CHARLES DICKENS, OLIVER TWIST, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Inglese

Scarica CHARLES DICKENS, OLIVER TWIST e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! CHARLES DICKENS THE LIFE Charles Dickens lived during the Victorian industrial age, he is a very important and famous writer and journalist. He created a new way of writing: he published his novels in installments on paper to arouse the interest of readers, and to convince them to buy his works – >in this period people know how to read thanks to schools and tutors. Dickens' first novels are positive, the others are negative, in fact he denounces the poor living conditions of his country and the working class, but also the injustices and inequalities present in Victorian society. Dickens also criticizes the "Victorian compromise", the greedy rich, the bureaucracy and indifference to the problems of the poor. But in his works he also describes his life and the places he loved to visit. The peculiarity of Dickens is that he represented the modern urban world perfectly. Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812 and had an unfortunate childhood: his father was imprisoned due to his debts and a few years later his mother also left, so he began to live alone. These negative events affected his behavior. At 12, he started working in factories, even though he suffered a lot from it. !NB His first work is “Sketches” by Boz, and it is very particular: it was published in installments and this aroused interest in people. When he became a reporter, he used the pseudonym "Boz". He died in 1870. His most important are: ● Oliver Twist, talked about his life and his experiences in the workplace; ● David Copperfield, in which he described his idea of him about education. ● Little Dorrit (1857). ● Bleak House (1853), Troubled Times (1854). ● Great expectations. THE SETTING OF DICKENS’S NOVELS Dickens was a famous London novelist, and he described 3 social classes: 1. the parochial world, that is the workhouses (where he lived for a period), made up of people from the lower middle class. 2. the criminal world, made up of bad people, like murderers, that lived in slums; 3. He was also the first to talk about the underworld (the poverty stricken in Victorian London) 4. the Victorian middle class, made up of respectable people who believe in human dignity. Very important is "Seven Dials", a famous slum district, featured in many novels written by Dickens, where is presente a feeling of imprisonment and confusion. DICKENS’S CHARACTER The protagonists of Dickens' novels are men belonging to lower social classes: he supports the poor people of the working class. He represents Victorian society in a real way, even the most cruel aspects; he ridiculed men belonging to the lower middle classes. He experienced all the social classes: during his childhood he was part of lower class, while when he was an adult he was of the middle class. He also spoke about women but they were represented as "weak female characters”. DICKENS’S THEMES ● Family, childhood and poverty; ● Dickens' children are innocent or corrupted by adults, but they manage to solve their problems. His novels start with negative situations, but then they finish with happy endings and the resolution of all problems. DICKENS’S AIM Dickens's goal was to reduce social suffering through intelligence. N.B. He was against private schools because he thought that school should be for everyone, and not only for rich people. After his death the Education Act was published so school became compulsory. He was a country novelist and he talks about the negative aspects of Victorian society: ● Prostitution ● The poor living conditions in the slums → Bleak House ● The corrupt government → Bleak House ● Exploitation in factories → David Copperfield, Hard Times ● Scandals in private schools → David Copperfield DICKENS’S STYLE Dickens' style is rich and original, and his novels are characterized by: ● long list of objects and people; ● adjectives used in groups of two, three and four, useful to understand characters’ personality; ● some details, to describe people and places; ● repetition of the same word or phrase or concept with different words; ● the use of opposite images to describe the characters; ● exaggeration of character flaw. He created stereotypical categories of people. ● suspense to attract the attention of readers. OLIVER TWIST (1838) It was published in installments in 1837, was a novel about education (it's a Bildungsroman), and is set in London. This work talks about the author's bad experiences during his childhood. The protagonist, Oliver Twist, an innocent and pure child, saved from evil by a wealthy family. Dickens attacks the negative aspects of society of that time, such as the underworld (the world of the lower classes), workhouses (according to which poverty was synonymous with laziness) and workers who took advantage of the rights of the poor, who lived in misery. THE PLOT Oliver Twist is a poor orphan who lives in a parish hospice run by Bumble. He lived in bad conditions: one day he thought of asking for another bowl of soup, but this was considered an act of rebellion, and for this Bumble sold the child to the undertaker Sowerberry. Oliver escapes to London, where he is welcomed into Fagin's gang of rebels, including Sikes, an unscrupulous individual, and his girlfriend, the prostitute Nancy. But Oliver later realizes what the gang does for a living: He is arrested for stealing from bookseller Brownlow. In court, the child faints from fever, so the library begins to feel pity and welcomes him into his home like a son. But the gang convinces Oliver to betray Brownlow, who was the heir to a rich dead gentleman. At the end, Oliver Twist is hosted by the kind Mrs. Maylie and all the gang members end up in prison. CHRISTMAS CAROL (1843) It is set on Christmas and Christmas Eve, because he loved Christmas. The protagonists are: ● Scrooge, an old man who wanted all riches for himself; ● the ghost of Christmas past, present and future, which shows Scrooge the evils of his existence. ● Bob Cratchit, the Scrooge employee; ● Tiny Tim, Bob's paralyzed son; ● Fred, grandson of Scrooge. The main themes are: ● The transformation of Scrooge who becomes a generous man and understands the importance of the present. ● The children of the poor. HARD TIMES (1854) This novel denounces the negative aspects of industrial society. It is set in Coketown, a fictional industrialized city, and the protagonist is Thomas Gradgrind, an educator who believes just in facts and statistics. The main themes are: ● the critique of materialism; ● a denunciation of the new industrial society; ● the struggle between rich and poor; ● the danger of men becoming like machines. 2012: THE BICENTENARY OF DICKENS’S BIRTH Dickens' work transcends his time, his language and his culture. DICKENS’S LEGACY 1. Dickens came up with the idea of a white Christmas. 2. The term Dickensian poverty is used to describe underclass and poverty in Victorian London. 3. Dickens is a comic writer who has written modern comedies.