Domestic Trauma and Colonial Guilt: A Study of Slow Violence in Dombey and Son and Bleak House

Abstract

In this study of Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son and Bleak House, I examine the two forms of violence that occur within the homes: slow violence through the naturalized practices of the everyday and immediate forms of violence. I argue that these novels prioritize the immediate forms of violence and trauma within the home and the intimate spaces of the family in order to avoid the colonial anxiety and guilt that is embedded in the naturalized practices of the everyday. For this I utilize Rob Nixon's theory on slow violence, which posits that some practices and objects that occur as part of the everyday possess the potential to be just as violent as immediate forms of violence. Additionally, the British empire's presence within the home makes the home a dark and violent place. Dombey and Son does this by displacing colonial anxiety, such as Mr. Dombey's imperialistic business practices, onto the home through his abuse of his daughter. In Bleak House, the home is full of colonial objects that both decorate the home and unsettle it. While the interactions between colonial and domestic objects seem to disquiet the home, the trauma of abuse and neglect, particularly Esther's childhood abuse, overshadow the slow forms of degradation from the empire that haunt the home.