eir bookshelves.If the intended audience of dime novels was the working class, and there was such a strong reaction against the works, then presumably there was something about the way the expected results would have impacted the working class that scared critics. As with any modern influential product of mass media, like the program South Park, people feared that children would be corrupted and prone to acts of violence after reading such fiction. However, it is unlikely that the fear of violence by children was the only reason critics did not hold dime novels in such high esteem.An issue to be raised is the overwhelming concern that the middle class expressed regarding the lower classes. The concern was not for the well-being of the working class (who cared if their morals were deteriorating?), but rather, the concern appears to be out of fear that the process of reading the dime novels, and the stories contained therein, were somehow beneficial to them. Indeed, the working class was introduced to a new wave in literature that provided a new perspective on life. They were beginning to fantasize and to adopt the storylines and characters as a part of their own life, as a distant, yet possible reality. To some extent this could have put the middle class at ease, seeing dime novels as a way of creating a temporary feeling of content among the working class while maintaining the rigid and unsafe working conditions that generally were the cause of their unhappiness. This, however, did not entirely comfort the middle class; perhaps the benefits of these dime novels were extending a bit too far.As mentioned earlier, some critics did not know what to make of the response of working class readers to these works of fiction. Were they simply an escape or would they serve as a push that would ultimately cause the working class to rise? The answer probably lies in between these two extremes. What is apparent is that dime novels, convenie...
