People tend to take suffering and find ways of dealing with it. Some of these ways have evolved into commonly used clichés such as, “the light at the end of the tunnel”, or “there is always a silver lining”. This also extends to the thought that people, in general, like to think that suffering can only come for a short time and at the end of it, there is some experience gained or some reward that makes it worth it. In “The Chimney Sweeper”, by William Blake, this concept of joy being derived through anticipating the ending of suffering is quite evident. In order to show how William Blake uses the concept of sufferings end brings joy we will look at a few things, starting with the life and misery of the speaker, moving on to the way that that Tom derives joy from the thought of his suffering being over, and finally showing how his suffering is lessened and perhaps ultimately alleviated by this thought of his suffering’s end.

The first thing to think about is the suffering that the speaker is in. This suffering is, to the speaker himself, commonplace but that does not make the situation he is in any less horrible. Think about it. The speakers mother has died and all that he had left, his father, sold him so he could live the rest of his life a chimney sweep, inhaling soot and working in horrible conditions and places just for food and shelter. 

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry “‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’”

So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep. (1-4)

As you can see this little boy is suffering. He is in pain but instead of crying, this boy goes about and does his work. There is no doubt that this boy is suffering and yet he does not cry but goes about his work.

Now to see why it is that this boy does not cry while he lives in such horrible conditions and the poem itself specifically says why it is that this boy is this way.

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins & set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run,  

And wash in a river and shine in the Sun. (11-16)

So to think about this. The Speaker here is talking about what one of his friends, Tom, saw while he was sleeping. This is a vision he has of chimney sweepers who have died. They have been “locked up in coffins of black”(12), but as this vision goes on Tom sees more. He sees an angel opening the coffins and setting the children free, and brought them to some “green plain”(15) where they all played and were happy. This is the image that the child creates in his mind to counteract the feelings of pain that have filled his life. This image in Toms mind both makes his life more bearable and somehow less horrible.

Now why would this vision eventually alleviate this young child’s suffering? Well it is because he hopes that if he is good and does well then he will be able to join those other boys who have gone to play in the field they were taken to by an angel.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind.

And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father & never want joy.          

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm. (17-24)

After Tom has this vision of a place where there is no pain or suffering he feels like since in the end of all his pain he will never want joy than a little bit more pain now is worth it. Now without saying whether or not this belief of this child that God is real and he will go to heaven if he is good, think about this. This boy, he is a young boy, is looking that his only escape is death. In that “coffin of plack”(12). Is this a bad thing? Is this something the little boy should be ashamed of? No, of course not he is looking for any comfort he can find and, if this is the only way he can find it, let him. Perhaps one day he will live in heaven with no cares and worries where he can play and leap freely and happily. That is his belief and his choice.

 In conclusion by looking at how the little boy Tom is suffering, how he fantasizes a life after his suffering, and how this fantasy, realistic or not, helps alleviate or lessen his suffering we see that the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake taps into a very human concept of “the light at the end of the tunnel”, or everything will work out in the end, and makes it apply to the street life in his time.
