"The Novel"... why not?

I appreciated this week's chapter's approach to looking at the music hall in terms of how it is represented in the literature of the time. We saw this tactic earlier in the semester when we explored the book Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. Eliot had used this book as a vehicle to poke fun at Victorian society. In this chapter we also see the author of the novel using the book as a vehicle to forward their own opinion of the topic of the society. Walter Besant takes an optimistic approach to women working in the music hall. This view is starkly contrasted by the attitude of Hall Craine's novel The Christian. Besant create a condition for the main character, Dorothy necessitate her working in the music hall. He also comments on her own talent at performing which again "excuses" her line of work. He also uses Dorothy as a vehicle for his own exploration of the music hall in his article "At the Music Hall" which he signed "Dorothy Wallis."By using Dorothy's name, he is able to give an "insider" view of the music hall. Drastically contrasted from Besant's optimistic view of the music hall we have Craine who openly "punishes" women for working in the music hall. We see the character of Glory Quayle leave her "respectable" job as a nurse to become a music hall performer. Faulk says, "[Glory's] success in the West End represents the growing commercial and popular success of women stars. But Caine also uses Glory to represent the moral decay of the West End; she eventually signifies all that resists the ministrations of Storm's philanthropic project." At the end of the story Storm, the minister, literally tries to kill Glory. This act is basically excused by his attempt to clean up the West End and all it stands for. Glory then serves as an icon of all that has gone wrong with society and the music hall. It is interesting that both of these drastically different viewpoints are expressed though the literature of the time. "Fiction" is then a mask that these authors can hide behind while providing social commentary and satire.