The Old Curiosity Shop

Context:

Referenced when Tom compares Caligula's behavior of contorting his face in the mirror to make it more fearsome to 'the malevolent dwarf Quilp in Charles Dickens' old curiosity shop.'

Context:

Referenced when comparing Tiny Tim to the character Little Nell. The hosts note that Little Nell's death had famously caused a 'universe of weeping and wailing,' with Americans waiting at the quayside for the next installment, and that Oscar Wilde famously mocked the sentimentality. Tiny Tim is described as essentially a similar sentimental figure to Little Nell.

Context:

A passage from this 1841 novel is read aloud describing the industrial landscape of the Black Country, with tall chimneys, smoke, and strange engines. Used to illustrate Victorian literary depictions of industrialization.