CHARLES DICKENS

He’s an author of the Victorian Age, more precisely of the early Victorian Age. He’s one of the most prolific writers of this period.

He had a difficult childhood, his family had financial problems so he was forced to work in a factory and from this experience he took direct inspiration for his novels. While working in the factory as a child, one of the owners of that factory took pity on him and decided to give him private tuition.

As an adult he started to work as a journalist and later on as a novelist. Among his most famous works we can list:

- Oliver Twist- David Copperfield- Great Expectations- Christmas Carol- Hard Times

It’s worth highlighting that most of his novels were published in instalments (=rate) in journals and newspapers of the time. In this way, the novels divided into sequences increased interest and had a lower cost and, as a consequence, the number of speakers increased.

In his novels Dickens criticizes the condition of poor people during the Victorian Age, as well as the terrible life style in the slums of London, the exploitation of children, forced to work in factories, as chimneysweepers, or forced to steal money and precious objects. Although we can notice a strong criticism, Dickens never pushes to social rebellion.

All these themes can be found in the novel “Oliver Twist”. It’s the story of an orphan young boy who works in a workhouse and in place for his work he receives a little food and a bed where to sleep. One day he shocks the master of the workhouse by asking for some more food, but as a consequence he is sold to another man. He manages to escape and walks to London, where he meets a young boy who works as a robber for the evil Fagin. Oliver starts his career as a thief but at a certain moment he’s found out while stealing in a house of a noble woman. The same woman takes pity on him and decides to provide him a real family. In the end, after a clash between the good and the bad characters, the villains are punished and Oliver is adopted.