РефератыИностранный языкUnUntitled Essay Research Paper Something about Charles

Untitled Essay Research Paper Something about Charles

Untitled Essay, Research Paper


Something about Charles Dickens and his ability to take his reader to


unbelievable places with his imaginative powers allows him the honor of being


the most popular English novelist of the 19th century. Dickens has thrilled


his readers for many years with his down-to-earth stories about real people


forced into real situations. Charles Dickens has the ability to tell his


stories from personal experiences. He fine-tuned his ability to tell his


own story through the life of another character or cast of characters.


Born on the evening of February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens was the second child


of his parents, John and Elizabeth Dickens. His parents lived in Portsmouth,


which is located on England’s southern coast. The family was in the lower


division of the middle class. Charles Dickens’ father, John, was a clerk


at the Navy Pay Office in Portsmouth. Dickens’s mother was very affectionate


and rather foolish in practical matters. John was a vivacious and generous


man, but often lived outside the boundaries of his tight pocketbook. Later


in life Dickens used his father as the basis for his fictional character,


Mr. Micawber and his mother as Mrs. Nickleby in the Brothers Cheeryble (Constable


25).


In 1814 John Dickens was transferred from the post in Portsworth to one in


London. Three years later the family moved to Chatham to be closer to their


father who was working steadily at the post. Charles Dickens’s mother taught


him to read when he was barely five and for the next few years Dickens lived


wonderfully, reading every book he could get his hands on. He quickly read


through his father’s collection of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Defoe, Smollett,


Fielding, and Goldsmith. Every one of these authors left a mark on the young


mind of Charles Dickens which is easy to see in his style and attitude throughout


writings (Carey 6).


During this time Dickens started attending school where he excelled and pleased


his father greatly. Although he was a solitary child, Dickens was observant


and good natured and often participated in different comical routines for


the class. Looking back on this period of his life, Dickens thought of it


as the golden age (Carey 6). In the first novel that he wrote, The Pickwick


Papers, Dickens tries to bring back the good old times as he remembers them


with their picturesque nature. Gary Carey believes that this novel displays


the happiness of innocence and the playful spirit of the youth during the


time of Dickens’s youthful days (7).


Overtaken by financial difficulties, the Dickens family was forced to move


into a shabby suburb of Camden Town. This move must have shown the family


how good they had it back in Chatham. There Dickens was removed from school


and forced to work degrading menial jobs in an effort to help his struggling


father put food on the table. Dickens was put to work in a blackening factory


among many rough and cruel employees, probably the worst job in town. Shortly


after Dickens started working in the factory his father was thrown into jail


for failure to pay his debts, only to be released three months later. This


period of time affected Dickens greatly as he went into a period of depression.


He felt abandoned and destroyed by this evil roller-coaster ride of life


he was on. From this time period come many of the major themes of his more


popular novels. Perhaps the most popular of these novels is David Copperfield.


In this novel Dickens depicts a young man who grows up in a very similar


way to that of his own (Al


len 28).


Dickens’ sympathy for the victimized, his fascination with prisons and money,


the desire to vindicate his heroes’ status as gentlemen, and the idea of


London as an awesome, lively, and rather threatening environment all reflect


the experiences he had during his time on his own. On his own at the age


of twelve, Dickens learned many necessary life skills which also developed


in him a driving ambition and a boundless energy that transferred into every


thing that he did (28).


It would be a mistake to think of Charles Dickens as an uneducated man just


because he had little formal schooling. Dickens did what everyone should


do, learn from life. His entire writing career was a continuing process of


development and experimentation. Many of his themes keep repeating themselves


throughout his pieces and those themes most certainly stem from his early


life. From his early Pickwick Papers to his one of his last pieces The Mystery


of Edwin Drood Dickens never ceased to develop his writing abilities and


skill, establishing himself as the major and primary Victorian novelist (Bloom


189).


The journey from boyhood into manhood is a momentous one, and definitely


something that has a lasting effect on one’s person. Charles Dickens in his


novel David Copperfield describes the journey into manhood by telling a story


similar to his own life through the life of “David Copperfield.” There isn’t


one underlining theme in this novel there are many. The journey is one that


along with “David’s” is longing for what is lost in the past and the humiliation


he feels from being an orphan. Dickens has written an excellent novel describing


the troubles of growing up and the benefits of having a rough childhood.


Through the rough experiences that he had, Dickens was able to look back


on his early life and write world-famous stories about them. Calvin Brown


feel that these experiences also helped shape the man the Dickens became,


as do all experiences in life for everyone (Brown 144)


The structure of Dickens’s Copperfield has the freeness and the unity of


a wonderful journey. As the scene moves from place to place in the story


each move also represents a critical step in David’s spiritual journey to


manhood. Dickens uses the pattern of changing scenes to provide both variety


and contrast of mood. The atmosphere changes as the story moves along from


the Salem House to Blunderstone, giving the story diversity. Dickens constantly


shows how the life of David would have been much easier had he had a decent


father figure in his home while he was growing up.


David is constantly searching for what he has lost in the past. He recalls


the beautiful world of the Peggottys when he says, “It seems to me at this


hour that I have never seen such sunlight as on those bright April afternoons,

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that I have never seen such a sunny little figure as I used to see, sitting


in the doorway of the old boat…”(Copperfield 7) This writing of Dickens


binds the reader to the story. David remembers the “olden” days and thinks


of them as the “golden” days (Allen 28).


As the beginning of the story describes, David Copperfield has many hard


childhood experiences, such as Dickens’s own humiliating days spent working


in the blackening factory in London. The despair and humiliation that he


suffered there and the rejection of his parents and the loss of all his hopes


of self-fulfillment are relived through David in this book. Dickens tells


his own story well through the life of David Copperfield. He isn’t looking


for the readers’ sympathy. He simply wants the reader to understand that


just because he had a rough life doesn’t mean it was a bad one.


A journey into adulthood, something that everyone must go through, although


it may be easier for some than others. Charles Dickens, in David Copperfield,


describes this journey as he makes the reader a vital part of David Copperfield’s


life. This journey is a theme in this novel as well as “David’s” longing


for what is lost in the past and the humiliation he feels from being an orphan.


Dickens has developed his character, David, into a hero much like he wanted


to be remembered as (Andreola 3). Many critics today think he achieved that


goal!


Charles Dickens also wrote many other books throughout his creative writing


career. In his book A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens causes the reader to ask


what the novel is really about, just what the driving theme is. Although


each reader will come up with a different answer to this question, most of


the answers fall into one of three categories.


Some readers will say that this novel is about the different personalities


of the many different and well-described characters throughout his novel.


The story portrays a French physician, Dr. Manette, who has been wrongly


put into prison in the Bastille for nearly eighteen years before the story


even begins (Constable 24). Because he witnessed the aftermath of a crime


that was committed by two other fellows, the doctor was thrown into prison.


The entire prison experience is something that he can never fully shake free


from. In moments of stress throughout the novel Dr. Manette often goes insane,


a result of his time in prison. The story also concerns a man by the name


of Jarvis Lorry, who, in the beginning of the book, is on his way to retrieve


the doctor from the prison (Constable 13).


Another group of readers will believe that this book is about the French


Revolution. Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities starts out in 1775 while the


Revolution was still in its underground preliminary stages. The book covers


eighteen years ending with one of the bloodiest battles, the Reign of Terror


in 1973. Although most of the major revolution events take place off stage


in the novel, they do have a major effect on the lives of the characters


in the story. It would certainly be no error to say the events of the French


Revolution, which make up so much of the setting in this novel, is what the


theme of the novel really is (Carey 11).


The third category of readers will say the novel’s theme is beyond the fictional


characters and historical events and is more of a symbol. These readers will


see that the actions relate to Dickens’s vision of life and the reason for


it. This group will say that the book presents a picture of human life using


the dramatic language of characters and their actions (Carey 12).


Anyway that a reader approaches A Tale of Two Cities, it is a hard book to


read although it does become interesting at times and in the end brings the


reader into an understanding of personal life trials during the time of the


French Revolution. Whether the reader believes that the novel is about its


characters, historical events or symbolism, it doesn’t matter. Charles Dickens


wanted the readers of enjoy this novel not fight over what the meaning behind


it is (Carey 12).


Sadly, many of the greatest books that have strengthened and shaped Western


civilization are drifting out of modern life and thought. But it doesn’t


have to be this way. Someone must responsibly keep the literary lights such


as Charles Dickens burning brightly for the benefit of younger generations.


(Andreola 2)


It is time to rescue Dickens from the attic and let him stir the hearts of


people today. Dickens can challenge, motivate, and entertain in ways the


Hardy Boys never could. Dickens became famous writing stories that highlighted


the difference between right and wrong in his own time. His stories invite


readers to form an opinion and make decisions about a character’s right or


wrong actions.


As only an artist could. Dickens paints a moral picture of life. To paint


the moral for children is more effective than to “point” it. Here lays the


help the younger generation of today needs to develop a “moral


imagination.”


When reading episodes from Dickens’s stories it is easy to get to know his


characters more intimately than neighbors. The experience of life along with


his characters is something that the readers feel. Feelings arouse for them


as the characters struggle in difficult situations (Andreola 2).


In Terry W. Glaspey’s Great Books of the Christian Tradition, he says, “Dickens


could sometimes be faulted for being overlong and sentimental, but his novels


seem to lodge in the memory long after they are read. His ability to create


a multitude of memorable characters gave us the adjective ‘Dickensian.’ His


staunch Victorian morality is a pleasant contrast to our modern sense of


moral drift.” And what wonderful characters they are! His heroes are people


of everyday life who supply readers with a vision of goodness (Andreola 3)


Clearly without the writing of Charles Dickens the literary world of today


would be suffering a great loss. Dickens thought his many years of life


experiences was able to use his talents as a writer to express to the everyday


reader what the true meaning of life is. Charles Dickens did for the literary


world what stories like that of small town basketball sensation, Larry Bird,


did for small town athletes around the United States. Dickens helped readers


understand themselves, those who are the common folk. Middle to lower class.

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