Charles Dickens

Author of “Oliver Twist”

Early childhood

● Full name: Charles John Huffam Dickens● Father was a Naval clerk● Middle class● Second oldest of 8 children● Born in England (United Kingdom)● Feb. 7, 1812, Died June 9, 1870 in Higham, UK● Landport, Portsmouth, UK Google Map

No child labor laws● 1822 (age 10) moved to a poor

town, Camden Town● His father’s debts sent him to jail● Dickens had to work at a

boot-backing factory, age 12● Family inheritance=back to school● Office boy, working again at 15● Editing jobs

$$$Money● Earned 6 shillings a week; 2.55 cents● 1 shilling in 1822 = $125.24 today (2017)● $6,512.48 yearly income

○ Poverty line for family of 1 is roughly $11,500○ How many were in Charles’ family?

Poverty: FPL Conversion: Inflation Resource: Old Bailey

Better Jobs● Law clerk● Journalist, writer, editor● Traveled● 15 novels● short stories & prose● Caricatures● Weak female characters

Themes● Poverty, legal system (“Oliver Twist”), lower class● Workhouses, factories (sympathetic)● Influenced by childhood, felt abandoned by adults● Advocates for the poor

○ This is during high point of the Industrial Revolution

Victorian Era● 1830-1900● Named for Queen

Victoria● Dickens meant to

educate middle class

● London, England

Oliver Twist (1838)● February 1837 to April 1839;

○ Revised 1847○ Musical 1960

● Depicted 3 social levels○ Parochial (workhouses/poor)○ Criminal world (pickpockets, murderers,

slums)○ Victorian middle class (us, essentially)

Impact & Focus● Shifted literary focus from upper-middle class to lower● Willing to write about all society-> from rich to dirt poor● Focused on Victorian social issues (industrial revolution)

○ Faults of the legal system○ Horror of workhouses/factories

Characters Themes● Weak female characters● On the side of the poor● Exaggerated

(archetypes)

● Family, childhood● Poverty● Innocence● Corrupted by adults

(children)● Classic poverty to riches

story where corruption by adults is restored = happy ending

Style (writing)● Lists of objects & people● Adjectives in pairs of 3 or 4● Excessive details and description (romantic)● Repetition (poetic devices) ideas & concepts● Symbolic opposite physical features/images (antithetical)● Exaggerates characters faults (feels dramatic)● Suspenseful endings of chapters