Embarrased by a Human Creature
In Bleak House by Charles Dickens, one important character is an orphaned and homeless boy named Jo, and in one scene the doctor Allan Woodcourt tries to come to his aid. Jo is terribly sick, and Allan convinces the boy to come with him to get help. As he proceeds through the streets of London looking for a place where he can take the boy to get rest, Allan says this to himself: “It surely is a strange fact, that in the heart of a civilized world this creature in human form should be more difficult to dispose of than an unowned dog.” By the phrase “dispose of” here he meant to find him a place to take him in. I actually liked the French translation that I am reading better, for I think it captures the sentiment Dickens was trying to portray: “N’est-il pas étrange, qu’au centre du monde civilisé, on soit plus embarrassé d’une créature humaine que d’un chien égaré?” (Translation back to English: “Isn't it strange that, in the center of the civilized world, we are more embarrassed by...