I've been researching the consequences of the Industrial Revolution on the poor in Victorian London, particularly on children. This has affected the way I've been reading the novel because I've been paying much closer attention to the scenes with impoverished citizens of London, especially the orphaned children. In having a main focus, my main difficulty has been the tendency to sometimes breeze over the other contents of the novel; however, it has been overall helpful to have a main focus. My perspective on the Industrial Revolution and Victorian London has changed a lot.

I have chosen to study Bleak House with a focus on social and economic class. It is interesting to read this novel with the perspective and goal of analyzing how social class effects daily life, overall culture, and opportunity for the citizens in London in the 1850s. Personally, I am having a difficult time grasping how London's social class was as a whole, so it is challenging to apply that concept when reading the novel. It is a challenge to understand the complexities and layers of Dickens' Bleakhouse and analyze it with a historical perspective.