Charles Dickens

" A Visit to Newgate" is not your typical prison tale based writing as he points out in the beginning of the reading. They simply saw the prisoners and chose to write from what they saw and heard from them. And so they first described the layout of the prison, which by the way I believe it was in the heart of the city for everyone to gaze upon. And one of the first description of a person was one of an old lady. "In one corner of this singular-looking den, was a yellow,haggard,decrepit with faded ribbon of the same hue, in earnest conversation with a young girl-prisoner, of course-of about two and twenty." He goes on to say something that really lets you see and feel what he is at that moment "It is impossible to imagine a more poverty-stricken object, or a creature so borne down in soul and body, by excess of misery and destitution, as the old woman." When I first read that I felt at that moment like I was right there beside him walking the halls of that prison. He continues to give you the play by play of his walk and he does not skip one detail of the trip. I swear to you if a fly was to land on his nose I would bet anything that he would make that swipe of that fly the most symbolic fly swat away ever. That is just how wonderful his description in this was. He does this pattern all the way to the description of the press room. This was an interesting place this is where it seemed he got most disgusted. It seemed that a person on death row had 24 hours to get his case over turned if not he was placed in the press room with his coffin and killed for the public to see. Now you would think that would scare the living crap out of someone , but no as he went to their apartments(place they stayed until execution) he saw man of all ages, even one that was not even a teenage yet. And what he saw them doing was just going on with their lives. The thing that got me was one man was teaching one of the younger ones to read. The way that closes kinda makes you feel sorry for one of the guys. They describe a man who is going to be killed in the morning but the man is having a dream. And in this dream he escapes but right when he becomes free he is awaken to the turnkey of the guard. A guard about to take him to his death. They go on to describe his confusion and just for a few moments you feel sorry for the man no matter what wrong he may have commented.