Book Analysis: The Old Curiosity Shop
The book called The Old Curiosity Shop was written by Charles Dickens. The piece printed as a book in 1941.The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, who both reside in The Old Curiosity Shop in London. A fact about the book I found interesting is apparently Queen Victoria read the novel in 1841 and was said to have called it “very interesting and cleverly written.” That was probably the moment when Charles realized his book was amazing, when the queen reads it!
The events in the book took place around 1825. The significance to the history forming around the books era, some references talked about were currently banned, or became banned after the public publishing of the book. Even though the practice of being chained and whipped when sent to a madhouse was banned in 1830, when Nell’s grandfather had his breakdown that same fear of being sent to such madhouse with those practices remained with him. After the book went world-wide there was so much criticism as well as literary significance, only to be expected of course. The hype surrounding the conclusion of the book series was unprecedented. It was reported that Dickens fans stormed the piers of New York City shouting to the arriving sailors, “Is little Nell alive?”
Allusions to the actual history and geography are very significant as well. A shop named ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ can be found in Westminster, London. The building dates back to the sixteenth century, but the name was added after the book’s release. The description of the Old Curiosity Shop was thought to be inspired by that antique shop in Westminster, London. At one point in time that shop function as a dairy on an estate given to one of King Charles the second’s mistress. The wood the building was made out of is some extremely strong wood; the same wood that survived the bombs of World War 2! Ironically, there is a shop in Broadstairs called The Old Curiosity Shop where Dickens rented a home. The inspiration for this book was
The events in the book took place around 1825. The significance to the history forming around the books era, some references talked about were currently banned, or became banned after the public publishing of the book. Even though the practice of being chained and whipped when sent to a madhouse was banned in 1830, when Nell’s grandfather had his breakdown that same fear of being sent to such madhouse with those practices remained with him. After the book went world-wide there was so much criticism as well as literary significance, only to be expected of course. The hype surrounding the conclusion of the book series was unprecedented. It was reported that Dickens fans stormed the piers of New York City shouting to the arriving sailors, “Is little Nell alive?”
Allusions to the actual history and geography are very significant as well. A shop named ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ can be found in Westminster, London. The building dates back to the sixteenth century, but the name was added after the book’s release. The description of the Old Curiosity Shop was thought to be inspired by that antique shop in Westminster, London. At one point in time that shop function as a dairy on an estate given to one of King Charles the second’s mistress. The wood the building was made out of is some extremely strong wood; the same wood that survived the bombs of World War 2! Ironically, there is a shop in Broadstairs called The Old Curiosity Shop where Dickens rented a home. The inspiration for this book was
Cited: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. "The Old Curiosity Shop." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.