Charles Dickens

In many of his novels, Dickens describes poverty in great detail. For the most part, he depicts the poor when they are off the job ­ at home, in their neighborhoods, as in Oliver Twist ­ and he creates memorable characters whose personalities and mannerisms reflect a vicious, nasty world in which greed strangles human feelings and concerns. In his novels, Dickens generally makes a case that poverty and the dehumanization that stems from it can be changed primarily by a change in heart or an understanding that people simply have to treat each other better, or they ­ even the wealthy ­ will suffer. This is demonstrated most clearly in Hard Times. Dickens wrote far more about London and southern England than he did of industrial Manchester and the North. He seemed more familiar with the surroundings of London where a lumpen proletariat (revealed graphically in Oliver Twist) came to embody "the poor." The lumpen proletariat historically was more difficult to organize than were factory workers who would create trade unions and political parties to represent them. Dickensıs characters rarely were involved in collective efforts to improve their plight and that of their colleagues. They were seen as individuals whose own character development drove a novel forward. When he does utilize an industrial setting for a novel, his protagonist, Stephen Blackpool, is described by Dickens as a young man who swore an oath never to join a union. Dickens never explained why Blackpool swore this oath, and nor is Dickensıs protagonist influenced by a trade union presence or any other social movement. External surroundings, while often vividly described, donıt often shape his characters. Instead, their "character" accounts for whether they prevail, and a reader can imagine that his or her surroundings donıt really determine the outcome of a Dickens novel. A characterıs "character," rather than a characterıs environment, seems to be the most important factor in Dickensıs work. An awakening of Scroogeıs "humanity," brought on by a nightmare of spiritual loneliness, transforms Scrooge and drives A Christmas Carol.

Engels | Conclusion | Intro