When realist narrative emerged in the 18th Century, it prided itself on being a

portrayal of contemporary life, containing contemporary characters and

pertaining, above all, to the “real”. However, semiotics teaches us that it is
important to see realist narrative’s obsession with the real as a value that came
about in response to romanticism; it does not reflect these realist text’s ability to
actually name and reflect the ‘real world’, they are in fact just as much a
construction of signs producing a sense of the ‘real’ as the works of literature
that pre-dated them, or any work of literature that followed them for that matter.
One of the most popular and iconic authors of realist literature in the 19th
Century was Charles Dickens. After the day of his death, the London Daily News
predicted that “In his pictures of contemporary life posterity will read, more
clearly than in any contemporary records, the character of our nineteenth
century life.”1 Perhaps the short stories which aim to render such “pictures of
contemporary life” more consciously and directly than any of his other works are
Dickens’ aptly-titled Sketches by Boz, a series of short impressionistic literary
tableaus of London life in the 1830s. While these “sketches” may or may not
have been written with a belief that their language directly reflects real life in a
mimetic fashion, Charles Dickens’ Seven Dials can be seen through a semiotic
reading to position readers in certain ways through its use of typically realist
conventions, including narratorial stance, vraisemblance and metonymy.

The term ‘vraisemblance’ when used in reference to literature holds multiple

meanings, some as simple as “an appearance of truth”2. However, in Convention
and Naturalization, structuralist literary critic Jonathan Culler expands upon this
basic definition, suggesting that vraisemblance is “[a way] in which a text may
be brought into contact with and defined in relation to another text which helps
to make it intelligible”3 (p. 140). He essentially suggests that in order for a text
to be understood, it will rely on its readership to have a knowledge and a
particular understanding of other ‘texts’, (Culler’s use of the term ‘texts’ is often
expanded to include the natural world itself, public opinion and/or entire genres
of literature). By relying on a knowledge and a particular understanding of other
texts, vraisemblance in a work of literature favours certain discourses over
others and encourages the reader to do the same. Dickens’ Seven Dials utilizes
vraisemblance on many of its levels as outlined by Culler (with perhaps the
exception of the fourth and fifth) and therefore positions its readers into
adopting certain discourses and ideologies. In the first level of vraisemblance,
the discourses favoured are extremely basic and would face little resistance as
they are generally based in a shared understanding of the ‘texts’ of nature and
the real world. For instance, the narrator does not explain the motives behind
why the inhabitants of Seven Dials would want to “take a few gasps of such fresh
air”4 (Dickens, p. 101) as the reader probably needs no justification of the natural
functions of the human body (we understand it is necessary for it to inhale
oxygen-rich air into its lungs to survive) nor is it necessary for the author to add
that the people would at some point exhale carbon-dioxide from their lungs (we
give them the benefit of the doubt on this). The second level of vraisemblance,
which relies on a knowledge of cultural generalizations and stereotypes, is more
subjective and also very common in Seven Dials. For example, when the narrator
scoffs at the idea of “A Frenchman in Seven Dials!” (Dickens, p. 101), as is
portrayed in W.T. Moncrieff’s farce Monsieur Tonson5, there is an expectance of
the reader to share the stereotypical view that French people are elitist, snobby
and intellectual, and so would never be found living in such a dirty, lower-class
neighbourhood of London as the Seven Dials. This intertextual reference to
Monsieur Tonson can also be considered vraisemblance in itself, as it relies on
the reader to be well-read enough to identify another text, Moncrieff’s farcical
play, purely through a passing reference to two of its principal characters: “Tom
King and the Frenchman” (Dickens p. 100), in order for it to become intelligible.
(These allusions to theatrical literature are also a strong characteristic of Seven
Dials’ narratorial stance, which will be analysed later). The third level of
vraisemblance relies on the reader’s knowledge of genre in order to understand
the text. For Seven Dials to be appreciated, it’s necessary to understand its
mode and genre as an impressionistic sketch, one in Dickens’ Sketches by Boz
series which characterize “scenes, people, and ways of living”6 (p. 288), and it
perpetuates this genre through its journalistic and descriptive language and its
realistic mid-19th Century London setting. The coherence and any enjoyment of
the piece would no doubt be lost if one tried to read it as part of the romance
genre, for example, as it features no central relationship, no real sense of conflict
or obstacle for the main character and a portrayal of marriage which is very
bleak and unglamourous indeed.
Perhaps more telling of literary tradition of the 19th century than the people and
places whose portraits the Sketches by Boz series paints is the artist himself –
“Boz”, the constructed narrator of the pieces. While this narrator may believe
just as the typical literary realist does, that the there is “truth to individual
experience” as Ian Watt puts it7, the characteristics of Boz’s narratorial stance
are one of many factors that prevent the reader of Seven Dials from accessing
any actual truth and instead position them to adopt certain discourses. The very
first word of Seven Dials gives us a clue about its narratorial stance: “We”
(Dickens, p. 100). The journalistic “we” is used throughout the text in order to
give a sense that the narrator is some kind of journalist and therefore “detached
from what he sees in the sense of not being caught up in the life he witnesses”4.
In addition to the use of “we”, the journalistic image of the narrator is supported
by the fact that the narrator never refers to himself by name; we only know him
as “Boz” from the title given to the series in Dickens’ anthology. This traiting of
the narrator as a journalist makes the implication that his report is to be viewed
as objective (perhaps more so at its time of publication when the press was more
strongly associated with objectivity than it is today), however it’s positioning the
reader to view the text through a journalistic discourse. This is not the only
discourse favoured in the narratorial stance, it also strongly subscribes to a
theatrical discourse. Miller identifies the theatre as “one of Boz’s major sources
of metaphorical language” (Miller, p.305) and concludes that the “emphasis on
play-acting and on the factitious calls the reader’s attention to the fact that
English society as a whole is based on arbitrary conventions” (Miller, p.307). We
can see evidence of this in Seven Dials when the narrator describes the
resolution of the argument between the two women in “minor play-bill
phraseology, with ‘arrival of the policemen, interior of the station-house, and
impressive denouement.’” (Dickens, p. 103) Through such examples of use of
the theatrical discourse, including the aforementioned reference to Moncrieff’s
Monsieur Tonson, the narrator is seen to view the world he inhabits as theatrical
and melodramatic; he is merely an audience member viewing the plays that take
place daily in the Seven Dials performed by its cast of inhabitants, positioning
readers to do the same. The cultured side of Boz is not restricted to theatre
though; the narratorial stance is also traited as valuing an artistic discourse, as
evidenced when the narrator explains that:

4
 “Brokers’ shops, which would seem to have been established by humane
individuals, as refuges for destitute bugs, interspersed with
announcements of day-schools, penny theatres, petition writers, mangles,
and music for balls or routs, complete the ‘still life’ of the subject…”
(Dickens p. 104)

The narrator’s use of the words “still life” are part of an artistic discourse and
encourage us to view the narrator as some sort of artist or at the very least, one
who is educated about art, positioning the reader to view the world the narrator
presents as a work of art – or perhaps, more accurately, as one of the titular
“sketches” of the series.

Yet another literary technique which positions its readers, another staple of
realist literature, is Seven Dials use of the metonym. Metonymy can be defined
as a “figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with
a word closely related to or suggested by the original”8, in other words, a sign
that uses a part of something or an object adjacent to it to signify the whole. The
reason it is so important to realism is that it suggests truth can be derived from a
sign and in this fashion exemplifies the mimetic theory of language at the core of
realism. Just as the typical realist author believes their text reflects the true
nature of that which it describes, so too does Boz believe, as outlined in Seven
Dials, that:

“If the external appearance of the houses, or a glance at their inhabitants

present but few attractions, a closer acquaintance with either is little
calculated to alter one's first impression." (Dickens, p. 104)

In other words, the observer needs not always investigate further upon their first
impressions – sometimes the part observed is indicative of the whole. By the
same token, a metonym may suffice in representing the truth. This is especially
evident in Seven Dials. For example, the “cracked bell hung up behind the door”
to the “chandler’s shop” (Dickens, p.104) is used as a metonym indicating the
frequent use of the door, and thus, the store. It also acts as a metonym for the
neglectful nature of its owner in allowing for it to remain in a state of disrepair,
just as the “patched or broken windows” (Dickens, p. 104) suggest. Perhaps the
most significant concept that most of the metonyms in Seven Dials point to is
that of the working class. The “class of men in London” who “appear to have no
enjoyment beyond leaning against posts” (Dickens, p. 103) to which the narrator
refers are clearly the working class as evidenced by the metonyms of the spots
of “brick-dust and whitewash” on their clothes. There are several metonyms
pointing to the drinking habits of the working class, namely the “unwholesome
vapour which hangs over the house-tops” (Dickens, p. 101) and the “numerous
groups who are idling about the gin-shops” (Dickens, p. 103). This use of
metonymy also points to another aspect of the previously mentioned narratorial
stance: its bourgeois element, as it paints the working class in a negative light,
subsequently positioning readers to pity them.

As we can observe, Seven Dials has many typical elements of realist literature
which position its readers. It is important to note that we can’t conclude from
such texts the beliefs of their producers. For all we know, Charles Dickens may
have been well aware of the constructed nature of Seven Dials and never really
purported to reflect the true nature of the worlds he described with his words,
perhaps he treated the narrator “Boz” as a character rather than a pseudonym,
who views the world in a particular way, subsequently constructing the text
accordingly. However it’s always necessary in semiotic analysis to treat the
narrator as separate from the author so as not to muddy conclusions with
speculation about an author’s intentions. Maybe the London Daily News was
correct in predicting that the commentary in Dickens’ work would define his era
“more clearly than in any contemporary records”, but it’s important to
distinguish commentary from truth.
1
Charles Dickens Biography (2005). Retrieved April 1, 2011 from
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/charles-dickens-aya/
2
vraisemblance. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved
April 1, 2011, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vraisemblance
3
Culler, J. Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature. London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975.
4
Dickens, C. “Seven Dials.” Charles Dickens: Selected Short Fiction. Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1986. p. 100-5
5
Moncrieff, W.T., Monsieur Tonson, (1840) Philadelphia: Turner & Fisher. Retrieved April 1, 2011
from http://www.archive.org/stream/monsieurtonsonpo00monc#page/n5/mode/2up
6
Miller, J. Hills, “J. Hillis Miller on the Fiction of Realism.” Realism. Ed. Lilian R. Furst. London:
Longman, 1992.
7
Watt, I., “Realism and the Novel Form.” The Rise Of the Novel. Harmondsworth, Middlesex:
Penguin, 1983.
8
metonymy. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 1, 2011 from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/378726/metonymy