Atatürk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 2602-2788 2717-7289 Ataturk University Creative Arts and Writing Sanat ve Edebiyat DEHUMANIZATION OF THE WORKING CLASS AND THE SILENT SCREAM OF A VICTORIAN WOMAN AGAINST THE INDUSTRIALISING ENGLAND: THE FACTORY LAD BY JOHN WALKER DEHUMANIZATION OF THE WORKING CLASS AND THE SILENT SCREAM OF A VICTORIAN WOMAN AGAINST THE INDUSTRIALISING ENGLAND: THE FACTORY LAD BY JOHN WALKER https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6585-8284 Yılmaz Tuncer KARADENİZ TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ 12 18 2020 65 99 110 06 24 2020 11 06 2020 Copyright © 1970, Atatürk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 1970 Atatürk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi

The invention of steam engine was one of the turning points in Britishindustrial history. It is also considered as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, with which the modes of manufacturing had changed forever. In thisperiod, many factories are opened, large industrial cities are established; anddue to the need of workforce, millions of people migrated to these cities. Thesepeople formed a new social class with many problems. They had to live andwork under very difficult conditions. Moreover, as a result of rapid mechanization in production, they faced the danger of losing their jobs. In this study,the class distinctions which occurred during and after the Industrial Revolution, and the problems it caused in the society have been examined within thecontext of John Walker’s The Factory Lad, a melodramatic factory play whichis one of the first examples of realist theatre in the nineteenth century EnglishDramatic Literature. The dehumanization of the working class and their families by the industrialization are depicted by making references to the play.

The invention of steam engine was one of the turning points in Britishindustrial history. It is also considered as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, with which the modes of manufacturing had changed forever. In thisperiod, many factories are opened, large industrial cities are established; anddue to the need of workforce, millions of people migrated to these cities. Thesepeople formed a new social class with many problems. They had to live andwork under very difficult conditions. Moreover, as a result of rapid mechanization in production, they faced the danger of losing their jobs. In this study,the class distinctions which occurred during and after the Industrial Revolution, and the problems it caused in the society have been examined within thecontext of John Walker’s The Factory Lad, a melodramatic factory play whichis one of the first examples of realist theatre in the nineteenth century EnglishDramatic Literature. The dehumanization of the working class and their families by the industrialization are depicted by making references to the play.

 Dehumanization Factory plays workers’ theatre Dehumanization Factory plays workers’ theatre Booth, Michael R. (1974). “A Defence of Nineteenth-Century English Drama.” Educational Theatre Journal. 26, p. 5-13. Booth, Michael R. (1969). Edt. English Plays of the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Braverman, Harry. (1998). Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. New York: Monthly Review Press. Frader, Laura L. (2006). The Industrial Revolution: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford University Press. Grimsted, David. (1971). “Melodrama as Echo of the Historically Voiceless”. Anonymous Americans: Explorations in Nineteenth-Century Social History (Edt. Tamara K. Hareven). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Haslam, Nick. (2006). “Dehumanization: An Integrative Review”. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 10/3, p. 252–264.