CHARLES DICKENS

Life
Charles Dikens was born in Portsmouth in 1812 from a middle-class family with financial
problems and he has a lot of debets; for this reason, Charles's father, was sent in prison.
So Charles had to leave school, at the age of 12, and do several jobs to help his family.
In 1836 his first novel was published: The Pickwick papers.
He is considered the most important writer of Victorian era.

Style and themes

Dickens writes about the Victorian society, he criticises some aspects of it such as social
injustice and inequality and finds inspiration in his life experience.
His novels have a didactic aim: he shows that virtues like hard work and honesty are very
important to reach your goal.
Dickens uses irony and suspense to engage the reader, as many of his works were
published in serial on magazines, and the protagonists of his works often have many
difficulties, but they finally find a happy ending.
He makes detailed and realistic descriptions of places and people; the dialogues perfectly
represent the origins and nature of his characters, as well as their names.
Some of his most famous and important novels are:
- Oliver Twist and David Copperfield (novel of formation)
- Great expectations
- The Pickwick papers
- Hard times
OLIVER TWIST
Plot
Oliver Twist is a poor boy who lives in a workhouse because his mother died. One day he
is expelled from the workhouse because he asks for more food and he is sold as an
apprentice.
After some time, he decides to run away to London and here he has some misadventures
until he is adopted by a good man who discovers that the boy is the son of a rich man.

Characters
Oliver Twist: he is a symbol of good and innocence
Fagin: he is the boss of a gang of thieves, he exploits poor orphans he is the symbol of
evil.
Mr Bumble: he runs the workhouse, but he doesn’t really care about the children in his
house.
Mr Brownlow: he is a brave and loyal man, he is the perfect guide for Oliver.
Themes
Following the life of Oliver Twist, the novel is an attack to the injustices of the Victorian age
with a particular attention to children and their terrible conditions inside and outside of
workhouses.
Dickens describes the problem of crime in London and the bad conditions in which lower
classes lived.
He shows how different life can be depending on the circumstances, but he demonstrates
that there is always some hope.
Style
The story is told by a third-person narrator from Oliver’s point of view.
We can find many different styles; the descriptions are detailed; the story is full of
suspense.

HARD TIMES
Plot
The novel is set in a fictional ugly city called Coketown, that is cold and dirty. Thomas
Gradgrind lives here, he is a teacher who belives only in facts and gives no importance to
imagination.
One day, he decides to adopt Cecilia Jupe, one of his students. Cecilia accepts to marry a
factory owner, but she is not happy and so she decides to divorce. At the end of the novel,
Thomas Gradgrind understands that his view of life was too materialistic and that only
Cecilia was happy because she took into consideration her feelings.
The main theme of the novel is a critic to the materialistic and utilitarian principles of
Victorian education: all is based on the facts.