The Childhood of Charles Dickens
“I do not write resentfully or angrily: for I know
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all these things have worked together to make me what I am” – Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens’s tumultuous childhood did indeed shape the person he became, as
well as have a definite impact on his literary career. There are shades of
young Dickens in many of his most beloved characters, including David
Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and of course, Great Expectations’ Pip. Like
Dickens, all three of these characters came from humble beginnings and were able
to rise above their respective circumstances to achieve success. Similarly,
Dickens’ literary success is owed in large part to his unhappy childhood
experiences. He did not merely overcome his past, he triumphed over it by
incorporating it into best-selling works of art. Drawing on these events not
only provided a cathartic release from childhood traumas, it also modernized the
classic rags-to-riches success story. When comparing Dickens’ childhood to
Great Expectations, it becomes apparent not only how these formative years
influenced his literary career by inspiring many of the characters and themes
predominant in the novel, but also how Dickens used his work as a form of
therapeutic release from childhood tensions.
Charles Dickens’ childhood and young adulthood was definitely filled with enough
drama to base a novel upon. Born February 7, 1812, to John Dickens, a clerk in
the Navy Pay Office, and his wife Elizabeth, Charles spent his earliest years in
the English seaport town of Portsmouth. The first years of his life were
idyllic enough, alt…
… safe way. He did not have to
confront the people and events that shaped him directly, he could do it through
characters such as Pip. He was well-acquainted with the themes that run
throughout the novel because he experienced them in his own life. His
first-hand knowledge of such feelings as guilt, betrayal and personal redemption
added an authenticity to his fiction that would be difficult for authors without
such a history to duplicate.
Works Cited
Allen, Michael. Charles Dickens’ Childhood. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan,
1988.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. 1861. Ed. Janice Carlisle. Boston:
Bedford, 1996.
Forster, John. The Life of Charles Dickens. New York: Bigelow, 1876.
Kaplan, Fred. Dickens: A Biography. New York: Morrow, 1988.
