The Warden's Social Web

The Warden is a tale about clergyman Septimus Harding of an almshouse in Barchester, England during the Victorian era. The story focuses on the social waves ma

de by John Bold, an ambitious and restless young reformer, when he questions the use of the house's charitable income. The funding provides sustenance for the 12 old and poor working men of the almshouse and a comfortable living for its overseer, the warden. Bold sharply attacks the seeming disparity between the charity's allotted funds and the salary of Harding through a lawsuit, and moreover, involves the local press. The gentle and meek warden, his family, his close friends in the clergy, and the general community of Barchester are all influenced greatly by this legal battle. Their responses create a framework through which Anthony Trollope (the author) implicitly criticizes and jests about the foibles of Victorian society. 

The Warden fixates the reader's attention on the clash between conservativism's stability and the raucousness of liberalism-- a potent theme of the 19th century stemming from the Enlightenment. In particular, we see that not all challenges to entrenched social customs are productive and helpful. As the story evolves, Bold's case causes more harm than help to the social well-being of Barchester. While the theme of conservative and liberal clashes is not new, Trollope treatment of the characters puts a spin on things-- instead of the young, up-and-coming "do-gooders" being the heroic protagonists, the aristocratic-like clerical system and its upper-middle class members (i.e. "the people with power and money") are portrayed as the nice guys. Said George Orwell on The Warden, “A time-honored abuse, he [Trollope] held, is frequently less bad than its remedy."

While reading various synopsis on this book, one thought kept coming to mind: "How could this NOT apply to our day?" It's more than a tale about conservatism and liberalism in social strata-- it's about the weaknesses of human nature. Our selfish love of service, our pride, our naivety, and even our complacency-- Trollope elegantly spins it all into 19th century novel. The novel's themes hit home to me; as a young adult growing up in a "conservative" household and living in a "conservative" community with several "liberal" siblings and friends, I can relate to the dynamics created by such juxtapositions within my personal life. I look forward to reading The Warden. I hope that seeing the aforementioned issues play out in the sticky social webs of Victorian England will give me a greater ability heal the stratifications in my own little circle.