My name is Eric Chan and in the class "Violence in Art and Culture" we are currently reading the book the Destruction of Gotham by Joaquin Miller. Written in 1886 the book is one of the earliest examples of a dystopian novel. One of the themes he presents in his book is the "nobility of poverty" in contrast to the greed that permeates much of the city.

On page 75 he describes the moment in which Dottie “opened her eyes on honest poverty and innocent surroundings, the first, be it confessed, for days-years.”  Until arriving at the beer shop, Dottie had been in constant danger due to the fact that she was a young woman in a city where young woman were often preyed upon. It is Walton the poor but noble journalist who is willing to help her, by taking her to the shabby beer shop, a refuge from the excesses of the city. Sleeping in the beer shop she is able to rest fitfully for the first time in years.

This contrasts with the earlier chapters where upon arrival she “was now in the great city, on the monsters own ground, in her trap.”(Miller 18) The old woman, a product of the greed of wealthy men, preys exclusively upon young, pretty girls and immediately marks Dottie when she sees her. The treatment of Dottie as well as young woman in general is one way in which the author makes the distinction between the noble poor and the corrupt rich.