A Biography of Charles Dickens
The Powerful Pen
Childhood memories should be warm and loving, but for Charles Dickens they were filled with fear and shame. His was a life of instability and fleeting moments of happiness, filled with embarrassing scenes of debt collectors, jail house visits and appalling working conditions. All of these episodes were set against the background of the filthy streets and somber reality of England during the Industrial Revolution. Charles Dickens was aware of the poverty surrounding him and the lack of concern the world seemed to have for the needy. He later wrote of his poverty, “no one had compassion enough on me”. (Mankowitz 21) As he wandered though the grimy streets of London, disturbed by what he witnessed, he believed one day he would make a difference. What he did not realize was that he would improve the lives of many others while on his path to success. The unsettling childhood of Charles Dickens, recalled in his famous works The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, exposed social injustices though his broad readership while bringing awareness to the neglected, impoverished population of Victorian England.
Life in the Dickens home in the early 1800’s was not going well, and a heavy cloud of debt hung over the family like a dreary London afternoon. Charles, who was born in 1812, had a father who made a habit of living beyond his means, and spent money foolishly. 1 Eventually his father’s carefree attitude towards to the family finances caught up with him and the Dickens’ were forced to sell their home2.
1 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 8-9.
2 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 12.
3 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 19.
1 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 8-9.
2 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by
Childhood memories should be warm and loving, but for Charles Dickens they were filled with fear and shame. His was a life of instability and fleeting moments of happiness, filled with embarrassing scenes of debt collectors, jail house visits and appalling working conditions. All of these episodes were set against the background of the filthy streets and somber reality of England during the Industrial Revolution. Charles Dickens was aware of the poverty surrounding him and the lack of concern the world seemed to have for the needy. He later wrote of his poverty, “no one had compassion enough on me”. (Mankowitz 21) As he wandered though the grimy streets of London, disturbed by what he witnessed, he believed one day he would make a difference. What he did not realize was that he would improve the lives of many others while on his path to success. The unsettling childhood of Charles Dickens, recalled in his famous works The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, exposed social injustices though his broad readership while bringing awareness to the neglected, impoverished population of Victorian England.
Life in the Dickens home in the early 1800’s was not going well, and a heavy cloud of debt hung over the family like a dreary London afternoon. Charles, who was born in 1812, had a father who made a habit of living beyond his means, and spent money foolishly. 1 Eventually his father’s carefree attitude towards to the family finances caught up with him and the Dickens’ were forced to sell their home2.
1 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 8-9.
2 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 12.
3 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 19.
1 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. 8-9.
2 Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by
Cited: Bodenheimer, Rosemarie. Knowing Dickens. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2007. Print. "Charles Dickens: An Overview." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 09 Feb. 2012. <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/index.html>. "A Dickens of a Day." Seacoastonline.com. 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. <http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120209-NEWS-202090349>. Forster, John, and George Gissing. Forster 's Life of Dickens,. London: Chapman & Hall, Ld., 1903. Print. Kaplan, Fred. Dickens: A Biography. New York: Morrow, 1988. Print. Mankowitz, Wolf. Dickens of London. New York: Macmillan, 1977. Print. Pearson, Hesketh. Dickens, His Character, Comedy, and Career. New York: Harper & Bros., 1949. Print. Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: [a Life Defined by Writing]. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. Print.