Charles Dickens was a British writer from the 19th century. He is known as one of the best writers in history. He had many different great novels, and multiple movies have been made about him. He proves that great writes can come from anywhere and have any kind of backstory.
He lived a very productive and long life, had a great career in writing, and left a lasting legacy for future writers.
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children to be born to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Dickens and his family moved to Chatham when he was four, and Dickens ended up spending most of his childhood there. Dickens stayed in school until he was twelve, when he was taken out by his parents to work in the shoe polish factory instead. This encouraged him to work harder. “The sociological effect of the blacking factory on Dickens was to give him a firsthand acquaintance with poverty and to make him the most vigorous and influential voice of the lower classes in his age.” (Biography.com) Soon, his father was sent to prison for debt in 1824. Everyone moved in to the prison cell with him, except for Dickens. Dickens continued to work in the factory for several years. In 1833, he began writing for newspapers and magazines. His first job writing for a newspaper was with the Mirror of Parliament. He wrote for many different newspapers, and in 1836 he began publishing the “Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.” This took off, and soon his first stories and essays were reprinted as “Sketches by ‘Boz’”. After ‘Boz’, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, and together they had 10 children. Dickens continued to write more stories, like Nicholas Nickleby and Chuzzlewit. But from there, it was mostly all downhill when not related to his novels. Dickens’ father died in 1851, and one of his daughters died 2 weeks later. In 1857 he fell in love with Ellen Ternan, and a year later he separated from his wife. He was involved in a railroad accident in 1865, and he never fully recovered, which led to his death in 1870. Dickens died on Jun. 9, 1870 at age 58 of a stroke. He was buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. When he died, he left “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” unfinished.
When Dickens was alive, England was divided into three different social classes based on your beliefs, wealth and power. The aristocrats consisted of the royal family, spiritual lords, temporal lords, and the great officers of the state. They had the most money and power compared to the rest. The middle class, which was divided into the Upper Middle Class and the Lower Middle Class, included most business owners. Finally, the lower class (which Dickens was in most of his life), was divided into the working class and the poor, neither of which had much power or wealth at all, and were treated horribly. Main jobs for this time in Britain were factory workers (like Dickens), seamstresses, miners and sweepers. Men’s clothing of the time included “tight trousers and waistcoats, with high upstanding collars and neckties tied around them.” (vam.ac.uk) Men were practically free to do whatever they want, while the women were forced to stay at home and do house-work. Important events that happened during this time include slavery being abolished in England in 1838 and vaccinations for the poor being introduced in 1840.
Charles Dickens wrote 15 novels in all, but there were a few that stood out as his best works. Philip Collins of Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. wrote, “The earlier novels- The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Martin Chuzzlewit, A Christmas Carol, and David Copperfield – were Dickens’s most popular works, and, by and large, they remained so throughout the 20th century.” (Collins) Oliver Twist was about an orphan boy that lived in the streets and was taken in and taught how to pickpocket. A Christmas Carol featured an angry old man named Ebenezer Scrooge, who had help from three different ghosts that helped him to find the Christmas spirit. Finally, David Copperfield was a novel that followed the title character, David Copperfield, through his everyday life. This was Dickens’ personal favorite, as he modeled the whole story after his own personal experiences. He “invented” the Christmas genre of books with A Christmas Carol and his other Christmas-themed books. However, Dickens’ main genre was realism, or modeling the stories after real things and real possibilities (real life). Dickens wrote a lot from his experiences, and most of the characters in his stories were poor. He also included his political views in a few novels. His legacy remains today, as most of his novels have been made into movies. He is considered the greatest writer of the Victorian era.
In conclusion, Charles Dickens was a very important writer. He lived to be 58 and produced 15 novels in that time. He had many great novels that are still read today. He was also considered the greatest writer of the Victorian era. The name Charles Dickens will not be forgotten anytime soon.
Originally published 15.10.2019