Charles Dickens

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After the success of The Pickwick Papers, Dickens started a full-time career as a novelist → He had worked in poor streets of London and lived in the misery environment full of poor people who then became the protagonists of his novels → The protagonists of his autobiographical novels, Oliver Twist (1838), David Copperfield (1850) and Little Dorrit (1857), became the symbols of an exploited childhood confronted with the bitter realities of factories. Other works include Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854) and Great Expectations (1861), which deal with the conditions of the poor and the working class in general. → DEATH: He died in Kent in 1870. Themes Dickens' concern was principally social issues. → He was always hoping to get us interested in some pretty serious things. The evils of an industrialising society, the working conditions in factories, child labour, the inefficiency of government bureaucracy. He tried to describe the conditions of poor people (orphans, children) in relation to the scientific and technological progress of that period → In particular, he set his novels in industrialised suburbs and cities, especially near London At the end of every novel, Dickens shows that there is a way to get out from pain and suffering as a light at the bottom → A MESSAGE OF HOPE: if you respect the rules, you can obtain the happiness. Dickens and religion In that period, the religion in England was the Christian religion and it was seen as a great help for people to realise a better life giving guidelines on behaviour. It is in this period that going to church every Sunday morning became a common tradition for all Victorian families → fact the religion has an important position because it was also a way to keep a good appearance However, the religion was greatly defeated by the faith in progress, in science, in factories → For this reason, the Church tried to conform its beliefs to sustain the idea of progress proposing a social religion, which is very far from the praying that had characterised the middle age → Dickens tries to convey this idea of social religion with a message of hope at the end of his novels → The religious message of Dickens's novels is that you can behave in a good way following the right values which are past by the religion (kindness, sympathy...) in order to have a better life →he illustrates with the happy ending shows a strong optimism with religious aspects which push people to help the unlucky ones → Dickens really believed that poor condition of children and working class can be solved If poorer people want to get out of their misery, they have to do it by working. The narrator is a voice outside the novel as he can be a guide for the reader in the moral message he wanted to express: in this story, the novelist's aim is to represent the Victorian reality from children's point of view with an ironic tone. While in Oliver Twist the principle theme is the pauperism and the possibility of redemption for poor children, in Hard times Dickens tries to describe the poor condition of the citizens of an industrial town called Coketown Oliver Twist Bildungsroman (german term to indicate educationale novel). The world of the workhouse Dickens's task was never to get the worst and suffering to rebel, or even encourage discontent, but to make the ruling classes aware of the social problems and, in particular, of the pauperism which included many people of the country → In the first half of the 19th century, in many poor neighbourhoods of London, there were many orphans without a family and someone who cared about them → With the rise of the level of poverty, workhouses were built all over England to give relief to the poor. In particular, with the advent of the Poor Law system, Victorian workhouses, designed to deal with the issue of pauperism. → Workhouses were institutions run by parish authorities which should have taken care of the orphans giving them a house and a job. However, the conditions prevailing in the workhouses were appalling as the owners used to exploit/abuse them and caused further misery. Children were completely neglected and many of them died every day mainly from starvation. → The conditions were harsh and treatment was cruel with families divided, forcing children to be separated from their parents. → A factory-style production line which used children was both unsafe and in the age of industrialisation, focused on profit rather than solving issues of pauperism. Conception of pauperism in Victorian Age → if you're poor, it's your fault The government were convinced that the best way possible to take away people living in the street from pauperism was to set them in humble structures → It's better give them a roof on their heads, instead of leaving them on the street → Victorian mentality was very strict and at the bottom people thought that the poorer were not engaged enough in life, because they didn't follow the rules. It was believed that poor people were not suitable for the standard of the society because they were not engaged enough in life. However, there is a way to escape pauperism and it is by working → This is the the message presented by the early Victorian novelist, in particular by Charles Dickens → Dickens was convinced that following the rules was the only way for unlucky people to make out of poverty and to become a better person, as Oliver Twist did at the end of the novel. In presenting the contest inside the workhouse, Dickens wanted to demonstrate through his literature The workhouse pag40 Two kind of the descriptions of children's condition: → Dickens defined them as victims of the system and, in order to convey this idea, he used ironic exaggeration and repetition of concepts retained important to underline. For example, the repetition of the quantity of the stipend that each child receives per week. → Owner's mean behaviour towards the children. → The death of a child. When a child in the workhouse died, it was quite always for starvation or for the absence of protection in their work. Anyway, the owner had to maintain the good appearance of her workhouse, so she didn't say the real cause, but she lied saying it was an accident. Hard times KEY-THEME: Idea of education according to the headmaster of the school in Coketown, children must be educated only on using facts → it's a sort of narrow and strict vision of rationality and Dickens critics it → A very harsh criticism towards this kind of education which didn't allow the children to use their imagination, be curious their own and to FEEL and EXPERIENCE the concept they learned ALL THIS ELEMENTS HELPS THE READER TO HAVE CLEAR CUT OF DICKENS'S CHARACTER → DICKENS'S NOVEL CRITICISE THE INEFFICIENT AND RESTRICTIVE VICTORIAN EDUCATIONAL METHOD. → this critic is also towards the middle classes who had an obsession to appearance of things, and not to the heart of them → the importance of manners and appearance to conform ourselves in what the society want we to conform to, rather than to feel and to be there is an obsession to appear perfect in following the standard values. Mr Gradgrind pag46 The scene takes place in a classroom where Mr Gradgrind, the headmaster, stands before a group of young students affirming his belief in 'Facts' as the sole (only) measure of reality. Square mind → the repetition of the adjective "square" in the description of Mr Grandgrid emphasised the concept of a scientific education the concept of square education is realised by the description of characters → it is an usual technique which Dickens uses to emphasised and to make more clear the concept he wants to express for the women Typical attitude of Dickens is → The detailed physical description corresponds to the mean psychological description of this character and it is characterised by the square → square forefinger, square foreheads, large eyes, dark capes (occhiaie) Dickens's attitude to education Dickens was the first in introducing the team of education into his works. He was worried about the education of children and wanted to create a national system. In his novels, he emphasises childhood as an integral part of human development and education is a significant part for future social improvement. →By demonstrating the failure of the Victorian school system, Hard Times underlines the importance of teaching children how to critically analyse reality and question the facts that they are provided → In Mr. Gradgrind's view of education, the exclusive knowledge of facts is the only thing that matters in children's formation. The harsh criticism of Dickens, instead, illustrates how this method of education represses any sort of emotions: children should be taught how to feel and to experience the concept they have just learned in school, not just measuring it. For Dickens, a correct educational method should not restrict children's curiosity and imagination. In fact, he promotes liberal and flexible school systems that mostly consider student's needs and ideas. Charles Dickens video Entertainment Dickens didn't just write from the very beginning as there were signs of a great showman as a child. He loved putting on plays in the family kitchen and singing songs standing on a table in a local pub→ Entertainment remained at the heart of what Dickens was up to. He was always hoping to get us interested in some pretty serious things. The evils of an industrialising society, the working conditions in factories, child labour, the inefficiency of government bureaucracy. In theory, we recognised that these and the modern versions are pretty worthy themes, but in reality, he knew that we didn't consider them much. → So his intention became working out how to be seductive about serious things, how to educate through entertainment Sympathy Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in February 1812. His father was a clerk in the Navy Office. They had to constantly move about to follow his different appointments. It was a refined life at first, but they were always money troubles looming. When he was only 10, Dickens had to leave school, because his parents could no longer afford the modest fees, and he was sent to work in London at a blacking factory. → It was a grim experience. Young Dickens hated the fumes and numbing speed with which he had to carry out repetitive tasks. The people he worked around were bullying and sinister. Then his father was arrested for debt. At that time, debtors could be confined to prison, along with their dependents by their creditors until they were able to start paying off what they owed. So the whole family moved into the squalid Marshall C prison, except young Dickens who lodged nearby and continued with this horrible job. Part of the continuing popular affection, Dickens felt a very strong sense of the precariousness of life and a deep compassion for those who are victims of the social system. When Dickens' life improved in his early 20s, he discovered that he was an outstandingly brilliant journalist and he used his own suffering experience in a very clever way. → Everyone already knew that there were children's exploitation, horrible working conditions and prevalent pauperism all over the country. These were obvious facts of early 19 century life in England. The point was that comfortable people, the kind of people who had the power to change things generally didn't feel much sense of urgency. They didn't feel personally connected to the problems. → So Dickens used his own experience to get people to feel interested in and sympathetic to the difficult situation of others that they normally have been emotionally very distant from. He didn't say "look how awful it is for them", but instead "here what it would be like for you". For example, when he writes about workhouses, which were institutions of forced labour for people unable to support themselves, Dickens sends in them the little Oliver Twist, who actually belongs to a well to do family, from whom he's been separated by a series of tragic accidents. Oliver is there so that his readers, who would generally be quite prosperous, could think: what if this were me? What if this poor and malnourished orphan who grew up in such terrible conditions were me? In an ideal world, we'd perhaps care equally about everyone, but in reality our concern is much more readily directed towards the misfortunes of people we know and find likeable. So, if we are fond to people who are having a hard time, then we start to feel engaged in their poor condition. So if Dickens' project is to draw attention (attirare l'attenzione) to a failure in the system, it's a very good strategy to create likeable characters in order to raise a general concern for the unlucky people. The attention to the victims Dickens was hugely sensitive to the sufferings of others and to help them. His writing draws attention to many things that were going wrong in Victorian society. The poor law, the dreadful state of schools and harsh working conditions. But he wasn't trying to promote specific schemes of reform. What he was doing was shaping the climate of feeling an opinion, which makes it much easier for people trying to make local improvements. Ordinary things The other thing that Dickens did to keep us on board with his high minded vision of social reform was to keep on showing how well he understood the cosy, pleasing, comfortable things of life. Dickens was particularly good at evoking the pleasures of home. Dickens loved picnics, games of cricket in the park, sitting by the fire, having friends round for dinner, warm blankets and going on holiday. Being a caring and good person, he is saying, doesn't mean despising the ordinary small pleasures → This is a key element in Dickens, his general strategy. The business of writing Dickens took the practical business side of writing very seriously. He was immensely productive, he churned out (produrre in serie) books, and he was deeply concerned about copyright laws, sales figures, and profit margins. But Dickens didn't simply want to sell a lot of novels as he was so ambitious that worked towards changing the world → For this aim, he perfectly knew that a book wouldn't have an effect unless it was in wide circulation, unless the business side was going well. Link with history of art This painting is sort of a summary of Dickens's conception of social reality which he describes in every one of his novels. This painting was one of his most famous works and was one of many of his paintings which featured rural scenes. His inspiration for this painting was probably the impoverished migrant workers he had een near his home in Bushey. Herkomer actually used a real family for his painting, getting a working labourer, James Quarry and his wife Annie to pose with their two sons Frederick George and his brother James Joseph as unemployed workers and their children. The setting for this painting was called Coldharbour Lane, a long and winding road in the Hertfordshire countryside. The outdoor setting was painted en plein air but the characters in the painting were painted later, indoors at his Art School. The wife who sits with her children by the roadside looks sad and dejected. On the other hand, the man looks down the road and his face is one of hope and possibly optimism that something will "turn up soon" and the tools of the man's trade lie before them signifying that strength would eventually overcome hardship. It is interesting to note the difference in Herkomer's portrayal of the effect hardship had on men and women. So should we view this painting as one of hope or one of destitution? Two 'London' writers: George Orwell and Charles Dickens → Their surnames had become everyday adjectives in order to define condition social situation inside the London's reality they both had criticised in their works → "Dickensian" and "Orwellian" If anyone talks of a factory or perhaps housing being 'Dickensian' - we know it means the sort of 'Oliver Twist' conditions found in nineteenth-century London. The word 'Orwellian' is frequently used to describe government behaviour (similar to Stalin's or Hitler's totalitarian state) parodied by the great twentieth-century author of Animal Farm and 1984 - George Orwell. → Both were originally journalists who wrote non-fiction as well as fiction, and both are famous for the excellence of their writing style. → Both wrote about poverty in London comparing it with Paris (Dickens in a Tale of Two Cities, Orwell in 'Down and Out in Paris and London, a book about his own experiences trying life as a tramp (vagabond), even though he had attended Eton, Britain's smartest boys' school, the same one as most of our Prime Ministers Princes Harry and William, the Queen's grandchildren). And here is the great contrast. Orwell's solution to poverty was to fight alongside communists and anarchists in the Spanish Civil War (where he was shot). Unlike Orwell's 'fake' poverty, Dickens had experienced the real poverty of Oliver Twist or his virtually autobiographical novel David Copperfield when his father was sent to prison and the young Dickens was forced to work in a factory aged 12. → Unlike Orwell's radical political solution to poverty, Dickens in contrast simply encouraged the rich to give to charity (Christmas Carol).