hrj

From the persepective of English history, from 1834 onwards to their final abolition in 1948 (formal abolition 1930 - vestiges of old system remained) I think it's important not just to see workhouses as an awful fate for individuals who fell out of the system, but as a weapon of systemised psychological oppression of the working classes. It's the stick Miss Minchen wields over Becky and, indeed, the cook (the cook blames Becky for theft from the kitchen which are in fact things that the cook gives to her "follower" the policeman) but the whole system depends on the ultimate sanction that the cold breath of the workhouse is on the backs of all the servants' necks (it's an aspect of Sara's privilege that even when destitute throwing her out onto the street with only the workhouse (or, of course, child sexual exploitation, more probably) to support her is socially unacceptable in Sara's case for class reasons, but not so in Becky's or the cook's.