Past and Present

"Past and Present" by Thomas Carlyle is a commentary from the 1800s that looks at the social and political problems in England, wondering about money, jobs, and what rich and poor people owe to each other; it tries to get people to notice how things are going in their society. The book starts by pointing out that while England seems rich, many workers are actually very poor. Carlyle describes jobless people stuck in workhouses while surrounded by wealth, suggesting they are somehow cursed to not profit from their work and the wealthy turn a blind eye to those suffering. He uses stories like King Midas and hints at the Sphinx to show how dangerous it is to only look at the surface and to ignore important truths, demanding changes and scolding society for ignoring the suffering of the working class.