Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, Hard Times, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, Hard Times e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Charles Dickens (1812-1870) During the 1800s writers felt it was their duty to contribute to improving Britain’s situation. The Victorian Age became the golden age of novels, which became the ideal means of discussing and debating ideas. There was poetry and drama, but the novel was definitely more important. People living in the fashionable neighbourhoods of cities hardly knew about the existence of the slums (or they pretended not to); novelists then felt they should inform, make the reading public aware of such a situation, thus promoting reforms to help the poor. Charles Dickens had been a reporter for parliament so he knew about debates and how things worked in that establishment, and he knew that by writing he could influence the public and criticise the status quo of the time. His father had been unable to pay his debts so he had been imprisoned, Dickens had been forced to start working when he was only 12; he was exploited and made to work very long hours. As soon as his father was released he could go to school and he taught himself shorthand (stenografia) and became a reporter: he started to write his humorous short episodes published in periodicals and became extraordinarily famous. His success was helped by the sale of periodicals because they were very cheap to buy thanks to improvements in the printing process, so the whole of British society could read him. He was helped also by the fact that he had some acting skills which can be seen in his dynamic and effective dialogues, vital to give a portrayal of characters (caricatures). He published and sold his novels in instalments, episodes, enclosed to periodicals (serialisation). The criticism in his work is mild, because denouncing is not the sole aim of his novels; they are effective but they never lack irony. Dickens’ aim was didactic (didacticism), he wanted to inform people. His popularity grew so much that at some point he travelled to the US to give public readings. He was partly influenced by the public because he could sense its reactions when he published in instalments. The publishing in episodes influenced the structure of novels too: there is a large number of events and characters. The novels were consequently very long and eventful but sometimes quite repetitive in the structure with many subplots. Dickens mostly used third-person narration with an omniscient narrator. We can very easily understand who is right and who is wrong in his novels: the narrative voice guides the reader through the story clearly pointing out good and evil expressing a clear judgement. Exaggerated characters become caricatures (larger than life): they generally are adults, the ones who are expected to set the example but actually exploit the weaker ones and embody the Victorian compromise. Young characters experiment very hard lives: the writer chooses to portray children as the ones who can show us what is right (Wordsworth). They are wiser and can differentiate right from wrong, they can behave according to a better moral conduct and their behaviour is more consistent with the values society was based on at the time. They’re moral teachers. Dickens writes very dynamic dialogues and writes highly descriptive passages using loads of adjectives and repetitions. He uses parallelism (repetition of identical structures) to emphasise an idea or to convey the idea of monotony. Grammar and syntax can emphasise the content as well. Part of his works can be regarded as autobiographical, such as David Copperfield which is a Bildungsroman. He constantly draws from his own first-hand experience, all of his novels revolve around problems and issues he was well acquainted with. Oliver Twist (1837-38) We see a contrast between the adults in charge, especially the master, and the children: the master is fat whereas the children are starving (antithetical image). Examples of exaggeration/ hyperbole can be found when the reaction of the master to Oliver asking for more is described. Injustice is denounced through the use of irony and exaggeration. The idea of extreme surprise is further emphasised by the choice of vocabulary because there are several words which express the idea of astonishment and stupefaction (repetition). Dickens manages to combine pathos and humour. The character of the master sounds like a caricature. Parallelism: ll. 15-16, l. 17, ll. 20-22, l. 24, l.30 Exaggeration: ll. 8-10, ll. 12-13, ll. 15-16, l. 29, l.31, ll. 32-33, l. 42 Irony: l. 3-4 Hard Times (1854) It is a fairly short novel compared with other ones Dickens wrote. It revolves around a number of topics: education, the impact of industrialisation on people and on the landscape. One of the main philosophical ideas the Victorian values were based on was Utilitarianism, according to which every action would be judged right or wrong based on how beneficial it would be to the greatest number of people. This was a very rational approach which affected every area of life, for example education. Imagination was left to the side because everything revolved around profit. Education was changed so as to make students factory owners to bring even more wealth to Britain. Dickens disapproved of this philosophy because he thought it was be spiritually limiting and deprived people of creativity and imagination. In his description of a school day we’ll learn that the only subjects taught are only about things that can be measured (facts); pupils are seen as vessels to be filled with said facts. There’s no literature, no art, only math. The utilitarian and industrial approach made factory workers’ lives monotonous (repetition). Operating machinery for long hours was alienating. Architecture was affected by Utilitarianism as well: the buildings all looked the same and they were not pleasant to look to. In this novel we are able to detect the approach of the upper middle class towards the working classes, which is one of blame and contempt. Charles Dickens makes a very clever use of names (Gradgrind, M’Choakumchild, Stone Lodge, Coketown, Bounderby). Thomas Gradgrind, a headmaster, would make sure to grind the mind of people (hard discipline) and grad- is the starting of the word “graduation” which is tightly linked to education. Mr Bounderby is mr Gradgrind’s son in law; he’s a practical man with a rational approach to life but doesn’t have a broad mind. He only sees what he chooses to see and accepts only what he wants to accept (boundary, narrow-mindedness). M’Choakumchild is another school master; in his name there are the words “choke” and “child”, which