52 pages • 1 hour read
Michael CrichtonThe Great Train Robbery
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1975A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Cockney English Slang
The co-conspirators and others in their social circle speak the Cockney English dialect, which acts as a marker of their lower- and working-class status as well as of their marginalization in society. The Cockney dialect is so distinct that it sometimes requires translation, not only for Crichton’s readers but also for other members of Victorian society, such as the court and the police. For instance, during the trial, when Agar states:
He plays like a flimp or a dub buzzer, or a mutcher, no interest or importance, and this because he don’t want the skipper to granny that a bone lay is afoot. Now the skipper should have done, we went to a lot of trouble on his account, and he could have put down on us to the miltonians, and for a pretty penny, too, but he hasn’t the sense, otherwise why’d he be a skipper, eh? (109).
This incomprehensible speech causes an “uproar” in the court and requires several minutes of translation so that “His Lordship” (the judge) can understand the testimony given. Crichton makes liberal use of Cockney English in the dialogue and the narrative descriptions throughout the text to imbue the scenarios with a sense of local color. Occasionally, Crichton provides direct translations. For example, when Willy asks Miriam if she is Pierce’s “canary,” the narration quickly clarifies that he is asking whether she is “Pierce’s accomplice in the burglary” (79). However, in other scenes, Crichton merely provides subtle context clues to illuminate the meaning of the slang.
Pierce’s ability to shift between Cockney and standard English in his dialogue is a mark of his competence as a criminal. When speaking with other members of the lower classes, such as Agar, he speaks Cockney. However, when speaking with the upper-class Mr. Fowler, he speaks like a gentleman. By code-shifting so adeptly and moving smoothly between different social spheres, he can gather information from both worlds and progress rapidly in his criminal endeavors.
Keys
Throughout most of The Great Train Robbery, Pierce and his co-conspirators are hunting for the four keys needed to open the safes that contain the gold. One of the keys is held by Mr. Fowler, one by Mr. Trent, and two in the railway office. Although the keys are a literal necessity for the execution of the heist, their prevalence in the plot can also be interpreted symbolically. Victorian England was highly stratified, consisting of gross inequalities that allowed for very little class mobility. Within these limitations, one of the only ways for people of the lower classes to become wealthy is by committing crimes. Thus, finding the keys is necessary to “unlock” greater access to wealth and opportunity. The location of the keys is symbolic as well, for it shows the connection to the Huddleston & Bradford bank, which profits from its “emphasis on foreign-currency transactions” (13), and the railways, which facilitate such transactions. Crichton further notes that finding small keys is difficult amongst the bric-a-brac that typically characterizes Victorian rooms, and the Victorians “adored secret compartments and concealed spaces” (26). Read symbolically, this description suggests that upper-class Victorians were eager to keep the “keys” out of the hands of the undeserving underclasses.
Clothes
In Victorian England, clothes were an important marker of class position, and this dynamic is generously displayed in the novel. Because Victorian society largely believed that upper-class people did not commit crimes, by dressing as a gentleman or lady, one could be overlooked as a criminal. This is most clearly shown in the case of Pierce, who is first introduced as a gentleman “fashionably dressed in a dark green velvet frock coat and high beaver hat” (4). Because of his fine clothes and upper-class accent, genuine gentlemen like Mr. Fowler have no doubts that Pierce is also a gentleman. The importance of using fine clothes as a disguise is shown in the case of the “swell” Teddy Burke, who is introduced wearing “a high hat, a dark frock coat, narrow trousers, and a dark silk choker” (30). He uses this finery to blend in with the upper-class members of society that he pickpockets on the high street. Alternatively, clothing is also used by criminals to blend in with the lower classes. This technique is especially important on the day of the heist, when Miriam uses a simple black dress to disguise herself as a servant girl. As a servant, she does not attract much attention from the others at the station until the precise moment she needs to be noticed to cause a distraction.
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By Michael Crichton
