Dickens

Dickens belongs to the first generation of Victorian novelists in fact he accepted the values exalted by the
Victorian society that are materialism, progress, richness etc.

In his novels, he denounced the problems that characterized the Victorian society such us the exploitation
of children (in particular of orphans in workhouses, places where children worked and at the same time
received assistance but at the same time were exploited) and women, the conditions of English schools and
prisons. Most of Dickens novels are autobiographical because they reflected his life, in fact Dickens was
born in Portsmouth and was compelled to leave school at the age of 11 because his father was arrested for
debts, so he was compelled to work in a factory where he was exploited, this experience shocked him and
is reflected in David Copperfield. He denounced these problems for a question of realism. He was a
philanthropic spirit in fact he wanted to improve the conditions of the poor but he wasn’t a revolutionary
writer, in fact he didn’t advocate a revolution or social change so he was a social writer.

He started his career as a journalist and then he became a novelist. His first story appeared in 1833; he
adopted the pen name ‘Boz’, publishing Sketches, a collection of articles describing London’s people and
scenes. He also published The Pickwick Papers, which was published in episodes and revealed Dicken’s
humoristic and satirical qualities. Other works includes Hard Times, Great Expectation (which dealt with
social issues such as the conditions of the poor and the working class in general),Bleak House, A Christmas
Carol. He died in London in 1870.

Childhood in the Victorian Age was a cruel experience. A lot of children from poor and working-class
backgrounds were forced to work in factories and mines, or as domestic servants and chimneysweeps.
Others became criminals. Some governments’ acts, like the Ten Hours Act, tried to improve children’s
working conditions by limiting the hours worked by women and children to ten a day. Victorian literature
played an important role in the sentimental portrayal of childhood. Dickens was obsessed with children,
whom he presented as innocent or corrupted by adults. At the beginning, they live a negative situation but
later they get an happy ending. The writer’s nostalgia for childhood is a critique of the oppressions
associated with the world of adults.

London is depicted at three different social levels. First, the parochial world of the workhouse is revealed.
The inhabitants of this world belonging to the lower middle class: they are calculating and insensible to the
feelings of the poor. Second the criminal world is described with pickpockets and murderers. Poverty drives
them to crime and they use violence to get their purpose. They live in slums in a state of fear and die a
miserable death. Finally, the world of the Victorian middle class is presented. In this world, live respectable
people who exalted moral values and believe in the principle of human dignity.

Dickens and Verga denounced the problems of the lower classes but they didn’t advocate a social change
so they weren’t populist writers according to the critic Asor Rosa, who published “Scrittori populisti”; they
denounced these problems for a question of realism because they wanted to improve the condition of the
poor.

The atmosphere in Dicken’s novels isn’t heavy because Dickens used humour; his characters, who belonged
to the various social classes are caricatures because he underlines one aspect of their personality and
exaggerated it. Dickens’s descriptions are very detailed: the setting of his novels is the countryside but
above all London so to visit London we can use one of Dickens’s novels because London is described in
details.

Dickens attacked the social evils of his times, such us poor houses, unjust courts and the underworld.
Workhouse were run by parishes; the conditions in the workhouse were terrible. Their residents were
subject to hard regulations: labour was required, families were almost always separated and rations of food
and clothing were small and poor. The idea upon which workhouses were founded was that poverty was
the consequence of laziness and that the conditions in the workhouse would inspire the poor to improve
their own conditions. Instead of alleviating the suffering of the poor, the officials who ran workhouses
abused of their rights and caused them misery.

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist first appeared in instalments and was later published as a book. The novel reflects the
insecurity and humiliation Dickens experienced as a child. The name ‘Twist’ is given to the protagonist by
accident and represent the reversals of fortune that he will experience. Oliver Twist is a poor boy of
unknown parents; he is bred in a workhouse in an inhuman way. He is later sold to an undertaker but the
cruelty and the unhappiness of this experience led him to leave London. There he falls into the hands of a
gang of young pickpockets, led by Dodger and trained by Fagin, who try to make a thief out of him, but the
boy is helped by an old gentleman. Oliver is kidnapped by the gang and forced to commit burglary. During
the job, he is shot and wounded. A middle-class family adopts Oliver and shows him affection and kindness.
Some investigations are made about who the boy is and it is discovered he has noble origins. The gang of
pickpockets and Oliver’s half-brother are arrested in the end.

“Oliver wants some more”

The extract take place in a large stone hall in a workhouse were Oliver twist and his companions suffered
the torturers of slow starvation. The main event of the passage is when, one evening, the boys decide that
Oliver Twist should ask for more food. Every member of the parish board considers Oliver’s request as a
sign of his criminal nature, so the boy is confined in his room and five pounds are offered to anyone who
wants to take him away

The narrator is a voice outside and Oliver’s point of view is adopted. The story is developed through
dialogues, description and narration arouses pity in the reader, it create a realistic picture of the scene and
makes the reader identified with the poor boys. The narration compares the world of the boys with that of
the institutions; the dialogues increase the reader’s interest in the scene.

Some feeling characterise the two worlds presented: submission, fear, starvation characterise the boys’
world; power, fatness, lack of humanity characterise the adult’s world.

There are some antithetical images and ideas, such us the boys’ world and the adults’ world, the poor and
the rich, submission and power, starvation and fatness