During the Victorian era many children of the lower social class where forced to live very miserable lives. Charles Dickens who grew up in this era was placed to work at the age of twelve in a Blacking factory in order to survive. The jobs that Dickens and other children of his age and even younger were forced to work were jobs that required very intense labor and resulted in extremely low wages. Thinking about his past, Dickens wanted to see a change in society. In an approach to draw society’s attention to the hardships of orphaned children, Dickens decided to write the novel Oliver Twist.
Depending on wealth or social class, children's lives during the Victorian era greatly differ from children's lives today. Some greatly distinct examples include: child labor, health and safety, and overall living conditions. The novel Oliver Twist written by Charles Dickens, provides evidence as well as support to the statements above regarding children during the Victorian era. “I shall begin with the foundling hero, whose illegitimate birth in a workhouse many Victorians evidently read as a prelude to the boy's almost certain misfortune and descent into crime” (Paroissien). Oliver Twist's birth was a rather tragic one, as his mother passed away almost immediately after.
Charles Dickens Historic A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol because he believed that he can have an influence on the situation in England in the 19th century(Bio). He included the character’s greed and want that are a part of Scrooge during his visits with the Ghosts of Christmas. Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. He was the second of eight children, and his father, John drove them into poverty. John was sent to prison for debt in 1824 when Dickens was twelve years of age.
His name is Fagin. Mr. Fagin also is the name of a man who helped Dickens in the blacking factory during his childhood. Although the names are the same, these two Fagin men are different. In the novel, Fagin is seen as a type of villain, whereas in the shoe-shine factory, Fagin helped and taught Charles his everyday work. Dickens’ time spent at the blacking factory was the worst time of his entire life.
A few weeks after he started working, his father, mother, and siblings were put into debtor’s prison. Dickens lived alone and worked in the factory for a few more months. He experienced orphan hood, and the terrible conditions of being an orphan and working in the factories haunted him. After inheriting some money, Dickens returned to school and his father was released from prison. Dickens became a journalist and grew disillusioned with law makers attempts to alleviate the social conditions of the Industrial Revolution.
It was 1824 and young Dickens was only 12 years old (Coles 564). To help his father out of debt, Charles worked under the horrible conditions of a blacking factory (Collins 15). According to Edmund Spenser, quoted in Phillip Collins' Dickens and Crime, these events "lie behind the loneliness, disgrace, and outlawry which pervade all his novels" (15). Collins concurs: It is a commonplace that his sympathy for suffering and neglected children, which lies at the root of his educational concern, drew much of its strength from the traumatic experience of his own childhood--the period, about his 12th year when the family was in financial straits, ... ... middle of paper ... ...lodge where some fetter were hanging up on the bare walls among the prison rules, into the interior of the jail. At that time, jails were much neglected, and the period of exaggerated reaction consequent all public wrong-doing .
After his father went to prison, at the age of twelve, Charles had to go to work for a few months as a warehouse employee, blackening shoes and putting labels on boxes. During this period in his life, (while his father was in jail) was painful for him and is later influenced in some of his writings such as the novel David Copperfield. His father was the inspiration of one of the characters, Mr. Micawber. Charles Dickens never had much of the opportunity to be a child. Many of his novels such as Oliver Twist and Philip Pirrip express the struggles he faced growing up.
Charles was put to work at Warren's Blacking Factory, where conditions were terrible. When his father was released he was twelve and already scarred psychologically by the experience of the blacking factory. His father, however, rescued him from that fate and in 1824 to 1827 he attended school in London. His brief stay at the blacking factory haunted him all his life, but the dark secret became a source of both creative energy and of the preoccupation with alienation and struggle which emerge throughout his work. Pip's desire to become a respectable gentleman stems from Dickens' own experience, having come from humble beginnings.
Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was born on seventh day of February eighteen hundred twelve in Portsmouth, England. His parents were John and Elizabeth Dickens. In 1824 his father was arrested and imprisoned for having a debt that he couldn’t pay, Charles was sent to a workhouse by one of his mother’s relatives. Later in life reveals how his harsh experience of being impoverished and at the workhouse had affected him in his novels of “David Copperfield” and “Oliver Twist.” Charles’ father received an inheritance and was able to pay off his debt, so Charles was taken out of the workhouse and went back to school at the age of fifteen. He loved to read, especially ones linked with loose adventures and comedy.
The early childhood of dickens was really rough. When his father was sent to jail the family struggled with money so dickens began his first job at age 12. This made him feel abandoned and may have even helped his writing be better. From the rough past dickens had it helped him understand the lower class and his comic genius. Which helped him in writing Oliver Twist.