“Good God!” cried Mr. Pocket, in an outbreak of desolate desperation. “Are infants to be nut-crackered into their tombs, and is nobody to save them?”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 23. An exasperated Matthew Pocket reacts to his inattentive and incompetent wife letting the baby on her lap play with a dangerous nutcracker. The dramatic and violent metaphorical image of babies being “nut-crackered into their tombs” highlights the parental neglect of the Pocket children. Mrs. Pocket, who is obsessed with social status, becomes so engrossed in a conversation about aristocratic titles, she forgets about the baby on her lap. Dickens is satirizing pretentious parents who prioritize social climbing over caring for their children.