upper class) produces and appropriates products. The bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its gravediggers. Its fall and†¦show more content†¦The poor people in the photograph to be starving and poorly nourished. The sky is portrayed as dark smoggy black from factory pollution. Apartment style row houses appear to be sandwiched together lining and defining the border of the dower street. Dore paint’s many pairs of shoes placed at the entrance of each living quarter, this represents to the viewer the amount of people residing in such a small space. The painting also features a man driving a horse carriage and cracking a whip, symbolic of the middle and upper classes treatment towards the poor. Gustave Dores’ work is sympathetic toward the living conditions of the working class. Opium was introduced to the public for it’s medicinal benefits. Great Britain was a region where issues such as overpopulation, air pollution, contaminated drinking water, and deforestation were present. Conditions that opium treated included boredom, anxiety, squalling babies in close quarters, chronic fatigue and pain, diarrheal diseases, insomnia, ubiquitous, and several other deadly afflictions as a result of overpopulation (David T. Courtwtight, 32). Not only was opium helpful but also affordable, a result of Britain’s mass prod uction of the drug to trade with China for tea during the Opium Wars. The cheap nature opium and health benefits made it the ideal substance for the working class. It allowed the poor to go with less food, much like tea, but cost less than an alcoholic beverageShow MoreRelatedHaitian Revolution : The Revolution1199 Words   |  5 PagesHaitian Revolution: The Haitian Revolution was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture from May 20, 1743 to April 7, 1803. It has been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion. The rebellion was initiated in 1791 by the slaves. In the end, they had succeeded in ending slavery and French control on the colony. The Haitian Revolution consisted of multiple revolutions going simultaneously. The Haitian Revolution existed from 1791 to 1804. 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