1. Bleak House Bleak House: Losing One’s Place – Displacement and
Domesticity
By: Kevin McLaughlin
Presenter: Roy Chan

2. Key Vocabularies/Terms
Theme: Home
Displacement
Domesticity
“Self Estranged Subject”
Veil
Phenomenology

3. Home in Bleak House A social form A source of order
Esther Summerson is
both homeless and a
woman. She is displaced
from her actual parents,
and tries to figure that out
at John Jarndyce home

4. Domesticity vs. Displacement
Domesticity - The quality or state of being domestic, domestic character; home or family life; devotion to home; homeliness.
A source of order
Displacement – the removal of a thing from its place; putting out of place; shifting, dislocation.
The removal of someone or something by someone or something else that takes their place

5. “Self-Estranged” Subject
The recognition of oneself as different or strange.

6. Veil
To cover the person with, or as with, a veil; to conceal or hide the face by means of a veil; to enveil.

7. Georg Hegel’s Philosophy
Phenomenology – an approach to philosophy that begins with an exploration of phenomena (a conscious experience)
“Self-estranged Subject” vs. “Self-Estranged Spirit”