Charles John Huffam Dickens is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in literature, due to his work during the 19th century, referred to as the Victorian Era. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Dickens endured harrowing experiences that significantly sculpted his approach to writing. The impact of these experiences are apparent in his various works, in which he utilizes literary techniques such as satire and dark humor, in order to provide social commentary on the various flaws of Victorian Era society. Charles Dickens’ literary perspective was significantly influenced by the emotional and psychological ramifications of the time he spent at Warren’s Blacking Factory, his shattered relationship with his mother, and the corruption/individualism he observed as a Parliamentary journalist; all of which are evident in his Victorian Era literary work, Oliver Twist.
Dickens’ first significant experience that influenced his novel, Oliver Twist, occurred when he was forced to work at Warren’s Blacking Factory. At the tender age of eleven, Dickens had to work in a boot-blacking factory in order to support his family, after his father, John Dickens, was sent to debtors’ prison in Marshalsea located in London, England (Smith 127). Due to the “Poor Laws” established in England in 1834, Dickens was completely separated from his family and had to withstand the abuse and brutality administered by the workhouse officials. Government bureaucrats ensured that having the poor work at these workhouses would reduce the cost of governing the poor, alleviate beggars, and encourage the poor to work harder to support themselves; however, Dickens championed the denunciation of the Poor Laws with the satirical nature of Oliver Twist (“1834 Po...
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...s the Poor Laws of 1834, using satire in order to describe its deep injustice towards the poor. However, Dickens exceptionally utilizes the situations and characters of Oliver Twist, such as Rose Maylie and Nancy who represent people that can still exhibit purity and moral values, in order to make constructive social commentary that can incite solutions to alleviate these social ills.
Works Cited
"1834 Poor Law." The National Archives. UK Government/Public Record Office, 2003. Web. 1
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Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Toronto: Bantam, 1982. Print.
Smith, Jennifer. "Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1838." Novels for Students. Presenting Analysis,
Context and Criticism on Commonly Studied Novels. Vol. 14. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2002. 126-51. Print.
"Victorian England." Victorian England. The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, n.d. Web. 28
Mar. 2014.
Charles Dickens is a famous novelist who was born on February 7TH 1812, Portsmouth England. His novel ‘Oliver Twist’ had been serialized and to also show Dickens purposes, which was to show the powerful links between poverty and crime. The novel is based on a young boy called Oliver Twist; the plot is about how the underprivileged misunderstood orphan, Oliver the son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming, he is generally quiet and shy rather than being aggressive, after his parents past away he is forced to work in a workhouse and then forced to work with criminals. The novel reveals a lot of different aspects of poverty, crime and cruelty which Dickens had experienced himself as a young boy in his disturbing and unsupportive childhood, due to his parents sent to prison so therefore Charles, who was already filled with misery, melancholy and deprivation had started working at the age of twelve at a factory to repay their debt.
Charles Dickens born February 7th 1812 – 9th June 1870 is a highly remarkable novelist who had a vision to change wealthy people’s scrutiny on the underprivileged and by fulfilling the dream he writes novels. Furthermore, I think that Dickens wrote about poverty as he had experiences this awful incident in his upbringings.
Charles Dickens' literary works are comparable to one another in many ways; plot, setting, and even experiences. His novels remain captivating to his audiences and he draws them in to teach the readers lessons of life. Although each work exists separate from all of the rest, many similarities remain. Throughout the novels, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, the process of growing up, described by the author, includes the themes of the character's ability to alienate themselves, charity given to the characters and what the money does to their lives, and the differences of good and evil individuals and the effects of their influences.
The novel ‘Oliver Twist’, written by Charles Dickens explores eighteenth century Britain and how the divide between classes affected society.
Charles Dickens was a man who suffered from poverty, which led him to expose the cruelty, injustice, and disadvantages that the poor encounter on a daily basis. Dickens was born into a low class family as many other authors of his time were. Ironically enough the restrictions that he faced living a hard and cruel life with his family, encouraged him to think outside the box of social norms. He began his career by doing some journalistic work and then worked his way up to becoming a newspaper reporter. The main focus of his works were the ignorance of the poor and child labor, both topics seemed to effect him on a personal note. Dickens’ attitude toward child labor and the poverty of the masses was exposed through his writings, which awakened the s...
Readers of Charles Dickens' journalism will recognize many of the author's themes as common to his novels. Certainly, Dickens addresses his fascination with the criminal underground, his sympathy for the poor, especially children, and his interest in the penal system in both his novels and his essays. The two genres allow the author to address these matters with different approaches, though with similar ends in mind.
Dickens knew how hard-pressed life was for thousands of English families in mid-ninteenth century England, and he knew the legal side of such desperation--a jungle of suspicion and fear and hate. He was especially attentive [if] . . . hungry, jobless men, women, children with few if any prospects became reduced to a fate not only marginal with respect to its "socioeconomic" character but also with respect to its very humanity. (575)
For the first nine years of Dickens’s life, he was living in the coastal regions of Kent, however when Dickens was twelve his family moved to London. He lived with his mother, father and his seven brothers and sisters. His father, John Dickens was a pleasant man, but was very incompetent with money, and had enormous debt throughout his life. As a consequence of this, John Dickens was arrested and sent to debtors’ prison.
As the art of a language, literature is an integration of author’s thoughts and hard work that reflects one’s understanding about the humanity. A literary masterpiece not only reflects issues within a society through describing a fictitious one, but also stands the test of time. Oliver Twist, an epic novel written by 19th-century author Charles Dickens, is, without a doubt, a literary masterpiece. Using well-portrayed characters, Dickens unveil a corrupted society, which the noblemen oppress the paupers, by his pen. With effective use of satirical tone, Dickens emphasizes the issue while making the readers think rather than just letting the readers take in his words. Compares to other literature such as A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift,
“Oliver Twist” was written in 1838 by Charles Dickens and was originally published as a monthly magazine before being published as a novel that was subsequently read by many Victorians. It was written not only to entertain, but to raise awareness for the many issues in the society of the day related mainly to criminal activity. One of the main problems was based around the differentiation in the class of people in the Victorian era. People from the middle classes were widely known think very little of the lower classes and often considered them the evil of society. He also uses the novel to raise the issues related to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and the way that it involved sending poor or orphaned people like Oliver to ghastly overpopulated workhouses where they were poorly looked after. Dickens also fights against the negative stereotypes of criminals and prostitutes such as Nancy who eventually shows the good in herself to protect Oliver from the hands of the deadly wrath of Bill Sikes.
The beginning of Oliver Twist's story was created from memories which related to Charles Dickens' childhood in a blacking factory ( which was overshadowed by the Marshalsea Prison ).4 While working in the blacking factory, Dickens suffered tremendous humiliation. This humiliation is greatly expressed through Oliver's adventures at the orphanage before he is sent away.
Charles Dickens is well known for his distinctive writing style. Few authors before or since are as adept at bringing a character to life for the reader as he was. His novels are populated with characters who seem real to his readers, perhaps even reminding them of someone they know. What readers may not know, however, is that Dickens often based some of his most famous characters, those both beloved or reviled, on people in his own life. It is possible to see the important people, places, and events of Dickens' life thinly disguised in his fiction. Stylistically, evidence of this can be seen in Great Expectations. For instance, semblances of his mother, father, past loves, and even Dickens himself are visible in the novel. However, Dickens' past influenced not only character and plot devices in Great Expectations, but also the very syntax he used to create his fiction. Parallels can be seen between his musings on his personal life and his portrayal of people and places in Great Expectations.
Dickens had several real life experiences of poverty and abandonment in his life that influenced his work, Oliver Twist. The times of poverty and abandonment in Charles Dickens’ life instilled a political belief in Dickens’ mind against the new poor laws of Great Britain. Dickens’ felt the new poor laws victimized the poor, failed to give the poor a voice, and were in need of change. These points are shown in Oliver Twist through the characters, scenes, and narration Dickens’ uses throughout the book.
Charles Dickens was born on 1812 in a mid-class family at Landport in Portsea Island. His father John Dickens was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office with a comfortable income. But his squandering quickly destroys the family by the accumulation of the debts which he could not pay and went to jail in the end. Dickens was also forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, where he earned six shillings per week for pasting labels on pots of boot blacking. The terrible working conditions in the blacking company left a strong impact on young Dickens and later became his inspiration of writing and depicting the miserable life of the lower class people in London, especially the character of Oliver Twist.
Charles Dickens shows notable amounts of originality and morality in his novels, making him one of the most renowned novelists of the Victorian Era and immortalizing him through his great novels and short stories. One of the reasons his work has been so popular is because his novels reflect the issues of the Victorian era, such as the great indifference of many Victorians to the plight of the poor. The reformation of the Poor Law 1834 brings even more unavoidable problems to the poor. The Poor Law of 1834 allows the poor to receive public assistance only through established workhouses, causing those in debt to be sent to prison. Unable to pay debts, new levels of poverty are created. Because of personal childhood experiences with debt, poverty, and child labor, Dickens recognizes these issues with a sympathetic yet critical eye. Dickens notices that England's politicians and people of the upper class try to solve the growing problem of poverty through the Poor Laws and what they presume to be charitable causes, but Dickens knows that these things will not be successful; in fact they are often inhumane. Dickens' view of poverty and the abuse of the poor