The book is a
roman à thèse, or a novel with a thesis — which was meant to create a furor over the squalor that was plaguing England's working class cities. Disraeli's interest in this subject stemmed from his interest in the
Chartist movement, a working-class political reformist movement that sought universal male suffrage and other parliamentary reforms. (
Thomas Carlyle sums up the movement in his 1839 book
Chartism.) Chartism failed as a parliamentary movement (three petitions to Parliament were rejected); however, five of the "Six Points" of Chartism would become a reality within a century of the group's formation. Chartism demanded: •
Universal suffrage for men •
Secret ballot • Removal of property requirements for Parliament • Salaries for
Members of Parliament (MPs) • Equal
electoral districts • Annually elected
Parliament Disraeli was particularly inspired by the
Royal Commission of Inquiry into Children's Employment, which published a report interviewing working children in 1842.
Sybil examines the moral corruption inherent in forcing children to work under such unpleasant conditions. The characters of the sixteen-year-old Dandy Mick and Devilsdust, who is abandoned by his mother and left to fend for himself, are particularly emblematic of this. ==Characters==