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Social changes of the Victorian period
Social changes of the Victorian period
Social changes of the Victorian period
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During the 1800s, the country of England faced many social issues among their people. Dickens’ used the experiences of peasants during the French Revolution to open England’s eyes to the issues in its country. During the build up to the French Revolutions, many apparent problems riddled the streets and homes of the peasants, like hunger. After a frenzy in the street, a woman returns to her “pot of hot ashes, at which she had been trying to soften the pain in her own starved fingers and toes” (pg 32). Dickens’ emphasizes the starvation of the people mulling around to exemplify the harsh conditions forced upon peasants.
Hard Times and Charles Dickens are not selected at random, Dickens’ belonging to the political Victorian society have special impact on his writing, what motives us to discover the Victorian society, literature and novelists, in particular their style of writing in order to increase our knowledge in history of literature. Charles Dickens (1812 -1870) is among the major Victorian novelists who inspired the English novel with much of its basic foundations and principles, and whose touches added more to fiction as an art. In writing, Dickens’ powers are thought to be many, starting by the tropes that he utilizes, images that he creates, themes that he deals with, social issues that he criticizes and so on. Dickens was studied
After engaging in work at the mere age of twelve years old, Charles Dickens acquired experiences that allowed him to develop into the phenomenal fictional author known today. Dickens arrived in the world on February 7, 1812 in Landport near Portsmouth, England. He proceeded to grow up in Gadshill Place, England prior to his gaining of a job. Charles Dickens’ family experienced financial difficulties, leading his father to imprisonment for debt. Consequently, Dickens left at the age of twelve to live with a woman who boarded children, while his family, excluding his father, relocated to Marshalsea.
The Victorian society is marked by Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901. The Queens forty-six year reign allowed for major changes in the English culture, political, economic, industrial, and scientific changes that occurred during her long reign. At the beginning of her reign, there were only two major social classes between the people, the nobles and the peasants. The urbanization of rural societies made way for "new agricultural techniques and practices that resulted in an increased supply of food and raw materials" (Yale) which marked the very beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, the society consisted of the upper class, followed by the middle class, the working class, and the underclass (Cody).
Charles Dickens had a challenging life, which led him to create astonishing novels. His terrible childhood led him to be a better person and led him to want to help others and expose how they were treated. In novels like Oliver Twist and Hard Times, Dickens exposed workhouses and factory conditions. This helped many people to realize what was happening and change it. Dickens wrote David Copperfield, which is one of the most autobiographical books he wrote.
Charles Dickens was an author born in Portsmouth, England on February 7, 1812 and died at the age of 58 on June 9, 1870. Dickens was the second born of eight children and to Elizabeth and John Dickens. His father, John Dickens, was a clerk at the Naval Pay Office, so they were fairly poor. In 1824, when Charles was just 12, his father was imprisoned for debt.
England in the 19th century had a corrupt social class, the gap between the wealthy and poor was one of considerable amount. Dickens notices this and uses various characters to satirize social class and wealth in his novel. One example of Dickens using his characters to satirize social class is the
Charles John Huffam Dickens Charles Dickens once said, “The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on” (Culture Street). This quote is saying when you first rise that you're going to be weak and as you go further you get stronger. When Charles Dickens was younger he wasn’t very successful. As his life went on he became more successful and stronger as a person and an author. He created the best known fictional characters and was considerable the greatest author of the Victorian Era.
John Dickens was brought up in a milieu of prosperity, well done clothes and aristocracy, father of Dickens, he was a good looking man, refined manners, clerk in the Navy Pay Office. More than that, he showed “a prodigality from a generous response to the pleasures of life and admirable desire to move up the social scale”, in short, he was heading towards bankrupt and collapse though his secure salary and multiple promotions. He borrowed money amount bigger than the former and winded up in jail for debt in Marshal Sea prison in 1819 then transferred to London and a second time in 1822. After this, Dickens could not afford school and started working at Warren’s Blacking to help his family financially.
Despite its Romantic lineage, the Victorian age failed to emulate Romanticism's revolutionary exploration of imagination and feelings. Instead, the period promoted a strict utilitarian ideology, which replaced the ideals of creativity and affection, with fact (Wwnorton). Due to this, iconic novelist Charles Dickens, argued that the reformed condition of England, critically underestimated the value of "Fancy" (Dickens Kaplan and Monod 9) within modern life (Dixon 278). Therefore, his ambiguous term, reveals more about Victorian society than just a lack of creativity (Pollatschek 278). It implicitly references the neglect of fables, compassion and religious belief from within the period's domestic and educational sectors (Pollatschek 278).
While disparity in social classes is a hot issue of debate and concern in modern times, back in 1900s Britain, it was another beast altogether. Not many knew this better than H. G. Wells, for although his future would spell fame and fortune with the pen, much of his early life was wasted away in the extreme poverty of the lower class. Indeed, from a young age Wells was forced into an environment of perpetuated gloom and despair, seemingly with no hope in sight. He almost lived his life underground, toiling to earn a nonexistent wage in a dead-end job which he hated. But despite these horrid odds, H. G. Wells' restless and intellectual spirit saw him through his bleak life in poverty to rise up and become one of the most prolific writers of
Adriann Shepherd Charles Dickens Did you know the majority of Charles Dickens novels were first published in monthly magazines? As a prolific 19th century author, Charles Dickens was and is known worldwide for his remarkable characters; his depiction of social classes, customs, and values of Victorian England; and was considered a spokesman of the poor. Charles Dickens wrote 15 major novels, and countless short stories and articles (Merriman, 1). British novelist Charles Dickens was born February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England to Elizabeth Barrow and John Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, but dreamed of striking it rich.
One man that was in plain sight the rescue and recovery crew could not get to. The poor old man was pinned under the train and died trapped there. There was nothing Dickens could do but stand there helplessly. Dickens didn’t let the devastation of the moment stop him from trying to mend the situation, he continued to give the injured passengers swigs of brandy which he found on the train. Hours and hours seemed to pass by before the entire accident was to be cleared.
What do you know about the Victorian literature? most of the people especially the uneducated one, would not have any answer. But if you ask them about Charles Dickens who is one of the most popular novelists of that period, they absolutely know him well. Charles Dickens has great novels which are immortalized his name through centuries. One of these novels is Hard Times which is written in the middle of the nineteenth century.
While the idea that humans were altered and systematically controlled through restricted learning, there is yet another issue that Dickens highlights in Hard Times. But what makes it very different from mechanized human forming is that it suppresses the mind. For it is the conflict between fact and fantasy. What makes it so important is that it plays a huge role in the process of actually mechanizing human beings to think robotically and without conscience or reason. It is the point where it suppresses people from imagining alternatives and forces them to focus on the facts.
