Charles Dickens Life

From Beginning To End

(1812-1870)

Quotes

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.

Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

History• Full Name: Charles John Huffman Dickens

•Born in Portsmouth, England February 7, 1812

• Dickens was the second of eight children

• Dickens was born during the time that Karl Marx’s ideas came forth which was during the new industrial age of England

• Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory at age 12 to work off his father, John, debt

• Dickens married Catherine Hogart

• They had ten children together

• Dickens may have had fondness for other women such as Catherine’s sisters Mary and later Georgiana and the actress Ellen Ternan

• Died of a stroke on June 9, 1870

•Buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey

Works by Charles Dickens

THE ADVENTURES OF OLIVER TWIST, 1837-39

DAVID COPPERFIELD, 1849

THE TALE OF TWO CITIES, 1859

A CHRISTMAS CAROL, 1843

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND,1865

SOCIAL REVELENCE Charles Dickens had a hard beginning and, in his early teens, was forced to leave school and work in a blacking factory, therefore receiving little schooling. Throughout Dickens writing career he took every day living and every day people to create stories that enlightened the reader to the downtrodden, and their plights. Dickens works dealt mainly with the middle to lower classes of society and were distinguished by the attacks on social evils, injustice and hypocrisy. He was considered by some to be a spokesman for the poor. Oliver TwistThis novel showed a deeper side of poverty when a little boy is kicked out of a poorfarm and work house when he asks for another serving of porridge. Oliver is then picked up by a gang of thieves were he learns all about the streets.

A Christmas CarolThis novel was loved by many and to this day is read. It is sometimes also referred as being a ghost story of Christmas.

David CopperfieldDickens uses his own personal experience in the factories. Also Mary his wife’s sister was portrayed as Dora Copperfield in this work.

The Tale of Two CitiesThis novel shows the plight of the French peasantry under the oppression of the French aristocracy. Then in the years following the brutality of the Revolutionists towards the former aristocrats.

Our Mutual FriendThis was Dickens second last novel, and it all started with a murder. It includes a combination of social analysis and psychological insight.

CHARLES DICKENS CAREER

(1824)- worked in blacking factory (to pay off debt)

(1827-1828)- worked in law office as a clerk (for his father) then a shorthand reporter at Doctor Commons

(1830-1832)- wrote for True Sun

(1833)- started to write fiction

(1832-1834)- wrote for Mirror of Parliament

(1834-1836)- wrote for the Morning Chronicle

By Laura Friesen

Humanities 30Mr. Kabachia Due: September 14, 2009