Charles Dickens Accomplishments

Have you ever tried to imagine a scene from the Victorian era? All you have to do is read one of Charles Dickens’ novels and you can! Charles Dickens has written an abundance of novels, but two of his most accomplished are A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (“Death” 1). Great Expectations is seen as one of his best works of art. The characters in Dickens’ stories are based on real people that he knew which makes them unique. Charles Dickens is one of the world’s greatest authors because to this day, his novels are widely known. Charles was not always upper-class, he did not always have a job that he enjoyed, and he certainly did not always enjoy his life. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England

His father worked as a clerk in the Naval Pay Office and his mother aspired to become a teacher and a school director (Magill’s 527). Despite the family’s best efforts they were still poor and had to move frequently. In 1817, the Dickens moved to Chatham where Charles had decent schooling for a time (Magill’s 527). Then the family’s finances started depleting. They then moved to Camden Town in London because John’s office decided to transfer him (Encyclopedia 1). Camden Town was a poor neighborhood and the Dickens lived in a small, cheap house (Magill’s 527). In 1824 Charles was withdrawn from school because his parents were no longer able to pay the fees that the school demanded. He was then sent to work in Warren’s Blacking Factory where he stuck labels on boot polish (“Shmoop” 1). Warren’s was a rat infested building in old central London. To make matters worse, John was imprisoned in February 1824 for not being able

Due to Charles having many problems and bad times after separating from Catherine he wrote novels to help himself cope. Several of those novels were considered dark novels. His “dark” time was in the 1850s, when his father and one of his daughters died (Encyclopedia 2). Three of his most famous “dark” novels are Bleak House, Hard Times and Little Dorrit. Bleak House is considered one of the most complicated plots in an English novel and Little Dorrit is said to be one of Charles’s greatest dark novels (Encyclopedia 2). In Little Dorrit you are able to see from the point of view of Charles, how he looked at the conditions in England and how he viewed the harshness of the world. A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations are another two of his greatest novels (“Death” 1). A Tale of Two Cities published in 1859, is a historical novel set in the 1780s during the French Revolution (Encyclopedia 2). Great Expectations is a story about a young man growing up and developing throughout the novel (“Expectations” 535-536). It is Dickens’ most mature and realistic