Disorderly Eating in Victorian England by Suzanne Samples A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama August 3, 2013 Keywords: Victorian, Disorderly, Anorexia Nervosa, Vegetarian, Vivisection, Foucault Copyright 2013 by Suzanne Samples Approved by Alicia Carroll, Chair, Associate Professor of English Christopher Keirstead, Associate Professor of English Jonathan Bolton, Professor of English Onikia Brown, Assistant Professor of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Hospitality Management ii Abstract This dissertation investigates the gendered spaces of eating and consumption in Victorian England. In the nineteenth century, Dr. William Gull introduced the medical diagnosis of ?anorexia nervosa,? which spawned a discourse of normalized and disorderly eating that strongly influenced the alimentary habits of Victorian citizens and literary characters. As viewed through the post-structuralist theories of Michel Foucault, this dissertation examines how techniques like observation and surveillance granted power and control in the realm of appetite. Works analyzed include Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade?; Rossetti?s ?Goblin Market? and ?In An Artist?s Studio?; Carroll?s Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland; Mary Seacole?s Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands; and, Trollope?s Orley Farm. Analyses of Victorian ephemera, including military journals, cookbooks, and advertisements are also included to show how the Victorian appetite shaped the literature of the time period. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my parents, Ted and Jenifer Samples, and my grandmother, Doris Jo Childers, for their support as I wrote and revised and rewrote this dissertation countless times. I am eternally grateful to my husband, Kevin Blicker, and my sister, Sarah Samples, who convinced me put the computer down every now and then to have some fun. Thank you to Sandra Stricklen for her sharp proofreading skills and to Jeanna Blicker for her encouragement. This dissertation would have been impossible to finish without the support of my friends and coworkers: Varonika Hardman, Lacey Pitts, Carrie Holzmeister, Steele Campbell, Eunice Matthews-Bradshaw, Travis Michael, Keith Clavin, Trisha Campbell, and Amanda Morris all provided the emotional support needed to carry this process to the end. A special thanks goes to Nodya Boyko, who reminded me of the Malthusian influence in Hard Times, and Lisa Stuchell, who saw the potential in a once shabby, unfinished dissertation. I would also like to thank the Blue Ridge Rollergirls for keeping me sane throughout this process, and my literary menagerie of ?furbabies? past and present?Prufrock, Pip, Gatsby, Oscar, George, and Duffles? for sleeping at my feet while I wrote long into the night. A very special thank you goes to my committee; without the guidance of Alicia Carroll, Chris Keirstead, Jonathan Bolton, and Onikia Brown, this dissertation would not be where it is today. iv Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................ iii List of Illustrations ........................................................................................................................ v Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One .............................................................................................................................. 14 Chapter Two .............................................................................................................................. 59 Chapter Three .......................................................................................................................... 107 Chapter Four ........................................................................................................................... 146 Overall Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 194 Illustrations .............................................................................................................................. 201 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 208 End Notes ................................................................................................................................. 223 v List of Illustrations Figure One ............................................................................................................................... 201 Figure Two ............................................................................................................................... 202 Figure Three ............................................................................................................................. 203 Figure Four ............................................................................................................................... 204 Figure Five ............................................................................................................................... 205 Figure Six ................................................................................................................................. 206 Figure Seven ............................................................................................................................. 207 1 Introduction As human beings, consuming food is a basic function of life. However, appetite and consumption often signify cultural choices. Although a study of Victorian appetite may seem like an investigation of a basic phenomenon, a close reading of ephemera and nineteenth-century literature shows that the Victorian appetite operated within a complex structure of environmental and social influence. The alimentary choices of nineteenth-century historical people and fictional characters reveal much concerning the discourse and actions of those living in a period fraught with economic uncertainty and scientific discovery. More often than not, alimentary desires concealed people?s ambition. Hunger, therefore, became both literal and metaphorical. Those who ate frequently came to represent ideal citizens. On the other hand, those who avoided food became associated with self-restraint and asceticism. Although neither extreme existed as a healthy lifestyle, both oversized and diminutive body types became powerful symbols of economic position and personal desire. In addition to the link of appetite to personal ambition, alimentary habits were frequently associated with gender in the nineteenth century; for instance, literature and culture often permitted men to overeat to express power and authority, but women were to avoid food to show their self-restraint. Closely associated with the private, domestic space, women were expected to prepare food but avoid consumption. This distinction also prevented males from having the opportunity to cook and prepare food in the kitchen. However, outliers existed to every expectation of gender and appetite, and alimentary decisions did not exist in a vacuum. Indeed, the Victorian era witnessed men who starved to become spectacles and women who 2 overindulged. But, cultural trends suggested that the overindulgent male and ascetic woman strongly dominated the alimentary discourse of the era. Viewing the Victorian appetite through the lens of Michel Foucault?s social and philosophical theories exhibits how both consumption and appetite control contributed to shifts of order and power in the nineteenth century. Though Foucault?s post-structuralist thought emerged in the twentieth century, the practices that Foucault discusses relate to how Victorians viewed appetite and control. Foucault?s definition of power shifted over time, but his definitions of disciplinary power demonstrate how Victorians used alimentary concepts to both demonstrate and conceal their desires. As Foucault argues in Discipline and Punish, disciplinary power ?derives no doubt from the use of simple instruments; hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment and their combination in a procedure that is specific to it, the examination? (170). Appetite functioned as a ?simple instrument? that served to normalize eating habits; those who did not eat meals normalized by Victorian culture were seen as rebellious or disorderly (170). Though those who consistently overindulged or avoided food characterized disorderly eating, people often participated in disorderly eating that depended on the social, cultural, or environmental context. Because many believed that a steady diet of beef, corn, and cheese aided fertility, the state saw those who consumed a different diet as a threat to fertility and hence imperialist expansion that remained important to Britain in the nineteenth century and beyond. Foucault?s definition of bio-power also illuminates the consumptive patterns of citizens in Victorian England. Foucault discusses how the body is often described ?as a machine,? especially through its ?disciplining, the optimization of its capabilities, [and] the exertion of its forces? (History 139). Especially in the nineteenth century, the British government wished to optimize bodies by making certain that its citizens consumed food that would aid production and 3 reproduction. As further defined by Foucault, bio- power refers to the use of medical surveillance to maintain control over the population. Particularly, bio-power is used to make certain that citizens contribute to the state or nation as workers, soldiers, and producers. Foucault argues that from the seventeenth century to the present, bio-power has been used to achieve ?the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations? (History 140). In reference to the ideal British diet, the government wanted to normalize eating patterns that made use of the country?s agriculture and production; those who did not subscribe to normalized patterns of eating threatened the use of bio-power and the country?s economy. Those who practiced disorderly eating reveal more about Victorian discourse, power, and culture than those who conformed to normalized patterns of appetite and consumption. For those who displayed disorderly eating habits, surveillance heavily factored into the perception of how alimentary procedures designated power and control. As described by Foucault, surveillance acts as a hierarchical structure that owes ?its importance to the mechanism of power that it brought with it? (176). In relation to the Victorian appetite, surveillance caused historical figures and literary characters to eat particular foods in a certain manner. For instance, while in the public space, many Victorians would eat larger meals to signify that they could afford the food. In this way, those observed located power in the surveillance. However, when under surveillance, Victorian consumers often made alimentary choices that made them appear more disorderly than they actually were. For example, ?professional fasters??which will be discussed at length in Chapter Two?claimed to avoid food at all times. Still, further investigation reveals that these professional fasters only avoided food and drink when observed by the general public. Like sideshow performers, professional fasters portrayed a particular image in the public space; conversely, in the private space, they often consumed as 4 much food and drink as they desired. Observation and surveillance gave them the authority to coerce others to believe that their alimentary habits fell into the realm of the extreme. Though surveillance techniques and power are often thought of in negative terms, as Foucault explains, power is multifaceted and multifunctional; power can be both destructive and productive. In a later definition of power, Foucault determines that the definition of power often shifts: We must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms: it ?excludes?, it ?represses?, it ?censors?, it ?abstracts?, it ?masks?, it ?conceals?. In fact power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production. (Discipline 194) In relation to Victorians who practiced disorderly consumption habits, this concept of power illuminates how disorderly eating created new and distinct definitions of eating. Though disorderly eating may have harmed physical bodies, the practice caused doctors and scientists to create new terms that defined aspects of disorderly eating. Terms such as ?anorexia nervosa? became standard diagnoses for doctors who treated those who suffered from extremely thin physical bodies. These polarities of abstention and overindulgence resulted directly from scientific theory and speculation. In 1798, Thomas Malthus published ?An essay on the principle of population; or a view of its past and present effects on human happiness ? that theorized how eventually, the population would outgrow the food supply. For instance, Malthus argues, ?It would be extremely desirable to be able to deduce from the rate of increase, the actual population, and the registers of births, death, and marriages, in different countries, the real prolificness [sic] of marriages, and 5 the true proportion of the born which lives to marry? (12). In other words, Malthus deduced that people would continue to marry and give birth, thereby increasing the population. Later, Malthus notes how the population increase would eventually cause food supply to dwindle. He uses the example of China by addressing that the Chinese people became a ?lower class? because of the population increase, writing that others would soon ?be reduced to live even like the lower classes of the Chinese, and the country would then with the same quantity of food support a greater population. But to effect this must always be a difficult, and every friend to humanity will hope, an abortive attempt? (72). In the essay, Malthus has hope that the remainder of the population will survive, but his scientific proclivities lead him to believe that food will never survive the population growth. Therefore, only the strongest would continue to exist. In the essay, Malthus projects the following: it is evident, that the variation in different states between the food and the numbers supported by it is restricted to a limit, beyond which it cannot pass. In every country the population of which is not absolutely decreasing, the food must be necessarily sufficient to support and to continue the race of laborers. (72) Thus, many Victorian men (in history and literature) tried to consume as much as they could so that they could avoid the struggle of starvation. Malthus? theories did not exist singularly in the scientific community. Victorian men especially found themselves saddled with the need to find and consume enough food to avoid this phenomenon. Although some starved, many Victorian men wanted to guarantee that they did not become a statistic. Most of the Victorian men portrayed in poetry and fiction sought to save themselves and no one else. Malthus? theory became the inspiration for historical and fictional fears that manifested in overindulgence. Fictional men who embodied the hopeful avoidance of 6 Malthus? theories often viewed their bodies as physical vessels to store and save food. They hoped that in case of a major food shortage?as Malthus predicted?there bodies would be full and strong enough to survive the worst. Furthermore, Malthus projected that specifically, Great Britain would not be able to maintain enough food for the growing population. In ?An Essay on the Principle of Population,? Malthus suggests that the ?great fall? in the British corn-market, particularly during the ten years from 1740 to 1750, accompanied by a great fall in the continental markets, owing in some degree perhaps to the great exportations of British corn?must have necessarily given some check to its cultivation, while the increase of the real price of labour must at the same time have given a stimulus to the increase of population. (898) The influence of Malthus? theories not only affected other scientific and economic theories, but they also modified the daily lives of Victorians. Especially for males who had concerns about keeping themselves in positions of power, maintaining a portly figure signified that they would be amongst the survivors. Size correlated to the ability to prosper and the ability to outlive the weak. Additionally, the 1815 Corn Laws of Great Britain ensured that grains could not be imported cheaply to England and Ireland; though repealed in 1846, the Corn Laws made it much too expensive to import corn and other grains from countries outside of Great Britain. Though well intentioned to increase profits for British and Irish farmers, the Corn Laws prevented citizens from purchasing cheaper grains, even during times of famine. Malthus himself was a proponent of the Corn Laws, supporting the decisions of the House of Commons to exclude corn grown on foreign soil until the domestic price of corn reached 80 shillings per quarter. Malthus 7 believed that lowering the prices of domestic corn would cause a decrease in the wages of laborers; however, the price of domestic corn never reached the price of 80 shillings per quarter before the Corn Laws were repealed. The Corn Laws caused general unrest and rioting amongst citizens, especially as the price of bread continued to increase (Hirst 15). As the theories of Malthus and the consequences of the Corn Laws dominated the daily lives of Victorians, authors and illustrators often created characters who symbolized this plight. Victorian literature and ephemera produced a conversation that discussed eating habits and their relation to gender. For instance, popular Victorian novels and poems depicted strong men as citizens who overindulged in food to maintain or gain positions of power. In more obscure publications, Victorian literature?especially short stories published in periodicals?revealed that more and more Victorian men turned to vegetarianism to show that avoiding meat could lead to a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. Most of this influence emerged from discussion in the medical community that abstaining could lead to disease and starvation; additionally, many nineteenth-century Victorians found themselves simultaneously intrigued and fearful of new dietary lifestyles like vegetarianism. Often, the belief that avoiding meat led to frailty and a lack of authority prevailed. However, other Victorians sought to abandon the paradigm of a flesh diet. Fasting was seen as a semi- acceptable way for women to live, yet Victorian society dissuaded men from any type of abstention, even from animal flesh. Victorian society typically saw men who fasted as abnormal or weak. Ephemeral publications and even some literary works echoed this idea. Simultaneously, some novels and small presses sought to show that vegetarianism was a healthy way to live. Those who supported vegetarianism aimed to show?through their lifestyles and their writing?that avoiding flesh could even increase strength and mentality. Both genders 8 subscribed to vegetarianism, but for men, vegetarianism offered a conduit to domestic activities that society did not typically associate with males. Vegetarianism offered men a chance to both grow vegetables and prepare them in the kitchen. Vegetables often took less time to prepare than meat, so many men could spend more time in the domestic space connecting with the food that they grew and desired to eat. Vegetarianism offered more men a chance to cultivate, prepare, and consume the food that they had spent time growing and nurturing, which were activities usually reserved for Victorian females. These males sought to show that Malthusian anxieties were, perhaps, unfounded. The vegetarian movement in Victorian England exemplified how certain types of abstention could actually aid the body, the mind, and the spirit. The majority of Victorian citizens had a difficult time believing that a diet that abstained from flesh could have any health benefits. Indeed, many citizens who fought against the vegetarian movement suspected that vegetarians either lied about their abstention from meat or would return to eating flesh once their bodies weakened. To prove vegetarians could live long, happy, and healthy lives, Victorian periodicals often published short stories and advertisements that sought to prove the power of a vegetable-based diet that avoided meat. They hoped that those who read the periodicals would reconsider the benefits of removing flesh from the diet. Though some Victorians practiced vegetarianism for the health benefits, others abstained from flesh to protest vivisection and other practices that harmed animals. And for many men, vegetarianism became a shift not only in diet, but also in lifestyle. Men, especially those who had been shut out of kitchens, often relished the opportunity to prepare and consume the vegetables that they grew. Because no one had to slaughter vegetables, this offered more time for men to 9 connect with the food they consumed. Through vegetarianism, men who wanted to find their identities in the kitchen were able to use vegetarianism to their advantage. Men who completely abstained from food were few and far between the oversized patrons of Victorian consumption and culture. Often, Victorian culture saw men who were thinner or refused food as outliers who belonged to a sideshow instead of normative culture. Indeed the definition of disorderly eating came to be constantly defined and redefined. Men who desired skinniness often refused food to prove a point; on the other hand, Victorians often saw men who maintained naturally skinny bodies as weak and puny. In accordance with the Malthus? theories concerning population and food, many Victorians figured that the smaller, skinnier men would not survive if the food supply dwindled. The binaries of big/small dominated Victorian discourse, especially in the realm of food and appetite. Food not only filled bellies, but also signified a person?s health, economic situation, and ability to thrive and survive in times of duress. Both Victorian literature and ephemera exemplified how much of an influence Malthusian anxieties had on citizens of nineteenth- century England. Concealment also factored into this equation; whereas portly men enjoyed showing off their gluttonous bodies, the military concealed the thin bodies of their soldiers. Otherwise, faith in the armed services would dwindle. Because thin male bodies symbolized weakness and the possibility of death, concealing the thin body became a method of obscuring military weakness. For instance, admitting that Crimean War soldiers died of poor nutrition or unclean water diminished Britain?s hope that they would have success during wartime; if the Army could not provide the soldiers with basic needs, it was doubtful to believe that they could win battles or wars. 10 In Victorian literature and ephemera, authors and illustrators proliferated the anxiety that the skinny male body would not survive times of hardship, whether in war or on civilian soil. Although some publications used humor to embellish the binaries of big/small, Victorian literature took a more subtle approach. Often, main male characters in Victorian poetry and fiction would boast oversized bodies and relied on physical size to embellish their power and control over others. Male gluttony closely identified with anxiety caused by the Malthusian equation, and many Victorian writers were intimately aware of the influence that scientific theories had on nineteenth-century society. In an attempt to prolong survival, these males used food to show that they could afford to outlive others in a world fraught with environmental uncertainty and doubt. By relying on physical strength, many literary protagonists and antagonists used a ravenous appetite to symbolize the hope that they would survive a shrinking food supply. While portraying strong, well-fed men, Victorian authors also expressed the irony of males who believed that size equaled strength and power. More often than not, the gluttonous males of Victorian literature faltered?if they did not die, then they certainly lost the power and control that they once accessed with ease. Indeed, any fictional attempt to outwit the environment proved fatal in the end. Instead of size equaling strength and power, most Victorian authors (like Trollope and Eliot) metaphorically suggested that filling the stomach did not guarantee survival; alternatively, these authors showed that no one of any size could live forever. For example, in Eliot?s The Mill on the Floss, Mother Nature proves impossible to disregard. Although Tom has sizeable strength and physical power, neither he nor his sister Maggie survives the flood. On the other hand, the weak and skinny admirer of Maggie, Philip Wakem, outlives the siblings. Although he does not have a strong body, Philip has intellectual 11 capabilities beyond the other characters in the novel. Despite his feminine qualities and diminutive size, he survives to the end. Through this representation, Eliot emphasizes that physical size does not always match the ability to survive. Though readers know that he will eventually die, Philip outlives Tom, who always seemed to have more strength and authority throughout the novel. Instead of drowning along with Tom and Maggie, Philip has the longevity to visit the graves of his lost friends. As The Mill on the Floss shows, strength and body size only acted as a fa?ade to dissuade the harsh reality of impending death. Even soldiers?who civilians believed to be strong and valiant?could not avoid the harsh conditions of the environment, especially in times of a decreased food supply. The public audience found themselves familiar with glorified deaths of soldiers; indeed, Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? demonstrated that many soldiers would follow blind orders so that they could represent the country that they loved. However, beneath the surface of these glorified deaths, many soldiers (and civilians alike) died because of starvation. Yet starvation was not readily discussed as a viable problem that needed attention. Those who starved?especially men?existed as outliers in a society dominated by those who could afford to consume whatever they desired. Although some men starved because food was inaccessible or because they could not afford to eat, other men refused to eat in order to capitalize on the popular scientific theories. Men who starved for attention knew that if they survived starvation, they could gain even more popularity. By believing that they could outwit science, men who made the choice to starve saw food avoidance as a way to garner money from those who could be duped into paying to see how one could outwit starvation. 12 This discourse of extremes dominated the male Victorian appetite; while some men strove to eat as much as they could, others chose to starve themselves to indicate that they could outsmart science and the theories that permeated intellectual thought. In addition to society and ephemera, the discourse of extremes pervaded nineteenth-century literature. Victorian authors paid special attention to the body size of their characters; whereas many female characters remained true to the historical small-waisted Victorian woman, male characters ranged from small boned and frail to large and powerful. But like the professional fasters of the Victorian era, the generously shaped bodies of powerful male characters often acted as a fa?ade that failed them in the end. Even an oversized body could not prevent death; whether the death was the result of a struggle or natural causes, body size could not save even the largest of Victorian males. Despite the bodily extremes often pictured in history and literature, the two extremes often had more in common than originally thought. Neither the professional faster nor the oversized Victorian male could actually outwit science or prolong life through the consumption or avoidance of food. Both extremes?and everything in the middle of these extremes?always ended in the demise of the person. Those who kept moderate body types and habits actually prospered more and lived longer than those who consumed too much or too little. As health and science progressed, moderation became a hallmark of a healthy person; too much or too little of foreshadowed health problems that might arise. However, before this progression, some medical professionals originally thought that the avoidance of certain foods (or foods altogether) would cleanse them of unwanted toxins and make them purer. Others, however, saw that the consumption of food granted them power and authority. Whatever the approach, too much or too 13 little food became an avenue for spectacle while doing nothing substantial for the health of those involved. Victorians maintained a complicated relationship with food, and this dissertation seeks to show how appetite functioned as a symbol of political loyalty, gender, and economic circumstance. Especially because a myriad of research on the appetite of Victorian women has been produced, this dissertation will focus specifically on the symbolic appetite of Victorian men in texts such as Great Expectations, The Mill on the Floss, Orley Farm, ?The Charge of the Light Brigade,? and Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland. Often, food and appetite acted as a signifier for something more complex than basic hunger. Food and appetite could symbolize the economic standpoint of a citizen, a cause that he or she wished others to believe in, or the desire to gain the attention of someone outside of the private, domestic setting. Those who stayed true to normalized eating saw those who participated in either extreme?too much food or too little?as delinquent or disorderly. Although disorderly eating encompassed everything from diseased eating and to consumption that bordered on strange and eccentric, not everyone who participated in disorderly eating had a choice in the matter. While some Victorians and their literary counterparts focused on overeating and abstention because they could, others were forced to avoid food because of poor economic conditions or situational circumstances that they could not readily alter. Like Foucault?s definition of power, the definition of disorderly often shifted and changed as Victorians wrangled with the coming of a new century. 14 Chapter One: Defining Disorderly Eating in Victorian England In Victorian England, wearing a corset and abstaining from food became popular mechanisms women used to shrink their waists and become as thin as possible. Fiction and history provide multiple examples of small-waisted women who participated in what Joan Jacobs Brumberg calls the ?historically specific disease that emerged from the distinctive economic and social environment of the late nineteenth century? (6). On the other hand, representations of male gluttony signified wealth while responding to the ideological challenge of the Malthusian equation, which projected that as the population grew, the food supply would decrease. The historical rise in hunger and poverty throughout the Victorian era intensified this cultural anxiety. For institutions like the military, men?s hunger became a shameful reality that required concealment and challenged the constructs of authority inherent to Malthus's theory of who should be hungry and who should not. Such ideology explains the logic behind forced abstinence for British soldiers and the concealment of those policies from the British public. As we shall see, Victorian ephemera, fiction, and literature intervene in this discussion by constructing narratives of eating that attempted to shape the ideal British society. Because terms like ?anorexia nervosa? and ?bulimia nervosa? imply that the person who starves has a diseased body and mind, this analysis will use the phrases ?normative eating? to describe eating habits exhibited by the majority and ?disorderly eating? to reference abnormal consumption habits; this includes the concealment of food and the desire to overindulge. Furthermore, historical representations of people who refused food show that sometimes, the act of starvation was forced upon them. For others, starvation or overindulgence empowered them to display their body as a sign of authority and strength. Disorderly eating, in comparison to 15 specific diagnoses of unusual consumption habits, acts as a more encompassing term that encourages discussion of how the eating habits influenced individual bodies and the body of a nation. Fictional and nonfictional narratives indicate how disorderly eating both challenged and became the dominant discourse in representations of the Victorian appetite. This discourse is ?at once controlled, selected, organized and redistributed according to a certain number of procedures? (Foucault Archaeology 216). In representations of the Victorian appetite, these procedures included starvation and gluttony. As discourse is ?controlled? and ?redistributed,? its effects become twofold: they can be ?both an instrument and an effect of power, but also a hindrance, a stumbling-block, a point of resistance and a starting point for an opposing strategy? (Foucault History 101). The discourse of eating became both productive and destructive for Victorians; eating was necessary for existence, but disorderly eating?starvation and gluttony? often led to death. Because ?contradictory discourses,? like normative and disorderly eating, can exist ?within the same strategy,? these discourses can be circulatory and indistinguishable (101). For the discourse of appetite in Victorian England, normative and disorderly eating shaped lifestyles and created meaning. Often, the two discourses of appetite adhered to similar strategies and motivations. Both normative and disorderly eating attracted Victorian citizens through the promise of locating power outside of the body. Food offered, eaten, or refused frequently symbolized the shift of authority; especially for women, the refusal of food showed that they had the willpower to restrain. Often, appetite control became something that Victorian women, in history fiction, came to desire instead of avoid. When they denied themselves food, many Victorian women believed that a spiritual or physical reward would be granted if they maintained control. 16 However, in the discourse of appetite and consumption, many nonfictional and fictional Victorian men operated under different subjectivities and normative ideals. Men did not find themselves contained within the same framework of domesticity that women were; yet, they relied on food to show that they could survive despite a shrinking food supply. While women and appetite mostly circulated in the discourses of the kitchen and cooking ephemera, the relationship of men to hunger largely showed wealth and power. Victorian literature and ephemera often echo the complexities of consumption found in the historical Victorian appetite. Although scholars have discussed the Victorian diet in terms of Rossetti?s ?Goblin Market,? Carroll?s Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, and Dickens? Little Dorrit, many other texts have contributed to the discourse of Victorian hunger. For instance, Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? dramatizes the struggle of Crimean soldiers, while Mary Seacole?s The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Florence Nightingale?s Notes on Nursing, and firsthand accounts of Crimean War soldiers offer a kaleidoscope of nonfiction evidence proving that the Army grossly underfed soldiers. Finally, as the vegetarian movement swept through Victorian England, Punch magazine, Walter Forward, Edward Carpenter, Henry Salt, and relatively obscure writer Fanny Lacy produced representations of vegetarianism that sought to influence Victorians to appreciate, if not participate in, a diet that fully abstained from meat. Although much research has been done concerning Victorian women and appetite, scholarship has not shown how appetite affected the Victorian male, especially the male vegetarian. This dissertation seeks to use the above texts as a nexus to further the research done on the male appetite, especially to highlight why abstention and overindulgence became associated with the Victorian male. Normative and disorderly eating owes much to the influence of two dominant, extreme 17 philosophies that flourished throughout the era: the Malthusian equation and the decision to treat the desire for thinness as a disease. Based on the theory that the population would outgrow the food supply, the Malthusian equation created much anxiety for the Victorians. Since many feared the depletion of the food supply, those who could afford to buy copious amounts of food had the opportunity to stock their shelves. However, those who could not afford to purchase extra food (or any food at all) had fewer options. Unfortunately, the belief in the theories of Malthus also became an excuse for ridding Victorian England of unwanted persons. According to Simon Dalby?s Security and Environmental Change, doctrines ?were formulated in this period attributing numerous cultural traits to the climatic conditions? (67). With a scientific theory as evidence, food could be refused to those who needed it the most, causing fatalism to rise in the lower and middle classes. Civilians were not the only people to suffer from lack of food. Although soldiers had the same instinct to survive as civilians, the English government diminished their access to food so that they could save funds and conceal military problems (Dalby 67). The soldiers did not desire disorderly eating, but they often had no choice. As they fought in the Crimean War (1853-56), soldiers did not have the opportunity to receive the proper amount of caloric intake needed to fight in battle. Because of unsuitable nutrition and poor sanitation, many Victorian soldiers lost their lives unnecessarily. Until the work of Florence Nightingale showed that the soldiers had endured horrific conditions, the public knew little about the starvation that the soldiers encountered. No one knew of these horrific conditions until after the war, when reports revealed ?three thousand naked and half-starved soldiers? were made to live ?in rot, maggots, and decaying human waste? (Rothman et al 360). While those fighting for their country suffered, many other Victorians, especially affluent men, filled themselves with as much food as they 18 could find. The portly Victorian civilian male became a signifier of wealth and the ability to endure, despite the unnecessary deaths of others. The work of Charles Darwin further reveals the influence that food and consumption had on the evolution of masculinity, the easily influenced appetite, and the diets of male civilians and soldiers. In the introduction to The Origin of Species, Darwin references food (and other ?external conditions?) to show the outside influence of factors not produced by the body (22). Darwin further explains that external factors can only exhibit a ?limited sense? of understanding of how species evolve (22). However, the external factors still provide a discourse that exposes how food influences the human body and other species. Darwin?s explanation of external factors delivers a basic understanding of how naturalists saw food and climate as an influence on the evolution of species.1 Darwin?s theory of natural selection illustrates that only the strongest will benefit during times of decreased food supply. Darwin had read Malthus carefully and agreed that as the population increased, food would decrease. Therefore, the food supply would deplete eventually, making self-starvation a necessity instead of a preference. Yet, by appearing stout and portly, many Victorian men became living symbols of success; their increasing weight meant that they had and would continue to survive, despite others who lacked food. Nathan Rosenberg, Stanford economist, further explains the influence of Malthus with the metaphor of a farm and its laborers, which is useful to explain the scientific and economic reasons for abnormal behaviors concerning hunger and food. Rosenberg explains that Malthus ?developed [a] model of growth that can best be 1 Darwin writes, ?The Struggle for Existence amongst all organic beings throughout the world, which inevitably follows from their high geometrical powers of increase, will be treated of. This is the doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms. As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form? (4-5). 19 understood by thinking of Great Britain as a huge farm, of fixed acreage, confronted with a potential for rapid population growth. Such growth leads to an increase in the output of products, as more labor is applied to a fixed amount of land? (6). Rosenberg explains that although ?output does indeed grow, the increments to output grow at a declining rate due to the law of diminishing returns? (6). These diminishing returns eventually lead to impeding the growth of the economy. Although the population will reach its ?maximum size?the bulk of the population is living at a bare subsistence level? (6). The Malthusian equation suggests that though populations grow and labor may increase, food will not necessarily follow suit. Therefore, many Victorian males sought to increase their body mass to avoid potential starvation if the food supply depleted. However, not all Victorians strictly adhered to Malthus? projected outcome; starving the body and the desire for thinness also emerged as a dominant discourse of the era and affected women and a handful of men. Even though most men did not desire a thin body as many women did, the lack of nutrition affected men against their wishes. Although anorectic practices existed long before the reign of Queen Victoria, the phrase ?anorexia nervosa2? was not popularized until the Queen?s favorite physician, Dr. William Gull, sought to name the practice of self- starvation. As Catherine Garrett notes, Although self-starvation is an ascetic practicing dating back thousands of years in many cultures?. The name was coined by William Gull?as a way of making meaningful to the medical profession?not the starver? a set of symptoms and patterns of behavior which were unreasonable and inexplicable. (152) This definition is both useful and problematic. It is, at times, helpful to understand anorexia nervosa as a medical and neurological phenomenon. It is especially useful to know that because 2 For further reading on ?anorexia mirabilis,? or the desire to become thin for spiritual fulfillment, see Joan Jacob Brumberg?s Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa. 20 anorexia was a Victorian neologism, it was auspicious for authors to discuss the ?disease? at length during this era. Writing about anorexia in newspapers increased profit and public awareness of disorderly eating. However, as Garrett alludes, the naming of anorexia nervosa did not ?make meaningful? the act of starvation (47). Those who practiced the abstention from food often constructed their own meaning and reason for food avoidance. Whether they shunned food to seek spiritual guidance, to become thin, or to gain attention from the press, the act of abstention did not need medical identification in order to exist. Still, naming the desire for thinness gave the medical field a reason to study and diagnose abstention as an abnormal behavior that needed rectified. Especially because anorexia nervosa had the potential to make women sterile, Britain considered anorexia a form of disorderly eating; the government would have preferred for women to produce more and more bodies that could eventually serve the needs of the state. Anorexia did not fit into this plan and was therefore, considered disorderly. Not conforming to a diet of beef, corn, and dairy products threatened the bio-power that the government sought to utilize by controlling what its citizens consumed. The British government sought to regulate bodies so that they would produce and reproduce, and anorectic bodies did not fit the definition of the government?s normative eating. Despite the need for reproductive bodies, Gull and his contemporaries sought to name the desire for thinness to gain recognition in the medical field for ?discovering? the impetus for self- starvation. In his earlier medical research, Gull referred to anorexia as ?digestive apepsia,? but later decided that abstaining from food greatly differed from the digestion process. Joan Jacob Brumberg reveals, ?by 1873 Gull was convinced that ?anorexia? (lack of appetite) was a more correct term than ?apepsia? (indigestion) because the food that was eaten, except in the last stages of the disease, was well digested? (117). However, Gull had competition in naming the 21 condition. The Parisian neurologist Charles Laseque raced alongside Gull to bring anorexia to the forefront of medical studies (117). Laseque himself favored the term ?hysterical anorexia,i? finding this disorder in eight female patients; Laseque excluded male patients from his research (118). Gull, on the other hand, preferred the term ?anorexia nervosa? because it ?implicated the central nervous system instead of the uterus and allowed that the condition could exist in males? (118). Indeed, Gull at least recognized that anorectic behavior did not have to be gender specific. When he originally referred to ?anorexia nervosa? as ?digestive apepsia,? Gull assumed that the condition would draw much attention from the medical and social world. As Jacobs Brumberg describes, Gull retroactively stated in his 1896 address that he ?ventured to apply this term [digestive apepsia] to the state?in hope of directing attention to it? (qtd. in Jacobs Brumberg 117). He sought to diagnose those who starved and desired thinness with his ?digestive apepsia,? in hopes that he could cure their ailments. Once the medical community and Victorian culture accepted the diagnosis, those who abstained from food became not only media phenomena, but also medical concerns. Self-starvers became patients with a diagnosable disease that could only be ameliorated by the thriving dominant discourse of the medical community. Since Gull?s coinage of ?anorexia nervosa,? the diagnosis has amassed an even larger cultural, medical, and psychological significance. However, not all self-starvers (or those starved by others) necessarily suffer from psychological distress that prompts the desire to abstain. Stemming from Laseque and Gull?s studies of disorderly eating, the discussion of appetite has become a maelstrom of scholarly and cultural investigation. Although there is no dearth of scholarship concerning cultural food consumption and preparation, disorderly eating, especially in Victorian males, has not been discussed fully. How male disorderly eating influenced and constructed literature and culture, especially throughout the reign of Queen Victoria, requires 22 further analysis. Although the creation of anorexia nervosa as a disease has a distinct identity from the implications of the Malthusian equation, this dissertation also seeks to show how both philosophies encouraged disorderly appetites to thrive in the literature and culture of the Victorian era. In addition to those who starved themselves to become thin and those who found themselves influenced by the theories of Malthus, disorderly eating also encompasses those who used food as a conduit to reach the divine. Throughout history, many Christian believers have used starvation as a way to reach spiritual transcendence. The tradition continued throughout the Victorian era, causing those who eschewed nutrition for divinity?s sake to gain much notoriety. Called anorexia mirabilis, the believed ability to reach a higher level of spirituality through abstention influenced the Victorian press to notice those who practiced abnormal eating to enhance their spirituality. For example, the Victorian ?Fasting Girls? became a transatlantic sensation because they supposedly refused food for spiritual gain. The most renowned Fasting Girl, the Welsh Sarah Jacob, ?showed no signs of wasting? even though she had ?ceased to take food or drink? in 1867 (Hardy 234). In order to prove that Jacob was fasting and not eating food in secret, the press arranged for nurses to observe the young girl. Although ?they were not to prevent her taking food or drink,? the nurses were to report Jacob?s every move (234). Unfortunately, ?within a few days the girl?s pulse became rapid, delirium supervened, and on the eighth day she died? (234). Her death, however, did not discourage the act of starvation. Despite Jacob?s demise, self- starvation gained even more popularity, prompting women and a handful of attention-seeking men to put their abstention on the public stage. Because disorderly eating differed from the 23 normative eating habits, those who starved or indulged often became a spectacle that could turn a profit or bring fame to the person on display. Even though many representations of the male appetite operated more visibly, like women in private, much was concealed, especially in military operations. Some chose to participate in disorderly eating while others had no option. This dissertation seeks to take the research that has been performed on Victorian women and hunger and use it as a comparative tool to investigate the discourse of men and disorderly eating, especially in the realm of Victorian literature and ephemera. In addition to ephemera published by Punch, analyses of Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade,? Crimean War commentary present in the works of Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale, and the short story ?The Vegetarian, or A Visit to Aunt Primitive,? show how the discourses of the Malthusian equation and discussions of disorderly eating influenced the male appetite. As literature reproduced these representations of disorderly eating in the daily diet of Victorians, the Victorian appetite became defined by constant fluctuations in the dominant discourse. Although eating was once an activity that required little thought, as disorderly eating gained popularity, men?s desire to represent survival and women?s desire to become thin became normalized standards of living. Meanwhile, the empire continued to utilize the techniques of bio-power to monitor, control and regulate what people consumed and how it affected the growing population. II. Women and Appetite Although both genders experienced disorderly eating in the Victorian era, scholars have dedicated more attention to historical and fictional women who expressed symptoms of 24 starvation or gluttony. Examples of women who starved or indulged are especially obvious in the body of Victorian literature. Before exploring how disorderly eating affected males, it is necessary to examine prior analyses of women and disorderly eating, especially to show how disorderly eating in some ways became a normative discourse in the Victorian era. Combined with a later discussion of men and abnormal eating, evidence of women and abnormal eating shows how starvation and overindulgence constructed the discourse of food and power in Victorian society. For instance, scholars have made much of Laura and Lizzie?s abstention and consumptionii in Christina Rossetti?s ?Goblin Market.? Rebecca F. Stem suggests that readers temporarily ?free? the poem from ?allegory? to see how ?the widespread problem of food adulteration provides apt framework for this tale of a young woman sickened by the food she consumes? (482), while Herbert F. Tucker suggests that the poem symbolizes ?the Christian Eucharist and also free self-actualization?anorexia nervosa, vampirism, the adulteration of foodstuffs, [and] absinthe addiction? (117). When Laura buys from the goblin men, she has no ?copper in her purse? but offers them ?a precious golden lock? (Rossetti 126). However, curiously absent from the discussion of food in ?Goblin Market? is an analysis of the goblin men?s own potential consumption. No one knows for certain if the goblin men physically consume Laura?s hair, but Laura does use the lock as a tool of exchange for the succulent fruit. Once the goblin men have a physical token of Laura?s body, they can metaphorically consume the girl through their possession of the hair. Through the golden lock, the goblin men learn the composition of Laura?s body. Essentially, the hair belongs to them to consume as they please. However, like many other instances of Victorian men, the consumption of the goblin men is concealed. Although Rossetti 25 makes the appetite of the goblin men clear through their desire for Laura and Lizzie, Rossetti never reveals the goblin men?s actual consumption of the hair. On the other hand, Rossetti prominently displays Laura and Lizzie?s consumption, resulting in notable investigations of how and why they consume or abstain from the fruit. Although certainly not the only Victorian text that discusses food, ?Goblin Market? has become a model literary work for paradigms of appetite and consumption. Research shows that for historical and fictional Victorian women, hunger and appetite control often produced a discourse that limited the power of female subjectivity so that autonomous choices could not be made. As many critics have noted, along with ?Goblin Market,? the desire for thinness and its consequences are prevalent in characters such as Amy Dorrit in Dickens?s Little Dorrit, Alice in Carroll?s Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, Maggie in Eliot?s The Mill on the Floss, and Catherine from Bronte?s Wuthering Heights. These female protagonists, though they have a distinct connection with food and hunger, also provide insight into the distinctly different affiliation that men maintained with food. Often, the effects of starvation seemingly could be more obvious in women? if they did not reproduce, it was assumed that they were not following the normalized patterns of eating. Therefore, many representative works of Victorian literature feature women who subscribed to disorderly eating, especially to show how the government sought to regulate and discipline bodies that did not conform. While men overindulged to show power and strength, women relied on quiet moderation and willpower to show how control could illuminate lifestyle. In her influential book Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body, Anna Krugovoy Silver notes that women and their bodies were irreversibly tied to self-restraint. As Krugovoy Silver writes, ?women were urged to downplay every aspect of their physicality, including (but not limited to) their sexuality? (9). 26 Krugovoy Silver connects the issues of body image and restraint to cultural mores, especially the popularity of the corset. The ?Fasting Girls? of the Victorian era evolved into fasting women, and Krugovoy Silver?s analysis of motivation and desire indicates the presence of disorderly eating at work in Victorian culture and literature. The influence of the corset and tightly fitting clothes inspired women to avoid eating; still, being fashionable was not the only goal. Women also abstained to show that they could avoid temptation and control their desires. Through controlling their desires, women who fasted saw that their abstention brought reward. Whether the women were able to fit into a corset, receive attention from others, or fulfill a personal need, the abstention from food showed women that they could maintain control over their bodies and decisions. Furthermore, some women abstained to rail against the government?s subtle demands that they must eat in order to reproduce; if they did not eat, then they could not become ideal subjects ready to reproduce. The impetus for these decisions, however, did not emerge from a new Victorian trend. Certainly, disorderly eating in the Victorian period is indebted to earlier myths of appetite, notably the Genesis myth where Eve?s consumption of the apple causes the downfall of mankind. The collection Scenes of the Apple: Food and the Female Body in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Women?s Writing illuminates how the Genesis myth has oppressed women?s appetites and desires in literature and culture, especially in the Victorian era. In the introduction of the book, Tamar Heller and Patricia Moran note that far too often, the discourse of female consumption rests upon the Genesis myth, with no leeway for redemption. The book opens with this succinct quote: ?In the Genesis narrative of the fall, sin and death enter the world when a woman eats? (Heller and Moran 1). Heller and Moran note, ?In ?Extreme Fidelity,? Helene Cixous claims that the Eve myth, the ?scene of the apple,? is the guiding myth of Western 27 culture? (1). Eve?s consumption of the apple has caused the ?subjection of female ?oral pleasure? to the regulation of patriarchal law? (1). The literal or symbolic act of consumption, Heller and Moran argue, can be enough to destroy generations. However, this research does not extend to a discussion of how the Genesis myth affected the male appetite. Absolved from generational guilt of destroying Godly perfection, both fictional and literal Victorian men had no reason to avoid food unless forced. Furthermore, Victorian men did not have the pressure to control the outward growth of their bodies. In ?Good and Plenty: Queen Victoria Figures the Imperial Body,? Adrienne Munich further reveals how appetite related to social status; though focused on the female appetite, her research serves as a comparative tool for discussing normative and disorderly male appetite. By sufficiently introducing the direct connection between feminine abstention and bodily control, Munich shows how certain eating habits indicated that the Victorian woman was openly opposing scripture or exhibiting signs of a low social status. Munich argues, ?To exhibit such self-referential pleasure in public eating might seem to defy Scripture and the way Scripture underwrote the construction of the Victorian woman?. For the Victorian, a robust appetite in women could be a sign of low-class status or a sign of moral degradation? (47). Munich?s key focus is, of course, the Queen and her personal relationship with food. Interestingly, Queen Victoria?s rapport with food was a recipe of many ingredients: power, pleasure, control, and ritual. The Queen?s rituals inevitably trickled from herself down to the common woman. Men, however, had no pressure to embody the Queen?s personal dietary regulations. For women, the expectation to echo the Queen?s dietary methods rose as waistlines further slimmed. Often, as argued by Munich, the Queen?s connections to food were often 28 convoluted and full of mixed messages. Munich notes that in Queen Victoria?s attention to gratifying her appetite, [her writing] blends a conscious self-gratification at her own embodiment with an unconscious wielding of eating as power. In controlling rituals around food, as a tyrannical manner of wielding sovereign power, Victoria?s personal pleasures inevitably represent the monarchy?s authority through the mode of personal appetite. (49) According to Munich, the Queen?s writing exposed that eating could exhibit power and grant pleasure. However, the Queen?s ?controlling rituals? imply that she did not (or felt that she could not) indulge in food whenever she felt the desire. For the common woman, the impetus to restrain grew from the Queen?s ?controlling rituals? (49). If the common woman could not become Queen, then she could at least take the ?controlling rituals? to the highest degree possible (49). However, anorexia and fasting became disorderly because a poor diet reduced fertility. Women could not become ideal subjects if they could not reproduce bodies for the British empire. Although writing about women and food mostly focuses on controlling desire, as Pamela K. Gilbert shows, reading can also serve as a metaphor for the dangers of consumption. In ?Ingestion, Contagion, Seduction: Victorian Metaphors of Reading,? Gilbert explores how eating and consumption have become symbolic of reading. As Gilbert notes, ?specific anxieties fostered a metaphoric field wherein popular reading became associated with forms of ingestion and bodily invasion? (65). Gilbert shows how consumption?of food and texts? has often been accused of poisoning the body and mind. For instance, Gilbert shows how ?Books, then, are presented alternately as food and poison, medicine and illicit drugs, erotic and contaminated 29 bodies? (66). Essentially, Gilbert exposes how scholars and society have viewed consumption as a transgression of manners and cleanliness, especially for women. However, for many Victorian men, the opposite ideology reigned. The more they could consume, the more powerful they felt. For men, literal and metaphorical consumption created strength and authority. For women, restraint showed that they could maintain control. Throughout the anthology Why Women? Gender issues and eating disorders, Bridget Dolan and Inez Gitzinger further explore the gendered cultural standards and psychological factors involved in disorderly eating. In the chapter ?Female Sex-role Conflicts and Eating Disorders,? Winny Weeda-Mannak discusses how clinical evidence shows, ?women with eating disorders have internalized the cultural standards of successful femininity in a desperate attempt to avoid social rejection? (17). Weeda-Mannak discusses that in a study done by Boskind-Lodahl in 1976, doctors taught women diagnosed with eating disorders to exclude behaviors that society and medicine considered ?masculine? (17). For instance, doctors instructed women to avoid ?independence, effectiveness and the expression of anger and aggression,? often resulting in lower self-esteem than women who did not display evidence of disorderly appetite behaviors (17). Retroactively, this study shows how the cultural ideologies concerning appetites in the Victorian era resonated for many years. Since the Victorian era, aggressive consumption has been associated with male behavior, while restraint has remained tied to supposedly ?successful femininity? (17). Following Weeda-Mannak?s discussion of women and disorderly eating, ?How Important is Body Image for Normal Weight Bulimics? Implications for Research and Treatment? by Judith Bullerwell-Ravar expands the definition of disorderly eating by noting, ?the bulimic patient?s body image is considered ?disordered? since although her weight is often normal in 30 medical terms, she panics at the idea of becoming fat? (34). The use of the feminine pronoun is telling; the exclusion of males from the discussion of disordered eating suggests that the conversations have been one-sided, not only in literature studies, but also in dominant medical and sociological discourses. Though disordered eating often means that one?s body image and treatment of the body directly connects to a medically defined disease, disorderly eating specifically refers to consumption that differed from government ordained eating habits that sought to expand the empire. In studies of appetite and consumption, scholars have discussed the female body as always and forever haunted by disorderly eating; a plethora of Laura and Lizzies emerged from Victorian literature and culture, causing much scholarship and debate to focus on women?s appetite. However, especially in the Victorian era, men maintained their own troubled relationship with consumption; although documented, the relationship of males and appetite has not often been explored fully for analysis. The notion of bio-power in Victorian England revealed that the government sought to survey and regulate bodies of all kinds. The government wanted to regulate meals to make certain that women would keep reproducing and that men would remain strong and healthy soldiers and citizens. Whereas many women relied on self- restraint to become thin, the Malthusian equation pressured men to become breathing symbols of strength and power. As the desire to evade starvation and the loss of strength became more prevalent, the thin male body3 became a Victorian eyesore that needed concealed at whatever cost necessary. 3 There is the exception of those who desired to display their bodies as anomalies, such as Succi and Jacques, who will be discussed in the following chapter. 31 III. The Missing Male Body As disorderly eating began becoming normalized behavior, men who were not burly, bulky, or statuesque suffered a similar social pressure to women who did not conform to bodily ideals. Britain, specifically a bio-powerful nation, wanted males to remain large and strong so that they could work and join the military when necessary. This often resulted in not only disorderly eating but also a disorderly view of the male gender and physique. Victorian men who did not have a strong body type were seen as incapable of performing duties specified for their gender. Take Philip Wakemiii from The Mill on the Floss; Eliot describes him as a ?pale, puny fellow? unsuitable for reproduction (145). In addition to his physical deformities, Philip also exhibits little strength in his frail bones and muscles. Throughout the text, Eliot portrays the slender and hunched Phillip as a character who possesses strength in artistic but not physical skill. Because of his frailty, Philip is always metaphorically and literally hungry for something to fill his needs and wants. When talking to his sister Maggie, he notes that he ?can?t give up wishing?. It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them? (266). Philip?s lean body prevents the other characters from perceiving him as a powerful figure. Throughout the text, his ?hunger? can never be satisfied because his foods are metaphorical ideals. Unlike Philip Wakem, most Victorian literature normalized large, jolly sized men. While Philip Wakem hungered, other Victorian males indulged in compulsive eating so that they could become ideal male citizens (Garrett xi). Though less shame was publically associated with overweight Victorian men, underweight men often endured private humiliation and anxiety. As echoed in The Mill on the Floss, Philip Wakem must prove himself through his artistic strength 32 and loyalty instead of his mass. However, because of his diminutive size, the more ?masculine? characters, such as Maggie?s brother Tom, do not take Philip seriously. Although scholars have researched the male body and appetite, little has sought to understand how hunger functioned in Philip Wakem?s historical counterparts. However, general research done on the male body is helpful in understanding the cultural designations of appetite and masculinity. Ranging from studies of Shakespeare to contemporary films, the question of how appetite and hunger have influenced the male body suggests that the connection has always existed, but not investigated fully. Additionally, the scholarship done on the male body and appetite helps to focus and historicize the study of Victorian literature, ephemera, and masculinity. As Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska has noted, the late nineteenth century became a site of ?male bonding, uniting men through ?worship of the gorgeous physique and offering techniques to develop male bodies to enhance military prowess, economic success and social harmony?? (596). Society expected the physicality of males in Victorian England to symbolize strength and power. For the purpose of expanding the British empire, the ideal male remained strong, able to work, and able to fight for his country. The shift in science illuminated the belief that more food and bigger bodies would create longevity. As the theories of Darwin and Malthus became popularized in the nineteenth century, many men convinced themselves that the more food they consumed, the more power they would have. This complemented the British government?s desire to produce strong males to expand the empire. In her book The Citizen?s Body: Desire, Health, and the Social in Victorian England, Pamela K. Gilbert asserts, ?The citizen was in fact to be the Malthusian ideal?a responsible consumer/producer whose desires were shaped and appropriate to the market? (22). However, as anxieties grew, responsibility toward food became negotiable. Although many women stopped 33 eating in order to show restraint, many men consumed as much food as possible. Consumption created power; but, this power was often delusional. Despite surviving the shrinking food supply, no one could cheat death. However, capable bodies could still serve the expanding empire. Although Gilbert?s claims are true of social rhetoric, literature and ephemera tell a different story. As Terry Eagleton has suggested, these hunger anxieties and methods of food regulation stem from a hegemonic power that sought to infiltrate consumer society with the desire for the marginalized (especially the Irish) to become a ?less politically belligerent people? (16). Eagleton notes, ?for some British officials, the Famine was a sign of divine displeasure with the potato, and a golden opportunity for the Irish to shift to a less barbarous form of nourishment? (17). Clearly, the British hoped that food and dietary determinism would aid in the cause of producing ?a more civilized? and homogenous Irish population.4 The same hegemonic power dictated that many soldiers in the Victorian Army starve so Britain could save money; as long as the Army could convince soldiers to fight in battle, the Army could convince them to eat whatever they provided, even if it was remarkably little. Unfortunately, the starvation of the British soldiers became a source of shame for Britain, and regulatory forces had to be enforced to conceal the poor treatment of the soldiers. For the British soldiers, disorderly eating was the direct result of the lack of supply and medical attention. Especially when the Army could not provide the necessities?food, shelter, and basic care?disease and disaster prevailed. Often, scholars have overlooked the male body in terms of how the lack of basic needs affect strength. In his article, ?Like a Devoted Army: 4 Closely tied to the desire for the British to control the Irish diet is hunger striking by means of rebellion. However, little has been written concerning how the ?ancient Irish practice? is represented in Victorian literature. Hunger striking is important in that, as Eagleton argues, it ?seeks to retrieve historical meaning from pure biological passivity? (17). Hunger striking, therefore, is both tied to biology and psychology, because it affects both the body and the mind. The hunger striking that occurs in Victorian literature inevitably works within a system of internal punishment so that it must starve the body and mind while attempting to prove a point. 34 Medicine, Heroic Masculinity, and the Military Paradigm in Victorian Britain,? Michael Brown explores how gender affected the medicinal culture of the era. He argues that feminists have long noticed how knowledge directly ties to the body,5 but the same argument has not been explored regarding the male body. Brown?s discussion of gender and the medical culture raises awareness of both masculinity and food; his argument shows how scholars have excluded masculinity from the dialogue concerning gender and medicine. He expresses, Ever since the 1980s, feminist scholars and women?s and gender historians have paid increasing attention to the ways in which medical knowledge about the body has shaped, informed, and intersected with wider understandings of gender identity, relation, and difference. Rather fewer have considered how formulations of gender informed the cultures of medicine itself. (592) Brown?s discussion of gender and the medical culture raises awareness of the connection between masculinity and food by illuminating how the male gender has also been shaped by trends in the discourse of eating. Brown?s discussion clarifies how scholars have eschewed concerns about the maintenance of the male body. Specifically, the availability of food and drink affected the manner in which men could fight?and survive?on the battlefields. Often, eating in the nineteenth century became regulated by systems of discipline and punishment. As described in Foucault?s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, discipline is composed of ?innumerable mechanisms? that train the body into submission (302). One ultimate goal of discipline is to produce bodies that perform as if they are under constant 5 Brown argues that ?Ever since the 1980s, feminist scholars and women?s and gender historians have paid increasing attention to the ways in which medical knowledge about the body has shaped, informed, and intersected with wider understandings of gender identity, relation, and difference. Rather fewer have considered how formulations of gender informed the cultures of medicine itself? (592). 35 observation and control. Punishment, on the other hand, must be administered when discipline fails. In modernity, punishment has moved from major spectacles to more generalized and physically gentle punitive measures. In modernity, people are rarely killed as punishment; instead, they are more often used to ensure that they serve the needs of the state. For women in the nineteenth century, this meant reproducing so that the population grew, and the state was constantly served. For men, this meant giving over their bodies for war. However, the starvation of Victorian soldiers resembled more medieval techniques that became a source of disgrace for the British empire. According to Richard L. Blanco in his 1966 retroactive study on treatment of Victorian troops, ?if troops died due to an arrogant neglect of food?there was little official concern. The soldiers were taught to obey, not to question why? (62). As Foucault reasons, punishment can be of ?a less immediately physical kind, a certain discretion in the art of inflicting pain, a combination of a more subtle, more subdued sufferings, deprived of their visible display? (378). Blanco notes, ?Britain in 1855 was stunned to discover that its Army, in its first major oversea operation since Waterloo, had collapsed at the front. The Victorians now became shamefully aware that their troops on the shores of the Black Sea suffered intensely from shortages of food? (63). Instead of strong bodies serving the empire, the Victorian Army became weak from the lack of nourishment and clean water. Studies concerning the discipline and punishment of Victorian troops clearly show the unfortunate lack of power and control that the individual soldiers had over their nutritional needs. As Peter Burroughs illuminates, British soldiers could do little in protest but riot: The ordinary soldier had no direct influence over conditions of service, and gatherings for discussion were forbidden. Soldiers could not therefore hope to generate a concerted, constructive movement for reform from the ranks, even had 36 they been so minded. Nevertheless, as the study of military crime graphically demonstrates, they could and did protest in the negative, unconstructive forms open to them against the harassments and monotony of army life and service: they resorted to unruly behaviour, drunkenness, and desertion. (546) Burrough?s observations indicate that despite the shortage of food, water, and proper shelter, the soldiers could not come together to form a unified protest for progress. Instead, they could only work with what they had: ?unruly behaviour, drunkenness, and desertion? (546). Important to this study, the drunkenness that abounded within the Victorian Army is especially unfortunate. Though the troops could not be guaranteed clean, drinkable water and proper nutrition, the Army provided them with plenty of alcohol. Even though alcohol was not a proper replacement for proper nutrition and clean drinking water, the troops had no choice but to take what their superiors gave them. Their disorderly eating became normative military behavior, even if they fought against the Army?s system. Furthermore, Victorians?especially soldiers who spent the majority of time outdoors? needed to become more aware of how their environmental surroundings affected their health. Medical advice from ?Progress in Preventive Medicine? implored citizens to avoid ?Close, badly-ventilated, or hot rooms, the inhalation of any kind of dust, the habit of taking small quantities of alcohol (termed ?nipping?), stooping, positions that cramp or impede the full and free movement of the chest, the corset or tight-fitting clothes? (142). This research indicates how some professionals found many aspects of Victorian livelihood unhealthy. In addition to the corset, which would apply to the female Victorian, the reports mentions ?tight-fitting clothes?; the discussed ?tight-fitting clothes? could apply to Victorian women and men (142). Moreover, the report discusses how unhealthy the ?nipping? of alcohol could be for the body. Although the 37 report does not explicitly mention troops and their relationship with alcohol, ?Progress and Preventive Medicine? clearly reveals that alcohol, even in small doses, could harm one physically. Because of contaminated water and lack of concern from the government, Victorian troops still relied on alcohol to acquire their daily caloric intake. Without proper food, the soldiers had little choice but to find something to fill their empty stomachs. Inevitably, disorderly eating led to disorderly behavior. Thankfully, after time and devastation, changes were on the horizon; though the troops had difficulty finding sanitized water and edible food, after the Crimean War, ?major changes occurred in the structure and operation of the British military medical establishment? (Padiak 82). The restructuring of medical officers and their power also aided the progress of the British Army. As Janet Padiak notes, this restructuring and regulation would, eventually, put an end to the suffering of the troops.6 Padiak?s research indicates that although the conditions for the British troops may have been less than acceptable, promoting the importance of clean water, proper nutrition, and exercise showed that progress could assuage the problem of poor health. Before this progress began, however, the troops suffered. Without proper water and food, the masculine bodies of the soldiers could not adhere to the expectations of strong male bodies. Along with affecting the physical body of the troops, unsanitary water and malnutrition also influenced the common Victorian?s definition of a healthy male body. The ideal male body shifted under the influence of the malnourished and dehydrated Army and therefore, needed 6 Padiak writes that ?Corps were created; the former gave medical officers autonomy, including powers to recommend to the regimental commanding officer in all matters relating to the health of the troops, including sanitation, diet, duties, and exercises. The Army Hospital Corps provided trained hospital personnel, using soldiers who were selected for the role, replacing the untrained attendants who had cared for their fellow soldiers in the first portion of the century? (83). 38 concealed. Whereas the public imagined the ideal male body as portly and generous, the military situation presented something far less stalwart. Novels and poetry?like Dickens? Hard Times and Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade??imagined the capable male as strong and dominant, but often, Victorian soldiers struggled to be provided with basic nutritional needs. As detailed by Richard Pearce, in the Crimean War ?19,584 officers and men were dead and 2,873 permanently incapacitated. Of these, only 3,754 were battle casualties; the remainder died of disease, largely as a result of the chaos within the medical services? (90). Many of the soldiers lost their lives because weakness, brought upon by lack of nutrition, made them incapable of fighting disease. Unfortunately, the government believed that these soldiers ostensibly needed to become more disciplined and ?hungry? for battle. In opposition to the starved Victorian battlefield, high society Victorian men often had the leisure of indulging in whatever food was available. Without question, money correlated directly with the amount of food the Victorian male could consume. In the article ?Filthy Lucre: Victorian Ideas of Money,? Christopher Herbert notes that the Victorian economy produced a cultural awareness that associated money with all aspects of Victorian lifestyle: Money formed a crucial if often mystified vehicle of cultural awareness in the mid-Victorian decades, an age of booming economic expansion and, as it seemed to contemporaries, of fabulous prosperity after the ordeal of the "hungry forties." Historians have followed the lead of Victorian publicists in portraying the years after mid-century in Britain as a period of national enrichment and rejuvenation. (187-88) Especially with the ?hungry forties??a colloquial term that described the era encompassing the Irish Potato Famine and political unrest in Britain?men who could afford food had the upper 39 hand. The literature of the Victorian era represented the reality that the soldiers faced; without food, the soldiers often lost hope that change would occur and bring them home alive. The soldier, usually thought of as the pinnacle of manliness, could not live up to expectations without proper nutrition. On the other hand, Victorian literature often showed that men in the leisure class sought to improve their existence by indulging in food that exhibited their economic prowess. Like Philip Wakem in The Mill of the Floss, soldiers of the Crimean War found that their disorderly bodies were unable to serve the empire and go forward into modernity. Soldiers could at least be disciplined so that their bodies might be used for the Queen and the British empire?s glory. IV. Vegetarianism and the Victorian However, not all disorderly eating led to the demise of the physical body. A signifier of shifting eating habits in the Victorian era, vegetarianism presented a unique lifestyle choice that avoided meat but promoted an awareness of health. Initially, Victorian England saw vegetarianism as rebellious, disorderly eating. Yet, as the Victorian era revealed more vegetarian-centered restaurants and publications, the lack of meat in the daily diet became more normalized. Especially for Victorians who desired to take a political stance that had an outward expression, vegetarianism possessed a number of positive attributes. The meatless lifestyle protested vivisection, made people feel healthier, and saved money and resources. Instead of excess, vegetarianism presented Victorians with a method of ridding their physical bodies of potentially unnecessary ingredients. 40 In addition to the health benefits provided by vegetarianism, the lifestyle also gave Victorian men a voice in the discourse of appetite and literature that focused on cuisine. Although vegetarianism may have limited the dietary choices, the discourse put no limits on people who could practice the avoidance of flesh consumption. Many women wrote about vegetarianism, but the works of male writers and philosophers especially flourished throughout the discipline. Unlike disorderly eating that starved the body or prevented the body from ingesting needed nutrients, vegetarianism sought to provide a healthy diet that benefitted those who believed in the practice. Additionally, instead of a diet that focused on the individual, most vegetarians saw the movement as a way to create a community that believed in the cause. Whereas most disorderly eating spotlighted the individual and the avoidance of needed food, vegetarianism provided a different?but still healthy?method of eating. In part, vegetarianism flourished in reaction to the consumer culture that was beginning to thrive in Victorian England. As technology progressed, many citizens wished to revert to a simpler life that did not focus on the growing trend of consumer culture. As Tamara S. Wagner and Narin Hassan assess in Consuming Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century: Narratives of Consumption, ?in an age which perceived itself as one of unparalleled material and technological progress, apologists across the western world presented vegetarianism as in the vanguard of social, moral, and hygienic reform? (19). The vegetarian movement fostered idealism, progress, and a ?back to the land? philosophy that many felt could not be found in the nineteenth-century consumer culture (19). Although vegetarianism had many supporters and progenitors, the movement was especially relevant to men who wished to make decisions regarding diet and nutritional needs. With the culture of diet shifting, vegetarianism allowed men to plan meals, write recipes, and 41 express their views on food. Instead of concealing these views, vegetarianism opened a more public forum for men to discuss why certain food should be consumed or avoided. For men who had an interest in food and cooking, vegetarianism offered a unique way for males to cultivate their desire to cook, plan, and prepare food. Vegetarianism represented a new awakening toward dietary changes; though not a new idea, vegetarianism was certainly a novelty that created a shift in the dietary desires of those living in the nineteenth century. However, not everyone agreed that vegetarianism represented progress. As expressed in Consuming Culture, when vegetarianism began to take root in the 1840s-1850s, there were more questions than answers. Wagner and Hassan assert that to some, vegetarianism was a ?sign of the times? that was ?often belittled as faddish by those endorsing medical orthodoxy? (19). In opposition to its supporters, many critics wished that vegetarianism would ?fade away as science exploded its claims? (19). Because of its novelty, many feared that vegetarianism was an unhealthy alternative to a ?balanced? diet that included meat and animal products (19). Despite the debate about the health benefits of vegetarianism, the movement sparked creativity and gave males a chance to exercise control over the domestic space usually relegated to women. Although many Victorians resisted vegetarianism, the movement garnered support from societies and individuals who believed that the lifestyle could benefit the health of the body and mind. In 1847, ten years after the beginning of Queen Victoria?s reign, Britain?s ?Vegetarian Society? was created. The Vegetarian Society was composed of those who desired to live as vegetarians and promote the lifestyle to others. In Sins of the Flesh: A History of Ethical Vegetarian Thought, Rod Preece quotes, ??three thousand members of the Vegetarian Society attended its conference in 1891,?? which was a rather strong showing (1). However, Preece focuses on vegetarian as an issue that mostly influenced women. Because vegetarianism meant 42 potentially less work in the kitchen, Preece notes that many women?s groups supported the avoidance of flesh. Still, vegetarianism also enabled men to follow an eating pattern that differed from flesh consumption. The Vegetarian Society?and other smaller groups that formed? encouraged men and women to avoid eating animal flesh. Organized groups allowed vegetarianism to flourish for both genders; however, because males had been largely absent from examples of eating that strayed from the norm, vegetarianism especially provided men with a way to express their different-but-healthy dietary choices. Vegetarianism especially attracted males in the medical field; eager to try a new style of eating that cleansed the body, many male medical professionals attended a dinner at the ?Orange Grove? restaurant. The British Medical Journal reported on the event. The journal refers to a speech given by one Professor Mayor, who noted that vegetarianism ?did not mean an exclusively vegetable diet? (741). Eager to show that vegetarianism could include many nutrients, Professor Mayor cited ancient Greek influences as proof that a vegetarian diet could benefit the body and mind. To further prove the benefits of a vegetarian diet, Professor Mayor also presented data showing the differences between the ?English working man, with his average yearly consumption of 110 pounds of meat, and the Italian, with an average of 30 lbs annually? (741). According to Professor Mayor, the Italian man who consumed less meat maintained a healthier lifestyle than the average English male. He presented this research to prove that more English citizens, specifically males, should adopt vegetarianism to improve health. However, those in attendance at the dinner also considered that the opposite might be true; to express that they had considered the viewpoint of those who believed that the English 43 workingman might have a healthier lifestyle, those at the dinner discussed the etymology of the word ?vegetarian,? noting that the name of the diet often sounds misleading. The committee declared that in addition to vegetables, many other types of food could be consumed. Fruit, grains, and dairy, they noted, could be added to the diet to ensure that all necessary nutrients were present. Subtly, but perhaps most importantly, the close of the report expresses that the greatest benefit of vegetarianism is that the diet exercises no harm toward animals. Many Victorian citizens became vegetarians to protest vivisection. Vivisection, the dissection of live animals, existed so that scientists and doctors could further medicine; however, this came at the price of harming animals. By refusing to indulge in animal flesh, vegetarians used their dietary choice as a weapon against the despicable practice of purposefully injuring a living creatureiv. Many vegetarians in the Victorian era sought to end vivisection by showing that the nerves of animals react similarly to pain as those of humans. Therefore, the process of killing or significantly harming an animal for scientific purpose was seen as inhumane. Because they refused to eat flesh, vegetarians hoped to dissuade others from indulging in practices that created pain for any living creature (Salt 1-9). In addition to protecting living creatures, vegetarianism strove for simplicity in lifestyle. Instead of copious commodity and the constant buying and disposing of items, some Victorians strove to live wholly and simply from the land. Although certainly nothing new, living off the land created a life that allowed citizens to recycle instead of constantly consume materials. For instance, Edward Carpenter (1844-1929), a writer, socialist, and philosopher, proposed that civilization is a form of disease that can only be avoided by living from the land and developing a closer association with nature. To prove his point, he left a lecture fellowship and shifted his 44 lifestyle from one of academic studies ?to open-air life and manual work? (Moncur-Sime 3). To foreshadow the commitment and restraint needed to conform to a lifestyle of ?open-air? and ?manual work,? Carpenter describes his lifestyle change like a religious calling: ?I could not finally argue with this any more than the other, I had to give in and obey? (3). However, because Carpenter did not consume the normalized diet of beef, corn, and cheese, the state felt threatened by Carpenter?s disorderly eating. Because of his sexual orientation and refusal to consume flesh, Carpenter did not fit the sexual or economic mold of a docile body that would sufficiently serve the state; therefore, even more than other vegetarians, Carpenter risked persecution from an empire that wished for its citizens to reproduce more and more docile bodies. Despite disgust from outsiders, Carpenter followed his desire to forego typical society and live from the land. Before becoming known for his vegetarian lifestyle, Carpenter left civilization to grow his own food and live without needing to associate himself with consumer culture. By eliminating himself from society?s commotion, Carpenter created a daily life that required little involvement with advertising and ephemera that often created consumer frenzy and despair. Carpenter discovered that by providing the body with natural food grown in his own backyard, he could feel healthy by living from land that he cultivated ?as a market garden? (Moncur-Sime 3). In many ways, this was the beginning of shifting disorderly eating to a normalized lifestyle. Although Carpenter began by living against the grain of society, by showing that he could thrive physically and mentally, Carpenter strove to redefine what it meant to live in Victorian England. He wanted to show that a different diet did not necessarily make it disorderly. The death of Carpenter?s father was the initial seed for the shift in his lifestyle; in September of 1882, Carpenter?s father died and left him a bit of an inheritance, which ?weighed 45 on his mind? (Moncur-Sime 110). With no desire to return to his academic lectures or literary work that paid, he decided to live a life of manual work and ?open air.? Although Carpenter describes the choice as having a ?purely personal motive,? he argues, ?No doubt it was a healthy instinct? (110). However, because vegetarianism was a novel way of life, Carpenter?s aspirations to cultivate the land and grow his own food unfortunately caused many misunderstandings to arise about his lifestyle. Many suspected that Carpenter lived as a recluse who wanted nothing to do with others, especially the government. Instead, Carpenter strove to create a lifestyle that relied on the land for sustenance. As A.H. Moncur-Sime addresses in his biography of him, Carpenter strove to prove that he could live outside of society without living above society. He endeavored to show that growing and eating his own food and living from the land was different but not disorderly. Moncur-Sime describes Carpenter as, delightfully human. He keeps absolutely in touch with the progressive movements of humanity in every department, and no one looks more sympathetically upon the significant unrest of the times. He sees what the hustling man of action often fails to see, that the world needs to be understood and interpreted to itself. (5) Carpenter did not desire to isolate himself from people. Instead, he wished to become an example. By showing that he could live adequately and sufficiently from his own land, Carpenter renounced consumer culture while proving that his appetite could be filled from organic materials. Carpenter?s ability to live without the typical Victorian economy brought him many followers and disciples. His revolutionary views may not have convinced each and every Victorian to abandon society and obtain food straight from the land, but his philosophies and 46 writing revealed the value of avoiding mainstream consumer culture. As Moncur-Sime observes, Carpenter believed, ?ancient constitutions [should be] abolished, [and] new ones should be adopted? (10). Carpenter saw ?people everywhere [are] clamouring for change? and shifting eating habits of Victorians was one of the changes that needed to be made (10). However, for many Victorian males, the idea of living from ?unprepared? fruits and vegetables at first seemed unpractical and even impossible (10). By shifting his own eating habits and the way he interacted with food, Carpenter exemplified how to have different eating habits that were not necessarily disorderly. Although many saw vegetarianism as verging ?upon the disreputable,? Carpenter aimed to show that instead of ?downright scandalous and immoral,? vegetarianism should be taken as a serious and acceptable lifestyle (Spencer 294). Without voices like Carpenter, ?vegetarians were?firmly outsiders and would remain so? (294). However, Carpenter?s philosophies had begun to take root in the soil of society. Because ?local papers had now given power to isolated voices to spread their views, their criticisms and protests,? and because ?the quick growth of towns and cities collected the voices of protest and intensified them,? the vegetarian movement began to spread further throughout England (294). Although Victorians once considered vegetarianism disorderly, avoiding meat?for a variety of purposes? was becoming more normalized. Throughout his writing, Carpenter maintained an awareness of how vegetarianism seemed like a difficult pursuit for many Victorians. He admits that the concept even took him some time to accept. In his book Days and Dreams, Carpenter reveals how ?the vegetarian ideal? began ?to commend itself? to him; however, he ?did not abandon meat at once,? but ?gradually pushed along the line?so that after four or five years, [he] was able to dispense with meat (and alcoholics) altogether? (100). Still, Carpenter does not focus wholly on why he chose to avoid 47 meat; he also focuses on the benefits of vegetarianism. Carpenter argues that despite any ?absolute rule against flesh-eating,? living ?for months at a time without meat or fish of any kind? enabled him to enjoy ?infinitely better health than ever before? (100). For Carpenter, the benefits of vegetarianism were two-fold: he gained a healthier body, and he proved that eating differently from most people around him was not harmful. However, Carpenter notes that he never made any strict rules and regulations for his avoidance of meat. Instead, Carpenter states that in general, he maintained ?a strong (perhaps a too strong) objection to principles? but adhered to the vegetarian diet because he enjoyed the way the food made him feel (101). Vegetarianism, especially for Carpenter, became a way of forging a community based on common goals: to feel ?pleasant, clean, healthful in every way, and grateful to one?s sense of decency? (101). Carpenter promoted vegetarianism because it improved the quality of his body and decreased violence toward other living creatures. Carpenter?s devotion to vegetarianism also allowed him more opportunity to express his sexual desire toward other men; many considered his eating disorderly because he did not subscribe to heterosexual relationships that would reproduce for the British empire. Known as being a progenitor of gay rights, Carpenter has often been rediscovered in queer theory and gay studies as a ?pioneer of libertarian Socialism and sexual freedom, of communal fellowship and personal comradeship? (Tsuzuki 195). Though Carpenter?s sexual identity might seem to have little connection to his appetite and eating habits, vegetarianism diminished the need for additional domestic work. Without the consumption of flesh, there was no need to refrigerate or spend time preparing the meat; for Carpenter, this meant that there was less need for females present in the domestic space. A vegetarian diet presented little need for elaborate preparation and storage. Because a vegetarian diet required less storage and preparation than a diet consisting 48 of animal flesh, Carpenter could eliminate the need for additional female wives and servants. Vegetarianism, therefore, helped pioneer sexual freedom by reducing the need for gender specific activity in Carpenter?s domestic space. In addition to Edward Carpenter, Charles Walter Forward emerged as a strong male voice for the benefits of vegetarianism. Instead of sexual freedom, however, Forward advocated the logical elements of vegetarianism. As Forward notes, the vegetarian writer must focus on ?facts rather than arguments? (1). He cautions that if vegetarian writers only rely on an emotional connection with animals, they risk criticism; because many flesh-eaters did not empathize with the sentiment that animals contained purpose other than becoming food, many vegetarian writers began by citing ?facts? that largely, could be agreed on by different types of readers. Additionally, because vegetarians were a minority in Victorian England, writers who supported the lifestyle needed to emphasize that avoiding dietary meat was not a ?crank? or ?fad? (Forward 1). Instead, writers like Charles Walter Forward sought to show that vegetarianism was not a form of disorderly eating but ?nothing new? (1). Forward begins his book Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England (1898) by discussing the Edenic diet, which refers to the diet of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. The Edenic diet shuns most fatty foods, spices, sugar, caffeine, and especially meat. More of a dietary designation than a reference to religious or spiritual beliefs, the Edenic diet was practiced by Pythagoras and others in ancient cultures (Forward 1). Forward cites the involvement of historical figures in the Edenic diet because of its controversy and because of its supporters. He argues, ?That Pythagoras enjoined abstention from the flesh of animals is comparatively well-known, but it is not so generally recognized that many equally well-known teachers subsequent to the sage of Samos have held opinions upon diet as 49 pronounced as those of Pythagoras himself? (1). The historical trajectory of the Edenic diet helps Forward to prove that the avoidance of meat has a long history; instead of invading Victorian society as a ?crank? or ?fad? diet, Forward?s explanation of the Edenic diet?s history shows that vegetarianism has had a perpetual presence in society and culture. Forward furthers his argument by focusing on the practicality of vegetarianism; because many accused vegetarianism of being a fleeting ?fad? or ?crank? diet, the emphasis on practicality shows that instead of disorderly eating, nineteenth-century vegetarianism existed as a pragmatic alimentary choice, especially for men who desired to make their own decisions about diet. Whereas the corset and anorexia were most often associated with women, vegetarianism could be practiced by either gender. Therefore, Victorian male writers could utilize vegetarianism to show that they could also make choices regarding their appetite. Vegetarianism was certainly not limited to men, but the choice to avoid meat created a way for Victorian men to engage in the discourse of appetite. In addition to the diet?s practicality, Forward also notes the restraint tied to the avoidance of flesh. One positive of vegetarian, as argued by Forward, is that restraint leads to a healthier lifestyle. Although restraint was nothing new to the Victorian era, women were more often tied to dietary restrictions for social purposes. By avoiding foot and tightly tying the corset strings, many Victorian women used restraint to stay or become thin. However, though not as thoroughly discussed, men?before, during, and after the Victorian era? often used vegetarianism to show self-restraint. However, most men used the self-restraint of vegetarianism to create healthier physical bodies. Forward provides the example of John Howard, who was a ?famous philanthropist and prison reformer? and lived as a ?practical vegetarian,? to cure his childhood sickness (3). Through his later visitations to prisons?which were, as Forward observes, ?almost 50 entirely neglected? by sanitation?Howard believed that he was able to avoid illness through his diet (3). Nevertheless, the type of restraint practiced by vegetarianism differs from those who (like the ?Fasting Girls? of Victorian England) supposedly avoided food completely. Vegetarians still consumed food, but they restricted alimentary elements to boost their health, to take a political stance, or a combination of both. According to Forward, Howard?s vegetarianism kept him alive and active (especially in hospital and prison reformation) because he avoided flesh consumption. As Forward writes, Howard ?himself attributes his immunity from the deadly gaol fever, the infection of which he fearlessly exposed himself to when visiting the filthy prisons of Europe, entirely to his pure dietary? (4). The example of Howard shows that despite his restraint, he was able to thrive on a diet that included no meat. For vegetarians, restraint did not always equate to lack. Instead, restraint signified that a long, healthy life could be led, even without the consumption of meat. However, because vegetarianism did not specify gender, the movement became a subversive method of changing eating habits for both women and men. Whereas starvation or the unnecessary expulsion of food caused harm to the body, vegetarianism acted as a dietary choice that was healthy and available to all. Both male and females could choose to avoid meat, and if they still consumed the proper nutrients, vegetarianism did not deprive its followers of the necessary nutrition needed to live. Vegetarianism, unlike diets that suggested starvation, focused on lifestyle and not commodity. Vegetarianism could also be practiced without much purchase. Most vegetables could be grown in the yard, so there was no need to purchase meat or other edible commodities. Additionally, avoiding the consumption of meat promised less time spent tending to animals and slaughtering the meat for food. Because vegetarians spent less time caring 51 for and slaughtering livestock, more time and effort could be dedicated to creative endeavors. Instead of spending multiple hours feeding and nurturing animals that would eventually become dinner, vegetarians could create instead of kill. Despite the desire to nurture and create, vegetarians did have difficulty adapting to a culture obsessed with the consumption of meat. For example, Henry S. Salt?s ?A Plea for Vegetarianism? (1886) exemplifies the social difficulties associated with avoiding the consumption of meat. As a reform writer, Salt published many works on animal rights and vegetarianism, including the preface to Percy Bysshe Shelley?s A Vindication of Natural Diet. In ?A Plea for Vegetarianism,? Salt admits straightaway that he is himself a ?Vegetarian? and that unfortunately, Victorian society regards him ?as little better than a madman? (7). He observes, ?a man who leaves off eating flesh will soon find that his friends and acquaintances look on him with strange and wondering eyes? (7). Despite his friends? reactions to his choice to abstain from meat, Salt aims to convince readers that through reasoning and logic, vegetarianism is a healthier, more efficient, and ?more humane? way to live (10). Salt?s appeal to carnivores is short but effective. Through his discussion of why vegetarianism is a more humane and affordable lifestyle choice, Salt shows how the culture of consumption underwent a significant shift in the Victorian era. In addition to becoming a necessity for survival, eating became a way of signifying a personal and political message. To begin his revolutionary pamphlet, Salt boosts his rhetorical authority by aligning himself with Thoreau. The beginning of ?A Plea for Vegetarianism? cites the following quote: ?I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other, when they came in contact with the more civilized? (qtd. in Salt 7). Thoreau, in this quote, equates eating 52 meat with acting ?savage? and uncivilized. By 1838, vegetarianism in the United States had already found an ?enthusiastic champion? in Dr. W.A. Alcott, who commended vegetarianism for its ?safety? and ability to help those who struggled ?with many forms of chronic disease? (462). However, Victorians needed more evidence that vegetarianism could ensure a healthier, better life. The quote from Thoreau bolsters Salt?s argument by showing that the vegetarian was not just a passing trend in Britain; other parts of the world had tried vegetarianism, and it had succeeded as a lifestyle. Salt questions why vegetarianism never influenced a large movement of people. He describes vegetarians of the past as ?prophets? and ?apostles? who never gained followers. The prophets and apostles ?have for the most part stood alone and isolated, solitary lights amidst almost universal darkness? (21). Salt sees the potential of the vegetarian movement, yet questions why popular choice has criticized lifestyle. For Salt, however, vegetarianism is more than a lifestyle choice? as indicated by words like ?prophets? and ?apostles,? Salt reveals the spiritual capacity of vegetarianism (21). The movement not only creates a healthier body, but also an elevated spirituality. Salt professes that avoiding a diet full of meat cleanses the body and the mind, thus preparing the consumer a higher ?morality? of life and spiritual focus (21). To further prove the success of vegetarianism, Salt?s discussion of economic benefits and vegetarianism further persuades those who need more proof that vegetarianism is beneficial. Salt writes, Flesh-meat is so much more expensive than cereals and vegetable products, that it must be accounted very extravagant and unbusineslike to use it as a common article of food, unless, as is generally believed, its superior quality compensates in the long run for its dearness?.the humanitarians, sentimentalists, crochet - 53 mongers, and fanatics have therefore, at least, one point in their favor?the cost of their food is far less than that of the shrewd flesh-eater. (9) Salt?s careful argument does not overlook the sentimental or humanitarian aspects of food, but he knows that ?flesh eaters? have disputed these arguments at length (9). By focusing on the economic benefit of vegetarianism, Salt appeals to readers who could not be swayed by other ephemera and publications that solely focused on vivisection and the harmful effects of ?flesh- eating? on the animal kingdom. Also crucial to Salt?s argument is the definition of ?natural?; he argues that in order to maintain proper health and lifestyle, one must stick to a diet best suited for his or her physical structure. In essence, Salt professes that food provided by the earth?s soil is the ?most natural? way to live (9) To avoid relying too heavily on ?personal experience? and ?empirical proof,? he compares the body of the human being to the ape (17). Salt argues that the ape, ?who are nearest akin to us in the animal world, are frugivorous, is a somewhat strong indication that flesh is not the natural food of mankind? (17). Salt relies heavily on evolutionary theories to define what is natural; by using ?Frugivorous,? or ?fruit eater,? to describe apes, Salt proposes that if the ape is the nearest relative to the human being, like the ape, the human body should not require any meat. By forgoing the monoculture of a diet of grain and corn, Salt?s diet was disorderly because he refused to adhere to foods that created profit for the empire. Through the comparison of the ape to man, Salt invigorates his argument with allusions to the third chapter of Darwin?s The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. In conjunction with Darwin?s work, Salt emphasizes the comparison of man?s relation to the ?lower animals? (66). By hearkening to Darwin?s work, Salt equips his argument with not only 54 relevancy, but also the reasoning of a known scientist. Central to Salt?s proposition, Darwin argues that, there is no fundamental difference between men and higher mammals in their mental faculties?As man possesses the same senses as the lower animals, his fundamental intuitions must be the same. Man has also some few instincts in common, as that of self-preservation, sexual love, the love of the mother for her new-born offspring, the desire possessed by the latter to suck, and so forth. (66) For Salt, the comparison of man to lower animals is paramount to understanding the importance of avoiding meat in the daily diet. If ?there is no fundamental difference between men and higher mammals in their mental faculties,? then man should be ashamed at his own barbaric tendency to consume one of his own (66). Still, the power of Salt?s allusion to Darwin depends on the willingness of readers to believe and adhere to Darwin?s theories. Otherwise, Salt?s belief that eating men is ?degrading to men? lacks rhetorical power (66). Still, Salt circumvents singularity by presenting multiple reasons for choosing a meat-free lifestyle. If readers do not consider the consumption of meat barbaric, Salt argues that the killing of animals should be avoided because of ?aesthetics?; in the context of the essay, the definition of aesthetics shifts from the appreciation of artistic beauty to the appreciation of animal life forms. Salt questions, ?Is it not equally unquestionable that it is both more humane, and what, for want of a comprehensive word?more ?aesthetic? not to slaughter animals for food, unless it be really necessary to do so?? (66). Salt?s use of aesthetic refers to the supposition that humans see animals as equal beings. Unfortunately, this angle quickly loses ground if the readers do not fundamentally agree that animals and humans have equality. Without the agreement that humans should respect 55 animals as sentient, those who eat meat are unlikely to change their minds. A singular argumentative point only makes vegetarianism another version of disorderly eating that strays from the normative Victorian diet. However, Salt?s further discussion of vegetarianism gives readers more aesthetic and moral argumentative strands that show the value of a vegetarian lifestyle. Though at first considered disorderly, Salt, and other vegetarians of the era, had the ultimate goal of normalizing vegetarianism for the masses. In order to convince meat eaters that vegetarianism is better for the body and mind, Salt further defines how ?aesthetic? relates to his argument (146). By using the images of slaughtered meat in butchers? shops, Salt attempts to convince readers that consumption of the grossly bloody and unsanitary slabs of meat is ?degrading? to the body (146). In this argument, the aesthetic is not only the unappealing appearance of raw meat, but also the vision of how the meat will make the body look and feel. Salt describes that one who hears the slaughter of an animal ?would hardly be charmed by the lowing of cattle and bleating of sheep when they are driven hurriedly down our streets by an individual dressed in blue? (142). To involve all of the senses, Salt doubts that the taste of meat has any aesthetic purpose; claiming ?that a truly ?aesthetic? palate and a truly ?aesthetic? nose?could hardly relish the flavor of ?me at,?? Salt encourages readers to avoid meat in order to heighten the flavors of consumed food. By employing the senses in his argument, Salt makes vegetarianism a practical, sanitary, and pleasurable choice. In addition to his ?A Plea for Vegetarianism,? Salt?s poetry professes the need for Victorians to avoid animal slaughter and consume fruit and vegetables. His poem ?The Sending of Animals? further cements the belief that the consumption of animals is both morally and aesthetically wrong. The short poem equates humans and animals to show that eating meat is a cruel pursuit: 56 For animals, you say were "sent" For man's free use and nutriment. Pray, then, inform me and be candid, Why came they aeons before man did, To spend long centuries, on earth Awaiting their devourer's birth? Those ill-timed chattels sent from heaven, Were, sure, the maddest gift e'er given - "sent" for man's use (can we believe it?) When there was no man to receive it! (Salt) The poem relies on the conceit that God put animals on the earth before human beings; furthermore, because they existed on earth long before humans, the animals should be given the utmost respect. Instead of being consumed, Salt argues that the animals should be honored. The most intriguing aspect of the poem, however, is that Salt mixes creation metaphors. Although the poem notes that the animals were ?sent from heaven? and were ?the maddest gift,? creation theories argue that according to Genesis, God made man directly after livestock, and not ?aeons before man?(4). Because he believes that animals lived on earth long before humans, Salt?s verse aims to show that animals have the right to preside over the earth without the threat of human interference. Salt?s meditations on vegetarianism present merely a brief picture of the vegetarian movement?s influence on Victorian literature and society. Even though there are many other writers who depicted vegetarianism and its widespread influence, Salt?s writing covers more genres and aspects of the movement than most other nineteenth-century writers who had an 57 interest in vegetarianism. Without a doubt, writing about vegetarianism always had a political slant; the metaphors, symbols, and conceit always strove to convince flesh-eaters to convert to a meat-free lifestyle. Through the influence of Salt, Forward, and Carpenter, writers (like Fanny Lacy, who wrote influential short fiction that focused on vegetarianism) flourished. Both fiction and nonfiction broadened the audience of vegetarianism and showed that anyone, regardless of gender, could thrive on a diet that others saw as disorderly. Conclusion Although the Victorian era often focused on the eating habits of women, men also experienced an often troubled and always intriguing relationship with food. Whether men were being starved on the battlefield or invented new ways of incorporating eating into the sociopolitical diet, food provided men and women with a method of self-expression. However, the dietary needs of men and how they managed those dietary needs has often been overlooked. Male writers, and representations of male characters, provide a glimpse of how food often influenced the male body and mind. With bio-power, surveying and regulating eating habits becoming more common, and those who participated in disorderly eating risked discipline from the government and beyond. The chapters that follow will illustrate how cultural ephemera and literature construct eating and abstinence as a way of regulating identity. This may be potentially disciplinary or disorderly. In literature and the periodical press Victorians eat?or do not?to construct normative and alternative sexual orientations, an evolved sated super nation, a properly domesticated one, a queer nation, or a militarily prepared one. Studying the representation of consumption and abstinence then shifts our understanding of Victorian literature and culture 58 from an age of reform and? above all?production, to one that carefully monitored and guarded consumption as a critical factor in the making of national identity. 59 Chapter Two: Edible Ephemera of the Nineteenth Century In order to avoid becoming docile bodies, some Victorian men claimed to avoid eating completely so that they did not become ideal subjects for the empire. On August 27, 1891, London?s Royal Aquarium witnessed the conclusion of a fast by Alexander Jacques, an exhibitionist who sought notoriety as the world?s most successful professional faster. Jacques ate nothing for over two months, and as George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle note in their book Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, drank only ?pure filtered water? (421). However, Jacques smoked ?700 cigarettes in the fifty days? and ?three or four times a day he took a powder made of herbs? (421). In order to profit from his fast, Jacques promised to reveal the secret of his herbal concoction to ?some person who [had] the curiosity or enterprise enough? to pay him $100,000 (421). During his fast, Jacques lost ?28 lbs and 4 ounces? and supposedly increased his height from ?64 ? to 65 ? inches? (421). Despite his avoidance of food, the Nelson Daily Mail reported that at the end of his fast, Jacques felt ?quite strong and vigorous? (2). Indeed, Jacques proved that the ?Fasting Girls? of Victorian Englandv were not the only citizens refusing food for the purpose of the media spotlight. However, Jacques is a rarity that is not discussed often in considerations of the Victorian male appetite. Throughout the Victorian era, men usually maintained full figures. Their prominent waists symbolized wealth and societal eminence. A man fasting?the opposite of the typical Victorian male? drew much attention. Jacques is considered disorderly because he sought to create a body that evaded docility; the docile male body would be strong and ready for war or whatever needed by the empire. On the other hand, the starved body would be useless to the nation. Jacques? feat of starvation impressed few people, especially because citizens were 60 becoming accustomed to a bio-powerful nation that surveyed and regulated bodies. The tone used by Gould and Pyle reveals that despite Jacques? supposed survival by starvation, his act did little more than make him a curious spectacle that no one took seriously. Jacques was, as the title suggests, a Victorian ?anomaly? and ?curiosity? of medicine and culture (Gould and Pyle 421). Still, to Jacques and his small committee of supporters, his starved body was proof of his willpower to abstain. His ironic display meant to indicate that despite his scarce consumption, Jacques could maintain the same strength and vigor as the ?typical? Victorian male (421). Alexander Jacques demonstrates how very few men were able to live outside of docility. Because he and his body were disorderly, many viewed Jacques as a threat to the expanding empire. Although the oversized male body signified power and authority, men who lost a significant amount of weight garnered attention for their displays. However, the thin male was an anomaly that did not occur often. Especially because of Malthusian anxieties that influenced scientific and social thought of the age, most Victorian males?in fiction and in history?hoped that they could use food to create bulk in their bodies. Any extra weight made the men appear stronger and potentially able to survive any hardships that came their way. Additionally, a larger, stronger body symbolized the ability to overpower others; because the Malthusian equation suggested that the population would outgrow the food supply, larger Victorian men appeared to have the vigor to survive times of hardships due to starvation. This discourse of extremes and Malthus? theories deeply influenced the binaries of fat and thin that appeared in print culture of the nineteenth century. Bodies either became regulated by the nation or sought to live outside of the forces of bio-power that controlled what citizens ate and how much they consumed. Therefore, the consumption of food directly affected the consumption of Victorian culture. Whether citizens read periodicals, poems, short stories, or 61 novels, the prototype of heavy male appeared frequently in all types of publications. Often, this came as a result of bio-power that regulated male bodies to become strong and resistant to disease and disorder, and writers exemplified these tensions in Victorian fiction. Longer novels showed how Victorian males employed their size to gain power and control over others, while periodicals took a more comedic approach. Through symbolism and signification, Victorian ephemera and literature often echoed the male habit of indulgence to prove the ability to survive. By using historical materialism to explore the influence of ephemera, one can see how the male display of power depended on copious amounts of food and drink, if only to create the belief that a larger physical body guaranteed survival and success. However, often representations of stoutly Victorian men did not prove individual power; instead, the ephemeral material and literature indicated a growing divide between the upper and middle class. For instance, Great Expectations presents a literary example that focuses on how hunger and the desire to indulge affected Victorian males. From the onset of Pip?s bildungsroman, Great Expectations utilizes food as a symbol of economic and gender disparities present throughout the text. The first essential example of men and hunger occurs at the beginning of the novel when Pip encounters the prisoner, whom he later learns is Magwitchvi, in the churchyard. The prisoner demands that Pip tell him his name and where he lives. The prisoner then turns Pip upside down to empty his pockets; all he finds is a piece of bread. The prisoner hungrily eats the bread as Pip tries to keep from crying. After learning that Pip resides with his sister and her husband, who is a blacksmith, the prisoner asks Pip for a file and some ?wittles? (Dickens 23). Wittles, a colloquial word for food, emphasizes that the prisoner did not want to kill Pip or harm him. Indeed, all the prisoner wants is something to fill his stomach. After being on the lam, the prisoner feels that he can do nothing more until he receives some food. Without food, he has nothing to give him 62 strength. Magwitch demands that Pip bring food to the Battery by the next morning. Agreeing, Pip watches the prisoner escape over the church wall and feels a fleeting sense of relief. The prisoner?s hunger symbolizes two elements of Victorian male culture: the carnal, physical need for food and the ability of food to signify wealth. Magwitch does not find himself displeased by the bread that drops from Pip?s pocket. Instead, Magwitch gobbles the bread hungrily. His actions show that without food, he cannot locate the strength he once had. Although Magwitch frightens him, Pip can tell that the prisoner has lost much of his health and endurance. His ragged clothes and hunger suggest that it has been some time since he has eaten anything at all. Out of fear, Pip feels the need to feed the prisoner; but, as shown by his later financial support of Pip, Magwitch believes that Pip feeds him out of kindness. Pip gives Magwitch food for consumption, and Magwitch?s consumption is both actual and metaphorical. He consumes the food Pip gives him, and he also consumes Pip?s goodwill. No matter the impetus for Pip?s gifts to Magwitch, the prisoner allows himself to consume all that Pip has to give. Despite Magwitch losing much of his strength because of starvation, Pip still feels frightened by Magwitch?s size and authority. Pip?s derives his fear from his small size in relation to the prisoner?s; Pip feels that because he is so much smaller than Magwitch, Magwitch could obliterate him in a matter of seconds. During their first interaction, Magwitch ?ravenously? eats the bread from Pip?s pocket and notes that Pip has ?fat cheeks? (Dickens 23). Pip agrees that his cheeks are fat, but he finds himself ?undersized for [his] years, and not strong? (23). Even though he has not eaten for some time, Magwitch still appears gargantuan to Pip. Pip?s fear of Magwitch increases when the prisoner admits that he has ?half a mind? to eat Pip?s fat cheeks (23). Magwitch?s severe appetite frightens and intimidates Pip enough to feed Magwitch?s 63 hunger by whatever means necessary. Pip agrees to find Magwitch ?wittles? and bring the food to him the next morning (23). Magwitch?s intimidation of Pip causes the young boy?s behavior to change. Although Pip?s sister has reprimanded him for small offenses, Pip has never committed any crime as serious as theft. However, after meeting Magwitch, Pip steals food for the prisoner from his family?s Christmas dinner. Indeed, Magwitch?s hunger has threatened the wellbeing of Pip?s family. For Magwitch, Pip steals ?some bread, some rind of cheese, about half a jar of mincemeat ?some brandy from a s tone bottle?a meat bone with very little on it, and a beautiful round compact pork pie? (Dickens 34). For Magwitch, the food symbolizes his new freedom. Once he regains his strength, Magwitch will be able to do whatever he desires. The food that Pip steals for Magwitch is a visual reminder that food supplies strength and power. By taking Christmas dinner from his family, Pip also demonstrates how food represents a shift in economic capability. After he steals the Christmas dinner, Pip feels an enormous amount of guilt. Pip?s guilt, however, resonates with the economic hardship he has brought to his family. The elaborate Christmas spread, now mostly missing, did not come easily for the Gargery family. Pip notices that the food in the pantry is ?far more abundantly supplied than usual? because of the holiday season (Dickens 34). His uncle Joe has worked hard to supply money for the Christmas food, and Mrs. Joe has spent a significant amount of time preparing the meal (34). Pip knows that slipping away with the food will have a somber effect on the holiday meal that the family has planned. Still, Magwitch?s hunger takes precedence. Pip knows that he must feed the criminal in order to prolong his own survival. When he arrives to gift Magwitch the food, Pip observes the criminal?s hunger; though Pip knows his family will suffer from the theft, Magwitch?s hunger is more carnal than anything 64 Pip has ever witnessed. Magwitch?s hunger develops from his pure need to survive: He was already handing mincemeat down his throat in the most curious manner,?more like a man who was putting it away somewhere in a violent hurry, than a man who was eating it,?but he left off to take some of the liquor. He shivered all the while so violently, that it was quite as much as he could do to keep the neck of the bottle between his teeth, without biting it off. (Dickens 37) Magwitch cannot mask his desire to devour the food. That he consumes the food ?in a violent hurry? suggests that Magwitch does not even taste the food he eats (37). Instead, Magwitch?s need for food provides a savage visual image. Though Pip refers to Magwitch as a ?man,? his alimentary desires are base and indelicate (37). Magwitch?s strength is not in his physical stature, but in his ability to devour the stolen food without a second thought. Pip knows that once he returns to good health, Magwitch?s bodily strength will far surpass anyone that Pip has known in his short life. Even though Magwitch preoccupies himself with the food that Pip has brought him, the criminal cannot help but be concerned about others who might see him consuming the food. Despite his hunger, Magwitch must be sure that no one sees him eating. If anyone did observe him, he or she would know that he escaped. This scene shows that what Magwitch needs to keep him alive could also incriminate him. The criminal needs to eat, but he cannot let his guard down. He constantly questions Pip to make sure that the boy has brought no one else with him. However, Magwitch remains determined that he will eat all of what Pip has brought him: ?I'll eat my breakfast afore they're the death of me," said he. "I'd do that, if I was going to be strung up to that there gallows as there is over there, directly afterwards. I'll beat the shivers so far, I'll bet you." 65 He was gobbling mincemeat, meatbone, bread, cheese, and pork pie, all at once: staring distrustfully while he did so at the mist all round us, and often stopping? even stopping his jaws?to listen. (Dickens 37) At this point in his life, Magwitch feels the determination to eat so that he will beat the ?ague? that Pip believes his has (37). Although Magwitch knows that he needs to maintain invisibility so that he will not be captured and killed, his basic needs surpass his desire to remain covert. Magwitch does not confirm that he has the ?ague,? but he knows that food will give him the strength to beat ?the chills? that plague him (37). Otherwise, it will not matter if anyone captures Magwitch; unless he has the strength to beat the ?ague,? Magwitch knows that he will die of his illness (37). When he watches Magwitch consume the food he has stolen, Pip becomes sympathetic toward the prisoner. Observing the man hungrily eat the food in his sickness, Pip realizes that even though he is a convict, Magwitch has the same basic needs as the innocent. However, in addition to stealing his family?s food, Pip has now implicated himself in the crime of helping Magwitch regain his strength. Without Pip, Magwitch would have no other way to obtain food. Now, Pip knows that if Magwitch hurts anyone or becomes involved in any other crimes, Pip will be responsible. Because the stolen food helps nurse Magwitch back to health, Pip fears that he must take responsibility for any future crimes that Magwitch commits. Pip finds himself haunted for the remainder of his life. However, Magwitch disappears throughout much of the text; the prisoner and his hunger are replaced by the more regulated Pip, who consistently reforms his appetite so that he will not resemble Magwitch or anyone else on the run. Although Pip and his family have never had much money, he has never seen someone as destitute as Magwitch. Magwitch?s hunger shocks Pip, but it also teaches him a lesson. After 66 seeing Magwitch consume the stolen food, Pip connects food with power. He knows that without food, man loses the ability to survive. As he comes of age, Pip will never forget the link between consumption and ultimate authority. After Pip returns home, there is still an abundance of food. He realizes that although what he gave Magwitch seemed like a feast, his sister and Joe still have plenty to eat for the holiday feast. For the first time in his young life, Pip sees that despite their hardships, the family has an abundance of food in comparison to the prisoner. Despite the holiday meal ?consisting of a leg of pickled pork and greens, and a pair of roast stuffed fowls,? Mrs. Joe serves Pip and Joe their breakfast (Dickens 41). For breakfast, Pip and Joe had their ?slices served out, as if [they] were two thousand troops on a forced march instead of a man and boy at home; and [they] took gulps of milk and water, with apologetic countenances, from a jug on the dresser? (42). Unlike Magwitch, Pip has never gone hungry. However, observing Magwitch and his circumstances allows Pip (and the reader) to see how hunger affects the male body. If his body was able to withstand his escape from prison, Magwitch would have never approached Pip to beg for his kindness. Still, readers must realize that Magwitch?s disorderly eating is not by choice. Instead, his abnormal eating habits occur because he does not have the ability to find or pay for food himself. Without a home or job, Magwitch cannot feed his body. Therefore, he loses the ability to supply himself with the needed nutrients. His only hope for survival depends on the assumption that Pip will bring him food. Unlike Jacques and other ?professional fasters,? Magwitch has not chosen to starve himself in order to be an exhibition (Gould and Pyle 421). Instead, Magwitch starves because he does not have the needed resources to feed himself. 67 Although the historical fasters and the fictional Magwitch both abstain from food, their motivations and reasons for avoiding food show that the Victorian era had a myriad of males who participated in disorderly eating in hopes of avoiding docility. Magwitch did not desire thinness, but he had little choice. Though the ?fasting girls? of the Victorian era received much attention from the media, fasting men often faded into the background of history and literature. By studying Victorian men in history and fiction who fasted, one can understand that disorderly eating affected both genders. Disorderly eating often infiltrated the Victorian era by symbolizing concepts of gender, medicine, and economic status; for Jacques, a skinny body meant that they rejected the typical male ideal body. On the other hand, for Magwitch, starvation meant that he did not have control over how he acquired his basic needs. Imprisoned men were fed so that they could work and continue to keep the prison system running; once Magwitch escapes, he no longer has access to the diet he had in prison. Despite many starving men in the Victorian era, the reasons often varied and affected the landscape of British society in diverse ways. II. Periodic Hunger Victorian women authors also explored the relationship between docile bodies, power, and hunger in relation to men. Women authors, however, were often less literal about how alimentary pleasures led to power. Instead, women authors frequently used hunger as a metaphor. For instance, Christina Rossetti?svii ?In An Artist?s Studio? captures how a typical Victorian male metaphorically fed himself to maintain the illusion of power. Instead of eating food, Rossetti?s subject consumes his art to thrive. When the poem begins, the narrator describes how ?One face looks out from all his canvases,/One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans? (1-2). Though the artist may be depicting different women, they appear as a single figure on his canvas. 68 As the poem continues, Rossetti notes that the artist?s subject is ?a nameless girl in freshest summer-greens? who is ?a saint, an angel? (6, 7). However, the aesthetically pleasing vision of the subject takes a fatal turn when the artist ?feeds upon? his creation?s face ?day and night? (9). With echoes of Pygmalion, the artist consumes his creation, erasing any doubt that he can fend for himself. However, once consumed, the artist?s creation depletes, leaving him anxious to create further faces to satisfy his hunger. More obscure literature published in ephemeral materials also depicted the plight of the hungry Victorian male; especially because bio-power sought to solidify a constant supply of healthy, strong male bodies, ephemeral publications noticed this and published examples of the regulatory forces that dominated the Victorian male appetite. The notion of a regulated society is, at least, somewhat ironic because of the consumerist society quickly developing in Victorian England; the consumerist society could neither satisfy every need nor conform to every regulation mandated by the government. However, as Natalie Houston reveals in ?Newspaper Poems: Material Texts in the Public Sphere,? poetry in newspapers, magazines, and disposable texts often reached a broader audience than literary publications. Houston relays how ?studies of Victorian literary criticism have demonstrated the role of the periodical press in shaping readers? opinions and in making new poems known to larger numbers of readers? (233). Although Houston?s study discusses general materials published in newspapers, this chapter aims to show how the ephemeral press represented the corpulent Victorian male as a figure who believed that food granted power. With poems and illustrations depicting gender and the appetite, ephemeral works indicated the growing popularity of the large male body. Through humor and explicit illustration, ephemera signified how larger Victorian males symbolized the belief that authority and money could prevent starvation and ultimately, death. 69 Occasionally, accessible poetry published in ephemera straightforwardly noted that this belief was a fa?ade; eating or drinking more did not necessarily prove imminent survival. For instance, on Tuesday, March 13, 1883, The Star newspaper published the poem ?A Poem In Praise of Wine? under the heading ?Literary Curiosities.? Stuck between the non-fiction pieces titled ?The Indian and Egyptian War? and ?The Highlanders in Egypt,? the poem wryly persuades readers that drinking wine leads to good health and a happy disposition. However, the poem also warns that one should ?drinke it with measure? to adhere to the teachings of the Bible; additionally, the poem expresses how one should avoid thought while drinking, or it will otherwise lead to ?madness? (10). Unlike Rossetti?s ?In An Artist?s Studio,? ?A Poem in Praise of Wine? lacks literary sensibility. The poem is straightforward, leaving little to discover behind the words. However, because the poem?s message leaves little to doubt, the column ensured that a broad reading audience would gain exposure to potential dangers of overindulgence. The poem posits that despite fear of food and drink becoming less accessible, drinking too much may lead to debauchery and a negative self-image. ?A Poem in Praise of Wine? broadly encourages readers to find balance. Although the poem urges its audience to consume in moderation, ?A Poem in Praise of Wine? proves more direct and didactic than most ephemeral representations. Instead of explicitly warning that overindulgence did not guarantee survival, much Victorian ephemera cheekily depicted that overindulgence provided men with the illusion of strength and power. A study of these representations further unveils cultural mores and behaviors that otherwise, may have been pushed under the table. As Gwen Hyman remarks in Gentlemanly Appetites in the Nineteenth- Century British Novel, 70 Meals are physical, temporal, and psychological spaces in which class and gender behaviors are marked and remarked upon; in which good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable, and constructive and destructive ideas and actions are negotiated through manners and etiquette as well as through the food that is taken or refused. (4) Hyman rightly argues that meals are more than conglomerations of sugar, meat, flour, and greens. Meals demonstrate that the act and setting of consumption cannot escape the kaleidoscope of political, economic, and cultural influence. For Victorian males represented in ephemeral publications, meals became a strategic method of maintaining (or gaining) significance in a society anxious that the food supply would deplete. Although Gwen Hyman?s critique of ?gentlemanly appetites? during the Victorian era exposes how men feasted and fasted to construct their masculinity, she limits her study to the representations of men, appetite, and aliments in Victorian literature. However, a look at the historical relationships between men, women, and food clearly resonates with literature and publications of the Victorian mass mediaviii. Materials like Punch and disposable holiday cards warned that despite the threat of the population outgrowing the food supply, the overindulgent male was a sign of security. Corpulent male bodies signified that eating promoted power and survival skills. However, the idea of a society that regulates appetite and eating habits is ironic because it is also a consumerist society. Lori Anne Loeb further explores this relationship of security to overindulgence in her book Consuming Angels: Advertising and Victorian Women. By using nineteenth-century ephemera that influenced class structures, consumption, and commodity, 71 Loeb discusses how Victorian men and women consumed material objects, ranging from food to furniture to advertisements. Loeb argues, Oriental carpets and intricate lace curtains provided a visual assault of pattern and texture. Amid so many things, human figures must have sometimes seemed insignificant, dwarfed by the commanding pressure of their material surroundings. This very material emphasis of the Victorians reflected the assimilation by the middle class of a hedonistic ethos. (3) Loeb contradicts the excess of Victorian lifestyle with the presence of a struggling economy. The ?hedonistic ethos,? therefore, became a method of denying the lack of income that many families faced (3). By deflecting fear of lost income to material ?stuff,? many Victorians were able to maintain the appearance of a present (but quickly shrinking) wealth. In addition to putting consumable materials on display, another way of preserving appearances was to ensure that hired help was available to cook and clean. Even if the help was paid a small amount, the appearance of maids and butlers helped create a fa?ade of wealth so that the domestic space appeared prosperous to the outside world. Because of desire, the ?hedonistic ethos? that Loeb discusses proves vital to understanding how advertising represented the male Victorian body. Although the Victorian middle class was far from standardized, Loeb notes that a desire for pleasure took hold of the middle class and caused them to experience ?an aching sense of pleasure lost? (4). For middle class Victorians, the avalanche of advertisements that inundated their daily lives thrived on that ?aching sense? (4). Whether Victorians could afford the products or not, the advertisements often targeted the working class and constantly reignited their desire to consume. With attractive graphics and persuasive language, these advertisements sought to help fill the sense of loss that 72 so many Victorians experienced. A steady combination of rising industry and the growing desire for pleasure wrought a flood of advertisements for Victorian consumers to view. As Loeb indicates, Between 1850 and 1880 a combination of factors?new techniques of illustration, the recognition of an expansive middle-class market, the rise of the press, the abolition of the advertising duty, and the professionalism of technical and creative assistance?produced an unparalleled advertising craze. At first, according to Virginia Berridge, advertisements were uncommon in the middle-class press mainly because they seemed to lack respectability. (4) It did not take long for the advertisements to help fulfill the burgeoning needs and desires of the middle class. Even if Victorians tried to avoid surrendering to the bright, shiny promises of advertisements, the press eventually made the avoidance of coercive texts and illustrations nearly impossible. As Loeb reminds readers, ?the middle-class press, confronted with pressure from advertisers, the promise of financial gain, and the attraction of political independence, succumbed to the display advertisement? (4). Without doubt, advertising in Victorian England became an undeniable force that could either be blindly accepted and consumed, or carefully considered; the slew of new advertisements, however, could not be ignored. Upon analysis, Victorian illustrations that accompanied advertisements focus on the portly male body and the thin female waist. The illustrations reveal how many historical and fictional Victorian males used food as a commodity to explore the power that consumption supposedly offered. As Julie Codell clarifies, by providing commentary on the power of the large male body, advertisements were very much paratexts of Victorian culture; the advertisements did not ?simply ?illustrate? a text in a literal way (presuming this could even be done), but rather 73 provide[d] visual comment on the topic that may not simply repeat something from the text? (410). In other words, the advertisements presented a scope of Victorian life that far surpassed words. Instead of repeating exactly what the printed words implied, the pictorial advertisements created visuals that brought the advertisements to life, which caused the desires of consumers to amplify. Because the potential consumers could visualize the product, they were unlikely to forget the image. Instead, they would remember the product and yearn to own and experience what the product offered. Furthermore, the illustrations give the contemporary audience a lively panorama of Victorian culture that would otherwise be left to the imagination. The past popularity of Punch especially shows the accessibility and influence of illustration on consumers. With a cartoon and a few words, the illustrations helped construct Victorian politics, gender, and dietary needs. Despite any irony, a quick glance at the illustrations showed that the portly male figure maintained the belief that size equaled power. As Codell further argues, Punch parodies Victorian notions of civilization in its carnival response to critics' and artists' presumed authority, reduced to silly puns on their names and works. Spectators in Punch cartoons take subjects or images literally, instead of allegorically or historically. Punch's satire rejected the museum or exhibition as a temple and the Academy as arbiter of taste, social status, and national character. Punch questioned the success of exhibitions and museums in socializing the poor and democratizing culture. Punch refused to worship genius or aesthetics, or be uplifted or socialized by high art to middle-class ambitions. Above all, Punch refused to forget class in the imaginary unity of everyone joined in a single cultural identity. (426) 74 The accessibility of Punch also indicates how the magazine?s presence in Victorian England surpassed museums and exhibitions. Because Punch ?refused to worship genius or aesthetics,? their material pushed the boundaries of art?s purpose (426). As illustrations became a standard of daily life, the definition of art broadened. Most illustrations indicated that the ideal body was not just a possibility: it was to be expected. However, by satirizing the polarities of thin women and heavy men, Punch exhibited the impossibility of this projected expectation. Because of economics and the division between social classes, not all men could afford the large figure or the power that seemed to accompany portliness. However, many would try. Instead of pure aesthetic beauty, Punch delivered illustrations that could inspire a larger audience of various class distinctions, leaving hardly anyone immune to the expectations of the male body. As Codell recognizes, Punch eschewed previous notions of class distinctions and grouped everyone ?in a single cultural identity? (426). In a way, the magazine was able to present stories of this single cultural identity in a cinematic fashion. One could pick up issues of Punch and, over time, view the historic story that the cartoons were representing or satirizing. Through its depictions of large male bodies who consumed copious amounts of food, Punch especially reveals how Victorian males used their bodies as a nexus of power. The larger the paunch in these images, the more control the male had in the power of his corpulent body. When studying ephemera such as Punch publications, the lens of historical materialism provides a useful method of investigating how Victorian illustrations emerged as textual representations of desired standards for the physical body. The theory of historical materialism, as delineated by Marx and Engels, shows how physical property has a political history. Further defined by Nikolai Bukharin, historical materialism owes much to the struggle of the proletariat. As Bukharin argues, 75 The working class has its own proletarian sociology, known as historical materialism. In its main outlines this theory was elaborated by Marx and Engels. It is also called ?the materialist method in history?, or simply ?economic materialism.? This profound and brilliant theory is the most powerful instrument of human thought and understanding. With its aid, the proletariat finds its bearings in the most complicated questions in social life and in the class struggle. (14) As Bukharin suggests, historical materialism, for the proletariat, is ?the most powerful instrument of human thought and understanding? (14). Through historical materialism, the proletariat witnesses the construction of society and culture through material production. The study of Victorian ephemera that advertised food and consumption relies on understanding how material represented the daily dietary lives of the working class. For example, mass production worked to spread the image of the large male body, causing many to indulge in the belief that size equaled power. Because illustrations in Punch and other advertisements reached many people of different economic status, this image became further streamlined. With reference to diet, the sway of advertising began determining a standard for appearance and appetite: women must fit into corsets and men must exhibit their wealth through gluttony. However, Punch?s awareness and satirizing of these culturally constructed notions also indicate that certain dietary restrictions were dangerous and often unable to be justified. Without ephemera such as newspapers, illustrations, trade cards, and cookbooks, much would be lost concerning the understanding of how edible and disposable material contributed to the construction of a culture and gender. Victorian illustrations allowed citizens of all classes to access artistic material. Therefore, those who were of lower social classes could see how the elite 76 lived. For males, this often meant that men who could not afford extravagant meals saw that in order to exhibit wealth and power, one had to maintain a portly figure emphasized survival. The oversized male paunches present in Victorian ephemera signify that males needed a corpulent figure in order to survive. Through mechanical reproduction, companies proliferated the discourse that a portly male body guaranteed survival. In ?The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,? Benjamin discusses how mass produced art changed the accessibility of culture. With mass production, art was no longer reserved for the elite, therefore giving most Victorian males access to material that influenced purchase and consumption. Though not necessarily easy to reproduce, the woodcut graphic paved the way for reproductive methods like the photograph and lithograph. Both photography and lithography made the illustrations featured on Victorian ephemera widespread and easily accessible. As Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeannene M. Przybyski further expand upon in the first chapter of their anthology that examines visual culture, mechanical reproduction made visual culture a method of preserving history materially. Visual culture opened up an avenue to ?experiencing the world.? Schwartz and Przybyski note: While the reproduction of images by such technologies as founding and stamping has been practiced since the time of ancient Greece, Walter Benjamin identified the nineteenth century technologies of lithography and then photography and film as fundamental transformations, leading him to posit a watershed ?Age of Mechanical Reproduction.? Benjamin?s intent was not to reduce explanations to technologies but to see in those technologies the crystallization and material embodiments of ways and imagining and experiencing the world. (10) 77 Because of the lithographic reproduction method, art no longer had to be confined to museum displays; the elite, therefore, were not the only class of people who had access to the ?art? that lithography and photography produced. Although reproductive processes had been available previously, the lithograph made it possible for art to be reproduced more easily than the stamping done by the Greeks. As Schwartz and Przybyski argue, Benjamin did not seek to ?reduce explanations to technologies?; in other words, Benjamin did not view lithography and photography as an easy method of justifying the reproduction of art, but as a way of creating history that was at once disposable and memorable (10). As the printing press did for publishing, lithography and photography made the accessibility of illustration possible. Because of new techniques, the lithograph and photograph could transform moments of everyday life into forms of reproducible art. However, Benjamin expresses that photography surpassed lithography because in comparison to painting or drawing or sculpting, taking a photograph required little physical effort. As Benjamin decrees, Lithography enabled graphic art to illustrate everyday life, and it began to keep pace with printing. But only a few decades after its invention, lithography was surpassed by photography. For the first time in the process of pictorial reproduction, photography freed the hand of the most important artistic functions which henceforth developed only upon the eye looking into a lens. (219) Though photography may have ?surpassed? lithography because of its effortlessness, both lithography and photography were vital in allowing this innovative form of art to become a normal part of everyday life. No longer sequestered to museums, newly defined art could be seen and admired by nearly everyone. When used in ephemera, photography and lithography sought to persuade the middle 78 class to purchase what new processes of reproduction illustrated. Still, the shift from high art to illustrations and photography did not come without setback; as Benjamin assesses, photography and lithography caused the definition of art to be more subjective: The nineteenth century dispute as to the artistic value of painting versus photography today seems devious and confused. This does not diminish its importance, however; if anything, it underlines it. The Dispute was in fact the symptom of a historical transformation the universal impact of which was not realized by either of the rivals. (226) Because of the readiness of the lithography and photography, life could be imitated within seconds, and companies jumped to attract wider audiences to their products. Now, a material and historical object could be available almost immediately. Benjamin further argues, ?Works of art are received and valued on different planes?; the ?cult value? and the ?exhibition value? of the work are vital to understanding how reproducible art transformed history (226). As Benjamin explains, the cult value of a work of art references the intrinsic, spiritual quality of the piece. He explains how the ?elk portrayed by the man of the Stone Age on the walls of his cave was an instrument of man. He did expose it to his fellow men, but in the main it was meant for the spirits? (225). The cult value of an artwork designates that it has a value other than its objective qualities; the work of art has spiritual value that mortal men and women might struggle to understand. On the other hand, Benjamin notes that the exhibition of an artwork ?emancipated? the ritualistic value of art so that it could increase ?opportunities for the exhibition of their products? (225). Benjamin insists: It is easier to exhibit a portrait bust that can be sent here and there than to exhibit 79 the statue of a divinity that has its fixed place in the interior of a temple. The same holds for the painting as against the mosaic or fresco that preceded it. And even though the public presentability of a mass originally may have been just as great as that of a symphony, the latter originated at the moment when its public presentability promised to surpass that of the mass. (225) In essence, if a portrait or painting has exhibitive qualities, it can become more accessible. If the artwork has moveability instead of a fixed cult value, then the artwork can be exhibited anywhere without losing any of its intrinsic qualities. However, although portraits and paintings can be moved more easily than a ritualistic cult piece of art, reproducibility continued to make the viewing of singular portraits and painting more and more obsolete. The historical shift of museum artwork to reproducible illustrations caused what Benjamin deems ?a new behavior? towards art to form (238). To prove this conjecture, Benjamin draws on Duhamel?s radical argument that film?one of the new genres of art? is ??a pastime for helots, a diversion for uneducated, wretched, worn-out creatures who are consumed by their worries?? (238). Benjamin concludes that Duhamel, and those of a similar opinion, adhere to a maxim that separates the masses from the true appreciator of art: ?the masses seek distraction whereas art demands concentration from the spectator? (238). This maxim illuminates the difference between ?high art? and ephemeral art, such as illustrations. Most of the work present on ephemeral materials requires little concentration. Because of ephemeral material?s nature, one expects that instead of having a cult or ritualistic value, the work will eventually be disposed of without much thought. Since production dictated that consumers view and then dispose illustrations and valentines (unless saved for sentimental reasons), most illustrations served as either a backdrop 80 for text or an aesthetic pleasure to heighten the level of emotion and attachment to a product. The pictorial element of ephemera was secondary to the purpose of the material. Essentially, the illustrations on Victorian ephemera served as a means to an end. In some cases, the ephemeron was supposed to invoke a particular ideology that would help regulate the needs and wants of its audience. Despite the ephemera?s purpose, as Martina Lauster argues in the article ?Walter Benjamin?s Myth of the Flaneur,? Benjamin?s approach to visual culture would see all ephemera as ?lacking cognitive value? (139). However, Lauster expresses that even if ephemera lacks cognitive value, cultural value is still present and should not be ignored: This dismissal has led to a neglect, if not downright demolition, of a whole genre of nineteenth-century city sketches in deconstructive criticism. What has shielded Benjamin?s pronouncements from being questions is not only their own critical thrust informed by Marxist and Freudian theory, but their apparently solid foundation in empirical textual study. (139) Although Lauster?s suggestions relate to defining Victorian urbanity, her point that scholars neglect ephemeral material articulates the problem with the study of temporary artifacts. Though tempting for theorists and scholars alike to ignore ephemera in favor of high art and culture, doing so eliminates the snapshots of everyday life that prove beneficial to understanding the culture and lifestyle of particular eras. III. Images from Victorian Publications In addition to literature that sought to dissemble the belief that a larger male body equaled power and survival, Victorian illustrations and cartoons constructed the threatening 81 nature of the Malthusian equation. For example, an April 16, 1887, Punch cartoon entitled ?LITTLE MISS BUDGET? (Fig. 1) depicts a butler and a young girl discussing the proper course of dinnerix. As the young girl asks for dessert, the butler smirks. This interaction shows how it was culturally acceptable for males to overindulge and gain weight, but young women had to be more careful. In the cartoon, the staunch butler admonishes the little girl for wanting dessert after the first course. He sneers, ?Oh dear no! You?ll have to wait a bit yet. We?ve only just got to the second course!? The butler, wearing an elegant tuxedo and holding a bottle of wine, looks appalled at the little girl?s request. He cannot imagine where the young girl learned such poor manners. After all, a good Victorian lady would never indulge in dessert: she would abstain. Despite his social class, the butler believes that his size gives him the authority to admonish the young girl. Though the butler is in a service position himself, the cartoon does not show him delivering meals to anyone. Instead, he stands with a bottle of expensive wine in his hand, his foot pointing outward in an expression of high society. However, the butler?s arrogance indicates to the little girl knows that she must listen. She has a fist resting under her chin as if to say ?please? to the butler. Her mouth, turned down in disappointment, shows her sadness to the butler?s reaction. No, she will not have dessert next. But, she will learn to control her desire and urges so that she will become a respectable Victorian lady one day. The illustration presents the divide between social class and gender, yet the little girl realizes neither. It is clear that the little girl has extra weight or ?baby fat? on her body; although she has not yet learned to abstain, the butler aims to teach her. Even though the girl appears to be from the family who hired the butler, he utilizes his paunch to taunt and tease her. He strives to 82 teach her that Victorian women must maintain a small waist while Victorian men must preserve larger figures in order to exert dominance. Despite the butler acting in a service position, his body gives him the authority needed to prevent the little girl from eating dessert before the meal or eating dessert at all. The themes of class and power continue with an April 19, 1890, Punch illustration entitled ?A CUT OFF THE JOINT?; the cartoon uses politics to satirize gender and the use of space. In this sketch, a man stands above an uncut turkey with two knives (Fig. 2). Plates sit near the uncut turkey, waiting to be filled. The man poised to cut the turkey looks more like a butcher than a chef; though he sports kitchen attire, the way he glares at the meat and sharpens the knives gives him a look of authority that should not be questioned. The caption, ?A CUT OFF THE JOINT,? alludes that ironically, he will only offer parts of the meat that cannot be eaten. Underneath the plate of turkey, a podium that reads ?BUDGET? supports on the table. Clearly, even though the meat appears succulent and full, the man is only going to offer inedible bites of the bird. The people, begging for something good to eat, must accept pieces of the meat that lack sustenance. Through the way he holds his shoulders and arches his eyebrow, the server looks aristocratic, as if he could be in charge of the Victorian budget itself. He represents a male who is the quintessential product of bio-power and docility: ready to work and do whatever needed. The stern look in his eye signifies that he will not fold to anyone who asks for more than the ?cut of the joint? that he is willing to provide. In reference to gender and power, the overall message of the cartoon pushes readers to realize that a man in charge of food will surely make more decisions than what cut patrons will get of the meat. He will be more influential; he will not succumb to men, women, or children who ask him for more. He will not only control the meat 83 put onto the plates, but also the budget of the country. However, he will not care if citizens get what they desire or what they need. Because the citizens cannot seem to control their desire for food, he will control their desires for them. Many of the Punch illustrations combined food with the political agendas of Victorian society; certainly, the potato blight of Ireland was popular fodder for cartoons, especially to show how anxieties of a shrinking food supply affected British citizens and politicians. However, Punch?s mockery of the gluttonous male body reveals that the publication did not consider the portly male the ideal body type; instead, they used the gluttonous male to capitalize on any anxiety citizens felt from the government?s desire to control and regulate bodies. For example, cartoons often emphasized the political ramifications of the Irish potato famine (Fig. 3). In a December 13, 1845, Punch cartoon, a potato slouches on a chair. The potato has a disgruntled expression on his face, as if he has no plans to move from his seat. A plate of coins rests below the potato. The potato acts as a fungal representation of Daniel O?Connell, a prominent Catholic figure in the Irish government. Instead of a regular salary, O?Connell accepted the O?Connell Tribute, which was donated by citizens. In essence, the cartoon by Punch?s William Newman argues that if the people did not feel compelled to give their money to O?Connell, they might have avoided the famine and the ?Hungry 40s.? The cartoon indicates that the potato famine was not accidental; indeed, the sketch places much of the blame on the government for the dearth of food. Though the cartoon does not capitalize on the Malthusian equation, the overweight potato clearly emphasizes that many of the people had access to nutrition while others did not. The cartoon also exploits the difference between politicians and everyday Irish citizens. The sketch asserts that those with authority did not suffer at all, while the citizens of Ireland endured severe malnutrition. Furthermore, 84 Conciliation Hall, where meetings occurred to repeal Great Britain and Ireland?s union, symbolized a space where crucial decisions catered to those in positions of authority instead of starving citizens. Punch, in addition to satirizing domestic and political activity, shows how food influenced male conversation during public dinners. A November 9, 1895, sketch from Punch features two prominent males, apparently discussing serious matters over tea, a feast of bread, and other indistinguishable foods (Fig. 4). The plentiful nature of their meal represents the men?s power. Two women also appear in the picture, but they are still and grim, as if the men force the women to watch them eat and converse. The man on the right raises his hand toward his mouth, ready to eat the food prepared for him; still, the women look on, as if they cannot participate in the discussion or the eating. Although the aura surrounding the two couples insists that they are dining out (one can spot a ma?tre d and restaurant pillars in the background), another woman dressed in servant clothing serves the men. Though a spectator cannot be certain that the woman prepared the served food, the way she has her back turned and hands raised (as if she holds a tray) suggests that she has just brought the diners their meal. While the women at the table look grim and bored, the men look well fed and eager to discuss business, or other matters of importance. The caption of the drawing provides even more evidence to the skewed relations between gender and appetite. The text reads, ?TRUE HUMILITY. Right Reverend Host. ?I?m afraid you?ve got a bad egg, Ms. Jones!? The Curate. ?Oh no, my Lord, I assure you! Parts of it are excellent!?? Though they have not likely prepared or served the meal, the men discuss the egg as if their friendship depends on its taste. The egg also serves as a metaphor for the women who accompany the two men; the egg becomes a method of making a subtle jab at the man?s taste in 85 women. ?Bad egg? refers not only to the food, but also to the women themselves. Furthermore, the phrase ?TRUE HUMILITY? ironically indicates that these men, who are obviously prosperous, will not show any humility towards the women who serve them. They must, according to the caption, realize that the woman who has her back to the table has served the food to them. The edible caption, while showing that men?s relationship to food involves power, also suggests that men, as well as women, used food as a marker for status. The ?bad egg? could be the wife, the egg, or both. The ?egg caption? shows how men used food to deviate from more honest conversation; though they have not prepared or served the food, they food as a scapegoat to avoid talking about something?anything?else. A February 16, 1878, cartoon picturing a farmer at a restaurant (Fig. 5), also from Punch, continues to explore how the restaurant setting portrays power. The cartoon shows how class became a signifier of appetite. In this cartoon, a presentation of holy cheese shocks the farmer. Miffed, the farmer insists that the holy, Swiss Gruyere cheese be taken away and replaced by one that ?grew somewhere else.? The visual aspect of the cartoon presents the farmer as ruddy cheeked and hunched over his dinner. His misunderstanding of the cheese indicates that he does not have the economic background to purchase the Swiss Gruyere that the restaurant serves him. In fact, as exhibited by the linguistic misunderstanding, the farmer has not even heard of the cheese. The farmer?s unfamiliarity with Gruyere indicates the simplicity of the dishes that he is most accustomed to; apparently, the farmer?s usual meals do not require such a fancy, foreign cheese. However, the server, shocked at the farmer?s unfamiliarity, demands he try the cheese, despite what he has eaten before. Because the illustration relies on the reader?s understanding of the farmer?s misunderstanding, the message conveys much more than the farmer?s confusion. The illustration 86 also shows that only people?especially men? with the appropriate amount of money could afford the knowledge and consumption of foreign cheeses. If the food supply diminished, then only those with money would be able to afford survival. Although the farmer has somehow found himself in this upscale restaurant, his posture and demeanor indicate that he does not frequent this setting. After viewing the cartoon, one can surmise that the farmer is more comfortable growing his own food and eating in the comfort of his own home. The domestic fa?ade of the restaurant will not do the trick. Punch illustrations also emphasize the absurdity of appetite extremes that emerged throughout the Victorian era. Clearly, for the empire, the larger male was an acceptable norm while the smaller male became an outlier. Especially after Dr. William Gull?s creation of the term ?anorexia? circa 1873-4, bodily extremes dominated the nineteenth century. For instance, another April 19, 1890, cartoon (Fig. 6) features a pudgy male?nearly bursting out of his coat? eating at a restaurant. The caption reads ?EXTREMES MEET! Hearty Luncher. ?This Fasting is all Bosh! Robert, another Plate of Pork and another Pint of Stout. I'm going to see Succi this afternoon!?? Succi became Alexander Jacques? rival in the contest to become the most famous fasting man of the Victorian era, and the public clearly knew of the competition. In the illustration, the restaurant patron sits hunched over his plate of food, intent on stuffing his face as full as he possibly can. The waiter raises an eyebrow, as he might consider the gluttonous man?s strategy himself. In the background, a sign reads ?FASTING MAN SUCCI,? providing a clue to the ignorant reader. The lines in the cartoon are straighter and thicker than most Punch cartoons, which emphasizes the importance of body image and awareness during this era. For readers of the text and consumers of the image, cartoons like ?The Hearty Luncher? encouraged Victorians not only to devour the extremes, but also to digest the images so that they dominated the 87 discourse of Victorian body image. With a focus on extremes, the illustration ensures that the patron has generous proportions; if the illustrator had drawn the man with an average figure, the message would not have attracted the attention of the readers. However, by focusing on the extremes of fasting and gluttony, Punch sends the message that bodies must be either extremely skinny or fat to be noticed. After Dr. William Gull?s announcement of anorexia to the world, having an average figure would not do. Cartoons such as ?FASTING MAN SUCCI? capitalized on the burgeoning Victorian awareness of how extremes were beginning to dictate the private sphere and the public consciousness. The ?hearty luncher?s? food choices also nod to the notion of extremes; the plate of pork and stout are not low calorie items by any means. The hefty restaurant patron must consume food and drink that will keep pushing his frame to expand. Unlike Succi, the ?hearty luncher? has no desire to abstain from food to clear his body and mind. Instead, the man desires to eat so much that he bursts from his already tightly fitting clothing. The underlying message of the cartoon is that if the ?hearty luncher? cannot be thin like Succi, then he must go to the opposite extreme. Gravitating toward extremes was becoming a full-fledged fin de si?cle fashion, and suddenly, no one wanted left behind. However, by satirizing these extremes, Punch showed that the constantly regulated body was often too absurd to be attainable. Like Punch?s illustrations, writers of Victorian valentines continued the trend of emphasizing the regulated male body type by formulating verse that reiterated unhealthy standards of appetite. Included in a collection of Victorian valentines published by J.L. Marks in 1850 is a ?call and response? valentine written by a grocer to his love. The grocer writes: Your breath is all-spice, I declare, 88 And you?re so neat and handy, that you?re as sweet, I think, my fair, As plums or sugar-candy, Be favourable, I emplore, These verses kindly weigh; And if you will my heart restore, I?ll treat you to some tea. (1) Noticeably, the grocer humorously uses food and drink to confess his love to his valentine; although the grocer compares his love to plums and sugar-candy, all he offers her is some tea. Presumably, he only offers her the tea because the plums or sugar candy would destroy her figure. Her breath is ?all-spice,? which suggests sweetness without much caloric intake (1). The mentioned plums symbolize the fullness of the woman?s breasts, or other plump areas of her figure. Yet the grocer wants her to ?weigh? his verses, which references not only food, but also her body. Even if the grocer?s valentine compares the woman to food, the receiver of the valentine responds with puns that reprimand the grocer. In her response, the lady answers, Your letter I?ve weigh?d; Am truly afraid Many POUNDS you?re deficient in weight, And so, Mr. Grocer, I?d have you to know, Sir, I care not a fig for your treat. (1) 89 The lady?s response does not indicate that the man has deceived her with her comparison. Instead, she utilizes the grocer?s same puns to reject his valentine love. Her response also illustrates how males suffered in reference to the extremes of Victorian body image. By responding that she is ?truly afraid? that the grocer is ?Many POUNDS?deficient in weight,? the lady is capitalizing on the Victorian standard that underweight men could not compete in a world with jolly sized, hefty fellows (1). Additionally, the woman exhibits her cleverness by using ?POUNDS? as a metaphor to show the grocer that he does not have the economic means to support her capitalistic desires. The valentine and its response illustrate how food and body awareness influenced Victorian society and interaction; the grocer believes that using food as a metaphor will convince the woman to love him, but instead, she subverts his metaphors in order to reject his affection. Because the grocer?s relationship to food is economical, he cannot make the metaphors work to seduce the woman. Because females were thought to be more intimate with food?women would often touch the food, manipulate the food, and serve the food to their families?she uses food metaphors to her advantage. Since the woman has a more intimate involvement with food, she employs the edible metaphors to her benefit, which subverts the power that food once gave the grocer. Instead of finding herself convinced and seduced by the grocer?s food metaphors, the woman?s subversion shows how despite anxieties caused by the Malthusian equation, women could locate power and agency in food and drink. Besides using the food and drink to sustain her body, the woman who responds to the valentine uses the food metaphors to empower the words in her response. Although readers of the valentine and the response do not know the waist size or appearance of the woman, she refuses to let the grocer?s valentine offer of tea convince her to 90 listen to his comparisons of her body to plums and sugar candy. By refusing his love, the woman also refuses the metaphors and comparisons of food to her body. A Christmas card designed in 1882 by Eliza Ann Lemann of the Siegmund Hildesheimer Company (Fig. 7) further illustrates how the integration of food into artistic design caused not only Victorian men and women, but also young children to become hyperaware of their bodies. Although the children on Lemann?s card are teenagers at best, they conform to the ideals of Victorian body image and gender roles. There are six girls in the illustration and two boys; all look as if they belong in a Pre-Raphaelite painting. The children look peaceful and content, as if they have looked forward to this moment throughout the year. The children have cherubic faces and muted clothing, which contrast with the red and green mistletoe boughs that the children are taking home to decorate. The children, with their similar pale, red-lipped faces, appear to be from the same family. However, it is apparent from their body types and roles they enact in the illustration that they have already subscribed to the prescribed gender roles of Victorian society: the girls, with their wasp waists and gaunt faces, are in charge of gathering the mistletoe and decorating the sheaths of the outdoor pine trees. The two boys, on the other hand, have much different roles. One boy drags a mistletoe branch behind him, as if he has not a care in the world. The other boy grips one of the pine branches, as if he is ready to climb the tree. The positioning and roles of the children on the Christmas card indicate how ephemera captured snapshots of Victorian designations of appetite and space; the meaning of the card, in essence, could not be thrown away quite as easily as the card itself. The message of the card, including the text, signifies abundance and pleasure. The card seems to illustrate the perfection of a Victorian Christmas. With plenty of greenery to take home (and even wear in their hair), the children indicate the Victorian desire for the bounty of the 91 Christmas season. No matter how hard the middle and lower classes struggled, the illustration of the card could grant hope to even the poorest of families. The message suggests that no matter how difficult life may be, nature can always provide what may be missing from the home. The text of the card confirms the message by stating, ?WITH SEASON?S GREETING PEACE AND PLENTY CROWN THE YEAR.? The promise is that nature will always provide, especially during times of celebration. The gender roles of the children on the card indicate their adherence to Victorian standards of men and women?s bodies. The girls, although young, already have blossoming breasts and waists much smaller than their busts. Though they dress conservatively, their figures are still prominent and noticeable, illustrating the desire to differentiate between the girls and boys. The boys are round and small; however, without the breasts and wasp waists, one would be hard pressed to see the difference between the sexes. One of the girls pictured in the card, presumably the oldest and the leader of the group, has adorned herself with the natural scenery. She has leaves wreathed around her forehead like a Greek goddess, and she holds a cascade of flowers in the overlay of her dress. One of the younger girls her dress, ready to catch bulbs that berry the pine branch above her head. A fourth sister gazes longingly into her apron, presumably at more flowers that she has collected. The fifth and sixth sisters are foraging the ground for extra wayward flowers. The natural elements of the Christmas card illustrate the divisions of gender: the women must bring home the greenery and fauna to decorate the private space of the home while the boys could use the outdoor time for leisure. The Christmas card is indicative of gender roles and expectations of the Victorian era; though the card features both young boys and girls, the women bear the onus of the domestic 92 responsibilities, even outside the home. Although the line between the public and private space becomes blurred, the duties of the boys and girls remain clearly delineated by the predetermined Victorian standards. The young women must care for the other children, collect the mistletoe and flowers, decorate the pine branches, and remain aesthetically pleasing throughout the entire process. Meanwhile, the young boys have no tasks to consider. Their responsibility is to stand next to the young women while they work, offering no help. Because the boys appear younger than the girls, this seems excusable. However, their reticence to offer any assistance?and the reticence of the girls to elicit help from the boys?clearly indicates the definition of gender roles, even at an early age. The designation of these gender roles on the Christmas card illustrates how Victorian ephemera provide clues to understanding the structures and mores of Victorian society. The physical attributes of the young men and women on the card indicate how body image dictated the standards of appearance in Victorian England. The young women look as if they are trying to emulate older Victorian women; with their tucked waists and burgeoning breasts, the girls toe the line between body awareness and oblivion. However, they are not developed enough to worry about how their bodies appear to others. Instead, they are just learning how their bodies appear to themselves. The young women are aware enough of their bodies to imitate the older women around them, but they have not completed formulated the desire for thinness yet. The young boys, on the other hand, are thin and cherubic, but they seem to have little awareness of their surroundings or themselves. Unlike the girls, the young boys are content to be themselves, no matter what they look like or what actions they take. Because depictions of gender roles and burgeoning body awareness were commonplace for Victorian ephemera, it becomes clear that Dr. William Gull?s neologism of anorexia nervosa 93 resonated through the disposable culture of England. Especially because thinness attracted media attention, ephemeral objects were one of the easiest mediums to spread the influence of body image throughout society. Ephemera, because of its fleeting nature, became a convenient avenue for advertising the new, thin, female Victorian waist and large male body. The information was easy to print and readily available, so its influence was widespread and as contagious as a transmittable disease. Cards like this sought to reproduce images of the thin female and copious male bodies and to convince citizens that despite threats that the food supply would diminish, nature would provide. IV. Hard Timesx As Victorian ephemera satirized oversized male bodies, literature echoed the historical publications. Stoutly Victorian literary characters, such as Josiah Bounderby from Dickens? Hard Times, reiterate the cultural obsession with the large male body and authority. Unlike Magwitch in Great Expectations, Dickens describes Josiah Bounderby as a monstrous figure: a rich man: banker, merchant, manufacturer, and what not. A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man made out of a coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him. A man with a great puffed head and forehead, swelled veins in his temples, and such a strained skin to his face that it seemed to hold his eyes open, and lift his eyebrows up. A man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon, and ready to start. (18) Bounderby?s stature allows him to exhibit otherwise unacceptable behavior. Because of his ?great puffed head and forehead? and exaggerated features, Bounderby symbolizes how the large male often established himself as an impenetrable figure (18). Hard Times also exhibits how 94 Victorian males often used their size to avoid anxiety that a growing population would extinguish the food supply. Especially because the book?s Mr. Gradgrind has a son named Malthus, the threat of a diminished food supply looms throughout the textxi. As Stephen Blackpool (Bounderby?s foil), represents, frailty equals the lack of money, success, and power; as a ?stooping? mill hand, he can never achieve as much dominance as Bounderby (75). The novel prominently features the importance of food, drink, and overcoming biological odds; in Hard Times, Dickens uses subtle, indirect action to show how food and drink function in the narrativexii. For instance, although only named once, Mr. Gradgrind?s son Malthus indicates that biological determinism is a constant threat to the population. Later, as shown through Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind?s desire to buy expensive, extravagant food, one more clearly understands why Mr. Gradgrind named his son Malthus. Simply by naming his son after the progenitor of the theory, Mr. Gradgrind shows that he has the income and ability to avoid the dire results of a diminished food supply. Other people, however, do not. From the beginning of Hard Times, Bounderby and Gradgrind show their eminence through food. Described as ?gentlemen? who ?never knew what they wanted,? Bounderby and Gradgrind feel no shame in waste, and they do not appreciate what they have (29). Instead, they insist on eating and drinking the best, even if they are ?never thankful for it? (29). Dickens describes Bounderby and Gradgrind?s improvidence in alimentary terms. Their ability to purchase the best food grants them power and shows their success: ?they lived upon the best, and bout fresh butter, and insisted on Mocha coffee, and rejected all but prime parts of meat, and yet were eternally dissatisfied and unmanageable? (29). Dickens uses food to symbolize not only the greed of Bounderby and Gradgrind, but also the unquenched desire of the citizens of Coketown, which is the setting for the novel. Because the residents of Coketown do not have the affluence 95 of Bounderby and Gradgrind, they work ?long and monotonously? and ?hunger? for a better life (30). While Bounderby and Gradgrind eat the finest food, the Coketown citizens must cope with ?the craving [that] grew within them for some physical relief? (30). Although Bounderby and Gradgrind use expensive food to show their prominence, the people of Coketown hunger for physical survival. While they work for basic needs, Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind flaunt their ability to indulge in whatever food they desire. The narrator?s tone further conveys that the dietary pleasures of Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind contrast too sharply with the basic needs of the community. Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind are proprietors of Utilitarianism, but their focus betrays Coketown in order to satiate their own pleasures. Utilitarianism, described by John Stuart Mill as ?devotion to the happiness, or to some of the means of happiness, of others; either of mankind collectively, or of individuals within the limits imposed by the collective interests of mankind,? focuses on the communal greater good (21). However, Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind focus on the collective happiness of themselves, while the community still suffers from the lack of basic needs. A nursery rhyme included in Hard Times supplements the extravagant alimentary pleasures of the two men and satirizes the way they wield their authority over the townspeople: There was an old woman, and what do you think? She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink; Victuals and drink were the whole of her diet, And yet this old woman would NEVER be quiet. (29) Dickens uses the word ?victual? as a pun to show the discord between the men and the community. As a noun, ?victual? simply means ?food or provisions,? but the word can also be 96 used as a verb that means ?to provide with food or stores? or ?eat? (OED). Although the men happily find and consume the best foods for themselves, they do not concern themselves with providing food for the people of Coketown. The people of Coketown work hard for their survival, but they struggle to provide for their basic needs. Meanwhile, Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind consume the best food and drink, despite the price. The nursery rhyme also reveals the sinister qualities of Bounderby and Gradgrind. Although the old woman lives on nothing but ?victuals and drink,? according to the rhyme, she is ?NEVER? quiet (29). The old woman does not need anything more than the ?victuals and drink? to fuel her existence. In relation to Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind, the old woman represents how they too need nothing more than ?victuals and drink? to show their authority over the town. Food and drink fuels their bodies and their minds. They do not need material goods to survive; instead, food and drink give them everything necessary to exhibit their power and authority over others. The old woman?s incessant talking acts as a metaphor for the power that Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind exude as they exhibit their power over the residents of Coketown. Instead of the food only fueling their bodies, Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind are ?NEVER? quiet because food gives them the ability to talk without saying a word. The townspeople see that the two men can afford much more than what can be classified as a basic need. Instead of sharing their good fortune or reaching out to help others, Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind flaunt their wealth by showing that they can afford expensive culinary purchases. Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind fail to see past their own desires as they constantly ?talk? but refuse to listen. Throughout Hard Times, Josiah Bounderby consistently aligns himself with food to exhibit his influence over the other characters. Realizing (albeit self-consciously) that food 97 grants him strength, Bounderby discusses food as often as he eats. During dinner, Bounderby relishes the opportunity to detail his love of food: It was an appropriate occasion for Mr. Bounderby to discuss the flavor of the hap?orth of stewed eels he had purchased in the streets at eight years old, and also of the inferior water, specially used for laying the dust, with which he had washed down that repast. He likewise entertained his guest, over the soup and fish, with the calculation that he (Bounderby) had eaten in his youth at least three horses under the guise of polonies and saveloys. (135) The tone of the passage implies that no one but Bounderby himself enjoys the discussion of his culinary past. However, he uses his food lecture to show his superiority. Indeed, the ?inferior water? shows his dinner companions his dominance. In addition to the he descriptions and actions of Josiah Bounderby, Dickens equips the character with dialogue that shows the relation of food to power. As he lectures Tom Gradgrind?the employee of Bounderby and the son Mr. Gradgrind?Bounderby pithily explains how withholding dinner was a disciplinary method his parents used to ensure that he was punctual: ? ?When I was your age, young Tom,? said Bounderby, ?I was punctual, or I got no dinner?? (135)! In the Foucauldian sense of discipline, that its function is to ? train, rather than to select and to levy,? Bounderby?s expression indicates the function of food in relation to power (170). By withholding food if he was late, Bounderby?s parents instilled within him the Victorian importance of strong male bodies. Missing dinner scared the young Bounderby enough to make certain that he never arrived anywhere late. From his training in childhood, the adult Bounderby recognizes how food and bodily strength grant him dominance. Because food and drink have given Bounderby the ability to be ?a big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh,? 98 Bounderby knows that he can use food as a method of exhibiting his influence and authority (18). However, Tom?s petulant response suggests that he has yet to understand the connection between food and power. Because he cannot compete with Bounderby?s corpulent body, Tom finds himself in a subservient position to Bounderby. After Bounderby attempts to show how one uses food as a method of exhibiting power, Tom?s inability to convince Bounderby of any wrongdoing reveals that he cannot compete with Bounderby?s authority: ?When you were my age,? returned Tom, ?you hadn?t a wrong balance to get right, and hadn?t to dress afterwards.? ?Never mind that now,? said Bounderby. ?Well, then,? grumbled Tom. ?Don?t begin with me.? (135) The evident tension between Tom and Bounderby not only shows their strained relationship, but also how the dinner table is a location where power can be exhibited and resisted; however, the person who lacks food and drink always has less ability to display their influence and authority. Dickens further explores the connection of food and drink to power as Mr. James Harthouse fills Tom?s empty cup. Not long after the tense conversation between Tom and Josiah Bounderby, Mr. James Harthouse ?remarked that [Tom] drank nothing,? so he ?filled his glass with his own negligent hand? (137). Once Mr. Harthouse fills his cup, Tom finally locates the source of Bounderby?s (and his father?s) power. The drink allows Tom?s self-confidence to rise; the biological strength that food and drink offer also allow Tom to locate psychological authority?the same psychological authority gives Josiah Bounderby his indeterminable influence. As Tom continues to utilize food and drink as a source of power, food becomes a 99 necessity for his mind and not his body. Instead of using food to maintain his physical strength, Tom discovers that food and drink give him influence and confidence that he once lacked. Tom finds that his body can wait for food, but his mind cannot remain strong without nutrition. Dickens writes that Mr. Harthouse announces that until dinner, they will ?tear ourselves asunder,? and ?When Tom appeared before dinner, though his mind seemed heavy enough, his body was on the alert? (210). Tom and Mr. Harthouse begin to associate eating with emotional instead of physical strength. Finding his body automatically responding without food, Tom knows that his body can survive for a certain amount of time without sustenance. However, the more food he eats and alcohol he drinks, the more he can compete with those socially above him. Although men who eat and drink become ideal subjects ready to expand the empire, Dickens characterizes corpulent women as nothing more than disgustingly greedy; the caricature of Lady Scadgers exemplifies the double standard present in Victorian society. Although Victorian society encouraged men to exhibit large, powerful bodies, a similar body type for a female connoted self-indulgence and untamed desire. Instead of strength, the bodies of large women indicated that they sought to pleasure themselves through food, without any consideration for the appetite or needs of anyone else. Dickens introduces Lady Scadgers through the comparison of her son-in-law, Mr. Sparsit. The name Sparsit insinuates that Lady Scadgers? deceased husband was too ?sparse? to survive; the focus on extremes shows the dichotomy of Victorian bodies. Meanwhile, Lady Scadgers is ?an immensely fat old woman, with an inordinate appetite for butcher?s meat, and a mysterious leg which had not refused to get out of bed for fourteen years? (50). The unfavorable description of Lady Scadgers equates ?fat? with her ?insatiable appetite,? indicating that her untamed desire for butcher?s meat has lead to her inability to get out of bed for fourteen years (50). Yet in contrast to her dead ?sparse? 100 husband, the ?butcher?s meat? has kept her alive (50). Although Lady Scadgers survives, unlike the respected Josiah Bounderby, Dickens characterizes her gluttonous behavior as highly offensive to those around her. On the other hand, as Dickens further describes Mr. Sparsit, the narrative clarifies how a slender male body leads to weakness and inevitable death. Dickens notes that Mr. Sparsit was once ?chiefly noticeable for a slender body, weakly supported on two long slim props, and surmounted by no head worth mentioning? (51). Mr. Sparsit?s frail frame leads to his death at the age of 24 (51). Although the characters blame brandy for his demise, the reader infers that because of his slight frame, Mr. Sparsit has remarkably little tolerance for alcohol. His thin body also symbolizes his inability to earn and keep money. Despite inheriting a ?fair fortune from his uncle,? Mr. Sparsit ?owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards? (51). Because he cannot contain his desire for alcohol but does not properly eat, Mr. Sparsit cannot survive. What he uses to sustain himself cannot last. Despite the physical and psychological strength that food offers Josiah Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind, the end of Hard Times unveils how this authority, no matter how strong, cannot last. No matter how much Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind eat and drink, like any other mortal, they cannot escape impending death. But perhaps worse than death, Dickens reveals that Bounderby?s is a complete fraud. The lies that he has built for himself disintegrate and leave him with nothing. Although consuming food and drink made him feel powerful, ultimately, he loses his authority over everyone and everything. His ability to buy and consume the finest food and drink matters little. His ?pervading appearance? that is ?inflated like a balloon, and ready to start? deflates and leaves nothing of substance behind (25). 101 Conclusion The loss of life and substance did not bother Alexander Jacques or Giovanni Succi; indeed, they sought to show that they could locate power in the discourse of thinness. They sought to slip through the dominating forces of bio-power and docility. Jacques? exhibition was especially ironic considering that in eating, meals, and general consumption, the historical and fictional Victorian male favored a larger body type that indicated power, wealth, and strength. While the corset became standard for Victorian women, most men desired large paunches and full figures. By preferring corpulent body types, the historical Victorian male sought to secure his physical body in a society shifted by the theories of Malthus, namely that the population would outgrow the food supply. Although traditional Victorian men have usually been seen as producers instead of consumers, their frequent indulgence in food and drink indicated that they often devoured anything edible and available. In turn, their hunger and frequent intake of food often symbolized how they consumed what Victorian culture produced. Gould and Pyle?s discussion of Jacques proves that his exhibition displayed behavior that sharply deviated from the norm. However, to meet the status quo, Jacques made certain that his ability to abstain caused him to grow taller; this detail suggests that although Jacques avoided food, he did not want to lose his authority as a strong male figure. Despite being an anomaly amongst Victorian males who demonstrated their prominence through their body mass, Jacques presented himself as superior to those shorter than him. He attempted to use his upward growth as an indicator of his ability to deviate from the normal Victorian male but still thrive. Unfortunately for Jacques, Gould and Pyle note that many who saw his exhibition considered him a ?juggler? and ?deceiver?; those who witnessed Jacques? display had difficulty believing that a man who starved himself could not only survive, but also increase his height 102 (421). Gould and Pyle remind readers that even if his starvation did not seem plausible, Jacques readily invited the surveillance of the curious. As a ?professional faster,? Jacques believed that if people saw his progress, they would believe his message that bigger was not always better (421). Still, under constant surveillance, those who saw Jacques believed in trickery and nothing more. This further proves that Jacques? behavior deviated from the usual Victorian male consumer. The people who witnessed the fast could not believe that a Victorian male could survive without the constant consumption of food. Jacques may have not consumed solid food, but he did ingest herbal powder and cigarettes; yet, few people observed Jacques? consumption. Therefore, they did not witness how much Jacques still indulged in Victorian consumer culture. Jacques, in essence, did not symbolize the starving male. Instead, he became the living, breathing symbol of a Victorian double standard. Jacques did not consume food, but he had no desire to lose his illusion of power. His insistence on growing taller demonstrated his belief that the bigger male maintained authority. Yet instead of chiding Jacques for embodying a double standard of the Victorian male, Gould and Pyle praise him for his ?endurance? (421). Gould and Pyle argue, ?although we may not implicitly believe that the fast[s] were in every respect bona fide, we must acknowledge that these men displayed great endurance in their apparent indifference for food, the deprivation of which in a normal individual for one day only causes intense suffering? (421). In their discussion of his fast, Gould and Pyle do not seek to present Jacques as a skinny male, but as a British citizen who had the strength to endure remarkable hardship. Because he was an anomaly and curiosity, Jacques became an ironic martyr of Victorian medicine; even if his starvation project did not convince onlookers and the medical community 103 that he avoided food altogether, Jacques emerged from the exhibition as a known survivor. He became proof that the male body could endure isolation and hardship. However, the public cluttered Jacques? fast with speculation. Many sources reported that he did not consume food, but no constant witnesses were present to keep Jacques from eating in secret. Jacques did encourage constant surveillance, but not all of those who witnessed his display reported what they saw (Gould and Pyle 421). Additionally, no one recorded what herbs and powder Jacques consumed in lieu of food, which made discerning the actual threat of starvation nearly impossible (Gould and Pyle 421). Even though neither Jacques nor any observers recorded the specifics of the herbs and powder, the concoction provided him with the necessary nutrients to survive his fifty day fast. Therefore, Jacques was losing weight, but not necessarily starving himself. Jacques abstained from solid food, especially meat, but he did not entirely avoid devouring alimentary provisions that allowed him to survive. Jacques retained an iota of fame for his starvation exhibit, but he found himself in direct competition with other men who displayed their starving bodies. Alexander Succi, who was Jacques? strongest rival, fasted for ?forty days? and lost ?34 pounds and 3 ounces? (Gould and Pyle 421). To expedite his weight loss, Succi locked himself in a sauna to rid his body of water weight. In contrast to Jacques, Gould and Pyle reveal that the ?latest report? about Succi?s fast exposed that in private, he ?regaled himself on soup, beefsteak, chocolate and eggs. It was also discovered that one of the ?committee,? who was supposed to watch and see that the experiment was conducted in a bona fide manner, ?stood in? with the faster and helped him deceive the others? (421). Succi may have gained personal fame for his fast, but he did not truly avoid food. He restricted his diet, but he concealed his dining from the population who witnessed his fast. 104 Succi?s concealment of his consumption showed that despite his efforts to become the Victorian male anomaly who avoided food and shed body weight, he could not restrict himself forever. Eventually, Succi had to gorge himself on what he could find and eat in private. His inability to avoid his alimentary desires shows that his body could not survive without eating. Although his public display showed differently, Succi?s private indulgences exemplified that he was more like the typical Victorian male consumer than he wanted to admit. Although Victorian men usually consumed as much food as possible to show their power and prominence, the fasts of Jacques, Succi, and other men indicated a desire for men to utilize fasting as a therapeutic method of detoxification. If they could fast successfully, then they could also find ?rest for the overworked body? and perhaps cure any potential diseases they had (Griffith 600). Unlike other males who used copious amounts of food to show that they might avoid the dire consequences of the Malthusian equation, Succi and Jacques saw their fasts as a method of strengthening their flesh. Many fasters believed that avoidance led to strength; the more they could resist food, the stronger their willpower became. Moreover, they also believed that learning to fast could train their bodies to require less food. In relation to fasting, the connection of the body and mind resonated with importance to the construction of the Victorian male psyche. For Succi and Jacques, abstinence from food signified that they had more internal strength than men who wished to indulge. However, for the typical Victorian male, the consumption of food symbolized their ability to maintain strength in an era fraught with the possibility of economic decline. The ability to eat indicated that men had the economic means to survive any hardships that may have occurred. Although men like Succi and Jacques appealed to those who were curious about fasting and exhibition, most Victorian ephemera and literature focused on men who frequently indulged. 105 Both literature and ephemeral materials from the Victorian period exemplified how males used size as a source of power. As shown in Great Expectations and in professional fasters like Succi and Jacques, society considered men who did not eat economically strapped or anomalies of culture. Although literature, like Dickens? Hard Times, featured powerful figures like Josiah Bounderby, Victorian ephemera allowed for a larger audience to access representations of men using their size to assert authority. Historical materialism dictated that Victorian ephemera influence citizens of all social groups and both genders. Because of mechanical reproduction, ephemera could reach and influence a much broader audience; ephemera began streamlining social classes and differences within the genders. Additionally, because the ephemera could be mass produced, no Victorian woman could be exempt from the discourse of thinness and domesticity that the advertisements proliferated, and no Victorian man could be exempt from the thick waist of depicted success. With commerce booming because of advertising, being thin and domestically perfect, or thick and influentially successful became an industry that many Victorian women and men, regardless of class, were willing to support. Victorian advertisements and publications provide a working knowledge of Victorian mores and social norms. However, it is simply not enough to note that Victorian women often had wasp waists, and most Victorian men often were gluttonous and expected to eat as much as they possibly could. By studying the ephemera, it becomes clear that the advertising culture of Victorian society influenced those living within the era. Because of Dr. William Gull?s neologism of anorexia, the media colluded with the medical discourse in order to influence people to buy products that would ensure that they were living up to their projected potential. For women, the diagnoses of anorexia indicated that women who were skinny could fit into the popular clothing and adhere to the ideals of the masses. If women in advertisements had wasp 106 waists and thin frames, then the common woman needed to strive for that ideal. Depictions of men showed that they must maintain fuller figures in order to assert their authority and potentially avoid death if the food supply ever depleted. With illustrations such as ?A CUT OFF THE JOINT? and ?LITTLE MISS BUDGET,? along with literature like Dickens? Hard Times, the power of larger men in Victorian society is evident through the depictions of their ability to make decisions that affected not only them, but also others around them. According to ephemera and literature, Victorian society expected men to maintain levels of authority that they may or may not have desired. Often, the corpulent body acted as nothing more than a fa?ade of power that ephemera and literature sought to represent. 107 Chapter Three: The Soldier?s Empty Experience: Starvation in the Crimean War I. The Diary of John Gordon In 1881, before he joined The Royal Highlanders?a Scottish branch of the British Victorian Army?John Gordon maintained romantic visions of becoming a soldier. As a child, he and his friends loved ?playing war? before picnicking on delicious desserts near the wall that they used as a fort (par.1). Gordon enjoyed eating these ?oatcakes, buttered scones, and other wonders?; yet, once he joined the Army, the military forced Gordon to leave behind the days of playing war with his friends and enjoying picnic-style sweets to fill his belly after exerting himself (par.1). As Gordon expresses in a personal diary, My first thoughts of joining the army came when I was a youngster living with my folks in the village of Insch, in Aberdeenshire , Scotland. A lot of us boys used to go on holidays to the top of the hill Dunnideer close by, and round its tumble down wall, remnant of an ancient castle, we played war. Strange it was that the wall somehow woke up for us, became a living fortification, resigning itself to be again only an old ruin when it was time for our picnic rations...how speedily these vanished! Oatcakes, buttered scones, and other wonders. (par. 1) Gordon?s childlike vision of army life idealizes the military; although his diaries indicate that he had a difficult upbringing, thoughts of engaging in battle kept Gordon?s dreams alive. As an adolescent, Gordon reasoned that any difficulties he had throughout his lifetime would be solved when he could leave home and join the ranks. However, once he became active in the military, Gordon realized that his hopes of thriving in the Army would not come to fruition. The details of Gordon?s daily life illustrate how 108 seemingly mundane factors, such as diet and activity, weakened not only his welfare, but also the wellbeing of others fighting for Britain throughout the reign of Queen Victoria, specifically during The Crimean War. Instead, once he joined the Army, Gordon had to tolerate strenuous physical activity without proper preparation and nutrition. He soon realized that his childhood visions of the military were nothing like the daily regimens that he and other soldiers endured. Gordon?s experience reveals how the British Army relied on docility to produce submissive soldiers that were sure to follow ordersxiii. The location of docility, or the coercion of bodies through surveillance techniques, reveals the ironic structure of the British Army. Though the Army seemed to breed strong minds and bodies that were ready to fight, the Army had to ensure that new soldiers conformed to the standards already in place. Without docility, then the Army would not have initial control over the soldiers who needed readied for battle. By morphing active men into docile soldiers, the Army could ensure that the troops remained controlled instead of in control. However, weakening the soldiers through the lack of proper nutrition eventually became a great source of embarrassment for the British Army, especially because the men could not maintain enough strength to survive. Used as a case study, Gordon?s story evokes a striking narrative of a Victorian soldier?s life that focused on this type of training and subordinate behavior. Often, the British nation utilized bio-power to make certain that men became strong, healthy soldiers that would serve the nation; however, the nation could not always supply the necessary amount of food to its soldiers. Therefore, this problem needed concealed at whatever cost. Unfortunately, many Victorian soldiers endured an experience similar to Gordon?s introduction to the military. The nation wished for men who could be trained and coerced to fight, despite the conditions and food supply. Echoed in the literature of the era, Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? 109 fictionalizes the extreme training and subordinate behavior expected of soldiers; however, the poem?s glorification of honorable military death persuades readers that docile, submissive bodies were a necessary element of war. Furthermore, Kipling?s ?Gunga Din? emphasizes how this docility caused soldiers and servants to starve, thirst, and eventually, lose their lives for the greater good. As Gordon discovered, the physical requirements of being in the Army demanded that he locate strength within his physical body, even if he did not have the required sustenance. Strict physical activity took the place of the sweets that Gordon once loved: Military exercises, during our first two weeks, were to square the shoulders, expand the chest, and correct a multitude of individual faulty habits. Next came drills in marching, wheeling, balancing, and in regulation length of step; finally we had instructions and drills in use of arms. (par. 9) The exercises were so closely controlled that the soldiers had to train individual parts of their bodies to perform. Once the soldiers? feet had learned the ?regulation length of step,? only then they could begin to teach their arms to follow the proper course (par. 9). The exercise and the formula for learning illustrate how the military trained soldiers to avoid rupturing the status quo that demanded individual bodies become part of the ordered whole. However, soldiers like Gordon were often unaware that they were training their bodies to conform to what the nation and state demanded from them. Under the restraint of the British Army, soldiers soon became ?docile bodies? that did not make individual decisions. Eventually, the docile bodies of the Army faced not only physical battle, but also a war that lacked resources needed to survive. Docile bodies, from Foucault?s Discipline and Punish, form when individuals are under constant, subtle surveillance. Because the surveillance is often undetectable, systems 110 (such as the military) can regulate and coerce individuals into believing that such systems are normal and acceptable. As Foucault notes, docility joins the analyzable body to the manipulable body. A body is docile that may be subjected, used, transformed and improved. The celebrated automata, on the other hand, were not only a way of illustrating an organism, they were also political puppets, small-scale models of power: Frederick II, the meticulous king of small machines, well-trained regiments and long exercise, was obsessed with them. (136) Docility, therefore, describes individual bodies that systems seek to train. The docile body is soft and malleable; because it can be ?subjected, used, transformed, and improved,? through regimentation, docile bodies become products of the already functioning surveillance system (136). Yet, the British government could not afford to feed the soldiers who pledged to fight for the nation. This became a disgrace for the government, especially as the war continued; the lack of available food seemed more medieval than modern, and the truth needed concealed. Therefore, many nurses and other regulating forces had to be brought to the battlefield to ameliorate the situation. Because the starving soldier could not perform well, the Crimean War prompted reform, especially in the dietary realm. Britain needed soldiers who could remain strong, bold, and willing to serve the needs of the empire. Regulatory forces, like nurses, eventually made the government believe that they had the ability to modernize the Army and remain ever powerful. Soldiers such as Gordon emerge as a prime example of how systematic regimentation and surveillance trained docile bodies in the Victorian era. Even though Gordon entered the Army with a whimsical vision of military life, once the training began, Gordon conformed to the rules 111 and regulations that the military enforced. Although one of his bunkmates collected deposits of Gordon?s money on a weekly basis (in case they needed to escape), and then disappeared once he had collected a nice stack of coins, Gordon stayed behind to tolerate the exercises and strict daily schedule given to him by his superiors. His expectations of adventure soon transformed into a lifetime of becoming another cog in the military machine. The systematic training of the Army turned Gordon into a hardened soldier who no longer had access to the ?oatcakes, buttered scones, and other wonders? he once loved (par. 1). The shift from an individualized diet and appetite to one of limited caloric intake, coupled with rigorous exercise, is apparent in the case study of Gordon but not limited to him. Many other soldiers in the British Army also underwent strict dietary changes once they left home. When individual soldiers joined the British Army, their diets often consisted of little more than bread and water. The amount of exercise and activity they performed began to starve their bodies of needed nutrients. The transformation into a docile body required that the soldiers eat less while working their bodies harder than ever before. Though these soldiers did not wish to participate in disorderly eating?abnormal eating habits that bodies practiced by either choice or submission? they had little opportunity to protest. Any alimentary practices that fell outside of normative eating risked being disciplined. In one sense, their eating became normative by the government?s definition: they ate what was provided and served the needs of the state. However, by the standards of health, the eating registered as disorderly, especially because they did not receive enough caloric intake to offset the strenuous exercise. Although diet and exercise were only facets of the British Army?s creation of docile bodies, the shift often caused soldiers to initially long for the days when they could eat whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Unfortunately for the basic soldier, 112 higher ranked officers often had more choices concerning what they consumed. However, once enlisted, soldiers could not escape creation of docile bodies that dictated their every move. As time moved forward, many ephemeral diaries and reports from the era continued to indicate hermeneutical consistencies among the soldiers throughout wartime; most troops who fought for Britain in the Crimean War (1853-56) also suffered from unaddressed malnutrition and dehydration. Often, this hunger was seen as a dangerous counterpart to aggression and violence. Whereas audiences have viewed women?s hunger as pitiable and sympathetic, men?s hunger was understood as a method of making males fight with more hostility. Even if the hostility was not originally directed toward the enemy on the battlefield, keeping the soldiers? stomachs empty caused antagonism to boil within their bodies. Nutritional problems of British soldiers continued rising throughout the Crimean War, which began when Russian troops ?moved into territories east of the Baltic Sea,? alarming ?both Britain and France, who subsequently aligned themselves with Turkey by declaring war on Russia in March of 1854? (Brasseur 162). The war boasted more deaths from intolerable conditions than from battle; along with contaminated water that spread disease, poor diet and strenuous exercise harmed the soldiers beyond repair. Additionally, as Richard Pearce has noted, ?the wounded suffered without bedding or shelter, without bandages or splints, without chloroform or morphia. Amputations were performed without anesthetics? (90). The soldiers lacked shelter, medicine, and food, which caused the Army to suffer ?19,584 officers and men dead and 2,873 permanently incapacitated. Of these, only 3,754 were battle casualties; the remainder died of disease, largely as a result of the chaos within the medical services? (90). Without the proper supplies, the British Army could not keep its men alive long enough to stand at the front lines. 113 Improper food and water caused many of these unnecessary deaths. Indeed, the British military often trained the soldiers? minds and bodies to believe that little caloric intake would be enough to sustain them during battle. Through controlling the diet and appetite of the soldiers, the British Army acted as a hegemonic force that disciplined soldiers and coerced their bodies into the established military discourse. Until the work and writing of nurses like Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole began exposing the condition of the military?s dietary routines, the soldiers had little choice but to maintain the enforced training. With regulatory forces like nurses, real discipline could begin. However, the work of nurses in Crimea did not reach every soldier; the diet and exercise of many hardworking military personnel still slipped through the cracks of proper care. The nation needed nurses to regulate the embarrassing crisis of starvation and to conceal the problems that the lack of food had caused. Therefore, nurses were not expected to save each and every life; instead, they were to fix the problem so that the military forces could continue to serve the needs of the state. The Army often forced soldiers to participate in countless drills and activities that required fuel from the physical body, but they lacked proper nutrition or money to secure their own means of nourishment. Because the military and its regimentation became the formalized structure of power for the soldiers, they had no choice to adhere to regulations their superiors gave them. II. Representative Literature: Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? Disciplinary practices meant that the Army created docile bodies that served the interest of the state instead of the individual. Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? best exemplifies and symbolizes the British Army?s use of docile bodies throughout the battle to act 114 as one unit. Critics and scholars often discuss how the poem lauds the men who died while fighting, but the thematic logic of the poem also shows how docility brought deathxiv to many of the troops. Inspired by a mistake (a ?blunder?) made by the cavalry that lead hundreds of soldiers into the Battle of Balaklava, the poem ?was composed ?in a few minutes? after the poet read an account in the London Times of the suicidal charge-ordered by mistake-of the English cavalry against the Russian artillery at Balaklava during the Crimean War? (Somerville 571). Indeed, Tennyson?s poem focused on the brutality and the honor of such battles; while the poem specifically addresses the Battle of Balaklava, ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? also represents the British Army?s use of docile bodies to train and prepare for each battle fought in the Crimean War. The discipline of these soldiers was not blind; to the soldiers, the disciplinary actions appeared rational and reasonable. The mistake that sparked the battle proves particularly salient, especially because the men represented in the poem showed little desire to engage in battle. However, they had no choice but to defend themselves against the gaffe. As Somerville notes, Tennyson ?was particularly impressed by the phrase used in the newspaper, ?someone had blundered,? and this was the origin of the metre of his poem? (571). Because the battle resulted from a blunder, the soldiers had to rely on their previous training. Once on ?autopilot,? the troops could fight without much thought or consideration; after all, the Army had trained their docile bodies to respond to these ?blunders? that could easily end their lives. The second stanza of Tennyson?s poem further implicates the Army in the creation of docile bodies. As the lines profess, 'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd ? 115 Not tho' the soldier knew Some one had blunder'd: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do & die, Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. (9-17) Clearly, the soldiers represented in Tennyson?s poem have little idea about why, what, or how they are fighting. The rhetorical question, ?Was there a man dismay?d?? describes the process of creating docile bodies; of course, there would not be a man dismayed because his body had already been trained and coerced to face even unexpected violence (12). As the second stanza progresses, the coercion and training becomes even more apparent through the soldiers? response to battle. They realize ?Some one had blunder?d,? but they do not question their superiors or the overall structure of the Army (12). Instead, they revert to the embedded psychological docility that complemented their training. The soldiers do not ?make reply? or challenge the Army for putting their bodies at risk. Instead, the troops have learned ?not to reason why? and instead ?do & die? without question (12-15). Their loyalty to their country blinds any resistance that they might have attempted in any other circumstance. The poem, especially the second stanza, symbolizes the reality that many troops faced while fighting in the Crimean War. In losing their individual personalities and desires, the soldiers?both fictional and realistic?lost their will to challenge or respond to given orders. As ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? shows, the soldiers fought as a unit for Britain. Though it was not necessarily a negative endeavor to bind together to protect one?s country, the ?groupthink? 116 mindset proved detrimental to not only the soldiers portrayed in Tennyson?s poem, but also many living Victorian soldiers who lost their lives in the Crimean War. The poem echoed the alarming reality that England was not as equipped to fight as once believed. Though Tennyson?s piece focuses on men lost in battle, these men represent a microcosm of soldiers who died in battle and not because of poor conditions. ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? makes noble the 600 men who fought in the Battle of Balaclava, but forgets to note other soldiers who died because of improper food and water. Because the poem focuses on the men who fought one of the most physical battles of the Crimean War, audiences of the poem also tended to focus on the troops who endured more tangible crusades. The final stanza of the poem idolizes those who fought the Battle of Balaclava, finalizing their death with praise that glorified the actions of their docile-yet-engaged bodies: When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wonder'd. Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred! (50-55) The exclamatory claims present in the poem?s final stanza show how civilians would react to the soldiers? prowess in the battle. According to the final stanza, the soldiers who died in the Battle of Balaclava passed nobly into the next world; they deserved honor and remembrance as brave bodies that gave everything they had for their country. In Tennyson?s presentation of the final stanza, he glorifies war, specifically the Crimean War, to incite pride and patriotism for the dead soldiers. However, because of the previous 117 stanzas that discuss the soldiers? loss of individuality and descent into the Army-induced docility, the excitement of the final stanza reads ironically. Although there is no doubt that the ?Noble six hundred? should receive honor, it is clear that those soldiers did not have to die. The ?wild charge? hardly justifies the death of the men (51). Tennyson?s fictionalized account of the battle further symbolizes the tense daily existence of Crimean War soldiers. Even if the soldiers did not desire to lose their individuality, the transformation of men into docile bodies was inevitable once they joined the war effort. The soldiers moved forward without question, their bodies defending their country at all costs. Their individual lives and desires mattered little once the British Army trained them to defend a nation determined to uphold the fa?ade of glory and victory. Serving the interest of Britain became more important than keeping individual bodies alive. III. Crimean Conditions and Discipline The poor treatment that resulted from the lack of proper nutrition, water, and medical care resulted in weakened soldiers unable to locate a nexus of much needed rebellionxv. Often, the desired results of bio-power?strong and healthy soldiers, ready to fight? never came to fruition because the government could not afford to feed the soldiers it employed. Though the empire attempted to discipline the troops, improper funding and the lack of servable food caused the disciplinary tactics to fail. Instead of producing strong soldiers prepared to fight for Great Britain, the Crimean War became more medieval than contemporary. Instead of regulation, the empire reverted to torture and tyranny, ultimately leaving a nation starving for discipline and control. The treatment of the soldiers also resulted from the post-Waterloo British Army, who 118 badly needed to reform but had little desire to change7. As Richard L. Blanco discusses in his article ?Reform and Wellington's Post Waterloo Army, 1815-1854,? The lowly status of the enlisted man remained unchanged for four decades after Waterloo due to the military?s haughty disdain of basic reform measures which were necessary for a reinforced Army. The Army, one of the most conservative British institutions, smugly resisted changes after 1815 until public criticism of Army finances during the Crimean War (1854-56) forced it to initiate improvements that were characteristic of the Age of Reform. (123) The ?lowly status of the enlisted man? indicates that a typical British soldier had little weight when it came to making the most basic of decisions, including what and when to eat. By controlling every basic action of a soldier, the Army could also dictate larger decisions that would put the soldier in imminent danger, or take his life completely. The soldier had to sign over his physical body and dietary habits to the Army. Instead of producing a strong regime ready to fight for its country, the Army became a host for bodies too weak to fight or expand the empire. Although the soldiers did not have the energy to protest their daily schedules or bigger operations, the extremely low-calorie diet also prevented them from having the proper energy to fight. Even if the soldiers resisted necessary reform measures, the basic day-to-day lives of the troops were so highly regimented that resistance would have done little good. The intention was for diet and exercise to become a certifiable way to produce docile bodies; if the soldiers were 7 By forcing the soldiers to eat very little and very few times, those in power could emphasize their control. By not allowing the soldiers to eat more and at additional times throughout the day, those in charge?most notably the Prime Minister George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen, who was quite a slim fellow himself?could save money and pay little attention to the needs of the soldiers. Weakening the soldiers through lack of food set the creation of docile bodies in motion. 119 weakened physically, then they would be more willing to obey orders. However, the bodies became too weak and eventually died, leaving the Army at a loss for bodies able to fight. Because of these deplorable conditions, more troops were lost due to improper nutrition and unpurified water than to battlefield death or injury (Pearce 88-92). The physical conditions further designated political implications that the soldiers could not escape. Diet, especially a highly disciplined diet, reveals how medical discourse controls physical bodies until they become fully cooperative and docile. Often, a simple regimentation is all that is necessary to begin the control of individual bodies. As Foucault insists, By training citizens in frugality by means of simple dietary laws by showing young people above all the pleasures that may be derived from even a hard life, by making them appreciate the strictest discipline in the army and navy, how many ills would be prevented, how much expense avoided, and what new abilities would reveal themselves?for the greatest, most difficult enterprises. (39) For the troops, the dietary training was meant to show them that they could derive joy from a difficult life of serving their country. However, the dietary conditions were so deplorable that the regulation failed. Instead of producing docile bodies ready to fight, the troops often died because of the poor conditions and lack of calories provided by their superiors. As Foucault emphasizes, discipline and punishment shifted when the spectacle of public torture dissipated by the nineteenth century; in its place, a more subtle punishment emerged that had ?a certain type of discretion? and pointed towards ?an incidental effect of deeper changes? (8). The word ?discretion? has significant meaning to the practice of using the lack of food for punishment; because lack of food is an absence that can be easily concealed, the act of giving bodies less food than needed is the most discrete act of all. Often, the signals and symbols of 120 malnutrition are not visible until the body has already suffered the side effects. For these particular malnourished soldiers, the negative effects of the excessive exercise and the lack of food were heard through nothing but their first-hand accounts. Their discreet punishment was not only concealed, but also normalized by the British Army, partly because the diet killed soldiers instead of producing strong bodies ready to fight for the empire. As Foucault argues, the discretionary punishment of starvation symbolized the ?deeper changes? of control that loomed over the soldiers as they prepared for battle (8). The reform brought by the Army served to regulate and discipline the starving troops. Historical evidence shows that some prisoners of the era were treated better than these late-Victorian soldiers. In Discipline and Punish, Foucault observes that in ?The Body of the Condemned,? L?on Faucher established rules to discipline the body for young Parisian prisoners. These rules, though strict, were not as stringent as the regimen that the young soldiers followed. Included in Faucher?s treatise is the eating schedule that the prisoners were forced to adhere to: Art. 20. Work. At a quarter to six in the summer, a quarter to seven in winter, the prisoners go down into the courtyard where they must wash their hands and faces, and receive their first ration of bread? Art. 26. Supper and the recreation that follows it last until five o'clock: the prisoners then return to the workshops. Art. 27. At seven o'clock in the summer, at eight in winter, work stops; bread is distributed for the last time in the workshops. For a quarter of an hour one of the prisoners or supervisors reads a passage from some instructive or uplifting work. This is followed by evening prayer. 121 The prisoners received their initial ration of bread early in the morning, supper followed in the late afternoon, and bread was distributed before bed. As Foucault notes, this schedule became a different form of discipline that sought to retrain the prisoners? minds and change their habits. Instead of killing or severely injuring the prisoners after the crime, this new system would teach the prisoners to live in a disciplined society. If scheduling and proposed observation worked as it should, punishment might no longer be needed. Theoretically, eating at certain times throughout the day would guarantee that the prisoners submitted to a schedule that would be difficult to ignore, even once outside of the prison walls. For Crimean War soldiers, the lack of food and water became one of the Army?s only ways of maintaining the illusion of control. British Army superiors did not put extended time and effort into ensuring that the troops remained physically fit enough to fight. For instance, along with John Gordon, a young British soldier of the Crimean War named James McConville notes how he received little more than bread and water to prepare his body for battle. James McConville joined the Army at the ripe age of 15 and documented his years of service in a diary. His diary reveals the often-torturous conditions that the troops endured. Because of his youth and prior inexperience, McConville?s diary is frank and detailed. Accompanied by commentary from distant relative Michael McConville, the account includes the strict dietary and exercise schedules of the soldiers. A long excerpt is included here to show the horrific conditions that soldiers like McConville were forced to endure: Breakfast ? tea, bread and butter, sometimes jam, occasionally a rasher of bacon ? came next. Then there was a rushed 40 minutes of barrack-room cleaning, including the carrying of tables and forms down two flights of stairs, scrubbing them with cold water in the open, rain or sun, winter or summer, carrying them up 122 again, and getting ready for the 9am parade and inspection. After one and a half hour's drill on the square came one and a half hour's gymnastics, ?a hard grind; 14 presses between the parallel bars, 14 pulls to the chest on the horizontal bar, climbing the walls by fingertip and toe grips, walking along a plank in the rafters, jumping to catch a rope hanging from the ceiling and going down it hand over hand to the floor again'. It all sharpened hungers for midday dinner, "meat, potatoes, vegetables, and a pudding. Seldom appetising". It must in fact have been unspeakably bad if a 15-year-old boy found it unappetising after six hours of unremitting hard physical exertion. Inedible or not, it was regarded as adequate fuel for a further one hour's drill in full marching order. Tea, at 4.30pm, was the last meal of the day; "but as we were all young men our 1lb of bread went at breakfast so usually we had only the tea to drink and had nothing to eat until the next day." (par. 12) McConville?s writing reveals that the troops barely had enough sustenance to survive the daily drills and exercises. Because breakfast consisted of nothing but ?tea, bread, and butter,? and the occasional jam and ?rasher of bacon,? the soldiers? bodies were not prepared for the physical activity that needed completion before the next meal (par. 12). The strenuous gymnastics that the troops had to master, after they pushed through carrying tables, cleaning, and drill, burned far more calories than breakfast provided. By controlling the diets and exercise of the soldier, the Army was able to survey and manage the soldiers as they saw fit. Through diet and exercise, the Army was able to restrict and monitor the activities of the soldiers. In addition to the slight breakfast, the soldiers were not fond of the food that followed the gymnastic endeavors. If the food had been enjoyable and desirable, then the soldiers might have 123 mistaken the purpose of their training. McConville describes the meat and potatoes as ?seldom appetising,? but he had no choice but to eat what was put in front of him (par. 12). If he did not eat the meat and potatoes served, McConville would have to wait until breakfast to receive any more bread. Although the 4:30 p.m. tea was the last meal of the day, the soldier writes, ?as we were all young men our 1lb of bread went at breakfast so usually we had only the tea to drink and nothing to eat until the next day? (par. 12). The pithy rations given to the troops would have been insufficient for any soldier?s daily caloric intake. The microscopic rations demonstrate to readers how Victorian-era soldiers suffered from malnutrition and the burn of physical activity. Therefore, drills, fighting, and thought would eventually be automatic for soldiers. Their docile bodies would serve the nation instead of serving themselves. However, the lack of proper food and water prevented the British Army from upholding the illusion of power and control. IV. Nurses and Nutrition in the Crimean War Victorian nurses began to reform the structure of the Army?s poor dietxvi; however, this resulted because the problem of starvation needed concealed, and nurses could act as regulatory forces capable of making the soldiers strong for the nation once again. Whereas many officers demanded that lower-ranked soldiers serve the needs of the state, nurses sought to reform physical needs of the individual bodies. Although nurses aided the individual bodies of soldiers, the reform became a way for the government to discipline the soldiers and make them strong once again. With the nurses who aided the Crimean War effort, the dietary regulations of the Army began to shift; instead of demanding that soldiers eat very little and then perfectly perform on the battlefield, many Victorian nurses used cooking and nutrition to aid the weakened soldiers back into proper health. However, this became disciplinary because it still served the needs of 124 the empire. Most critics and scholars have a general familiarity with the work of nurses like Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole in the Crimean War, but many male nurses and orderlies also contributed to shifting the structure of the British Army. As many male soldiers struggled to stay alive throughout the Crimean War, other males quietly attempted to keep up the strength of these soldiers and prepare them to fight once again. Men in the nursing profession, especially during wartime, maintained a strong connection to the physical suffering and hunger that male soldiers experienced. Because they had a similar body composition and caloric needs, male nurses could easily sympathize with the horrid conditions faced by the starving male soldiers. For males in the Crimean War, appetite took on many different forms. The soldiers hungered for food, but they also hungered for freedom and livelihood. Along with nurses like Nightingale and Seacole, male nurses tried to help these ailing soldiers. However, the discipline of nursing presented a gender disparity that eventually shut men out of a nurturing role, especially on the battlefields. Because women wanted to ?establish a parallel structure of nursing? that competed with a male-dominated British medical system, the number of male nurses in the Crimean War diminished, especially as the war continued (Group and Roberts 39). Often, scholarly and critical analyses either gloss over the male nurses in the British Army or forget about them completely. Dismissing the male soldiers proves problematic when discussing the appetite of the soldiers and the reform of British Army policies; in order to gain a complete understanding of male appetite in the nineteenth century, one must consider how the male nurses and orderlies of the Crimean War and beyond helped those of their own gender feed their insatiable appetites. Though tempting to assume that all nurses who aided in the Crimean War effort were female, research shows that male nurses had a significant role in feeding and caring for wounded 125 soldiers of the Crimean War. However, nursing had far less male participants than female, and therefore, scholars and critics often disregard the effort of male nurses in the war. According to Charitable Words: Women, Philanthropy, and the Language of Charity in Nineteenth-Century Dublin, at least 5,700 British male nurses participated in the Crimean War, while 63,500 women tended to wounded soldiers (Preston 165). The numbers reveal that women had a much more significant presence than men in the nursing profession of the Victorian era. Still, male nurses greatly helped British troops remain alive and healthy. A male nurse did not ?fit? the typical understanding of a person capable of ameliorating pain caused by violence or unsanitary conditions. Yet, both hospitals and the Army desired male nurses because they could lift heavy objects and more easily transport sick or wounded bodies than female nurses. Additionally, male nurses often had the ability to understand the needs of wounded or sick male soldiers, especially concerning appetite and the need for food and sanitary water. In short, the government needed males as nurses because they could help reform and discipline the hurt and hungry soldier. Despite the growing professionalization in nursing throughout the Victorian era, male nurses faced marginalization that prevented them from joining in the war effort and helping the soldiers resist injury and death. Called an ?unintended consequence? of Florence Nightingale?s desire for eligible women to join the profession, the changes made it ?harder for men to access clients and for clients to access men in nursing? (Wolfenden 1). These changes occurred in British hospitals and on the battlefield; soon, the number of male nurses vastly diminished. In poems like ?The Charge of the Light Brigade,? the men who fought in battle receive glorification and honor through Tennyson?s words; however, male nurses and orderlies stood quietly behind the scenes and tried to ensure that their fellow male soldiers survived. Although the role of the male nurse may not have had an apparent influence on Victorian literature and 126 culture, analysis shows that subtly, the role of the male nurse provided an avenue for homoeroticism and what Eve Sedgwick refers to as ?male-male-female erotic triangles? that attempt to mask the presence of male-male sexuality and desire (25). Sedgwick?s explanation of the male-male bond exemplifies why male nurses and orderlies could easily recognize disorderly eating in male soldiers. Sedgwick professes that male-male bonds demonstrate why the male-male relationship is often seen as more ?stable,? no matter the intention of the relationship. She argues, one useful way of putting the difference between the male-male bond and the male-female bond seems to be that the tensions implicit in the male-male bond are spatially conceived?even a humiliating change in the course of a relationship with a man still feels like preserving or participating in a sum of male power. (45) In reference to Victorian male nurses, this theory helps to explain why little information concerning male nurses still exists; for a female nurse to aid a male back to health demonstrated a noticeable shift in power and the structure of gender relationships. A male attendant or nurse who aided a male soldier was seen as a ?spatially conceived (you are this way, I am that way)? bond that deserved less attention (45). Often, statistics about male nurses exist, but the representation of them in Victorian literature is scarce. Yet these subtle bonds between male nurses and male patients indicate how male nurses often better understood the needs?especially the hunger?of male soldiers who became patients. The relationships between male nurses and male patients demonstrates that despite the approaching reform of the British Army, male nurses were necessary to both gauge the needs of male soldiers and ?spatially conceive? the need for male-male bonds in the structure of the British Army (Sedgwick 25). Because nursing frequently required heavy lifting and the 127 transportation of patients, many hospitals and the British Army requested male nurses. As noted in ?Building a New Nursing Service,? ?nursing remained extremely hard physical work with longer hours than most other occupations, male or female, and many women were simply not up to the physical strain? in the mid-to-late 1800s (Helmstadter 591). Furthermore, even though female nurses began to dominate the profession, the Army still needed male nurses on the battlefield. According to Arlene Young, the role of male nurses in military and mental hospitals, the parallels between the development of nursing and the development of male-dominated surgery, and the overlap between the duties undertaken in ?higher? nursing and medical training (again, male-dominated) all suggest that a gender-specific occupation was not the inevitable result of these changes. (4) Nurses like Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole oft receive praise and credit for tending to the needs of the Crimean War soldiers; though they certainly helped to reform the ailing structure of the British Army, male nurses also witnessed the extreme hunger and thirst of the men in battle. It is also likely that along with the soldiers, he male nurses experienced the horrid conditions. Unfortunately, the male nurses could provide a nurturing role to wounded or sick soldiers, but they could not provide food that simply was not there. Hunger became one of the main problems facing both male and female nurses of the Crimean War, mostly because there was no clearly delineated industry for hunger and nutrition. Therefore, the onus of keeping the Crimean War soldiers fed frequently fell to nurses. Otherwise, the British Army had no interest in keeping the soldiers fed and prepared for battle. Though the domestic realm maintained a keen interest in food and nutrition, the practices of the home kitchen did not easily translate to the bloody battlefield. Both male and female nurses had to 128 discover new ways to provide the hungry soldiers with food and water that suited their highly arduous campaign. Simply cooking in the kitchen and placing food on the table was no longer an option; instead, nurses had to find creative methods to provide needed nutrition for the soldiers who fought for their country. Nurses suddenly became more than medical professionals; in addition to medical care, Victorian nurses in the Crimean War had to prepare food for the soldiers and make them feel as if they were home. Although nurses like Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole received much of the credit for attempting to provide a domestic space for soldiers, male nurses also functioned as caretakers of soldiers who spent all day expending calories as they fought. Unfortunately, the nurses needed supplies to give the soldiers, but food and clean water were not readily available. Both the location of the war and financial difficulties of the British Army prevented much of the nutritional materials that the soldiers? bodies required. Representations of males involved in the Crimean War often valorized the male soldiers but tended to forget about the male nurses. Although nursing became a feminized profession, history shows that the male nurse became a necessary element of surviving the wartime conditions. As Mary Wilson Carpenter observes in her book Health, Medicine, and Society in Victorian England, before the arrival of Nightingale to the Crimean War, ?the only nursing care available to the sick and wounded men was that of men nurses and orderlies? (169). However, Nightingale sought to convince the public that all nurses were female (169). The idea of a male nurse created tension with the Victorian conception of nurturing and domestic responsibility. Many Victorian texts use metaphor to symbolize the male-male bond between characters. Furthermore, the male-male bond often signifies that much like a relationship between a nurse and a patient, males in Victorian literature often nurtured one another through difficult times. 129 Dickens especially created multiple examples of males who cared for other males, often as a result of homoerotic tendencies and desires. Certainly, Great Expectations shows how the domestic space of Miss Havisham easily decayed under her lack of care. However, Pip?s relationship with Magwitch and other males in the text indicates the level of admiration and care that males showed for other males. As he brings Magwitch food from the Pirrip?s storehouse, Pip nurtures Magwitch back to health. Through food, Pip expresses his desire to care for Magwitch; whether he nurtures Magwitch out of fear or desire, Pip?s bond with Magwitch depends on the nutrients that the feast provides. Magwitch hungers for food, and Pip hungers for acceptance from the prisoner. As observed by Holly Furneaux, the metaphorical nurse in Dickens? fiction functions as an avenue for men to express desire for other men. In other words, the nurturing practices of Pip and his comrades indicate a hunger for homosexual love and desire. Furneaux suggests that Pip?s relationship with Herbert ?prefaces another spate of nursing, in which Herbert improvises bandages (430) and acquire medicine for Pip (432), with the assistance of Startop, who plays the role of auxiliary nurse? (38). In Great Expectations, the role of the nurse becomes a way for males to legitimize ?physical contact and express their excitement at such intimate touching? (38). Victorian male nurses who aided soldiers experienced a similar ideology on the battlefield. Because this desire was taboo, the occupation of male nursing became a profession that required concealment. Nursing required tactile experience; for instance, male nurses had to touch male soldiers in a gentle, nurturing way. Often, this caused discomfort for the soldiers, nurses, and anyone who wished to write about the relationship between the male nurse and his patient. Especially since she hoped that more women would join the nursing profession, Florence Nightingale fought against male nurses continuing to assist the soldiers in the Crimean War. 130 Nightingale wholeheartedly believed that women had a more natural, nurturing touch; therefore, males should be on the battlefield and not helping to save the lives of dying, sick, or injured soldiers. As Annette Vallano observes, Nightingale did not want to see men further their careers or interests in nursing because of the ?poor nursing she observed from male nurses in the Crimean War? (108). The absence of information concerning male nurses in the Crimean War does not mean that they did not exist. Instead, the lack of male nurses in Victorian literature signals that Nightingale (and others who sought to promote female nurses) successfully convinced many that male nurses did not have a place in the British Army. Despite their ability to discern the needs of their fellow men, male nurses did not receive the attention they deserved, both on and off the battlefield. In spite of a multitude of female nurses, the hunger of males on the Crimean battlefield continued to grow. Even the most trained nurses (despite their gender) could not create food without the proper supplies and financial aid. Instead of other troops or armies causing the biggest threat to survival, the lack of edible food proved too much for many British soldiers to handle. Without the proper diet, the soldiers could not perform to their full potential. Many times, the soldiers died because their hunger was never filled. The lack of food and clean water proved impossible to overcome. Rudyard Kipling?s ?Gunga Din? fictionally characterizes the importance of food and water to a British soldier. Just as the Victorian Crimean War soldiers struggled to fight appropriate food and water, the narrator of ?Gunga Din? expresses the importance of food and water to a soldier who seeks to fulfill the Queen?s visions of war. The beginning of the poem immediately connects food and water to the wellbeing of a soldier: You make talk o?gin an? beer 131 When you?re quartered safe out ?ere. An? you?re sent to penny-fights an? Aldershot it; But if it comes to slaughter You will do your work on water?(Kipling 1 -6) The opening lines signify how those who have never experienced army life or extreme poverty have the privilege of discussing ?gin an?beer? (1). Though some soldiers had access to alcoholic beverages, discussing alcoholic beverages signified the lack of urgency concerning other matters. Soldiers, on the other hand, did not have the time or opportunity to sit and discuss alcohol. Instead, they had to focus on staying alive. Instead of feeling ?quartered safe,? the soldiers do not have the freedom to discuss alcohol; they had to keep their minds focused on needs even more basic (2). ?Gunga Din? represents how disorderly eating became a source of shame for the Army; even though they hungered for food that would support the energy they exerted, the nation they fought for denied them the nutrition they needed. Britain could not continue the production of docile bodies without the proper food and water to keep the bodies strong and lively. However, with the onset of nurses, the soldier?s appetite became more regulated. Before nurses were able to regulate the Army, the soldiers had no choice but to eat and drink what was made available to them. In ?Gunga Din,? the narrator and the other troops he describes did not wish to starve or thirst; instead, they had no choice. If not for Gunga Din, the soldiers would have had no access to water at all. Though they did not wish to hunger or thirst, the soldiers have no option but to accept the dark, grimy water that Gunga Din had to offer. Clearly, the soldiers and Gunga Din himself have no access to proper nutrition or clean water. Though the dialogue of Gunga Din clarifies that the British 132 soldiers did not have access to clean water, the narrator does not mention how these conditions affect Gunga Din. The soldiers may have little access to water, but Gunga Din has less; even the battlefield cannot act as the great equalizer between the soldiers and the bhisti or water carrier. Instead, the role of colonized and colonizer emerges through the keen desire of Gunga Din to serve the British soldiers. He puts himself second to ensure that the soldiers can live. Gunga Din makes the ultimate sacrifice for the soldiers, but the narrator does not realize the power of this sacrifice until he recounts the events for the poem. From denying himself of food and water to taking a bullet for the narrator, Gunga Din never thinks of his own hunger or thirst for freedom. He begins to help Britain by regulating the thirst of the soldiers he encounters on the battlefield. He wets their throats so that they will survive and live to tell the tale of how they were heroes for the good of the British Army. The narrator of ?Gunga Din? presents readers with a dependent relationship between a soldier and one who can get him water; he claims that for water, a soldier will ?lick the bloomin? boots of ?im that?s got it? (7). Because water cannot be accessed easily, soldiers will do whatever necessary to acquire what their bodies require, even if they must treat the bhisti with the respect that they once gave the Queen. However, the narrator relays that he and his fellow soldiers did not always treat Gunga Din with the respect he deserved. He admits that they once made their thirst even worse than before by shouting ??Harry By!?/Till our throats were bricky dry,/Then we wopped ?im ?cause ?e couldn?t serve us all? (Kipling 27-9). When they shout at Gunga Din, the men are not desperate for water quite yet. They do not feel that they must treat Gunga Din with any respect or reverence. But, when the thirst becomes more palpable, the narrator realizes that Gunga Din has, in fact, saved his life. 133 The narrator describes the importance of water by noting that water is so necessary that when near death, water becomes the only desire that the soldiers have. As he becomes wounded, the narrator struggles to stay with the other troops: I sha?n?t forgit the night When I dropped be?ind the fight With a bullet where my belt-plate should ?a? been. I was chokin? mad with thirst, An? the man that spied me first Was our good old grinn?, gruntin? Gunga Din. (Kipling 53-58) In this passage, Gunga Din takes on the role of nurse for the narrator. Once hit with a bullet, the narrator can no longer care for himself as the battle rages around him. He must rely on Gunga Din to quench his thirst and help him to safety. Instead of dying, however, the narrator must first drink. Otherwise, he will not have the strength to survive the battle wound that has the potential to kill him. However, the narrator recounts the experience retrospectively; the soldier does not immediately realize that Gunga Din has more worth than he initially imagined. In the final line of the poem, the narrator expresses, ?You?re a better man than I am, Gunga Din? (84). Here, the soldier recognizes that Gunga Din sacrificed his own life for the soldier. Additionally, the soldier realizes and accepts the nurturing role that Gunga Din played in his life. If Gunga Din had not taken on the role of protector and healer, then the soldier would have perished on the battlefield. Gunga Din saves his life by bringing him the water and caring for him until he can receive proper medical attention. By taking on the role of nurse, Gunga Din attempts to meet the basic 134 needs of the soldiers. Unfortunately, docility becomes cyclical in the poem. In aiding the ailing soldiers, Gunga Din serves their needs instead of his own. The soldier?s experience with Gunga Din characterizes the horror of war by explicitly portraying the poor?and often fatal?quality of the water that Gunga Din brings. For instance, the soldier receives a ?pint o?water?green;/It was crawlin? an? it stunk?; however, the soldier knows that the dirty, green water is better than nothing at all (Kipling 60-1). The narrator remembers that even though the water ?was crawlin? an it stunk,? he remains ?gratefullest to the [drink] from Gunga Din? (62-3). Indeed, the water seems livelier than the soldier; he feels so dehydrated and weak that he is willing to risk contamination to quench his extreme thirst. As the soldier thirsts for water, Gunga Din thirsts for acceptance and acknowledgement for his role of bhisti. Din endures the name-calling and harsh criticisms of the soldiers; he never rebels or considers his job petty. Instead, Din focuses on his task at hand so that the soldiers will not have to resort to disorderly drinking and eating. Even though he does not seem in the best health himself?the soldiers describe him as a ?limping lump o?brick-dust? and a ?squidgy- nosed old idol,? Din trudges through the harsh conditions in order to provide the best care that he can for the soldiers (Kipling 14, 17). He is never granted the title of nurse, but Gunga Din?s actions nurture and in some ways, heal the narrator from his wound. Without Gunga Din, the narrator would have never survived to tell the tale of how the water bearer saved his life. However, in addition to saving his life, Gunga Din also grants the narrator the ability to tell the tale of his role in the lives of the thirsty soldiers. Because of this, Gunga Din also nurtures the ability of storytelling. Because Gunga Din acts as the impetus for the poem, without him, the narrator would not be able to form the words of the verse. Indeed, by 135 quenching the narrator?s thirst, Gunga Din gives the narrator the ability to tell others the story. Although Gunga Din died while caring for others, his story lives on through the narrator. Once Gunga Din quenches the narrator?s thirst, the narrator?s language also shifts to convey that Gunga Din?s care saved his life. Often, the end of the poem?s stanzas feature the narrator uses a more formal version of the dialect used in the beginning of the verses. For instance, as the eighth stanza describes the state of the water given to the soldier, the language moves from colloquial and abbreviated English to a more formal ?Queen?s English?: 'E lifted up my 'ead, An' he plugged me where I bled, An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water-green: It was crawlin' and it stunk, But of all the drinks I've drunk, I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din. (Kipling 58-63) In contrast to the abbreviations and words like ?guv? instead of ?give,? the final line??I?m gratefullest to the one from Gunga Din?? is concise, clearly pronounced, and free of nuanced dialect (60, 63). The shift in language suggests both formality and reverence. The narrator uses his best language to remember Gunga Din. In this sense, Gunga Din has helped to heal the narrator?s body and his methods of communication. The narrator sounds the most clear and convincing when he speaks of Gunga Din while using ?proper? English; however, the shift in dialect also alludes to the drastic nature of the change. The dialect of the narrator helps the reader to imagine the harsh nature of battle that caused extreme weakness and dehydration. Once the narrator abandons his conversational tone, the story shows how far the narrator has come from the desiccated soldier close to death on the 136 battlefield. The dialect represents the events as they took place, while the statements made in proper English represent a more cultured and gentrified soldier. Along with the water that he provides the British soldiers, Gunga Din?s nurturing qualities indicate that although Victorian women were considered best for the role, men could also provide proper care for other men. Although he sacrifices his own life for the narrator, Gunga Din gives more than medical attention to the soldiers; the narrator reveals that Gunga Din?s care helped heal him from the terrifying experience. Because of the shift in language from slang to a more formal version of English, the narrator shows that Gunga Din?s care has pushed him to become more refined and more gentlemanly than he was before. As he recounts his near- death experience on the battlefield, the narrator slips into the colloquial slang that he used with the other soldiers. However, when discussing his feelings regarding Gunga Din, the narrator often abandons the dialect. His final words lead the audience to believe that when he speaks of Gunga Din, the narrator uses clear and concise language that leaves little room for open interpretation. The narrator wants his audience to realize the impact that Gunga Din has had on not only his near-death experience, but also his life in the present moment. Gunga Din?s willingness to bring the soldiers water and sacrifice his own life for the good of others shows that despite the squalid conditions and influx of female nurses that occurred during the Crimean War and beyond, the male-male bond allowed for soldiers and attendants of the same gender to nurse one another back to proper health. By nursing the soldiers back to health, Gunga Din helps create docile bodies that serve the nation. Kipling?s poetic interpretation of the male-male bond on the battlefield exemplifies how male nurses and orderlies significantly contributed to aiding British soldiers during wartime. By providing water to the soldiers in need, Gunga Din attempted to heal the pain that extreme hunger and thirst 137 caused the soldiers. However, the male-male bond between male nurses, attendants, and orderlies has been ignored in literature and criticism in favor of female nurses who cared for British troops. Although not explicitly referred to as a nurse, Gunga Din?s actions mimic the work that nurses of the Victorian era performed throughout wartime. Whether consciously or subconsciously, Gunga Din employs the regulatory forces that the British government needed to conceal the problems that occurred on the battlefield. Gunga Din, a male, finds himself attracted to the role of nurse and able to complete the duties until the end of his life. Just as female nurses cared for soldiers during the Crimean War, Gunga Din commits himself to caring for the soldiers who struggled with dehydration. Despite the horrid conditions of the food and water, nurses were expected to keep the soldiers healthy throughout their tenure on the battlefield, and Gunga Din finds that this role suits him well. He does not need the title of nurse to care for and nurture those who needed him the most. Gunga Din?s ultimate sacrifice shows that the concept of nursing reaches far beyond the male-female bond that most expect. He helps the British Army construct the ideal soldier: ready for battle and heroic for the country he called home. Unlike the male-male bond present in ?Gunga Din,? critics have made much of the female-male bond between soldiers and nurses, especially Florence Nightingale?s desire to reform the British Army. She wished to change the practices of the Army to include healthier options concerning food and water, and she succeeded in her mission. As described in her Notes on Nursing in 1860, Nightingale viewed the profession as a kaleidoscope of responsibilities that ranged from ?the administration of medicines and the application of poultices? to teaching patients ?the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet? (64.). Though she may have had pure intentions, Nightingale?s 138 reformation of the Army merely aided the government in creating stronger bodies to fight and eventually die for the needs of the empire. Nightingale often focused on the dietary needs of the soldiers, especially those who had less food than their bodies required. In her writing, Nightingale connects food to spirit and the general sense of wellness. To have no food for our heads no food for our hearts, no food for our activity, is that nothing? If we have no food for the body, how do we cry out, how all the world hears of it, how all the newspapers talk of it, with a paragraph headed in great capital letters, DEATH FROM STARVATION! But suppose one were to put a paragraph in the Times, Death of Thought from Starvation, or Death of Moral Activity from Starvation, how people would stare, how they would laugh and wonder! One would think we had no heads nor hearts, by the total indifference of the public towards them. Our bodies are the only things of any consequence. (?Cassandra? 404) Though she connected food to the spirit of a person, Nightingale?s reform of the British Army caused the soldiers to strengthen their bodies so that the needs of the empire could be served. By feeding the soldiers, nurses like Nightingale and Mary Seacole prepared soldiers to continue the fight; furthermore, once the soldiers? bodies were reformed and strengthened, they could be further disciplined and regulated. In addition to Nightingale, Mary Seacole believed in strengthening the bodies and minds of the soldiers so that they could thrive throughout the wartime. Seacole combined her ability to cook and prepare food with the confidence that she could make a change in the structure of the Army. Although she and Nightingale took a different approach than the Army, the nurses still 139 helped produce docile bodies that served the nation throughout the trials of war. Seacole especially focused on the dietary needs of the soldiers, and she fed their bodies so that they could continue to represent the empire in the war. In addition to caring for the soldier?s medical needs, Seacole prepared foodxvii and drinks for the soldiers that they had not experienced since joining the Crimean War effort. Seacole recounts some of these experiences in her narrative, expressing bemusedly that without her, the soldiers would not have been able to indulge in such nice drinks and dinners. However, in today?s scholarship, critics best know Seacole for propelling African-American women into the public sphere. She paved the way for other African-American women to go from the domestic sphere into the workforce and battlefield. Along with her nursing talents, Seacole also stands at the forefront of defining Caribbean regionalism. As Sean X. Goudie notes, Seacole left her native Jamaica in 1852, she established herself as a healer and boardinghouse operator in the New Granada Republic. She did so alongside ongoing construction of the Panama Railroad, undertaken by the Panama Railroad Company, composed of U.S. investors who sought to cash in on the financial windfall that a route across the Isthmus betokened. (297) Before her participation in the Crimean War, Seacole built a platform towards creating a lifetime of adventure and service to others. She rose above discrimination of her gender and heritage; though others obsessed over her position as an African-American woman, she refused to let her background hinder her from instilling the British soldiers with the knowledge and nutrition they needed to succeed. Against all odds, Seacole was able to use her position as a domestic female to infiltrate the public sphere and leave her mark on the world. Through cooking and preparing drinks for nearly everyone she encountered, Seacole created a space for the domestic female in 140 the war setting. Even more than Florence Nightingale could, Seacole?s special attention to diet made the soldiers prepared to fight for Britain. Seacole?s details of her adventures show how she helped the nation create docile soldiers to fight in the Crimean War. Although her involvement in the war carved a fresh understanding of what domestic women were capable of, Seacole?s participation in the war also showed the necessity of a proper diet for the soldiers. Because soldiers did not have access to proper nutrition, and because they had trouble locating food that reminded them of home, Seacole brought the soldiers domestic luxuries that could not be found on the battlefield. Often, this strengthened their bodies so that they could continue to fight for their country. For instance, Seacole writes, In anticipation of the hot weather, I had laid a large stock of raspberry vinegar, which, properly managed, helps to make a pleasant drink; and there was a great demand for sangaree, claret, and cider cups, the cups being battered pewter pots. Would you like, reader, to know my recipe for the favourite claret cup? It is simple enough. Claret, water, lemon-peel, sugar, nutmeg, and?ice?yes, ice, but not often and not for long, for the eager officers soon made an end of it. Sometimes there were dinner-parties at Spring Hill, but of these more hereafter. At one of the earliest, when the Times correspondent was to be present, I rode down to Kadikoi, bought some calico and cut it into table napkins. They all laughed very heartily, and thought perhaps of a few weeks previously, when every available piece of linen in the camp would have been snapped up for pocket- handkerchiefs. (151) 141 Seacole?s account reveals much about the physical needs of the soldiers and the attitude of the British Army to eschew anything domestic because it fell outside of their male-dominated realm. By ignoring nutrition and proper health, the Army could pass the responsibility to nurses, like Seacole and Florence Nightingale, and avoid having to deal with matters of the home on the battlefield. Then, the Army could use the docile bodies that the nurses created for them. Though she relished the opportunity to travel to Crimea, Seacole did not ignore the role of domesticity once she crossed the sea; her knowledge of domesticity allowed her to continue the production of docile bodies that the Army needed. Unfortunately, Seacole had to provide care and nutrition through limited resources. For instance, Seacole often had to use alcohol as an element of the soldiers? diets. Though ?sangree,? an alternate spelling of sangria, and ?claret,? a red wine, are both alcoholic beverages, Seacole integrated fruit, plenty of sugar, cold water, and when available, ice into the alcohol (151). By diluting the spirits, Seacole reduced the amount of alcohol that the soldiers imbibed. Through the additions of fruit extracts and sugar, Seacole helped the soldiers gain the necessary nutrients needed to survive. Weakening the alcohol helped eliminate the dangerous elements of the drink, which would reduce unnecessary death and help the soldiers regain individual strength. However, making the soldiers stronger did not save them. Instead, it prepared the soldiers to fight harder and stronger for the nation that they served. Though Seacole aided the soldiers, her account of available food shows how diet functioned in the creation of docile military bodies. Often, it seems, the Army could have provided better for the soldiers, but because food and nutrition fell within the domestic realm, the Army ignored dietary needs. For example, when Seacole reports that ?ice?yes, ice, but not often and not for long, for the eager officers soon made an end of it,? she reveals that some of the daily dietary and liquid needs that the soldiers were missing were available (151). However, because 142 the ?eager officers? wanted to show their power, basic needs were taken away (151). Instead of allowing the soldiers to consume what was available, the officers disciplined the troops by restricting or completely removing simple necessities. Seacole?s domestic duties and responsibilities did not end with her cocktails for the soldiers. At the opening of Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole in Many Lands, a pencil sketch depicts Mrs. Seacole?s ?Hotel in Crimea.? Surrounded by nine male soldiers, Seacole demurely stands in the middle of the troops, smiling and handing a soldier a drink. Clearly, Seacole has been serving these troops. In addition to the soldiers milling about in the sketch, food and drink surrounds Seacole. A ham hock rests on the table, along with goblets, cups, and bottles. The shelves, filled with more food and drink, are stacked toward the ceiling. Grapes and meat hang from the walls, just waiting for Seacole to prepare and feed to the Army. The soldiers, who appear extremely relaxed, smoke, laugh, and tell stories. Clearly, Seacole?s housing is not a hotel for her, but a private, domestic setting where she could care for the soldiers. Seacole was able to do what few others attempted: she brought the private, domestic setting to the British soldiers of the Crimean War. Because Seacole was able to turn the war zone into a safe haven, soldiers could access the private, domestic sphere that they missed while fighting. In Chapter XII of her adventures, Mary Seacole describes the British Hotel on Spring Hill, a place located on the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine; the British Hotel served as a key location where Seacole used food and drink to strengthen the troops for battle. Seacole, who describes the hotel as her domestic, private ?sphere,? spends pages delineating how once the hotel was finished, her domestic duties became much easier (115). Still, Seacole had many ?domestic difficulties? to overcome. She writes, ?Thieves, bipeds and quadruped, human and animal, troubled me more than ever; and perhaps the most difficult to deal with were the least 143 dangerous. The Crimean rats, for instance, who had the appetites of London alderman and were as little dainty as hungry schoolboys? (115). Seacole?s descriptions focus not on the trials of the war, but on the trials of creating a domestic space in the midst of terror. Seacole?s popularity among the soldiers grew once they realized that she had a special talent for providing (and keeping safe) food that was difficult to come by in Crimea. However, the relationship of Seacole with the soldiers was complex. Though she strengthened their bodies, their strong bodies only further served the goals of the nation. Seacole describes the difficulties of obtaining and preparing fresh pork: Fresh pork, in the spring of 1855, was certainly one of those luxuries not easily obtainable in that part of the Crimea to which the British army was confined, and when it became known that Mother Seacole had purchased a promising young porker from one of the ships in Balaclava, and that, brave woman! she had formed the courageous resolution of fattening it for her favourites, the excitement among the frequenters of Spring Hill was very great. (118) Seacole delighted in the purchase of the pork, knowing that she would put a smile on the faces of the troops. Soldiers would even write Seacole memorandums, reminding her that she had promised them parts of the pig (119). By promising such luxurious food to the soldiers, Seacole brightened their spirits. However, Seacole feared losing her popularity amongst the soldiers when the pig ran away. Once Seacole located the lost dinner, officers granted her further protection of the hotel?s road. Seacole, therefore, was able to use food to bargain for better protection during the war. Her domesticity was rewarded; because she brought the feeling of home to the soldiers, they ensured that she remained safe and comfortable. Now that the troops 144 had choices, they could use Seacole to bargain for what they wanted. If she continued to fix them food and bring the taste of home to Crimea, then they would ensure that she stay protected. Though Seacole quenched her thirst for adventure, she spent most of her time in Crimea feeding the docile bodies of British soldiers. At times, the soldiers seemed thankful that Seacole provided food and drink for them. At other times, the soldiers took her kindness for granted. As William L. Andrews? introduction to her narrative states, although Seacole?s book is ?an adventure narrative,? it is also a ?special kind of success story in which a woman tries to reconcile her desire for economic independence and worldly recognition with a more socially acceptable role of being properly selfless and useful to men? (xxix). By tending to soldiers in the Crimean War, Seacole satiated her desire for adventure while employing the domestic skills expected of her. Yet without these domestic skills, docile bodies could not be as readily produced. Britain depended on Seacole to maintain the production of docile bodies needed to fight the battles of the nation. Conclusion Even nurses who assisted ailing British soldiers still served the needs of the nation above the needs of the individual. Serving the overarching needs of the nation proved more important than ensuring that individual bodies remained strong and healthy. The forces of bio-power employed by the government sought to regulate and control the bodies at war; however, when things did not go as planned, the government used nurses to conceal the ?blunders? made by the nation. The British Army needed soldiers to fight, but they did not want to give the soldiers enough power; if the soldiers had too much autonomy, then they would perhaps find the means to rebel against the structure that the Army had created. By providing the soldiers with food that 145 reminded them of home, Seacole used her knowledge of domesticity to fuel the docile soldiers in her charge. Unfortunately, soldiers like James McConville and John Gordon became representative of those in the Crimean War who suffered because of poor nutrition and the production of docile bodies. Without the proper diet, the soldiers could not live up to expectations. Like the six hundred men in Tennyson?s ?The Charge of the Light Brigade,? most soldiers had to follow orders blindly, even if they had little strength from poor nutrition. Though a handful of Victorian men starved for the chance to be in the spotlight, the Victorian soldiers in the Crimean War had little choice but to eat what they were given. Instead of starving for a chance to gain popularity, these soldiers worked tirelessly and could not always locate enough food to fulfill their starving stomachs. Because they endured so much physical hardship, the pithy portions given to the soldiers was never enough to satiate their bodies. Even the efforts of female and male nurses could not fill the stomachs of each and every starving soldier; unnecessary casualties from the war revealed that the British Army?s practices needed reexamined and restructured. Gunga Din and Seacole?s focus on nutrition did not guarantee that the British soldiers would always be properly fed, but their sharp attention to the soldiers? alimentary needs created a physically?and mentally? stronger military that could withstand difficult conditions and complex battles. Sadly, the creation of healthy soldiers did not discontinue the production of docile bodies; instead, the nutritional changes caused the nation to have access to healthier, stronger soldiers than they did before. 146 Chapter Four: Vegetarianism and the Victorian Despite the desire of the nation to create docile bodies, many Victorian citizens sought to find avenues outside of normative eating, especially because normative eating served the political needs of Great Britainxviii. The government believed that eating meat, specifically red meat, would create female bodies ripe to reproduce and male bodies ready to fight for their nation. Following the advocacy of the movement by Percy Bysshe Shelley, nineteenth-century vegetarianism created a lasting cultural discourse that influenced a spectrum of Victorian values. Vegetarianism, which created a boom in new restaurants and political views to shift, juxtaposed the starving soldiers of the Crimean War and civilian males who overindulged. While soldiers suffered from the lack of food, many British citizens had the choice to avoid meat to enhance their bodies and political stance. Although a diet of fruit and vegetables was certainly not a novel concept?after all, the Biblical progenitors Adam and Eve began life as vegetariansxix? as a cultural discourse, Victorian vegetarianism attracted those who could afford to make revisions to their diet. However, the nation often disciplined those who participated in vegetarianism; because vegetarianism was outside the realm of normative eating, those who eschewed meat often faced disciplinary procedures so that the nation could be served once again. More than a natural lifestyle choice, vegetarianism began affecting the ephemera and literature of the era by advocating that appetite contributed to the political, social, and artistic mores of society. During nineteenth-century England, vegetarian restaurants opened to offer those who abstained from meat a suitable option for eating outside of the home. In addition to restaurants, publications also began promoting the meat avoidance. Published in 1881, an advertisement for a new vegetarian-themed weekly journal?The Vegetarian Society? showed 147 how the trend (and its sub-trends) could contribute to a healthier lifestyle. The journal featured articles such as ?Counting the Cost,? ?Field Sports,? and ?Fruit Growing for Farmers.? Additionally, to attract newcomers, the journal offered a writing contest on the subject of ?The Deficiencies of Flesh-Meat on Food.? In order to reach a younger audience, the journal also contained a children?s column titled ?The Village Butcher.? The rhetoric of the advertisement indicates the myriad of influence that vegetarianism had on Victorian society. This advertisement shows how the vegetarianism movement had the potential to reach people in their formative years. By offering contests, the magazine could also broaden its audience. However, the diction of the advertisement reveals that vegetarianism was not a movement that would find contentment in passive participation. Subject lines like ?The Deficiencies of Flesh-Meat on Food? and ?The Village Butcher? swayed potential readers to recognize the violent processes of meat preparation. Popular publications such as Punch also satirized the growing popularity of vegetarianism in the nineteenth century. Their constant satire hinted that the bio-powerful government used surveillance techniques to make certain that citizens remained strong and healthy for work and reproduction; in other words, publications often showed that vegetarianism threatened the government so much that they openly railed against the movement. For instance, an 1848 issue of Punch states, When we noticed, a week or two ago, a banquet of vegetables, we were not aware that a great Vegetarian Movement was going on, with a vegetarian press, a vegetarian society, a vegetarian boarding-house, a vegetarian school, two or three vegetarian hotels, a vegetarian Life Insurance Office, vegetarian letter-paper, vegetarian pens, vegetarian wafers, and vegetarian envelopes. (182) 148 In addition to its humorous nod to the vegetarian movement, this blurb from Punch also reveals how suddenly the movement gained popularity and became more widespreadxx. The paragraph indicates how the vegetarian movement became a steppingstone to an overall sustainable lifestyle. As Punch jokes, food and appetite were not the only discourses affected by the burgeoning vegetarian movement; everything from publications to schools to paper products acquired elements of vegetarianism. Although Punch?s article is a caricature of the vegetarian movement, the article reveals how the movement, though once disorderly, was quickly becoming a dominant discourse of appetite in the era. As the Punch article continues, the author parodies those who support the movement, noting, ?there are vegetarian missionaries going about the country inculcating the doctrine of peas and potatoes? (182). Vegetarianism, though it began as a grassroots movement, was quickly becoming a prominent and socially acceptable lifestyle. Despite this humorous representation, vegetarianism focused on deviating from the norm, and therefore, became subject to discipline. Those who subscribed to vegetarianism often faced scrutiny from the government and from those who believed that meat kept the economy moving. To close the article, Punch further teases out the meaning of vegetarianism by presenting a sketch of anthropomorphized vegetables in a parade line, indicating that those who ate only vegetables would be subject to display. The author then compares vegetarianism to a contest, joking that We understand a prize is to be given for the quickest demolition of the largest quantity of turnips; and a silver medal will be awarded to the vegetarian who will dispose of one hundred heads of celery with the utmost celerity. We sincerely hope the puddings will not get into the heads of our vegetarian friends, 149 and render them pudding-headed; but they are evidently in earnest; and, if we are disposed to laugh at them for their excessive indulgence in rice, we suspect that, Ilisum teneatis, amid, will be the only reply they will make to us. (182) Full of puns, the above excerpt uses humor to show the significance of vegetarianism. More than just a preference, vegetarianism emerged as a variation of appetite that eschewed meat on different levels: one could become a vegetarian for health reasons, for political purpose, for popularity?s sake, or any combination. The final lines of the above excerpt, however, connote an element of opposition between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The Punch article playfully accuses the vegetarians of ?indulgence,? which is the precise aesthetic they sought to avoid (182). The Latin phrase ?ilisum teneatis, amid,? which translates as ?to them it was a friend,? exposed how many who ate meat accused vegetarians of humanizing food, as if it was a living, breathing ally instead of a source of nutrition (182). Despite Punch?s satirical take on the movement, by the mid 1840s, there was no question that vegetarianism had taken root in Victorian soil and was growing more influential. Although the definition of vegetarianism varied, an 1850 Victorian medical journal titled The Vegetarian Messenger argued that vegetarianism afforded consumers a healthier life than that of meat consumers. The journal professes that vegetarianism exists as a more natural?but not disorderly? form of diet that prevents consumers from eating the flesh and blood of living, breathing beings. The publication even capitalizes ?Vegetarianism? to give the dietary concept even more importance: The principle of Vegetarianism, like any element of food, is plain and simple; ? that man, as a physical, intellectual, and moral being, desiring the development of all his faculties to their fullest extent, can best accomplish his desire by living 150 according to his original constitution or nature, which requires that he should subsist on the direct productions of the vegetable kingdom, and totally abstain from the flesh and blood of the Animal creation. An individual who subsists upon the products of the vegetable kingdom, and abstains entirely from the flesh of animals, is considered a Vegetarian; and is eligible as a member of the Vegetarian Society.? (2) The pathos of the magazine sought to convince consumers that eating any meat was betraying what nature intended. The journal also uses vegetarianism to suggest inclusion; by implying that becoming a vegetarian means that one will also become a member of the Vegetarian Society, the journal insinuates that those who abstain from meat will join the elite ranks of others intelligent enough to refuse the consumption of animals. Though it is a medical journal, the publication uses remarkably little logic to convince consumers that they should avoid meat. Instead, the magazine relies on the emotional connection of the human being to the natural world. In addition to ephemera, the Victorian political movement of vegetarianism influenced fiction writers to take a stand against the consumption of meat and normative eating that championed the production and consumption of animal products. In the anthology Consuming Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century: Narratives of Consumption, James Gregory notes that many Victorian works about vegetarianism have thus far been neglected in scholarly studies (17). Gregory discusses vegetarianism?specifically vegetarians who practiced a ?teetotal vegetarianism,? which paved the way for contemporary veganismxxi?in the context of classic Victorian novelists (17). He concludes that current literary scholarship has forgotten many other Victorian vegetarian poets, essayists, and short fiction writers. An analysis of some of these works reveals how the government and some citizens sought to dissuade individuals from 151 becoming vegetarians and not supporting the consumable meat industry. For instance, short fiction writer Fanny E. Lacy used her work as a conduit for the affirmatives of vegetarianism in Victorian society; however, scholars know little about her work today. In an 1847 short story titled ?The Vegetarian, or a Visit to Aunt Primitive,?xxii published by The Metropolitan Magazine, Lacy cites a quote from Dr. Reece?s Medical Guide that argues, ?A vegetable diet affords the same support as animal food, with the important advantage of preventing plethora? (404). Although written by a woman, ?The Vegetarian, or a Visit to Aunt Primitive? focuses on how vegetarianism helped men become healthier. Because Victorian society typically associated abstention with females, the thought of a male avoiding meat struck Victorians as odd and unhealthy; vegetarian males especially faced discipline because of their disorderly eating habits. Conversely, many writers aimed to show that vegetarianism could help men lead healthier, longer lives. As her short fiction begins, Lacy introduces her narrator as a boy named Walter whose mother encourages him to visit his eponymous Aunt Primitive. Walter, however, does not want to visit his aunt, who will make him ?dine upon cold cabbages and water-gruel? (Lacy 404). As the story continues, Walter?s parents clarify not only Aunt Primitive?s history with vegetarianism, but also the misconceptions often made by those unfamiliar with the dietary lifestyle. Although Walter believes that vegetarianism must have made his aunt unhealthy and unhappy, his mother and father insist that Aunt Primitive is someone he must encounter before making any judgments of his own. In this story, Lacy attempts to show that those unfamiliar with the lifestyle often made mistaken judgments against vegetarians and vegetarianism. By using Walter as a symbol for the non-vegetarian reading audience, Lacy seeks to dispel the mistaken notion that vegetarians had misguided intentions and unhealthy desires to abstain from meat. 152 To please his parents, Walter promises to visit his aunt; yet, disbelieving that Aunt Primitive has anything to offer him, Walter indulges in ?ferreting out one or two old school- mates ? and spending the day vacationing throughout London (Lacy 404). Here, Lacy uses Walter to represent how the extremes of abstention and indulgence dominated Victorian England, especially for men. Although very present in the discourse of appetite, abstention and indulgence certainly took different forms, and Walter?s position as a young man emphasizes the tension between the two. Walter desires to spend his free time with his friends, but his parents want him to spend time with his family. Yet, in the beginning of the story, Walter cannot see past his own desires; he cannot imagine that anyone who abstains from eating meat would be worth his time. As Walter travels to visit his aunt, he begins to reconsider the act of vegetarianism. Instead of a lifestyle in need of discipline, Walter finds that vegetarianism helps his aunt live a long and healthy life. Once Walter?s own desires recede, he is then able to see vegetarianism from his aunt?s point of view. He enthusiastically confesses that he understands how ?the idea of ?living on flowers,? or fruits or vegetables, did not at the moment see quite so awful or impossible? as he had once imagined (Lacy 404). Still unconvinced that his aunt has anything to offer him, Walter jokes to his aunt?s ?mistress? that she needs to prepare him ??an additional bunch of greens?and two messes of water -gruel?? (404). Because he cannot believe that a self- proclaimed vegetarian could indulge in anything but greens and water-gruel, Walter cannot conceive of vegetarianism having a positive effect on his mentality or his physical body. He sees the lifestyle as disorderly and is unable to fathom that vegetarianism could have a healthy effect on his male body. Aunt Primitive?s maid, however, serves as an intermediary for Walter and those who 153 lived a vegetarian lifestyle in the Victorian era. Because Walter is the symbol for the non- vegetarian reading audience, the maid informs Walter and readers about the positives of vegetarianism. The maid begins by shocking Walter. She tells him that his aunt is out for her daily walk, even though the weather is unfavorable. Although Walter cannot believe that his elderly aunt has dared to walk in the rough weather, the maid reveals, ?Missus wouldn?t miss her walk for ever [sic] so much: and she never cares a button about the weather, not she? (405). Aunt Primitive?s tenacity may not be unusual for a typical woman, but because Walter has assumed that vegetarianism has caused his aunt to be frail, the detail astounds the young man. He slowly, but surely, begins warming to the idea that vegetarianism has perhaps caused his Aunt Primitive to enjoy a longer and healthier life. The maid continues to astound Walter and the reading audience by professing that Aunt Primitive convinced her to become a vegetarian as well. Walter?s impression of vegetarianism has thus far been limited to what he has projected onto his Aunt Primitive. However, the maid?s admission that she too is a vegetarian shows Walter that vegetarianism is indeed not limited to elderly women. The maid confesses, ?when first I comed here, I said I couldn?t on no account: and Missus said, very well, I warn?t obligated to live as she did, if so be I didn?t like it: but lor! Sir, when I didn?t see the meat about, and a cooking, I soon forgot all about it, and thought Missus?s pies and puddings much better: only, to be sure, I did say for a long time, as I could not do without my tea: and Missus laughed, and said I was but young, and didn?t know what I could do till I tried. But lor! there?s Missus at the gate, I must run.? (405) 154 The maid?s description of how she learned to abstain from meat stretches Walter?s view of vegetarians through her narrative and her dialect. Walter, who has yet to imagine that anyone but elderly women could adhere to vegetarianism, now sees that the movement has influential power. He sees that vegetarians do not need discipline as he once thought. Secondly, the maid?s colloquial dialect indicates to Walter that vegetarianism does not limit itself to a particular class. Even though the maid was not ?obligated to live? as Walter?s Aunt Primitive, he sees that she has made the choice on her own (405). Though it may seem arbitrary, Walter?s gender is imperative to the storyxxiii; his initial misunderstanding of vegetarianism and the inevitable expansion of his mind indicate that women were often more open to the idea of abstaining from meat. Because meat is often nutritionally and culturally associated with strength, men, especially Victorian men, had a difficult time understanding how vegetarianism could be a sustainable diet. In Lacy?s short story, however, Walter?s transformation shows how vegetarianism could be understood and accepted by the typical Victorian male. Upon finally meeting his aunt, Walter?s assumptions concerning vegetarians continue to melt like butter. The food that his aunt presents him teaches Walter that although vegetarians abstain from meat, they do not always abstain from indulging in different types of rich, luxurious cuisine. The food that his aunt brings before him startles his assumptions while showing him that perhaps, even a man like himself could one day live as a vegetarian. In addition to ?the biscuits, oranges, and preserved fruits,? his aunt also offers him ?a dish of sandwiches, and two sorts of wine? (Lacy 405). Walter describes how the notions of ?gruel? quickly disappeared as he sees his ?well-formed? aunt and the food that she offers him (405). Because he expected his aunt to be frail and unable to perform strenuous activity, Walter cannot believe that she has a strong, 155 healthy body and that she had the energy to help her maid prepare the food. Finally seeing that vegetarianism does not equate with frailty and the feminine body, Walter?s mind expands to consider that perhaps, vegetarianism is not quite as restrictive as he once imagined. Still, Walter believes that vegetarianism must cause regret in the mind of someone who abstains. Even if vegetarians can enjoy a variety of different foods, Walter still sees vegetarianism as restrictive to pleasure. After the large spread of food that welcomes him to his aunt?s home, Walter?s aunt and the maid prepare the evening dinner. Although Walter sees a ?profusion of spinach, peas, cauliflowers, and such vegetables?succeeded by a berry tart and sago pudding,? he notices that his aunt does not partake in all that she offers (Lacy 406). Aunt Primitive?s self-restraint astounds Walter; because he has assumed that vegetarians constantly consume any vegetable set before them, it is difficult for him to understand how Aunt Primitive can refuse the delectable treats. Walter, who symbolizes misinformed or uninformed Victorians, feels compelled to consume all that is before him. As he eats, he must also digest the differences between actual vegetarianism and the vegetarianism he imagined. Aunt Primitive, however, has a different goal in mind; she aims to show Walter that vegetarianism can be good for anyone, mostly because it will produce a long, healthy life for those who adhere to its semi-restrictive nature. By doing this, Aunt Primitive degenders the act of abstaining from meat. Although Walter previously perceived vegetarianism as a feminine venture, his aunt longs to show him that vegetarianism can benefit all. As Aunt Primitive professes, ??but it is the custom only of those who have oppressed their digestive powers, not only with flesh-food, but strange unnatural compounds, piquant sauces, and strong drinks; the fumes of which, rising to the brain, induce that vapor, that is 156 believed to be the result of old age: this can never befall me, as I frequently, when on my long pedestrian excursions, take my slight repast at a pastry-shop with a glass of water, and pursue my walk with the same light active step as before. My sleep is all for night; the season of sleep, which renders it the most helpful.? (406) Aunt Primitive?s confession exudes so much confidence in the act of vegetarianism that it is difficult to disparage her lifestyle. Even though Lacy does not reveal Aunt Primitive?s age, Walter?s assessment of his aunt reveals that she is?or should be?elderly. However, vegetarianism has given her the proverbial spring in her step; she credits all of her energy to her abstention from meat. Instead of vegetarianism being an appetite option for the elderly that would inevitably lead to discipline from the nation, Walter?s visit to Aunt Primitive shows how vegetarianism was beginning to be seen as a lifestyle that could improve the health of human beings at any age. Though written as a short story, ?The Vegetarian, or a Visit to Aunt Primitive? proselytizes the reading audience, didactically giving them the details of vegetarianism in order to sway readers to convert. Unlike the soldiers in the Crimean War and those who starved themselves for religious or personal reasons, many Victorians promoted vegetarianism as a healthy version of abstention. Although many saw vegetarianism as outside of normative eating and in need of discipline, Lacy?s story indicates that vegetarianism helped people to live healthy lives. Most specifically, the story shows that both genders could benefit from a vegetarian lifestyle. Despite the threat of discipline, characters like Aunt Primitive reveal how vegetarianism could benefit the body in physical and psychological ways. In addition to Lacy?s short fiction, essays about vegetarianism revealed the impetus for flesh avoidance. For instance, vegetarian Edward Carpenter penned his thoughts concerning 157 vegetarianism in his personal essays and manifestos. In the essay ?Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure,? Carpenter discusses how vegetarianism helps the body lose ?nervous energy? that occurs after consuming meat (37). Carpenter does not concern himself with preparing his body for the needs of the empire; instead, he focuses on feeding his body?s individual needs and desires. For instance, Carpenter writes, Another point in this connection is the food question. For the restoration of the central vigor when lost or degenerate, a diet consisting mainly of fruits and grains is most adapted. Animal food often gives for the time being a lot of nervous energy? and may be useful for special purposes; but the energy is of a spasmodic feverish kind; the food has a tendency to inflame the subsidiary centres, and so to diminish the central control. Those who live mainly on animal food are special liable to disease?and not only physically. (37) Carpenter seems to recognize that a diet of meat does not serve the physical or mental body well; instead, a diet full of flesh gives one the mere illusion of power and control. Though meat kept the farms and economy of Victorian England thriving, Carpenter realizes that the consumption of meat serves the needs of the empire and not the individual who consumes. Furthermore, Carpenter notes that a diet free from meat cleanses the body; he refers to this as ?cleanness? and observes that the body is at its best when it subscribes to a diet that focuses on fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk. According to Carpenter, a diet full of meat causes man to lose his ?unity? with nature (38). For Carpenter, meat became the dirtiest food of all. In the essay, he recognizes that meat must come from slaughter, and then the human body becomes tainted by the shedding of blood. Carpenter became a vegetarian to serve nature and his individual body; meanwhile, he observed that the consumption of meat served the regulatory 158 needs of the government. However, unlike most, Carpenter refused to participate in normative eating that served the state. II. Vegetarian Tendencies in Trollope?s Orley Farm As vegetarianism began to thrive, Victorian farms faced an intriguing conundrum; as the world around them became more industrialized, people expected the farms to feed the urban population. As shown in censuses conducted in the Victorian era, ?agricultural efficiency allowed a constant rural population to feed and reproduce an ever expanding urban, industrial proletariat? (Higgs 700). Citizens expected the farms to produce healthful, tasty food to factory employees and beyond; yet, many Victorian farmers opposed industrialization. Because farms were often family owned and operated, many Victorian farmers resisted hiring too many outside workers and using industrialized equipment. However, farmers found power within the food they produced. Farmers discovered that the growing trend of vegetarianism gave them the opportunity to make more money from crops that were relatively easy and cheap to grow and produce. Despite vegetarians risking discipline from the nation and state, farmers saw vegetarianism as a way to capitalize on the profit they could gain from produce. As fictionalized in Trollope?s Orley Farmxxiv, vegetarianism and its relationship to farmers in the Victorian era created a consciousness of appetite that expressed the value of consumption to a spectrum of economic classes and both genders. Trollope?s depictions of vegetarianism in Orley Farm indicate the influence that the ?new? form of appetite had on men in the rural, farm setting. Because Victorians associated vegetarianism with living from the land, farms offered the ideal setting for meat abstention. Trollope begins the novel with the statement that Orley Farm, 159 might lead to the idea that new precepts were to be given, in the pleasant guise of a novel, as to cream-cheeses, pigs with small bones, wheat sown in drills, or artificial manure. No such aspirations are mine. I make no attempts in that line, and declare at once that agriculturists will gain nothing from my present performance. (1) Though Trollope claims that agriculturists ?will gain nothing? from the narrative, the novel?s commentary on vegetarianism provides readers with a glimpse of how vegetarianism affected men in the rural setting (1). Though the government and nation expected farmers to slaughter animals for meat, vegetarianism helped farmers focus on fresh produce that did not require as much time, money, or work. The agricultural location of Orley Farm further emphasizes both the influence of the Malthusian equation on Victorian men and the connection that men maintained with a vegetarian diet. Chapter III discusses ?The Cleeve,? which presents a charming combination of a natural setting and manmade architecture. The setting shows the tension of wild, unpredictable nature and an Elizabethan-style home. In addition to the charming setting, the chapter capitalizes on the male desire to store and provide food for potential lean times. Because of the threat that the population would outgrow the food supply, many Victorian males sought to store food in their bodies or on their property, and Orley Farm?s Mr. Mason proves this through his hope that the farm will provide a plethora of vegetables. Though decay dominates the picturesque setting, Mr. Mason still hopes that the land will provide the needed amounts of food: But it was for the beauty and wildness of its grounds that The Cleeve was remarkable. The land fell here and there into narrow, wild ravines and woody crevices. The soil of the park was not rich, and could give but little assistance to 160 the chemists in supplying the plentiful food expected by Mr. Mason for the coming multitudes of the world; it produced in some parts heather instead of grass, and was as wild and unprofitable as Cleeve Common? (Trollope 35) Clearly, the land and Mr. Mason have different agendasxxv. Though he attempts and hopes to tame the land so that it will produce ?plentiful food,? the land maintains its own agency by refusing to abide to the laws Mr. Mason has tried to implement (35). Trying to discipline the land to produce the needed vegetables will prove difficult for the Mason family. Conversely, the Mason family will find themselves disciplined by those who expect Mr. Mason to produce ?plentiful food? (35). The Cleeve also presents a landscape nonconductive to animal life. However, Trollope juxtaposes the consumption of meatless products in the text with the voracious desire to devour carnivorous food. Trollope utilizes both gender and class to express how males used food? specifically meat?to show physical and psychological power. For instance, the late Mr. Mason shared vast quantities of meat with the servants; he viewed himself no differently than those who worked for him. Mrs. Mason, on the other hand, believes that the servants should eat less. When the footman brings lunch to Mrs. Mason, Trollope describes in detail Mrs. Mason?s disgust with Mr. Mason?s willingness to share his food?and his power?with those of a lower class. Because she considers sharing food with the lower class as disorderly, Mrs. Mason disciplines her husband for his transgressions: Mrs. Mason did not like this system, though it had about it certain circumstances of economy which recommended it to her; it interfered greatly with the stringent aptitudes of her character and the warmest passion of her heart; it took away from 161 her the delicious power of serving out the servants' food, of locking up the scraps of meat, and of charging the maids with voracity. (Trollope 100) Mrs. Mason?s refusal to allow the servants to eat as much food as the family reveals that she uses abstention, albeit not her own abstention, to discipline the servants. However, in his lifetime, Mr. Mason undercut her disciplinary actions by giving the servants more food than she thought they deserved. Mrs. Mason does not eat the spare scraps of meat herself, but she refuses to allow the servants to consume meat so that she can limit their access to power. Because they give her authority, Mrs. Mason ?could not bring herself to part with victuals, though she might ruin herself by retaining them? (100). Unlike Mrs. Mason?s desire to abstain, men in Orley Farm fear how abstention will harm their bodies. A dinner scene from Orley Farm exemplifies how vegetarianism and abstention threatened men who desired strength and power. Mr. Dockwrath, a solicitor who aims to show Joseph Mason that his stepmother has forged his father?s will, experiences Joseph?s wife?s ability to abstain and expect others to do the same. When Mr. Dockwrath arrives for lunch, he finds that there is no meat on the table that is suitable to eat. Stunned by the lack of edible meat, Mr. Dockwrath finds in front of him, a large dish which must I fancy have been selected by the cook with some similar attempt at sarcasm,?there reposed three scraps, as to the nature of which Mr. Dockwrath, though he looked hard at them, was unable to enlighten himself?. They were old enemies of his, and his brow again became black as he looked at them. The scraps in fact consisted of two drumsticks of a fowl and some indescribable bone out of the back of the same. (Trollope 101) 162 Unable to contain his surprise, Mr. Dockwrath struggles to find something edible on the table. When he cannot bring himself to eat any of the meat?especially because it has not been prepared properly?Mr. Dockwrath asks Mrs. Mason if there is anything more suitable to consume. This interaction exemplifies how food signified power in the Victorian period. When he sees that there is no meat for him to eat, Mr. Dockwrath fears that he has lost any authority he might have had to convince Joseph Mason?s family that the farm rightfully belongs to him. In her attempt convince Mr. Dockwrath that he can survive without meat, Mrs. Mason suggests that he only needs to eat bread and butter, which she knows would be different from his usual midday consumption. She notes with little sympathy, ??My daughters only eat bread and butter in the middle of the day?Creusa, my dear, will you give Mr. Dockwrath a potato? (Trollope 102)? By forcing Mr. Dockwrath to avoid meat while at her home, the luncheon exhibits how the absence of meat frightened Victorian men. Mr. Dockwrath fears that without meat, he will not be able to convince anyone of Mrs. Mason?s forgery. Throughout Orley Farm, food continually acts as a signifier for class structure and gender division. For instance, Sir Peregrine, who fancies himself a ?moderate man,? sees food as a method of sustaining his energy so that he can work throughout the night (Trollope 182). The choice of drink also concerns Sir Peregrine, who attempts to convince Lucius Mason to consume wine with his dinner. For Sir Peregrine, food and drink are also enjoyable pleasures that indicate the composition of a man?s mind. He insists that Lucius Mason will ?never get on? if he does not drink wine with his dinner (Trollope 182). He recalls the phrase ?water-drinker, moody thinkerxxvi,? which criticizes those who do not partake in pairing alcohol with food (182). Sir Peregrine sees no problem in indulging in different types of food and drink; the cost does not matter to him. He utilizes food and drink to show both his wealth and his power over others. 163 Even his name?Sir Peregrine?suggests that he uses food to exert his dominance. Because peregrines are falcons that consume other birds, they symbolize how Sir Peregrine ?preys? on others without remorse. The differences between Sir Peregrine and Lucius Mason are quite apparent in their food choices, which work to represent different types of male consumption in the Victorian era. Whereas Sir Peregrine indulges in whatever food and drink he can find, the farmer Lucius is more conscientious about his dietary choices. Sir Peregrine represents the Victorian man who consistently indulged to prove his ability to survive. However, Lucius, who desires to farm and produce food from his own land, symbolizes Victorian men who bucked conformity and discipline to create a new discourse for the male appetite. Instead of wholly consuming meat and alcohol as Sir Peregrine does, Lucius hopes to live from his own land. Lucius desires to profit from his farming endeavor, but in doing so, he provides a more naturalized way to consume. Instead of meat and wine, the vegetables grown by Lucius on Orley Farm have the potential to shift assumptions about appetite and its correlation to the powerful Victorian male. Still, Sir Peregrine believes that Lucius? ?experimental farming? will be an irreversible mistake that Lucius will forever regret (Trollope 182). The connection of food?especially food grown from the land?has a distinct correlation to language and communication in Orley Farm. Mrs. Mason uses dinner as a conduit to deliver unfortunate news, hoping that the meal will assuage her son?s fears about losing the farm. Mrs. Mason hopes that Lucius will react with less anger with a full belly; therefore, she delays her discussion until after dinner. During dinner, Lucius, still unaware of the news he is about to hear, initially focuses on some research he is doing. He asks, ??Is it not singular?that the jaws of men born and bred in a hunter state should be differently formed from those of agricultural tribes?? 164 (Trollope 194)? His question hints at a larger societal issue than the ownership of their farm; his question also suggests that at their essence, vegetarians and flesh eaters have a fundamental difference that cannot be reconciled. His question both evades the topic of the farm?s ownership while exploring the underlying, elemental differences between vegetarians and those who consume meat. As the conversation continues, Mrs. Mason says nothing; Lucius Mason?s discussion of vegetarians versus flesh eaters continues to silence her. Lucius? preoccupation with the fundamental differences between the two appetites saves him from learning the truth about the farm too quickly. Mrs. Mason feigns interest as Lucius informs her about the ?maxillary profile? of the Mongolians: Oh yes; the maxillary profile is quite different. You will see this especially with the Mongolians, among the Tartar tribes. It seems to me to be very much the same difference as that between a man and a sheep, but Prichard makes no such remark. Look here at this fellow; he must have been intended to eat nothing but flesh; and that raw, and without any knife or fork. (Trollope 194) Lucius? explanation of the Mongolians? eating habits indicates both a difference in flesh eaters and vegetarians and a difference in manners between the past and the present day. Despite their differences, neither Lucius nor Mrs. Mason can imagine not using utensils to eat. To their family, the avoidance of utensils signifies primal desires that the Mongols felt no need to apologize for or hide. The symbol of the ?maxillary profile? suggests that eating habits have changed drastically throughout the years (194). Additionally, the difference in maxillary profiles shows that eating has become more refined (194). Specifically, Lucius? comment reveals that the 165 Masons associate flesh eating with primitive behavior. On the other hand, the consumption of vegetables, especially food that comes from the farm itself, signifies refinement and the desire to abide by a code of manners. His astonishment at the ?tribes? who once consumed raw meat aids Lucius in preventing Mrs. Mason from telling him that she has forged the documents to the farm (Trollope 194). Though she was often the one to enforce discipline, the tables have turned on the matriarch of the family. Lucius? tone throughout his explanation of the tribes is sarcastic and ironic; the reader senses that Lucius knows that Mrs. Mason desires to tell him something significant. However, his stalling prevents her from controlling the conversation with her. By using his knowledge of the differences between flesh eaters and those who avoid meat, Lucius displays that he still maintains control over the land and home. His discussion of the tribes and their consumptive habits both show his knowledge and indicate that Lucius uses the conversation as a metaphor for his relationship with Mrs. Mason. With her unapologetic behavior, Mrs. Mason becomes the flesh-eating Mongol while Lucius remains blameless. Furthermore, the consumption of meat?especially for males?often carried negative connotations that influenced the daily life of those on Orley Farm. Because so many of the characters begin to abstain from flesh, those who still consume meat come to fear that their alimentary habits will be disciplined. Unlike typical Victorian society, those who live on Orley Farm risk being disciplined for consuming instead of avoiding meat. For example, during a dinner with Lucius Mason and Mr. Dockwrath, Trollope notes, ?They were all sitting in the dining-room round the luncheon-table on a hopelessly wet morning, listening to a lecture from the judge on the abomination of eating meat in the middle of the day? (241). There is no explanation given for why meat should not be eaten in the middle of the day; instead, the action 166 and conversation carries on without fuss. Mr. Mason and Mr. Dockwrath pay no little attention to the speech, but the judge considers the topic important. He rattles on about the subject and shows no sign of ceasing. Even though there is no clarification given about why meat should not be eaten during the day, from the context of the novel, readers can discern that it might be considered improper or ?savage? to consume meat before dark. Eating meat during the day symbolizes uncivilized behavior. Therefore, he admonishes Mr. Dockwrath and Mr. Mason to avoid eating meat before the sun sets. Although many of the male characters in Orley Farm avoid meat consumption on a daily basis, the women of the text see no problem with consuming meat at any time of day. Even when the women pretend to abstain from meat, it is merely a fa?ade for their vociferous consumption. For instance, Mrs. Moulder?who supports Lady Mason throughout the story?informs her husband that they will have a ?chop? for dinner; Mrs. Moulder believes that she can ameliorate any situation if she fills her husband with meat (Trollope 182). However, despite Mrs. Moulder?s enthusiasm for the chop, Mr. Moulder remains unchanged. Although Mrs. Moulder hopes that her offering of food will cause her husband from causing any consternation, Mr. Moulder shows none of Mrs. Moulder?s enthusiasm for the meat. Instead, he responds by repeating the word ?chop,? as if to say that he has heard his wife but does not have any further input. As their conversation continues, it becomes clear that Mr. Moulder does not see food as a social tool the way his wife does. Mrs. Moulder says, ?And what's it to be, M?there's a lovely chop down stairs, and there's nothing so quick as that.? ?Chop!? he said, and it was all he did say at the moment. ?There's a 'am in beautiful cut," she went on, showing by the urgency of her voice 167 how anxious she was on the subject. For the moment he did not answer her at all, but sat facing the fire, and running his fat fingers through his uncombed hair. (Trollope 203) Although Trollope describes Mr. Moulder as having ?fat? fingers, Mrs. Moulder is the character who takes agency over dinner and the ?chop? (203). Despite Mrs. Moulder?s attempt to use food as a source of power and discipline, Mr. Moulder remains unimpressed. Additionally, this scene reveals how economy often determined diet. For many adversaries of vegetarians in Victorian history and fiction, inconvenience was a common complaint, along with price. Whereas meat could be prepared with relative ease, designing an entire meal around a vegetable took more thought and effort. In addition, the price of meat was relatively affordable, even for the middle class. Vegetables were often seasonal and difficult to find, especially if they served as the centerpiece of a meal. Therefore, becoming a vegetarian or even relying on vegetarian meals to subsist was often too much trouble or too expensive to prepare. As shown in the exchange between Mrs. and Mr. Moulder, the thought of consuming a quick ?chop? had much more appeal; for Mrs. Moulder, the preparation of the chop comes at a small price she is willing to pay. Mr. Moulder?s ability to ignore Mrs. Moulder?s request emphasizes the lack of regard that Mr. Moulder has for the convenient meal. Instead, he and his ?fat? fingers carry on as if dinner does not matter (203). Here, Mr. Moulder represents the historical male Victorian figure who used his size? though not necessarily his appetite?for a source of power and control. Though he has ?fat? fingers, Mr. Moulder sees no reason to discuss or concern himself with the ?chop? or any other food that his wife might prepare for dinner (Trollope 203). Mrs. Moulder, on the other hand, is ?urgent? and unable to control her expressions (203). Mr. Moulder initially shows restraint, 168 which allows him to maintain control of the situation. While Mrs. Moulder works herself into a frenzy over the chop, Mr. Moulder remains facing the fire, indifferent toward the food that awaits him. However, Mr. Moulder?s eventual act of consumption indicates how he employs the Victorian male?s association with overindulgence to show his authority over others. Instead of avoiding meat in an effort to save money or resources, readers discover that Mr. Moulder cannot control his desire for eating flesh. As a large plate of food sets in front of him, Mr. Moulder ignores the food and continues his conversation with Mr. Dockwrath: For a moment or two Moulder could not answer him. The portion of food in question was the last on his plate; it had been considerable in size, and required attention in mastication. Then the remaining gravy had to be picked up on the blade of the knife, and the particles of pickles collected and disposed of by the same process. But when all this had been well done, Moulder replied?(Trollope 284) The ?considerable size? of the portion highlights how food showed not only power and control, but also the illusion of economic prowess. The food symbolizes Mr. Moulder?s desire to be seen as a powerful male. The way he cuts and chews his dinner further expresses this desire. However, Mr. Moulder?s heaping pile of food does not hold up under scrutiny. Because he has a large serving of food on his plate, Mr. Moulder gives the impression that he is ?gentlemanly? enough to consume generous portions of food without regret (Trollope 284). Unfortunately, according to his interactions with other ?gentlemen? of the text, Mr. Moulder is relatively clueless about the composition of a true gentleman. The food acts as a fa?ade that does not prove fully that Mr. Moulder can maintain his rank as a powerful male. As Mr. Dockwrath 169 observes, Mr. Moulder may never learn true ?gentlemanly? manners (284). Despite Moulder?s food on his plate, Dockwrath says to him, ?Certainly not, Mr. Moulder. If you understood professional matters a little better, you'd know that a professional gentleman couldn't make a bet as to a case partly in his own hands without very great impropriety? (284). Feeling that Mr. Moulder will not appreciate his comment about acting as a ?professional gentleman,? Dockwrath then ?gathered himself up, endeavouring to impress a sense of his importance on the two witnesses, even should he fail of doing so upon Mr. Moulder? (284). Clearly, the abundance of food does not guarantee Mr. Moulder?s power and control. Just as Victorian men used food to prove that they could avoid the dire effects of the Malthusian equation, Mr. Moulder attempted to use food as a method of exerting his authority. Mr. Dockwrath sees through the pretense to realize that Mr. Moulder is not quite what he seems. Throughout Orley Farm, food symbolizes economic status and the identification of gender roles. There is an especially sharp divide between those who consume meat and those who consume vegetables. The threat of discipline and surveillance often control what the characters eat and how they eat their meals. Power and authority are both found and lost through the food choices that the characters make throughout the narrative. Eating and appetite often serve as a backdrop for prestigious meetings and decisions; the characters eye the food on the table and scoot the food around on their plates, often as they consider how to act and what to say next. Mrs. Mason especially uses food to her advantage by embodying the Victorian woman who utilizes abstention to show her power. However, Mrs. Mason subverts the typical notion of abstention by making others abstain. Mrs. Mason often disciplines the slaves by keeping food from them, and she attempts the same for those who try to expose her fraudulent activity regarding the farm. Unfortunately, in the end, 170 her subversion techniques ultimately fail. Even though she withholds scraps of meat from the slaves and larger portions of meat from her lunch guests, Trollope reveals that Mrs. Mason is conniving and deceitful. Her attempts to use abstention?especially an abstention from meat? do not work to her advantage in the end. The consumption of vegetables comes to represent purity and goodness, like Lucius Mason, whom Trollope exonerates from any wrongdoing. III. Lewis Carroll Dissects Vivisection In historical Victorian England, the avoidance of meat was less subtle than in fictional texts. Unlike some of the characters in Orley Farm, most historical vegetarians were more explicit about how and why they avoided consuming flesh. In an effort to maintain a healthier lifestyle and promote the sanctity of all animal life, many historical Victorian vegetarians avoided eating meat to prove that it was an unnecessary evil. Vegetarianism also caused the government to fear that the techniques of bio-power were ineffective. For many vegetarians, avoiding meat was a lifestyle that they promoted in an effort to shift the mindset regarding the Victorian appetite. Instead of passively agreeing that vegetarianism was a healthy lifestyle choice, Victorian vegetarians sought to bring others to their cause. Despite the threat of discipline, vegetarians often wrote about their choice to avoid meat. For these vegetarians, appetite and the actual consumption of meat signified something greater than their individual physical bodies. In addition to the benefits of health, the prevention of animal cruelty provided vegetarians a political reason to abstain from meat. Indeed, many vegetarians practiced the lifestyle to protest vivisection. Vivisection, or the dissection of live animals, was commonly used in medical experimentation, especially in Victorian England. Although surgeons who performed vivisection 171 dissected the animals to benefit human life and provide research on how different surgeries could heal human ailments, many believed the practice to be immoral and illogical. Vivisection served as a form of discipline that benefited the medical advancement of the nation but disregarded the benefit of animal life. Therefore, Victorian vegetarians often found themselves particularly entrenched within the antivivisection movement. With the promise that human beings could survive without consuming meat, many Victorian vegetarians believed that the abstention from flesh would save the lives of animals and symbolically protest the wrongful dissection of living creatures. Still, the protest did not happen unobstructed by those who consumed flesh. Instead, many saw vivisection as a necessity that promoted modern medical and scientific research. Those who subscribed to vegetarianism were often seen as disorderly because they simultaneously protested vivisection; despite the threat of discipline, many antivivisectors and vegetarians sought to halt the harmful practice. As a May 27, 1876 British Medical Journal professes, the medical community held many vivisection debates to discuss how the process of vivisection, especially in experimentation, was unnecessarily cruel. However, the practice of this cruelty was increasingly difficult to prove, even by the appropriate authorities: The present measure [vivisection] is considered to go in many respects beyond the recommendation of the Royal Commission, and to be so framed, that it would effect not merely the regulation of experiment and the prevention of possible abuse?for it must be remembered that no instance of abuse in this country, or any wanton cruelty animals was proved before the Commission?but the destruction of physiological research in this country; a result which is, presumably, neither desired not intended by its framers. (674) 172 Especially because the cruelty of vivisection had many ethical implications, the debate created tension in the realm of the Victorian appetite. In order to avoid the potential cruelty of vivisection, those who practiced vegetarianism could not only improve their lifestyle, but also make a statement against the practice?s cruelty. Like Aunt Primitive in Fanny E. Lacy?s short story, historical representations of these characters showed that the chosen abstention of vegetarianism benefitted their individual bodies and the outside world. Even if disciplined, many vegetarians still sought to prove how vivisection unnecessarily harmed living creatures. Even though some who practiced vivisection did not desire to cause their subjects harm, vivisection became a normalized practice that many accepted without protest. For Victorian vegetarians, however, the combination of abstaining from meat and writing about the harmful implications of vivisection went hand-in-hand. Supporters of the antivivisection movement favored gory pamphlets that could be published quickly and efficiently; the pathos of the gruesome details printed on these pamphlets hoped to guarantee that political action would be taken to halt vivisection once and for all. Supporters of vivisection, however, argued that the research and experimentation done on live animals would benefit human beings. Many supporters of the antivivisection movement saw the opportunity to combine the efforts of antivivisection with the promise to avoid consuming meat. In literature, writers mimicked the historical trajectory of the vivisection debates; often these representations revealed that human bodies could quickly become like the docile animals if the practice of vivisection continued. Often, the tenets of vivisection took on a symbolic role. Certainly, Frankenstein echoed the threats of experimentation on the living body. However, Frankenstein did not exist in a vacuum removed from other texts. Indeed, other fictional texts symbolized the antivivisection movement. For instance, scholars have argued that Wilkie 173 Collins? Heart and Science represents not only antivivisection, but also the similar effect that vivisection and sensation fiction had on consumers of the era. Paired with already existing anxieties caused by the threat of a quickly dissipating food supply, vivisection (and its textual representation) caused moral questions to arise in the consciousness of the Victorian citizen. Although mostly performed on animals, texts like Heart and Science and Frankenstein purported that if not stopped, vivisection could just as easily be performed on human beings. If so, vivisection would act as another form of discipline that would further create docile bodies needed to serve the medical and experimental needs of the nation. While the anxieties caused by the Malthusian equation continued to loom overhead, many sought to end vivisection in order to gain a moral victory that could not be overturned. As represented in Heart and Science, vivisection was both a ?real practice and fictional subject? that demanded closer investigation (Strayler 351). Those who alleged that vivisection was necessary for promoting human progress also believed that consuming flesh was essential to keep the human body physically stable. On the other hand, many who opposed vivisection also opposed the consumption of meat. Although supporters of vivisection argued that the practice was logically necessary, those who opposed the live dissection of animals argued that they founded their beliefs in logic. Despite the emotions surrounding the vivisection and antivivisection debates, those who did not agree with the practice strove to reveal that their arguments also had a logical foundation. Even writers who flourished in fiction and poetry composed and published nonfictional essays to prove that antivivisection arguments should be taken seriously. Many times the arguments against vivisection become metatextual by dissecting the practice of vivisection until they had little left to discuss. In other words, those who composed essays that disagreed with 174 vivisection often deconstructed the typical pro-vivisection arguments by slicing and slitting the arguments and revealing their fallacious components. For instance, Lewis Carroll?s essay ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection?xxvii shows that both pro-vivisection and antivivisection arguments contained contradictions and assumptions that struggled to locate a happy medium that ameliorated both parties. In the essay, Carroll proposes that the ?contradictory propositions, which seem to constitute the two extremes [contain] between them the golden mean of truth? (847). Carroll announces that the two extremes either argue ?That the infliction of pain on animals is a right of man, needing no justification? or ?That it is in no case justifiable? (847). Carroll?s argument is noteworthy because he appeals to a broader audience. This proved vital because it brought the practices of vivisection to those who did not yet have a vested interest in the rights of animals. Carroll?s essay showed that in addition to harming animals, vivisection could just as easily create docile human bodies that served the state and nation. However, this was a logical appeal instead of an argument focused on emotion. By striving to eliminate emotional responses to vivisection, Carroll sought to appeal to both sides of the argument; he wanted to prove that vivisection was a harmful practice and to also prevent overly sentimental responses to the experimentation. He also aimed to reveal that those who believed in vivisection had been convinced to do so because of unethical governmental practices. In doing so, Carroll strove to convince readers that they might find common ground by working together. Although flesh-eaters might not be convinced to quit eating meat entirely, the horrors of vivisection might be eliminated. Furthermore, Carroll wanted those who rallied against vivisection to present logical arguments that could not be dissected by those who supported the experimentation. 175 In the essay, Carroll agrees that human beings maintain the right to kill animals; however, he strongly suggests that the death of an animal should come as painlessly as possible and that the animal should be used for a specific purpose once deceased. He concludes, ?man has an absolute right to inflict death on animals, with assigning any reason, provided that it be a painless death, but that of any infliction of pain needs its special justification? (848). Therefore, Carroll saw vivisection as an unnecessary means to an end. In the essay, Carroll proposes that there are times when animals must be killed?especially to promote or save the life of human beings. However, he staunchly resented vivisection for the torture of living animals. Carroll hoped that the vivisectionists would reconsider the practice and perhaps, only conduct experiments on animals that were already dead. Instead of using living docile bodies to serve the purpose of scientific research, Carroll proposed that only dead animals should be used in experimentation. Carroll provides the analogy of animals killed for sport to solidify his argument that vivisectors should halt the practice of dissection on live animalsxxviii. He argues that most animals killed for sport die instantaneously. However, in vivisection, the docile bodies of the live animals needlessly suffer; the same experiments could be performed on the animals if they were already deceased. Carroll determines that anyone who believes that sport and vivisection adhere to nothing more than a logical fallacy. Carroll writes that killing for sport?specifically shooting? ?is probably as painless a form of death as could be devised,? while vivisection causes the animal to suffer for long periods of time (847) Furthermore, Carroll proposes that vivisection also harms the one performing the dissection. He argues that because ?man has something of the wild beast in him,? portraits of carnage cause men to become even less sympathetic to other living creatures (851). Carroll 176 recalls a study that observed medical students mimicking the cries of dogs victimized by live dissection; an observer noted that instead of sympathizing with the dogs, the students? cries derided the animals? pain. Like the animals, the students became trained docile bodies that served a specific scientific purpose. By serving the institutional needs of the state and nation, the students feared that if they sympathized with the animalsxxix, they would be disciplined. Instead of protesting or trying to escape, the students and animals became trained to endure watching and undergoing vivisection techniques. If the students did not agree with the vivisection techniques, they did not feel the freedom to sympathize with the animals in pain. In ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,? Carroll does not suggest that animal experimentation come to a complete halt; still, he does plead that people resist the training required of docile bodies and consider how vivisection is an unnecessary practice. Although Carroll?s fiction has not typically been seen as a protest against vivisection, the presence of animals in Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland present a symbolic stance against the dissection practice. Through subversion, the animal characters in Carroll?s work propose that animals are a logical necessity in the realm of human beings. Written nearly ten years before Carroll?s ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,? Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland expresses that animals are a necessary component of the living world that did not need human discipline. The story shows that without discipline from humans, animals thrived. However, the fear of punishment (usually from the Queenxxx) often changed their actions and moods dramatically. Even though Carroll?s work presents animals in a fantastical manner, the animals help Alice navigate Wonderland. Without the help of the animals, Alice would have little logical guidance to help her understand the world around her. Despite Wonderland?s fantastical qualities, the setting has its own set of logic that the animals must teach Alice. This subversive 177 logic becomes a metaphor for the purpose of animals in historical Victorian England; throughout Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll proposes that animals are a logical necessity in the realm of human existence. Instead of docile bodies that need trained, Carroll?s fictional creatures mostly avoid discipline from outside sources; with the exception of punishment (and its threat) from the Queen, the animals live according to their own rules. Like Carroll?s nonfiction essay ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,? the fictional Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland references Carroll?s perception of the ?golden mean of truth,? especially in reference to the treatment of animal life (847.). Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland famously begins with Carroll?s poem that recounts the ?golden afternoon? when he first tells the story of Alice?s traipse through Wonderland. The ?golden afternoon? in the opening poem symbolizes the potential of perfection (Carroll 61). In a ?golden afternoon,? logic may be played with and slightly unhinged; the poem precludes the chaotic reasoning of Wonderland. Although logic exists in Wonderland, Carroll often conceals and muddles the logic to Alice?s former world. However, the ?golden afternoon? allows this logic to exist and make sense within the confines of the story. The ?golden afternoon? exists outside the threat of discipline and the production of docile bodies. As he does in Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll uses the symbolism of golden perfection to suggest that vivisection and its disciplinary techniques should cease to exist. However, the ?golden mean of truth? does not quite have the same capacity for wonder and hope that is present in the ?golden afternoon? of the poem (61). Instead, the ?golden mean of truth? that Carroll references in response to vivisection calls for a philosophical middle ground (837). Still, the ?golden? mean and afternoon both suggest that readers allow logic to become less fixed and more malleable. By allowing for logic to be less fixed, Carroll pleads with readers of both 178 Wonderland and ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection? to increase their understanding of animal life and disciplinary techniques used to create docile bodies. Though Carroll?s essay does not contain talking animals, he urges readers to consider that animals have a logical understanding of the world around them?even if it is different from the typical human concepts of logic. Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland also contains subtle recognition of the antivivisection movement and vegetarianism; although never explicitly stated, Alice adheres to vegetarian practices throughout the textxxxi. For a significant part of the story, Alice does not have to fear discipline from any other human beings. She often consumes food and drink without the fear that anyone is watching or surveying her actions. Alice consumes many edible objects that shift her size, but she never digests any product that comes directly from an animal. For example, when Alice first drops into Wonderland through the rabbit hole, she desires to eat the orange marmalade that she finds; but, to her disappointment, the jar is empty. Once she lands, Alice finds her first item for consumption: a bottle with the label DRINK ME. After noting that the bottle is not poison, Alice consumes the bottle?s contents. Although she is unsure what the mixture is, exactly, she notes that it ?had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast? (68). The drink does not come from flesh but has the ?flavour? of different fruits, toast, and roast turkey. Just as Victorian vegetarians sought to convince flesh eaters that they could maintain a healthy, delicious diet without meat, Carroll?s depiction of Alice?s consumptive habits in Wonderland show that pleasure could be obtained from vegetarian cuisine. As Alice continues her journey, she consumes cake that she hopes will shrink her enough to slide under the door, or cause her to grow large enough to grab the key: ?Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was 179 lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants? (Carroll 69). Again, the cake has no meat component; despite its lack of flesh, the cake will still cause her body to morph in unusual ways. However, Alice has no idea what discipline might follow if she consumes the cake. Her changing body symbolizes the potential for discipline that might follow a vegetarian diet. Often Victorian vegetarians faced discipline for not conforming to the normalized diets of others, and Alice?s strange eating habits echo the possibility of discipline that haunted vegetarians after every meal. Although many scholars have discussed Alice?s consumption while in Wonderland, none have compared her alimentary habits to vegetarians in Victorian England, specifically vegetarians who fought against vivisection. By allowing Alice to consume food that has no meat component, Carroll proposes that one can thrive without flesh in the diet. Furthermore, the power that animals maintain in Wonderland shows that they can have logical capabilities; even though Wonderland operates within its own, specialized set of logic, Alice?s interaction with them suggests that animals should be revered instead of trained into docile bodies subject to live experimentation. Alice?s interactions with the creatures of Wonderland further symbolize how a diet free from meat could create a better awareness of the importance of animals present in the world. For instance, the ?Fish-Footman? brings another footman an invitation to play croquet with Wonderland?s Queen. Instead of eating the Fish-Footman or considering him food, Alice accepts that the Fish-Footman has a significant role in Wonderland. He is not food, but a messenger of the Queen?s word: ?she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a fish? (102). However, Alice?s thought patterns have shifted; though she would have once considered the Foot-Man an option for dinner, 180 now Alice sees him as the messenger. In other words, Alice has quickly learned to adjust to Wonderland?s different set of logic. Instead of fearing discipline for avoiding meat, Alice knows that considering the animals of Wonderland food would carry dire consequences for her. Although outside of typical discipline, the Foot-Man still finds himself subject to the Queen?s rules. Yet at this point in the narrative, Alice sees the Foot-Man as a creature of great importance that should not be consumed. Alice?s attitude toward the fish Foot-man symbolizes Carroll?s insistence that the antivivisection debates should respond logically and not emotionally; although the logic might differ from the logic of common occurrences, neither Alice nor supporters of antivivisection should rely solely on emotion to propel their argument. Alice giggles at the fish Foot-Man, but she eventually comes to accept that he has a significant role in her new home. Just as Alice comes to accept the Foot-Man, Carroll urges antivivisection supporters to play by the rules of those in opposition. By attempting to prove that antivivisection has more connection with logic and not emotion, Carroll strove to show that animals had a purpose that surpassed the emotional connection that humans felt with the species. For Carroll, the logical threat of vivisection existed in the possibility that the practice might be enacted on humans. His warning, published in an 1875 Fortnightly Review, supposed, ?successive generations of students, trained from their earliest years to the repression of all human sympathies, shall have developed a new and more hideous Frankenstein?a soulless being to whom science shall be all in all? (854). Carroll believed that if vivisection continued, then it was possible for humans to expect that eventually, doctors and scientists might perform live dissection on any human who might benefit the entirety of the population. If animals could be trained into docile bodies that would not protest, then humans could potentially meet a similar 181 fate. As Tabitha Sparks suggests in The Doctor in Victorian Novels, for Carroll, the practice of vivisection would inevitably lead to ?moral decline?; despite any fallacies in his argument, Carroll believed that the threat of vivisection endangered human life (100). Sparks rightly believes that Carroll?s essay ?rejects the idea of a natural or finite division between animal and human medical treatment? and that Carroll?s essay ?darkly anticipates a day? when humans become directly affected by the practice of vivisection (100). The logical force behind Carroll?s argument suggests that vivisection had no limitations. Just as animals were made into docile bodies and suffered because of experimentation purposes, Carroll believed that eventually, humans would endure a similar fate. The protest of vivisection, however, emerged in many forms; especially for Carroll, oblique suggestions to avoid vivisection were as vital to his argument as his straightforward proposals. For instance in Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, the mad tea party exemplifies how the avoidance of meat supported the antivivisection debate. Although it is a tea party, food and drink are not at the forefront of the extravaganza. Instead, the twisted logic of Wonderland emerges as the most vital suggestion that animals have a crucial role in the logical world. For example, the Dormouse plays a significant role in the mad tea party. For Alice, the Dormouse holds the key to the knowledge that she seeks. Instead of an animal that could be sliced and used for medical experimentation, Carroll presents the Dormouse as a knowledgeable being who could assist Alice in unlocking Wonderland. Whereas many antivivisectionists claimed that it was immoral to experiment on live animals, writers such as Carroll showed that animals were a logical necessity for the human world. Alice has no emotional attachment to the Dormouse; instead, she just wants to speak with 182 him so she can learn about her new surroundings. Additionally, the other tea party attendants rely on the Dormouse to tell them a story. Alice and the tea party attendants have no desire to cut open the Dormouse and examine how his innermost parts could yield scientific progress; instead, the tea party guests rely on the Dormouse to impart his knowledge. Once the Dormouse begins his story about three sisters who ?lived on treacle,? it becomes clear to Alice that the logic of Wonderland has a different flavor that the logic of her old human-centric world. Though Alice believes that the three sisters cannot live on treacle?which is a syrupy byproduct of refined sugar?the Dormouse insists that it is possible. Alice finds herself ?puzzled,? but she begins to consider that perhaps, three little girls could live form treacle (117). The Dormouse?s story symbolizes the logical place of animals in Victorian England; with the story, Carroll imparts to his readers that if one shifts the understanding of logic?especially logic viewed from a different viewpoint?one can begin to see how the world has a reasonable need for animals. As shown in the conversations between the Dormouse and Alice, the need for the Dormouse surpasses the emotional need for companionship. The Dormouse must tell the story of the treacle so that Alice can begin to discover the essence of Wonderland. As the Dormouse begins to drift off to sleep, he leaves Alice to consider the possibility of ?muchness?: The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: `--that begins with an M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness-- you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?' (118) When she hears The Dormouse?s thoughts on ?muchness,? Alice opens her mind to the possibilities of unlimited ?muchness? (118). Like Alice, the reader begins to consider that the 183 Dormouse knows the logical side of Wonderland better than anyone. Understanding the logic of Wonderland will take more time and effort, but the Dormouse?s story has a profound influence on Alice and the reader. The mention of ?mouse-traps? by the Dormouse further symbolizes the looming threat of harm to animals in the world beyond Wonderland. The mousetrap represents discipline and the potential for discipline. Symbolically, the threat of a mousetrap signifies the importance of animals to the world outside of Wonderland; Carroll uses the Dormouse to show that animals have a necessary place in the world. Without the presence of animals, much would be lost in scientific discovery. However, the symbol of the Dormouse shows that Carroll makes a distinction between the need for live animals untouched by surgery or dissection. The conversational abilities may not be present in an actual dormouse, but people can observe an actual dormouse to see what its actions may reveal. Still, the most significant representation of the vivisection debates occurs when Alice converses with the Duchess in the chapter titled ?The Mock Turtle?s Story.? Antivivisectionists believed that the practice was immoral and uncouth, and therefore Alice?s interaction with the Duchess serves as an allegory for the antivivisection debate. As she speaks with the Duchess, Alice automatically uses food as a metaphor for the human experience; her initial description of pepper shows that she is already considering how conceptions of food affect morals and personality. She notes (to herself) that she will never keep, pepper in my kitchen AT ALL. Soup does very well without--Maybe it's always pepper that makes people hot-tempered? and vinegar that m akes them sour--and camomile that makes them bitter--and--and barley-sugar and such things that make children sweet-tempered. (129) 184 Although she does not realize that she sees people through conceptions of food, Alice?s time in Wonderland has caused her to shift her logic and see the world differently, especially through alimentary design. Like vegetarians and some antivivisectionists, Alice comes to understand that people are what they eat. Alice?s interactions with the Duchess continue to show how the story comments on vivisection and the antivivisection debates. Through the conversation, Carroll symbolizes how antivivisectionists considered vivisection an immoral practice that disciplined docile bodies to serve the needs of the state. As she talks to Alice, the Duchess argues, ?everything's got a moral, if only you can find it? (129). The statement has a double meaning. In one sense, the Duchess?s comment teems with irony. For Alice, the Duchess has no moral compass; however, within Wonderland and in connection with the antivivisection debates, the Duchess?s definition of morality speaks to the need for balance in an illogical world. One may have to search for morality, but it can be found. For instance, the antivivisectionists had to define morality to make their argument clear and logical. Metaphorically, the Duchess notes, ?everything's got a moral, if only you can find it? because logic can be found in Wonderland (129). One must never give up in the search for clarity. Furthermore, the Queen?s description of the Mock Turtle symbolizes the vivisectionists of the Victorian period; she has no regard for animal life, despite the ability that many creatures in Wonderland have to reason and communicate. The Queen becomes the ultimate symbol of punishmentxxxii. Whatever she does not like, she disciplines without mercy. When Alice relays to the Queen that she does not know what a Mock Turtle is, the Queen replies, ?`It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from? (132). The Queen?s conception of the Mock Turtle relates only to food; to the Queen, the Mock Turtle has no other logical value. Comparatively, most Victorian 185 vivisectionists believed that animal life had no value beyond food and experimental purposes. Like the Queen?s belief that the Mock Turtle is nothing more than fodder for soup, most vivisectionists refused to believe that animals had personalities, souls, and living purpose. Despite the Queen?s understanding of the Mock Turtle?s composition, the animal deeply feels and understands the quandary of his existence. When Alice meets him, the Mock Turtle is ?sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply? (133). The turtle laments that he was once a ?real? turtle, but his sadness convinces Alice that he no longer feels ?real? (133). The Mock Turtle?s existential crisis symbolizes the plight of the vivisected animal?though once a ?real? animal, when dissected, the animal serves a different purpose than before. The Mock Turtle?s story creatively reveals the potential for reasoning in animals. Although his reasoning might differ from Alice and the reader, the Mock Turtle understands that he is only an imitation of what he once was. Because he is a ?mock turtle,? he can no longer connect with his former authenticity. Although she does not profess to vegetarianism, Alice?s experiences with the characters of Wonderland cause her to question why she consumed meat before her journey. As the Mock Turtle asks Alice about her appetite, the girl carefully comments on her knowledge of lobster. The Mock Turtle accuses Alice of not living ?much under the sea,? to which she responds, ?I haven?t? (133). Alice desires to tell the Mock Turtle that she has tasted lobster, but instead, she carefully considers her speech and responds, ?No, never,? so that she will not hurt the Mock Turtle?s feelings (133). Alice?s transformation in Wonderland hinges on these types of changes. Though her body transforms because of what she consumes, her interactions with the inhabitants of Wonderland cause her to consider her own moral compass. Like antivivisectionists who 186 forewent the consumption of meat to support their cause, Alice begins to see how the consumption of meat harms animals. Especially in this conversation with the Mock Turtle, Alice?s understanding of consumption also transforms. Instead of eating lobster, the chapter ?The Lobster Quadrille? expresses the usefulness of animals beyond consumption. As the Mock Turtle discusses the Lobster Quadrille to Alice, Alice discovers that performing the dance will lift the Mock Turtle?s spirits. Alice chooses to shift her focus from the taste of lobster to the dance. Symbolic of the argument that animals have logical usage beyond consumption, the performance of the Lobster Quadrille signifies how the twisted logic of Wonderland translates to human existence: animals have a purpose that transcends food and appetite. By performing the Lobster Quadrille with the Mock Turtle, Alice provides him the ability to see that he can transcend his sadness. For the audience of Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, the message of the Mock Turtle proposes that humans should see animals as necessary to a logical existence. Instead of using animals for dissection purposes (or at times, even food), the purpose of the Mock Turtle suggests that humans need animals to help them along in the world. As the Mock Turtle assists Alice to navigate and accept the strange practices of Wonderland, Carroll reminds readers that animals have purposes other than dissection and food. Indeed, animals (kept as pets or otherwise) have the ability to help humans unlock the knowledge they need to adapt to the world around them. Without the Mock Turtle?s guidance and her interaction with the Dormouse, Alice would not have been able to unlock many of Wonderland?s incomprehensible logic. Even though Alice (and perhaps, the reader) may never understand Wonderland entirely, the animals that guide her symbolize their necessity. 187 In addition to the Dormouse and Mock Turtle, other animals help Alice discover the secrets of Wonderland; indeed, most of the animals in Wonderland prove to be more lucid and logical than the other human beings. For instance, the caterpillar helps Alice untangle her confusion with her constantly changing size. Alice?s frustration with her shifting body makes it difficult for her to comprehend her purpose in Wonderland. Despite the caterpillar?s supreme ability to confuse Alice, their conversation allows her to accept who she is at the present moment. The caterpillar assures her that her height is a ?very good height indeed,? which gives Alice the confidence to carry on with her journey (98). Mostly, the caterpillar teaches Alice to develop a metaphorically harder shell whilst in Wonderland. She believes the ?creatures? of Wonderland to ?be so easily offended,? but until the conversation with the caterpillar, Alice cannot see this flaw in herself (98). Wonderland?s court of justice further proves how humans need the logic of animals to survive. To continue symbolizing how the events in Wonderland signify why human beings should avoid harm to animals?especially vivisection?the court of justice shows how the usefulness of animals stretches far beyond food and experimentation. As she enters the court, Alice observes, ?And that's the jury-box?and those twelve creatures,? (she was obliged to say ?creatures,? you see, because some of them were animals, and some were birds,) ?I suppose they are the jurors.? She said this last word two or three times over to herself, being rather proud of it: for she thought, and rightly too, that very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all. However, ?jury-men? would have done just as well. (146) 188 Alice?s observations reveal that her time in Wonderland has shown her that the logic of the animals equals the logic that men are capable of employing. Although she sees ?creatures? and ?birds,? Alice has no qualms with their capabilities to make decisions (146). Instead, she trusts that the creatures and birds will make the proper decisions. Alice?s opinion of the jury shows that the transformation she has undergone affects both her body and her mind. Her observance of the jury also indicates that Alice may risk discipline for her actions. Just like those who protested the vivisection movement, Alice must endure the ?meaning of it all? (Carroll 146). At some point or another, Alice will eventually face a jury of those outside of Wonderland, and they will not likely believe her outlandish story. Just as the antivivisectionists faced discipline for their disorderly eating, Alice?s experience diverges from the typical behavior of a young girl and may result in others disciplining her for her behavior. However, Carroll uses Alice?s transformation to symbolize the change he hopes will take place in the minds and spirits of the vivisectionists. By seeing that animals are capable of performing logical functions, Carroll seeks to show that animals should be seen as a necessary element of understanding life in the human realm. Through creating a jury composed of creatures and birds, Carroll provides a visual example of how animals can provide an element of reasoning that enhances the human experience. This further reveals Carroll?s hope that the vivisectionists would halt dissection and see animals as useful in ways that would not require any harm. Although creatures and birds could not be used on a typical jury, their importance to the procedures of Wonderland illuminate their significance to the readership of Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland. The ability of the animals to make decisions worthy of a Wonderland jury represents that animals have importance to everyday life. Indeed, Carroll gives animals the power of discipline; instead of humans observing, surveying, and disciplining animals or people, 189 the animals have the ability and power to decide what behaviors need disciplined and what do not. The significance of animals may vary from person to person, but Carroll strives to show that animals could be used to propel human knowledge and ability. As shown in ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,? Carroll desired that the usefulness of animals came without torture. Whether humans used animals for work, medical experimentation, or as food, Carroll revisions animals to express that vivisection was not necessary, especially as a disciplinary measure. Even the Queen, who is perhaps the cruelest of Wonderland?s inhabitants, favors quick execution over torture. She relies corporal and public punishment instead of discipline. As he frets that he has ?lost something,? the White Rabbit fears that the Queen will ?get [him] executed? (Carroll 178). Despite the White Rabbit?s fears, execution occurs quickly; although not painless, execution does not provide time for the victim to writhe or scream in terror. Here, Carroll uses the White Rabbit as a symbol of possibility. If the slaughter of animals becomes a necessity, it should be done as humanely as possible. The creatures of Wonderland fear the Queen?s potential executions, but Carroll uses the Queen?s behavior as an ironic symbol of how those outside of Wonderland should treat their animal counterparts. Instead of subjecting animals to live experimentation?which was torturous to animals and, according to Carroll, detrimental to the souls of those who witnessed the spectacle?the Queen?s method of execution suggests that there is a more humane way to use the animal kingdom for the purpose of human advancement. When read in combination with Carroll?s ?Some Popular Fallacies about Vivisection,? Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland becomes a symbolic exhibit of the importance of animals and how discipline functions in the realm of animal life and logic. The roles of animals in Wonderland have significance and relevance to Alice?s journey. Although the experiences Alice 190 has do no necessarily translate to real life, Carroll?s descriptions show that people should consider how they treat the animal kingdom. If the vivisectionists were not willing to halt experimentation on animals completely, Carroll hoped that they would, at least, avoid experimenting on live animals. Carroll realized that eliminating animal experimentation was not a possibility, but he hoped that his work would inspire vivisectionists to reconsider their practices so that animals would not be tortured while living. If true ?golden perfection? could not be reached, then Carroll hoped for a compromise that eliminated harm toward live animals. Especially through the portrayals of the Mock Turtle and the Dormouse, Carroll shows that live animals have a logical purpose. Along with Alice, the reader soon realizes that without animals, Wonderland would not thrive. Although the logic of Wonderland often seems skewed, the animals have a purpose. Indeed, Alice is the strange one in Wonderland. As her journey continues, Alice realizes that without the animals, she would not learn anything from her Wonderland experience. The symbolic value of the animals in Wonderland translates to the need for vivisectionists to stop torturing animals. The message is clear: even though animals may not talk or reason in the same way that humans do, their presence makes the world a richer place. By providing Wonderland?s animals with logic that works within the confines of Wonderland, Carroll pleads for readers to realize the importance of animals in?and outside of?Wonderland. To prevent animals from becoming docile bodies that serve the nation, Carroll uses Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland to suggest that animals should be revered instead of tortured. 191 Conclusion Novels like Orley Farm and Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland show the keen influence of the vegetarian and antivivisection movements in Victorian England. Although the novels often feature exaggerated examples of how vegetarianism and antivivisection functioned in Victorian England, their inclusion in the literature of the era reveals their influence on Victorian culture. The growing popularity of vegetarianism also caused the government to fear that the techniques of bio-power were becoming ineffective; a diet free from meat meant that bodies would not be able to reproduce or fight sufficiently. While Orley Farm focuses on the male?s relationship to food and power, Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland explores vegetarianism and antivivisection in a symbolic fashion suggestive of respect and reverence toward animals. By showing how vivisection disciplined animal bodies and made them subject to the needs of the nation, these texts reveal how supporters of the vivisection movement relied on cruel practices where the means never justified the end. In addition to Orley Farm and Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, lesser-known texts also championed vegetarianism and antivivisection. Fanny E. Lacy?s ?A Visit to Aunt Primitive? exhibits how a vegetarian diet could lead to a strong, lively existence. In her short story, Lacy uses Walter?s surprise to dispel the myth that vegetarianism caused people to lose strength. As he notices his aunt?s energy and good health, Walter becomes more convinced that a vegetarian lifestyle is beneficial to the physical body and mind. Along with Walter, the audience of Lacy?s story learns that a vegetarian lifestyle does not deny the body of needed nutrients. Instead, the audience sees that Walter?s aunt thrives by adhering to a diet free from meat. Especially as a male, Walter fears that the lack of meat in his diet will cause him to lose physical strength; yet, after he spends a mere afternoon living the vegetarian lifestyle, Walter discovers that the 192 vegetarianism has benefits that he had never considered. Especially after witnessing his elderly aunt?s energetic spirit, Walter learns that a vegetarian lifestyle could improve his health. Edward Carpenter presents a realistic version of the Victorian vegetarian in his essays. Realizing that meat slowed his body and made him ?unclean,? Carpenter eschewed meat (and most of society) in order to pursue the vegetarian lifestyle. He became a living symbol of the vegetarians depicted in literary texts. Unlike Walter, Carpenter?s epiphany about vegetarianism does not come to him through a particular experience, but through a lifetime of listening to his body. His essays reveal a careful study of how his body reacted to foods, especially meat. His decision to remove meat from his diet factors heavily into his thesis that civilization perishes because of disease. Carpenter believed that red meat carried disease, and therefore should be eradicated from his diet. Even though the novels, essays, and short stories have different settings and characterizations of vegetarians and other opposed to flesh eating and vivisection, the discussed examples of writing show that antivivisection and vegetarianism had a significant influence on the Victorian consciousness of appetite. Whether authors aimed the writing at children or adults, the message that many authors tried to get across was that animals have a purpose that drifts beyond experimentation and food. When read in conjunction with Lewis Carroll?s ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,? the message of Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland becomes more didactic. Without the help of the animals in Wonderland, Alice would not have been able to navigate her way through Wonderland or back home. Symbolically, Carroll shows that outside of Wonderland, humans also depend on animals to survive. However, in ?Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,? Carroll calls for a ?golden? happy medium where vivisectionists and antivivisectionists might agree. 193 Despite Carroll?s plea that vivisectionists and antivivisectionists come to an agreement that would allow experimentation but halt the process on live animals, vivisection continues to this day. Although vivisection although provides valid information that could potentially end different diseases that affect humans, the process of vivisection still disciplines animals and causes them to suffer. Therefore, those who practice vivisection must consider what they find more valuable: the pain of the animals involved or the progress that could be made to rid humanity of disease and disorder. As Carroll proposed, experimentation on deceased animals could ease the physical pain of vivisection while still promoting progress in the discovery of cures for disease. If animal experimentation could not be eliminated, then perhaps the ?golden mean of truth? would ease animal suffering while still providing hope for the human race. 194 Overall Conclusions Despite the focus on female fasting in the Victorian era, cultural ephemera and literature reveal that men often maintained a troubled relationship with food. Starving or overindulgence required those who participated in disorderly eating to discipline and train their bodies to respond to the lack or excess of food that they put into their bodies. Especially because Dr. William Gull coined the diagnosis of ?anorexia nervosa,? Victorians felt more pressure than ever to define the condition of their bodies. While many conformed to the normative body types, others abstained or overindulge to show that they had power or that they did not desire to serve the nation or state. The bio-power techniques of surveillance and regulation caused those who did not subscribe to normative eating to become further shunned and forgotten. In addition to the men who avoided food to become ?professional fasters,? many other men overindulged so that they could express their power and authority in a world fraught with uncertain scientific theories, especially that the population would eventually outgrow the food supply. Although many Victorians chose what they consumed, others, such as the Crimean War soldiers, did not have the luxury of deciding what to eat or what to avoid. Often, this happened because they were part of a structure, like the military, that focused on serving the needs of the nation and not the needs of the individual. More often than not, those entrenched in these types of situations died because they did not have the proper resources to care for their bodies, or they did consume enough nutrition to keep them alive. They hungered for the freedom to choose how they kept their bodies alive, but they often had no options that would satiate their physiques and their mental capabilities. Victorian literature both subtly and overtly symbolized the tenuous relationship that Victorian men had with food and alimentary design. From Dickensian characters named after 195 Malthus to Gunga Din, who serves the needs of the Victorian soldiers with the mindset of a slave, the literature reveals the tension that existed between Victorian men and food. Men who found themselves enduring strange and unhealthy diets often did so because they were mandated by the nation or the state. In order to save the Army money or to provide for the rich while the poor starved, the lack of food signified how those in a position of power or authority used food as a bargaining tool. By promising food (that often never came), those in a position of power or authority could persuade the poor or defenseless to do whatever necessary to survive. Additionally, those with power and authority could discipline the hungry so that they behaved accordingly; by dangling food like a proverbial carrot on a stick, the hungry could be convinced to do a myriad of tasks or chores too banal or difficult for the powerful to perform. In juxtaposition to those who starved or endured discipline for food, some men overindulged to convince themselves and others that they would survive the dire results of the Malthusian equation. If the population was able to outgrow the food supply, these men wanted to ensure that they survived. They believed that their bodies could become a living symbol of strength and the ability to survive. Even if the food supply depleted, many men who overindulged believed that they would outlive others who could not afford or access needed nutrition. As the Punch illustrations show, men who wanted to avoid death by starvation would often flaunt their food choices to let others know that they would not be deterred if there was a dearth of food and proper nutrition. However, Victorian vegetarians subverted notions of abstention by showing that people could survive and live healthy lives by just abstaining from meat products. Men especially flocked to vegetarianism to show that they could thrive in the domestic space. Because a meatless diet did not require that meat be frozen in icehouses or butchered, vegetarian men could 196 spend more time in the kitchen preparing food. Males like Edward Carpenter especially provided relevant examples of Victorian male vegetarians. Because Carpenter was known as a forward thinker who valued education and philosophy, his attraction to vegetarianism showed that the movement was not the fad that many imagined it to be. Carpenter?s dedication to living a life void of meat may have surprised many, but it also revealed that vegetarianism was a lifestyle choice that supported intellectual pursuits and a love of land and animals. Carpenter, who left an academic fellowship to live life in the open-air where he could perform manual work, became a symbol of the vegetarian man who could find personal fulfillment and success, despite refusing to consume meat products. At times, Victorian literature echoed the zealous vegetarianism of men like Carpenter; however, vegetarianism saw more success in Victorian ephemeral publications rather than longer works of literature. Because ephemeral publications were often shorter and meant to be read in one sitting, authors were able to succinctly present vegetarianism as a viable lifestyle. Whether presented through the medium or short fiction or illustrations, Victorian vegetarians were able to reach a broad audience through ephemeral publications. Additionally, authors concerned with Victorian vegetarianism could use ephemeral publications to make certain that their political platforms were seen and heard by many. On one hand, short fiction often allowed authors to thinly veil the political message of vegetarianism, as did illustrations and pithy poems. On the other hand, longer fictional publications showed how vegetarianism often presented many complications to those who favored the lifestyle. Influence from family and the outside world presented many complications for vegetarians. Just as men who overindulged used food as a source of power and authority, many who opposed vegetarianism used meat products to unveil their political and familial influence over others. 197 In Victorian literature, food was more than a way to fill the stomach; dinner became an edible symbol of political and personal belief. What?and how?people ate showed others their beliefs and their willingness to adapt or conform to standards that the powerful set. Because alimentary habits could be subtle or easily displayed, many Victorians used food to represent their lifestyle and the position in society. Food and gender also became inextricably connected; often, Victorian men and women ate was what expected of them so that they did not become disorderly eaters. Because women were expected to abstain and men were expected to overindulge, those who displayed different eating habits were ostracized or looked down upon for being different. Still, some disorderly eaters used this difference to their advantage by making themselves into spectacles so strange and odd that others could not help but take notice. Disorderly eating allowed some?such as the Fasting Girls and the Professional Fasters?to live on the fringe of society. Still, becoming disorderly eaters allowed people like the Fasting Women and Professional Fasters to garner attention and even financial gain. Even if their dietary habits differed greatly from those of others, many worked their disorderly eating habits to their advantage. The spectrum of disorderly eating shows that no single dietary plan worked for each and every Victorian citizen. Still, those who found themselves consuming meals outside of the norm (or not consuming meals at all) all faced the possibility of outside criticism. Vegetarians especially risked losing credibility for their alimentary habits. Although not the only Victorians who practiced disorderly eating, vegetarians? eating habits were often tied more closely to their political beliefs and daily lifestyles. Because many vegetarians supported the antivivisection movement, they were able to connect their alimentary habits to their political belief. Though this 198 often allowed males to explore the domestic space of the kitchen, vegetarians also risked others condemning them for their lack of masculinity. However, most vegetarian men did not mind the disapproval of society. Whether their vegetarianism was out in the open or kept as a closely guarded secret, many male Victorian vegetarians cared very little about what others thought. Most male Victorian vegetarians seemed suspicious or outright dismissive of any scientific theory positing that males needed to eat as much as possible in order to survive. Or perhaps male Victorian vegetarians did not dismiss these scientific theories but saw the complexities in the theories that others did not understand. Malthus never promised that men with gluttonous habits would outlive the shrinking food supply, and Darwin did not promise that the strong could survive anything. Victorian literature that focuses on the alimentary habits of males makes this point patently obvious: even if males consumed hearty amounts of food, Mother Nature and pure circumstance could still kill them. Even if they were to survive a shrinking food supply, gluttonous males would eventually perish. This is especially clear in novels like The Mill on the Floss. Despite the alimentary habits of Tom, scrawny Philip outlives him. Tom is hearty and healthy, yet the flood drowns him with his sister. Though no one expects Philip to outlive Tom, Eliot shows that personal health and eating habits do not always guarantee the ability to survive. As Philip looks upon the graves of Maggie and Tom, readers must realize that perhaps, strength is not derived from what the body consumes on a daily basis. Instead, death thrives on dire circumstances and bad luck. Strength and the form of the body may have helped determine the course of one?s life, but not the time and place of a life?s end. As the water overcomes Tom and Maggie, Eliot details that ?a new danger was being carried toward them by the river? (463). But perhaps this ?new danger? of nature?s consequences had always been around and not noticed until it was far too late. Although 199 Maggie (and perhaps readers) never thought that Tom would perish so quickly, nature?s force proves too tough to overcome. No matter his body strength or size, Tom cannot conquer the course that nature has set for him. As ?the boat was no longer seen upon the water, and the huge mass was hurrying on the hideous triumph,? Tom cannot save himself or his sister (463). Just as the water drowns Tom in The Mill on the Floss, the soldiers in ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? have no hope to survive. However, instead of facing nature, the soldiers in ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? cannot muster the strength to survive against men who are stronger and better prepared than they. Although nature does not kill them, their bodies and minds have been weakened and cannot make decisions that help them eschew death and destruction. If they had access to proper food and drink, the men may have been able to make decisions for themselves and survive the battle; however, readers are left never knowing if proper food and drink would have helped the soldiers or not. Even if they were strong enough to fight, they were not strong enough to survive the battle to tell the tale. Texts like Orley Farm and Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland more subtly exhibit how victuals factored into the life of Victorians. In Orley Farm, food is used as a negotiative tool that shows how relationships of power fluctuate, especially in the domestic, family setting. Trollope?s novel reveals how females often withhold meat from males so that they cannot access the strength needed to sign complicated contracts and discover falsities and lies surrounding those contracts. Furthermore, Mrs. Mason of Orley Farm also refuses to let her servants consume meat so that they cannot find the strength to rebel against her authority. By preventing them from consuming certain foods, Mrs. Mason hopes that the servants will never locate the needed authority to go against her will. 200 On the other hand, Alice?s time in Wonderland exhibits how closely related the alimentary experience is to understanding a new culture and adapting to new and unfamiliar surroundings. Consumption is the only translatable language in Wonderland; although Alice has difficulty understanding what the creatures of Wonderland say to her and what they want, she knows that, without a doubt, she must eat or drink to guarantee that she has access to certain environments that Wonderland contains. Otherwise, she will remain stuck in her present environment. The symbolism of Alice?s consumption in Wonderland shows how for Victorians, food and drink became more than just a daily necessity. Instead, aliments became the key to unlocking the world of cultural mores that often determined social survival. Whether used for basic necessity or to symbolize wealth and authority, the aliments showed the importance of consumption in the Victorian era. Especially because of Dr. Gull?s newly coined ?disease? of anorexia nervosa, the definition of normative and disorderly eating shifted throughout this time period. Those who did not consume what others considered ?proper? risked criticism by doctors and those who could afford to consume whatever they desired; conversely, some Victorians willingly participated in disorderly eating because strange eating habits garnered attention and even money. No matter the type of eating that one engaged in, extreme eating dominated the Victorian era. The definition of normalized and disorderly eating shifted so frequently that it became difficult to define exactly what type of eating was normalized and what type was disorderly. 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Despite the rivalry, Queen Victoria favored Gull?s diagnoses and opinions over any other medical professional. ii In "Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me": Eucharist and the Erotic Body in Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market,? Marylu Hill equates the consumption of food in ?Goblin Market? to Holy Communion. This also serves as a metaphor for the ?fasting girls? of the Victorian era; many of the ?fasting girls? denied themselves typical food so that they could become closer to God. Only the eucharist served as an acceptable meal. iii George Eliot?s characters often experience consumption, in both the realm of appetite and the realm of general production. In her article ?George Eliot?s Language of Nature: Production and Consumption,? Karen Mann explores how the inner nature and the outer environment of the characters often interact to cause turmoil in reference to consumption. She notices how Eliot often uses ?externals to characterize internals?: though Mann does not explicitly refer to appetite, the external physicality of the character?s bodies also represents their social position and relationships with others (175). iv To this day, the reasons for vegetarianism vary. No two people have exact reasons for the avoidance of meat. As reviewed by Sanat K. Majumder in ?Vegetarianism: Fad, Faith, or Fact,? vegetarianism is more than a ?well-defined credo? (175). Instead, vegetarianism ?constitutes an individual regime of diet? (175). Although a ?regime,? the distinction between vegetarianism and other restrictive diets is that vegetarianism focuses on serving the needs of the individuals instead of the needs of the nation or state. v Though this dissertation focuses on fasting and overindulgence in the Victorian era, fasting was not limited to Britain. Fasting and masculinity also became a trend in America, especially during the Progressive Era. R. Marie Griffith studies the American phenomenon of male fasting and observes that some American men saw fasting and abstinence as the ?key to individual and social regeneration because it inculcated both virtue and fortitude? (604). vi Joseph A. Hynes suggests that Great Expectations shows the ?familiar split between illusion and reality,? and food works to symbolize this in the novel (258). When Pip brings Magwitch food, however, illusion becomes reality. Imagining food cannot keep Magwitch alive, but the food that Pip feeds him provides the first real proof that he has a chance of surviving his escape from prison. vii Athough she is a female author, Christina Rossetti?s poetry often dealt with men and hunger. In ?Goblin Market? and ?In an Artist?s Studio,? male figures consume the female body as if it is food. Rossetti?s characters represent how male alimentary pleasure often led to the consumption of the feminine body?in a literal and figurative way. 224 viii Indeed, the production and consumption of culture was related directly to the production and consumption of food. The more produced, the more the typical Victorian male consumed. It was easy to become caught up in the belief that there would always be more to purchase and consume. However, those who studied and read Malthus saw the faulty logic in this belief and knew that the food supply could potentially expire. If not carefully provisioned and considered, food was not always a guarantee. ix These illustrations are meant to be representative but not all-inclusive of Victorian ephemera that discussed or symbolized food and appetite. The ones chosen for this dissertation were picked because they best represented the complex relationship that the readership of Punch and other ephemeral publications. Some, like the Punch illustrations, had a more extensive readership and broader audience than others. However, all the ephemera and illustrations directly relate to the political and personal relationship that Victorian citizens had with food and other consumable materials. x The title of Hard Times itself symbolizes what many Victorians, especially males, refused to believe: that there would be hard times that required the storing of food (and other materials) instead of constant consumption. Even if Victorian citizens and literary characters were not experiencing ?hard times? yet, the work of Malthus and Darwin projected that living lean could be on the horizon sooner than anyone wanted to imagine. xi According to a paragraph in a Nov. 8, 1952 issue of the British Medical Journal, Charles Dickens was fond of science and the medical profession, which partly explains his fascination with the body and its reaction to food. The article states that a contemporary doctor noted in a speech that Dickens ?probably knew more about medicine than other contemporary layman of his time, and he evidently liked doctors. He had a great feeling for suffering?? (1039). xii Indeed, in Hard Times, Dickens sought to appeal to contemporary issues such as science and evolution. As Joseph Butwin observes, Dickens encouraged ?original readers? to ?see the novel as a form of journalism to be read continuously with Household Words, the weekly magazine in which it appeared? (167). It is thus concluded that Dickens hoped readers would draw the connection between theories of science and evolution with occurrences in everyday life. xiii Although soldiers were not the only recepients of discipline, their experience is the best representation of how the nation trained soldiers to become docile bodies. Once their bodies were trained, the docile bodies of the soldiers would more easily adhere to rules and regulations set forth by the military. xiv Some critics have suggested that in ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? and Tennyson?s ?other? Crimean War poem, ?Maud,? the writer treats war ?ironically? and that ?the hero will not find salvation because war is another form of madness? (Adams 405). However, as shown in ?The Charge of the Light Brigade,? most of the soldiers did not realize that their bodies have become docile and that they may have already descended into madness. 225 xv Often, docility prevented soldiers from knowing that they had the option to rebel or that they were being unfairly treated. After training convinced them that they did not need proper food or water, many soldiers never considered trying to locate better nutritional options. If they did try to find better food, they often came up emptyhanded or were disciplined for their attempts. xvi Out of all the nurses active in the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale has received the most attention for her reform of the British Army. Though she aimed to provide better care for Crimean soldiers, her work also represented the docility of the soldiers. At times, it became a ?no win? situation. By strengthening soldiers with better food and water, they became stronger and better prepared for battle. By withholding food and water from the soldiers, they were easier to care for and required less money from the Army and nation. Nightingale?s writing gives glimpses of this struggle, but her work has been discussed at length to show the chagnes that she made. On the other hand, the work of male nurses and marginalized nurses (like Mary Seacole) has received much less scholarly attention. xvii Seacole often located food that others did not have the time to find. For instance, she procured everything from pigs to wine for the soldiers. She made it her mission to find food that would make the soldiers feel more at home while on the battlefield. Though she meant well, like Nightingale and other nurses active in the Crimean War, her work often created further docility than intended. xviii Money was a key factor in docile bodies serving the state and nation. Sending soldiers to war proved expensive for the Victorian government. Often, soldiers engaged in what was called ?purchase of commissions,? which allowed soldiers to buy rank in the army. This provided the Army with more money, but the practice was unfair and prevented the poor from moving up or successfully engaging in revolt. xix Sources note that many evangelicals turned (and still turn) to vegetarianism to feel closer to their ?creator? and their progenitors. Because Adam and Eve ate from the land and not from animals, many Christians see vegetarianism as a way to feel closer to a higher spiritual power. Like the ?Fasting Girls? of Victorian England, many vegetarian Christians use abstinence?in this case, abstinence from meat?to reach spiritual enlightenment. xx Punch also compared vegetarianism to evangelical religion, especially because it had a proselytizing effect on those who encountered it. xxi Indeed, whether vegetarianism is ?disorderly? or simply a different lifestyle is still debated in medicine today. Scholarship has noted that some who suffer from anorexia or bulimia use vegetarianism as a mask to disguise the fact that they are eating very little or nothing at all during meals. There are often discrepancies about what is ?appropriate? for vegetarians?especially vegetarians who have also been diagnosed with disordered eating? to consume on a daily basis. xxii Often, publications about vegetarianism had a wider readership if published in periodicals or other ephemeral publications. Partly, the works about vegetarianism found more success in these publication venues because they were topical and relatable to the contemporary audiences. 226 Authors still portrayed vegetarianism in novels and non-ephemeral poetry, but often, the authors used vegetarianism as metaphor for political associations or personal beliefs. However, in ephemeral materials, vegetarianism was often discussed more openly and obviously. xxiii Although the ?Fasting Girls? of Victorian England garnered much attention, many males who lived as vegetarians saw the lifestyle as one that could provide a political platform and grant them the ability to spend more time in the domestic space. In many regards, vegetarianism was an easier lifestyle. It required no killing or butchering of animals, and meat did not have to be stored or kept throughout the warmer months. Those who did not use vegetarianism as a political platform were often drawn to the lifestyle because it was an easier way to live. xxiv In addition to Orley Farm representing the rise of vegetarianism in Victorian England, the novel also focuses on law and language. As observed by Glynn-Ellen Fisichelli, law especially acts as a central theme within the novel. She argues that the novel?s fascination with Mrs. Mason ?drawing up a codecil to her husband?s will? that ?cedes the ownership of the farm to her son Lucius? (635). Indeed, the legal matters that occur in Orley Farm provide an interesting backdrop for the use of vegetarianism in the novel. Often, vegetarianism allows the characters to use the rhetoric of food to weasel in and out of legal matters that concern their characters. xxv Man versus the land emerges as a common theme in Orley Farm. Though the Mason family depends on the land to provide their food?especially vegetables?Trollope often gives the land agency. This directly relates to the scientific thought of the time period. If the land faltered or failed to provide food, then the population would have even less opportunity to survive in times of hardship. Trollope makes it clear that the land will thrive or perish at will?even if the humans tend to it and nuture it as much as they can. xxvi The differentiation between ?water drinkers? and consumers of alcohol often factored greatly into vegetarian rhetoric. Many vegetarians sought to not only avoid meat but also alcohol and any drugs that might taint their health or reverence to their bodies. However, those who drank alcohol considered ?water drinkers? to be grumpy and unable to have a good time. xxvii Despite the imaginative descriptions and imagery that Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland provides, Carroll?s essay sought to appeal to the logic of his readers. In both works, however, Carroll shows that vegetarianism was a viable lifestyle that should not be easily dismissed. By publishing the essay and the fictional representation of vegetarianism, Carroll expresses how vegetarianism could appeal to many different types of people; the essay and the novel allowed him to reach multiple audiences who might be influenced to try taking meat out of the diet. Though Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland appealed to children and those with a childlike imagination, the essay was able to reach those who favored a logical perspective on the viviseciton and antivivisection debates. xxviii Unlike other debators who took a one-sided approach, Carroll sought to show that people did not have to give up meat entirely to protest the vivisection movement. Instead, he proved that animals could still be used for meals and for experimentation purposes. However, instead of performing the experiments on live animals, Carroll proposed that animals killed for experimentation be killed instantly so that they would not experience painful suffering. 227 xxix Though he has little to say on man?s relationship to animals, Foucault?s concept of docility affects both species. The concept of discipline and punishment provides a distinct connection between the two; indeed, the mimicking of the animal cries proves how docility can often cause a domino effect on those engaged in the process of vivisection. The students? mocking of the animals reveals how they too became involved in the circuit of discipline and punishment faced by the animals. Believing that dissecting the animals was a necessary pursuit, the students did not realize the harm caused upon the living creatures. xxx Though the Queen acts as one who employs discipline, she also is fond of coroporal punishment. She thinks nothing of chanting ?Off with his head!? in the following passage: ?Here the Dormouse shook itself and began singing in its sleep ?Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle?? and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop. ?Well, I?d hardly finished the first verse,? said the Hatter ?when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, ?He?s murdering the time! Off with his head? (Carroll 50)! Additionally, the Queen threatens to cut off heads during the croquet game and anytime ?she has trouble settling difficulties? (Carroll 61). Because of her fondness to quickly cut off the heads of others, the Queen?s frightenining characteristics cause the creatures of Wonderland to fear her and act accordingly. The Queen?s mixture of discipline and punishment causes Wonderland?s creatures to dread the consequences of their actions, but only when they know she can see them. However, when the Queen is absent, the creatures of Wonderland pay little attention to how their actions might be disciplined or punished. Instead, the threat of discipline or punishment is only relevant when the creatures are aware that the Queen might be watching. Like the prisoners described by Foucault in Discipline and Punish, the creatures often change the way they act if they know that the Queen (or other disciplinarian) might see them and discipline or punish their actions. On the other hand, unlike the prisoners described in Discipline and Punish, the creatures do not let their fear carry over to instances when the Queen is not around. They only fear their discipline or punishment when they can actually see the Queen and observe her irrational reactions to their behavior. xxxi Along with Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There also provides examples of the relationship between people and food. For instance, Alice?s encounter with Humpty Dumpty emphasizes how humans should strongly consider any anthropomorphic qualities that possible food may have. Therefore, they should consider that what has the potential to be food could also have the potential to be an equal, socially and intellectually. As she approaches Humpty Dumpty, Alice sees that the closer she gets, ?the egg only got larger and larger, and more and more human: shen she had come within a few yards of it, she saw that it had eyes and a nose and mouth? (Carroll 87). Although most readers would not see any shared qualities in an egg and a person, Alice sees Humpty Dumpty as both an egg and a person. Eventually, Alice concludes that Humpty Dumpty only ?LOOKED like an egg? but must be more than that; after all, Humpty Dumpty can talk and reason. In fact, he believes that she must ?have no more sense than a baby? (88). Like those who saw animals as nothing more than fodder for dinner or for scientific experiments, Alice refuses to acknowledge that Humpty Dumpty has purpose beyond as a living being. Alice doesn?t know ?what to say? to Humpty Dumpty?s accusation that has has ?no more sense than a baby? (Carroll 88). Instead, she believes that ?in fact, his last remark was evidently addressed to a tree? (88). By refusing to believe that Humpty Dumpty has no intellectual capabilities or design, Alice represents those who had 228 difficulty seeing that animal life had any function beyond food or experimentation. However, readers sense that Alice has clearly misjudged Humpty Dumpty. Even though he looks like an egg, Carroll describes him as ?sitting like a Turk, on the top of the high wall? (87). Above Alice and anyone else who might notice him, Humpty Dumpty clearly has enough mental capabilities to see himself as important to the world around him.