Child labor is a cruel act that involves subjecting children to backbreaking labor. The poet William Blake lived in a time when such harshness was accepted and saw it for what it truly was. In his poem, Blake shows child labor in chimney sweeping. The poem focuses on two characters, the narrator and a child named Tom. The narrator is a boy who was sold to work at a young age. Tom is a child in the same situation but has a strange dream. In “The Chimney Sweep,” Blake expresses his view of the wrongness of child labor by showing what it is and how it affects children. Child labor, by nature, is harsh and extremely harsh in chimney sweeping. Chimney sweeping was a job that required children to do the work (child labor). In his poem, Blake's narrator says "...my father sold me while still my tongue/ could scarcely weep" 'cry! 'cry! 'cried!' (Blake 2-3). This shows that when he was put to work, he was a child just abandoned by his father. Being sold for a job is exactly the same thing as slavery, which is very harsh. In 1788 some laws were enacted to improve the conditions they lived in. These laws were never really implemented (Children and Fireplaces). In his poem, Blake shows the conditions they lived in. In his first stanza, Blake's narrator says, “So I sweep your chimneys and sleep in the soot" (Blake 4). This states that the boy worked for people and had to sleep in the soot. The harshness of child labor can have many effects on children, one of them is that what is stolen is more important to them.Leal 2A child is the most innocent human being on Earth when that innocence is stolen from him, the child is forced to grow up and see the world for what it really is boy named Tom. Tom was sold as a chimney sweep as a child. Before he was even put to work, “[his hair] curled like a lamb's back” (Blake 6). A lamb in literature is often seen as a symbol of innocence. Blake uses these words to express how innocent Tom is. When Tom is put to work, his head “has been shaved…for when [his] head is bare/…soot cannot spoil [his]]