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CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) - Coggle Diagram
CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)
LIFE
born in Portsmouth (southern coast of England)
unhappy childhood
worked in a factory after his father was imprisoned for debt
sent to school in London after his father's relase
After working as an office boy at a lawyer's he became a SHORTHAND REPORTER OF PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES in the House of Commons and a NEWSPAPER REPORTER
1836
married Catherine Hogarth
became editor of
Bentley's Miscellany
died suddenly in Kent in 1870 and was buried in Westminster Abbey (adored by the audience)
1846
founded
Urania Cottage
, a home for 'fallen women' where they were taught domestic skills
WORKS
1833
first story
1836
Sketches by 'Boz'
(his pseudonym)
articles and tales describing London's people
published for
The Monthly Magazine
The Posthumous papers of the Pickwick club
(
The Pickwick papers
)
published in instalments
often artificial plots due to the pressure to conform to the public taste
1836
second series of
Sketches by 'Boz'
1837-1839
Oliver Twist
published in instalments
1839
Nicholas Nickleby
1842
American notes
after his visit of the country, he advocated for copyright and the abolition of slavery
1843
A Christmas Carol
1844
Chuzzlewit
partly set in America
1850
David Copperfield
symbols of an exploited childhood
1857
Little Dorrit
1853
Bleak House
deal with the conditions of the poor and the working class
1854
Hard Times
1861
Great Expectations
CHARACTERS, SETTING AND INFLUENCES
LOWER ORDER PEOPLE instead of the 18th century upper-middle-class
CARICATURES exaggerating character's habits
Mr Gradgrind
Scrooge
Mr Pickwick
LANGUAGE of the London middle and lower classes
SARCASM
CHILDREN and POOR are the most important characters
MORAL TEACHERS in contrast with worthless parents or other grown-up people
SETTING: London
intimate knowledge
critical attitude towards his society
attention to public abuses, evils in the descriptions of London misery and crime
INFLUENCES:
fables
nursery rhymes
fairy tales
18th century novelists
the Bible
Gothic novels
AIM
to make the ruling classes AWARE of social problems
LANGUAGE
He is considered the GREATEST NOVELIST OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE because:
of his powerful descriptions
of his careful choice of adjectives, words, juxtapositions, hyperboles
HARD TIMES
PLOT
In the imaginary
COKETOWN
,
MR Thomas GRADGRIND
is an educator who believes in facts, founded a school and brings up his children Louisa and Tom repressing their imagination.
He marries Louisa to Josiah Bounderby, a rich banker 30 y older than her, but the girl accepts to help her brother, who gets a job at his bank.
The marriage is unhappy. Meanwhile Tom, lazy and selfish, robs his employer and, after blaming a honest workman, is discovered and obliged to leave the country.
Mr Gradgrind understands the damage he has caused to his children and gives up his materialistic philosophy
AIM
Critic of UTILITARIANISM, a typical Victorian attitude, that:
was widening the gap between the rich and the poor
was turning human beings into machines
SETTING
COKETOWN
fictional mill town where factories are like mad elephants and their smoke looks like serpents
A BRICK JUNGLE
buildings covered with soot and polluted air which the mill owners seem to be proud of
STRUCTURE
BOOK TWO:
REAPING
The harvesting of the seeds: Louisa's unhappy marriage, Tom's selfishness, Stephen's rejection from Coketown
BOOK THREE:
GARNERING
The instability of Mr Gradgrind's system
BOOK ONE:
SOWING
The seeds planted by Mr Gradgrind/Bounderby education: Louisa, Tom and Stephen Blackpool
DAVID COPPERFIELD
PLOT AND SETTING
David's early life as child of the ineffectual mother Clara Copperfield, together with his nurse Peggotty, is interrupted when his stepfather, Mr Murdstone, and his sister Jane, arrive in his life. They cause the early death of his mother.
He is sent to Salem House, a school far from home, were the headmaster Mr Creakle torments him. Then, he is consigned to Murdstone and Grinby's wine warehouse, where he works in poverty and despair. He lives with the family of Mr Micawber, who is sent to prison for debt.
David goes to his aunt Betsey in Dover, where he concludes his education before looking for a career in London, working as a secretary first and as a reporter later. He becomes a successful writer but makes a disastrous marriage with Dora, loses his inheritance from Aunt Betsey and is betrayed by his closest friend.
Finally, his first wife dies and he marries his true love, Agnes Wickfield and lives happily.
STRUCTURE
PART TWO: From his looking for a career to Dora's death
PART THREE: from his mourning for Dora to the marriage to Agnes and his happy life
PART ONE: from his birth in Blunderstone to the completion of Strong's School in Canterbury
THEMES
cruelty to children
bad living conditions in slums
the importance of STRICT EDUCATION for Victorians
the importance of SOCIAL STATUS
the struggle of the weak in society
friendship, love, marriage
STYLE
construction of a HERO in the ORDINARY sense of the term
he learns how to improve through experience
BILDUNGSROMAN
emotional identification of Dickens with David
first person speaking
fictional autobiography
work as reporter and writer
reverse initials
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
PLOT, SETTING AND CHARACTERS
London, Christmas Eve, Scrooge's counting house and home
EBENEZER SCROOGE is a stingy man who doesn't care about people around him and thinks mankind only exists for the money that can be made through exploitation. He calls Christmas 'humbug'
On Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of his business partner JACOB MARLEY, died 7 Christmas Eves before, who tries to avoid Scrooge his own miserable fate in the afterlife and predicts him that he will be haunted by 3 spirits: The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who show Scrooge the evils of his existence and give him the chance to change his ways.
Finally, Scrooge sends a Christmas turkey to his long-suffering clerk BOB CRATCHIT and spends Christmas with his nephew Fred. Then, he raises Cratchit's salary and assists his family, including Bob's crippled son TINY TIM.
the title comes from a song celebrating the birth of Christ
At the beginning of the Victorian Age the celebration of Christmas was in decline, but when Prince Albert brought the CHRISTMAS TREE to England and CHRISTMAS CAROLS flourished again and the first CHRISTMAS CARDS, it was also thanks to Dickens' Christmas stories that Britain and American started to celebrate Christmas