Charles Dickens Research Paper

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England in 1812 (Discovering Dickens). His career as a writer started when he was in his late teens and early thirties. To this day, he is considered one of Britain’s greatest novelists. Success did not come easy for Dickens, even though he was most certainly gifted with the ability to write so eloquently. Many of Dickens’ stories come from his own personal experiences. All of the things Charles had to go through shaped his writing throughout the years. He was able to relate his life to his works by using personal events from his early childhood years, influences from other writers, and also events that were taking place in his time period. Charles had a very difficult childhood. When Charles was

Charles was forced to work at a shoe-dye factory and lived apart from his family. Some time, a little after a year, his father was released and Charles’ life carried on in a much more positive manner. However, Charles could never truly escape from the memory of the terrible working conditions that he had to go through. Once his father was released, Charles became a clerk at a law firm and because of his speed and accuracy when writing, he was soon promoted to a Parliamentary reporter at the age of fifteen. Dickens’ early success came from his sketches and periodicals from The Pickwick Papers (DickensQ) . Later on, Dickens began writing David Copperfield. This story is based off of the events that took place in Charles’ early life. The main character, David, also worked in a label pasting factory. David follows in pursuit of Charles and works as a law clerk, reporter, and eventually even a novelist. Charles took from his experiences with his father and included them in his story as well. The father in the story, Mr. Micawber, also has a hard time handling

Thomas Carlyle wrote The French Revolution: A History. This story gave most of its focus to the actual details and characters involved in the historical events. Dickens used this same method when writing A Tale of Two Cities. This story was greatly influenced by Carlyle’s. “Dickens wrote his second novel A Tale of Two Cities mainly under the influence of Thomas Carlyle, who gave much importance to the actual details and characters in the narration of historical events. The similarities between Carlyle’s The French Revolution and Dickens A Tale of Two Cities are undeniable” (Baysal 2). In the preface to A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens even briefly praises Carlyle’s novel by saying “...though no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle’s wonderful book” (Dickens