Charles Dickens: Shaped By Experiences

The Hero’s Journey is a cyclical journey commonly used in literature. Joseph Campbell was the first to realize this pattern is frequently used in stories, movies, and fairytales. The cycle contains twelve significant milestones that occur as a hero explores an unknown special world. This cycle resembles a clock in a few ways. The twelve hours represent the twelve stages.

Dickens was able to encase the reader in the story by touching the reader’s heart. The reader was exposed to poverty, cruelty, and death, as well as many other circumstances that occurred in the story. Dickens used this to help the reader to become involved with the action that occurred with this story. Honestly who would want to read a story that did not try to get a reaction out of the reader? Dickens tries to open the reader to all emotions such as hate than love even being fearful for the future of the characters.

The society of the 1800s had an atrocious attitude towards charities and the poor. Charles Dickens had a first hand experience to this barbaric society. At a young age, his father was ripped away from him to be put into a debtors prison and Dickens was then forced to work at a blacking factory. There, he was exposed to all the inequitable treatment of the corrupt government. Dickens wanted reform against the unjust system, but improvement didn’t seem to be an option.

In ‘A Christmas Carol’, Dickens presents Ignorance and Want in a metaphorical fashion, depicting them as children. This is done in such a manner as to shock and appall the reader, leading to greater emotional investment. Throughout the extract’s entirety, Ignorance and Want are depicted as children, increasing the atmosphere of pessimism that surrounds them. Dickens describes the manner in which the Ghost of Christmas Present “brought two children” – by describing Ignorance and Want as “children”, Dickens creates the impression of innocence, vulnerability, and weakness.

B. After the unemployment of his father Dickens was taken out of school and placed into a boot-blackening factory. It was here, although short-lived, that influenced much of his work not only as an author but as an advocate for society. III. Social Reforms Dickens Hoped to See in Mid-nineteenth century England A. Literature for Dickens was used as a springboard for political changes that he hoped to see take place in England.

For Instance, one of his best novel was “A Christmas Carol”, which was written in a third person narrator, also he explains with precision why the industrial revolution turned off the sense of humanity of some people in Great Britain. Dickens, was one of the authors that were affected by the industrial revolution in good way, because this event helped him as an inspiration to his work and helped him think about his moral values. He used this period in his novel to recreate and portrait the attitude of rich people towards others with necessities. So his goal was to make others think about their moral values again. To take case in point, this novel is about a man called Ebenezer Scrooge, that was a selfish and self-centered person.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (1) This opening line has set a precedent for foils in literature for decades to come. The use of a foil is meant to draw attention to a character’s flaws therefore making an opposing character’s strengths more visible. This novel exemplifies foiling through characters such as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, as well as the settings. It is for these reasons Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, as a whole, works as a foil. Sydney Carton is first introduced as an alcoholic lawyer without many morals.

On the other hand, Scrooge and Charles Dickens are very different from each other. For example, Charles Dickens was very sympathetic with the lower classes and “requested that one of the readings be reserved for working people and that they be charged only a small admittance fee,” (Warren 118). This is all while Scrooge is is telling the portly men the poor should go in prisons and workhouses. He also tells them that “If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population,” (Dickens 10). Another difference is that Dickens loved to interact with people.

Once he married his wife, Lucie, and joined the Mannette family, he quickly found a joyful, fulfilling life in London. He soon became the father to a little girl who brought light into the quiet home. “Ever busily the winding golden thread that bound them all together, weaving the service of her happy influence through the tissue of all their lives…Lucie heard in the echoes of years none but friendly and soothing sounds. Her husband’s step was strong and prosperous among them; her father’s firm and equal.” (Dickens, p.162) Disturbingly, about the same time in France, the Revolution was mounting like a tight capsule about to burst.

Charles had great respect for his mother. “He treated her with great respect, to the point that there was never any trouble between, except over the divorce of King Desiderius’s daughter, whom he had married at her urging” (18). After her death Charles buried her in St-Denis, which is the same where his father was laid to rest. Charlemagne also care about his children. He thought that all his kids should be educated starting with the liberal arts.

Charles Dickens, an author in the victorian era, brought to light the horrors of working in factories. He is best known for his works of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and David Copperfield. Charles’s life did not start out easy, but through hard work, he became a successful author who has influenced literature today. Charles was born in Portsmouth, England on February 7, 1812 and given the name Charles John Dickens. Charles’ family was very poor; His father worked as a clerk a don his mother wanted to be a teacher.

Additionally, the related text “ A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens facilitates an individual self-discovery, as a reassessment to permanently reshape an individual outlook from the previous perspective and in turn experience a new transformation to reform their values to connect with the world. This idea is evident through the character Scrooge as Charles Dickens uses a narrative voice in “ Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge”, which captivates and instruct the reader how to feel about the character Scrooge. As a result, the reader can instantly feel a connection to the narrator, as they know that Scrooge is a man who is miserable and unpleasant. Scrooge characterization is further reinforced through the hyperbolic statement “ Whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first” which evinces Scrooge’s dramatic refusal to join his nephew’s family for Christmas

Of all the readings that we discussed on solitary confinement, I think the most frequent analysis is the extensive description that Jack Henry Abbott "" and Charles Dickens"" on prison systems as a form of punishment, in some ways that grasp the readers imagery. We also talked on what is punishment and justice, as well as the theories of justice that considers punishment. Charles Dickens observation of prison system believes that it's to strict and terrible, in my mind judgment thought it's suppose to make offenders suffer for what they've done to victims and why care on what punishment they receive. However turned my opinion on feeling a little sorry for the offenders because I can not go three days stuck in a room nonetheless 24/7. On the

Dickens' writing was effected by his personal experiences from childhood to adulthood. In his early years, life was hard for him being the second of eight children.

Charles Dickens is an influential author for all ages. He has written many books that children know very well, including A Christmas Carol, with the character, Ebenezer Scrooge, finding his love for Christmas again. Dickens has also written some more mature books with topics that relate to our world today, such as Great Expectations, were the young boy, Pip, deals with an abusive family. In Charles Dickens books, we read many different themes that all have one thing in common: good v.s. evil. Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom to his parents John and Elizabeth Dickens, and was their second child, they would go on to have eight children.