Bleak House character list below for the supposed inspiration of individual characters). Although not a character, the "Jarndyce and Jarndyce" case is a vital part of the novel. It is believed to have been inspired by a number of real-life Chancery cases involving wills, including those of Charles Day and William Jennens, and of Charlotte Smith's father-in-law Richard Smith. Much criticism of "Bleak House" focuses on its unique narrative structure: it is told both by a third-person omniscient narrator and a first-person narrator (Esther Summerson). The omniscient narrator speaks in the present tense and is a dispassionate observer. Esther Summerson tells her
My Companions in the Bleak House herself held there for eleven months in for sedition after signing Charter 77, which criticised the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic for human rights failings related to the Helsinki Accords. Kantůrková herself does not appear in the book, which is narrated by a character called Eva. The title is a reference to Charles Dickens' novel "Bleak House", which satirised the English justice system. In the book, Kantůrková spells out seven rules for life as a prisoner of conscience: The narrative takes place from 8 March to 8 March, beginning and ending on International Women's Day. Aspects of the characters' prison life include