Dust Heaps in Our Mutual Friend Essay -- Charles Dickens Victorian Era

Dust Heaps Dust develops. The famed Dust Heaps in Our Mutual Friend are simply large mountains of †¦ well, dust. One cannot fully judge the purpose of Dickens’ incorporation of dust heaps in his novel without background information on them. The question being what is a dust heap? Apparently the answer â€Å"heaps of dust† is not good enough. In the Victorian era dust heaps were filled with useful garbage. Dust heaps were made up of many different things. One such ingredient – also the main ingredient – was fine cinders and ashes. These items, along with some soil, were sold to brick makers for making bricks, and to farmers for manure – especially for clover. The next item tended to be pieces of coal which were usually there because a servant’s carelessness. The coal was either resold or simply used. Another portion of the dust heaps was made from ‘breeze’. According to â€Å"Dust; or Ugliness Redeemed†, breeze was named after the cinders which were â€Å"left after the wind has blown the finer cinders through an upright sieve†. These ciders were also sold to brick makers, but for burning the b...