13 Chapter II: An introduction to “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” ..... 21 Chapter III: Children in the two novels “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” .... All is clearly shown
Rationale for choosing the topic
First and foremost, reading literary works has always been the author‟s special passion even when the author studied at the primary school Being students of Foreign Language Department of Vinh University she has an opportunity to learn English Literature and know more about Britain in general and its literature in particular
Furthermore, literature reflects feelings, sentiment, thought of people and every aspects of society Thus, reading Dickens‟ novels we can see vivid picture of Victorian society That society was thought to be the most prosperous from outside but there were a lot of problems from inside
More importantly, the author really likes his novels because she deeply sympathizes with the pitiful plights of children and with the novelist‟s infinite love for them Most of children in Dickens‟ novels are orphans who are victims of labour abuse and of mal-treatment of the wicked people in society However, finally they have happy lives All is clearly shown in two famous novels “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield”
For the reasons above, the author has decided to choose the topic: Children in the two novels “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” for our graduation thesis.
Aims and objectives of the thesis
- To understand more about the image of children in Dickens‟ novels
- To provide the whole view of the real life of children under the reign of the Queen Victoria b Objectives of the thesis
Study the novels of Charles Dickens to find the answers to the following questions:
- What is the plight of orphan children in “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield”?
- What is children‟s prominent nature?
- What good things from society can children receive?
Scopes and limitation
Charles Dickens is one of the most famous novelists in English literature In fact, he has a lot of works about various topics in general and children in particular Nevertheless, with limited time and limited scale we only focus on two famous novels, “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” to study.
Methods of the thesis
To carry out this thesis, we have used to the following methods:
Design of the thesis
The graduation thesis includes three main parts
In part A, the author refers the reasons, aim, objective, scope, limitation and the method of studying the thesis
Part B is divided into three chapters Chapter I depicts basis knowledge about historical events of England in Victorian Age, Critical Realism and the novelist Charles Dickens Chapter II contains two sub-parts Each of them represents a brief introduction to “Oliver Twist” or “David Copperfield” Most significantly, Chapter III presents the main content of this thesis The author focuses on analyzing and making the concerned problem clear through the two novels “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield”
Part C is the conclusion, which summarizes what have presented in the previous parts
Background
Historical Events of England in Victorian Age
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain during 18 th century and then spread out to the world Many modern machines had been invented Consequently, there had been a great number of products produced England‟s products began appearing widely in every corner of the world English economy developed rapidly and it changed the face of England absolutely England became one of the richest nations all over the world Englishmen owned such a luxurious life that everyone in other countries wished for
One of the most obvious changes to people‟s life was that more people moved from the countryside into the urban areas where a lot of factories were located Therefore, the urban population risen sharply New industrial cities and towns grew dramatically By 1850 millions of British people lived in crowded and grim industrial cities
It can be seen that the Industrial Revolution has brought economic improvement for most people in industrialized societies, especially those in the middle and the upper classes of the society, but not the lower one Many workers felt into unemployment because hand labors were substituted by machine power in most factories Others had to work for 12-14 hours per day without insurance against the unsafe in labour Factory owners often recruited women and children to tend the machines because they could be hired for very low wages
Hence, there existed differences between the rich and the poor Money went to throne People could do everything to earn much money, regardless of honour, personality, love, etc As a result, the conflict between classes and even in each class itself began to rise
Looking from outside, English society was as pure as a gem, but inside it was as fierce as a storm
Those problems were reflected in contemporary literature, especially in Dickens‟ novels People usually think about “Oliver Twist” or “David Copperfield” or some other works when they want to mention the hardship and the poverty that the bourgeoisie gave laborers
England had been increasingly distressed by the need for democratic reform from the time of American and French Revolutions The industrial bourgeoisie had pushed up activities demanding for voting reform The movement attracted a numerous of workers Besides, the proletarian themselves also put so much hope in voting reform to improve their dark status The workers and the peasants of the previous years worried governors
In the middle of 1832, they had to pass the fisrt Reform Act The first Act permitted industrial centers to dominate representatives to Parliament The number of voters was 800 thousands, among them, over 200 thousands of news voters were from the middle class In addition, the Act reduced of the power of upper class by redistributing parliamentary representation
The Act also demonstrated that social change could take peacefully, without violent revolution, and it marked the emergence of the middle class as the dominant force in English politics
In 1867, Parliament approved of the second Reform Act It extended the vote to all members of the working class, except for agriculture labors The Bill had been introduced by Benjamin Disraeli
However, activities demanding for further voting continued happening During Grad stone‟s second ministry, 1880-1885, the third Reform Bill was enacted in 1884 This gave rural voters the same voting privileges as the town ones
1.1.3 The Campaign for Free Trade
From the 12 th century, laws on trade of grain were passed in England The purpose of the laws was to assure an adequate supply at reasonable prices to the population The regulations were called Corn Laws, since “Corn” had long been a term referring of grain
It was not until the end of the 18 th century, when a long period of conflict between England and France led to restrictions on trade that Corn Laws had not been of great significance Consequently, import decreased and prices rose dramatically
In 1837, England suffered a wheat famine because of a series of bad harvests A high tariff on grain prevented foreign wheat from being imported The price of bread highly increased A new Poor Law (1834) had ended the relief for paupers that had been begun in the time of Queen Elizabeth I The work- house that took its place was more dreaded than jails Strict regimen put for the poor which is clearly mentioned in “Oliver Twist” is described as a symbol of the oppression but by no means its limit
The tension rising day by day pushed up a movement to repeal the Corn Laws which developed in 1820s, culminating in the founding of foreign wheat to feed the hungry poor In 1846, the famous Bill repealing the Corn Laws was put through
With the withdrawal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and the introduction of a policy of Free Trade England began to move towards the greater prosperity and improved living conditions that characterize the later phases of the Victorian Age
Although the Industrial Revolution brought many advantages, it also caused many new social economic problems In 1837, an economic depression struck England, and working people all over the country were afflicted with unemployment What‟s more, harsh new legislation restricted government aid to impoverished people Under these conditions, Chartism, the first national working class movement of industrialized Britain, was born
Critical Realism
1.2.1 What is the critical realism?
The term “realism” is used to indicate a method in France in the middle of 19 th century From the beginning, many writers though that its aim was to describe modern life They paid attention to the normal, daily things It was the very Marxist science of literature which gave rise to this term, distinguishing it with social realism
The most important feature of this kind of literature is describing the facts faithfully, and it reaches the highest level in the periods of capitalism
Different from the Naturism, the Critical Realism tries to represent the fact absolutely Contacting with phenomena and events in life, writers attempt to research them in all sides, observing them for the similar and for the different Critical Realism inherits all beautiful traditions of the previous literature Marxism Gorky stated: “Realism in the 19 th century is critical realism It denounced social evils, describe “life and up-down” of individual within religious creeds Critical Realism does not show us the way to escape from prison”
According to him, its main topic is the opposition between individuals, society, government and nature People‟s tragedies happen when they find their life so cramped and they try to find a warm nest in society but they can not He also indicates why critical realism writers, in general, can not show any escape while they denounce present society Base on the development of history and economy in countries, Critical realism appeared later or earlier with little differences
England is known as the cradle of Critical Realism In the 14 th century, there was a writer Chaucer who used this method to write his famous
“Canterbury Tales” But it was not until the 18 th century that realism began to flourish and reached the height in the literature of the Enlightenment The prevailing literature form brought forward by realism in the Enlightenment Age was the novel The pioneers in England in this literature genre were the tradesman and the journalist Daniel Defoe and the printer Richardson
In the second half of the 19 th century, Realism was further developed by what Marx called “the present brilliant school of English novelist in England”, whose description have revealed more political and social truths to the world than have all the politicians and moralists added together, has pictured all sections of the middle class How have they been described by Dickens,
Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte and Mrs Gaskell
To put Marx‟s comments in other way, the realists of the second half on the 19 th century created for their readers a panorama of life much broader than the one drown by all the politicians, publicists, etc, of the time In their description of life, these realists criticized, exposed and attacked the social wrongs and at the same time showed the sympathy with the common people by protesting against hard living condition, under which the poorer classes were cried
They denoted the social evils, the selfishness and materialism of their days through many literary works of social tracts in a guise of story: “Cheap bread”, inspired the nurse of Ebenezer Eliot Elizabeth Barrett voiced the cry of the children Thomas Hood immortalized the weary seamstress and the despairing unfortunate Carlyle after excursion into German literature plunges into political problems to forcefully denounce the dull materialism of his day Dickens with his social novels helped his generation to minor their aspects of life with abuses of society and unjust suffering
Because their description of life was characterized mainly by criticism, writers belonging to the “brilliant school of novelists” were called critical realists And their trend was labeled “Critical Realism”
The great contribution of English Critical Realism is to reflect main problems which appeared as the result of major conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletarian However, it did not propose any way to change the capitalist society and the force being able to change They could put a question, but they could not find an answer to it Limited by class ideology, their solutions- if they had often fell into subjectivity, utopia or impasse Dickens only proposed reformist solutions Bronte, Gaskell was afraid of the excitement of proletariat‟s movement.
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 from a lower middle class family His father was a clerk in the Navy office in Portsmouth
When he was still very young, his family, moved to the naval port of Chatham and here Charles and his eldest sister first went to school He is said to have been “a terrible boy to read” He read a lot of novels of Defoe, Smollett, Goldsmith and the translations of some other authors with eagerness In 1822, his family removed to Camden town, a poor suburb of London
Things went from bad to worse: His father was arrested for debt His mother, sisters and brothers all went there to live with him; Charles himself was put to work in a blacking warehouse, where he sticked labels on bottles for shoe polish
A year later (1823) the Dickens‟s family inherited a small sum of money from the death of a relative and managed to pay all the debts and again Charles got a chance to go to school
In 1824, as his father was out of work so he left school and continued his education by himself Then he was sent to a lawyer‟s office to study law but he soon gave up the intention of becoming lawyer
In 1832, having taught himself shorthand, Dickens became a parliamentary reporter Four years later, he married Catherine Hearth, the daughter of the editor of the Evening Chronicle
Not yet thirty, he was widely known as the most popular writer in England
In 1842, Dickens and his wife made a five-month tour in the US and there he saw with his own eyes the injustices sweeping all over the country
From 1844 to 1848 he traveled to Italy, Switzerland and France When back in England, he organized an amateur theatrical company to raise money for the poor and the mean time founded a weekly magazine named
His marriage proved unhappy though they had ten children After 20 years, Dickens and his wife had to separate
In 1858, Dickens began to give public reading from his own works in various towns in England, Scotland and France; and in 1867-1868 he made a successful reading tour in the US
He died suddenly on June 9 th 1870 and he was buried in Westminster Abbey
According to critics, Charles Dickens was the greatest English realist
He was also one of the most beloved and the most-read writers in English literature As Louis Cazamian in his book “A history of English literature” rightly put it
“Among the English novelists, Dickens is neither the most consummate artist, nor the finest psychologist, nor the most accomplished realist, nor the most seductive of tale writers; but he is probably the most national, the most typical and the greatest of them all”.[3, 107-108]
No novelist before Dickens had treated the lower middle classes in so frank a way The unforgettable experience and sufferings of his early youth was the decisive elements in the formation of his personality and precious materials for many of his writings We can see almost everywhere in his works the shadow of Charles Dickens as either a child, or a young man, or an elderly man In David Copperfield though some details on the contrary to the facts of his life can be discovered, the novel still by no means fails to put us in find of Charles Dickens from his birth to his manhood
Child-labor caused him much concern Take “David Copperfield” and
“Oliver Twist” as typical examples He denuded it to the eyes of the reader and voiced a passionate protest against it He was revolted by the system of boarding-school in England The teachers there knew nothing of the way to bring up and educate the children properly
It is said that Dickens was a great lover of children He appealed the people to give eyes to the children to see that they had to suffer life rather than to enjoy it He learnt with fear that in the unwholesome environment of the capitalist society black could be turned into white, good into bad and so on Yet, all his heroes and heroines remained pure and unspoiled till the end
Different from Romanticists, Dickens arrived at the understanding that capitalism was the course of all poverty in the society and he grew indignant at all the evils and the vices caused by it, but it never dawned upon him that class struggle was necessary for social progress
There was some thing curious about his realism It seemed to be a harmonious combination between the real and unreal His positive characters were said to be idealized Those in his novels were static but vivid, lively and varied If they were good they stood firm as positive characters to the end and if they were bad they remained bad from the beginning to end
Dickens wrote rapidly and enormously; so he could not avoid faults; his literary writings lacked polish His expression obeyed monotonous habits
Dickens had a wonderful eye for the color, the movement, the detail of life Thus, his characters were described vividly and lively
1.3.3 Main themes in Dickens’ novels
As we know, Charles Dickens had copious experience of life because he suffered much difficulty and miseries during his childhood He had to work many kinds of jobs from a worker in a blacking ware-house, a reporter to a novelist Therefore, his novels would reflect variety of aspects in real life
Children as well as child-labor are the most prominent theme of Dickens‟ novels The image of children always appears in most of his novels, mainly as main characters We can refer to a series of his works such as,
“Oliver Twist”, “David Copperfield”, “Nicholas Nickleby”, “Hard Times”, etc Dickens focused on describing the fate of children, especially orphan children Take Oliver, David and Nicholas as prominent examples All of them are orphans so they have bitter childhoods They are lack of education opportunities but hard work They have to face loneliness, starvation, neglect and cruel treatment of surrounding people Oliver Twist was born in the work-house while David Copperfield was to live with his brutal step-father
Both of them were forced to work in terrific conditions when they were children of fewer than ten years old
Similar to them, Nicholas is a boy who is left poor on his father‟s death He is sent to work in a school, where the master, Squeer treats pupils cruelly and teaches them nothing The common point between these boys is that they can not bear the terrible circumstances so they have to escape Through these novels, especially “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield”, the writer raised his voice to protest against exploitation of child-labor of the powerful forces in his society as well as to share his sympathy with the pitiful plight of children
An introduction to “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield”
An introduction to “Oliver Twist”
Charles Dickens was born in a middle-class family When he was 12 years old, his family‟s financial difficulty forced him to quit school and work in a blacking factory And then his father was put to a prison for debt At this point he lived on his own and continued to work at the factory for several months The horrific conditions in the factory made a deely impression to him Apparently, Dickens never forgot the day when a more senior boy in the warehouse took it upon himself to instruct Dickens in how to do his work more efficiently For Dickens, that instruction may have represented the first step toward his full integration into the misery and tedium of working-class life
In 1837, Oliver Twist first appeared in the magazine Bentley‟s Miscellany Great successfully, the novel was a thinly veiled protest against the Poor Law 1834, which dictated that all public charity must be changed through workhouse In Oliver Twist, the author also demonstrates the hypocrisy of the middle class bureaucrats, who treat a small child cruelly while voicing their belief in the Christian virtue of giving charity to the poor
Dickens really concerned about the poor In England in the 1830s, the poor truly had no voice, political or economic In Oliver Twist, Dickens presents the every existence of the lowest members of English society He goes far beyond the experience of workhouse, extending his description of poverty to London, squalid streets; dark alehouse and thieves' dens He gives voice to those who had no voice, establishing a link between politics and literature with his social commentary
2.1.2 Main characters of the novel
- Oliver Twist - the main charater of the novel He is an orphan boy and is born in a workhouse The harsh poor laws and his lowly birth prevents him from having no rights, and he is beaten, starved, and overworked
Oliver's adventures begin when he asks for a second bowl of gruel When he naively makes his famous request for more gruel Oliver works as an undertaker's apprentice for a short time, but leaves when he can not endure the bad treatment He then runs away to London and falls into the hands of a secret criminal gang led by Fagin, but is later rescued by Mr Brownlow
- Fagin – A leader of dens of thieves and robbers in London
- Mr Brownlow - A well-off, erudite gentleman who serves as Oliver‟s first benefactor He is later revealed to be none other than a very close friend of Oliver's father
- Rose Maylie - Agnes Fleming‟s sister, raised from young childhood by Mrs Maylie She establishes a loving relationship with Oliver even before it‟s revealed that the two are related
- The Artful Dodger - The cleverest of Fagin‟s pickpockets He introduces Oliver to Fagin
- Nancy - the sympathetic lover of Bill Sikes in the novel Oliver Twist
She is the only character who fluctuates between the world of good and evil
- Mr Bumble - The pompous, self-important beadle, a minor church official for the workhouse where Oliver is born
- Monks - A sickly, vicious young man, prone to violent fit With Fagin, he schemes to give Oliver a bad reputation
- Bill Sikes - A brutal professional burglar, brought up in Fagin‟s gang
Besides, there are many other characters in the novel
Oliver Twist was born in a work-house in 1830s in England His mother, whose name no one knows, died just after Oliver„s birth After the other boy asked for more gruel at the end of a meal, Mr Bumble, the parish beadle, offers five pounds to anyone who will take the boy away from the work-house Oliver narrowly escapes being apprenticed to a brutish chimney sweep and is eventually apprenticed to a local undertaker, Mr Sowerberry When the undertaker‟s other apprentice, Noah Claypole, insults Oliver„s mother, Oliver attacks him and incurs the Sowerberry‟s wrath Desperate, Oliver runs away at down and travel toward London
Outside London, Oliver, starved and exhausted, meets Jack Dawkins, a boy at his own age Jack offers him shelter in the London house of his benefactor, Fagin It turns out that Fagin is a career criminal who trains orphan boys to pick pockets for him After, a few days of training, Oliver is sent on a pick pocketing mission with 2 other boys When he sees them swipe a handkerchief from an elderly gentleman, Oliver is horrified and runs off He is caught but narrowly escapes being convicted of their theft Mr Brownlow, the man whose handkerchief was stolen takes Oliver to his home and gives him the best care Mr Brownlow is struck by Oliver„s resemblance to a portrait of a young woman that hangs in his house Oliver thrives in Brownlow‟s home but two young adults in Fagin‟s gang, Bill Sikes and Nancy, capture him and return him to Fagin
Fagin sends Oliver to assist Sikes in a burglary Oliver is shot by a servant of the house, and after Sikes escapes, is taken by the women who live there, Mrs Maylie and her beautiful adopted niece Rose But Fagin and a man named Monks are set on recapturing Oliver Meanwhile, it is revealed that Oliver„s mother left behind a gold locket when she died Monks obtains and destroys that locket When the Maylies come to London, Nancy meets secretly with Rose and informs her of Fagin‟s designs, but a member of Fagin‟s gang overhears the conversation Sikes brutally murders Nancy and flees London Pursued by his guilty conscience, he inadvertently hangs himself while trying to escape
Mr Brownlow and the Maylies have reunited Oliver confronts Monks and wrings the truth about Oliver‟s parentage from him It is revealed that Monks is Oliver‟s half brother Mr Brownlow forces him to sign over Oliver‟s share to Oliver Moreover, it is discovered that Rose is Agnes‟ younger sister, hence Oliver‟s aunt Fagin is hung for his crimes Finally, Mr Brownlow adopts Oliver, and they and the Maylies retire to a blissful existence in the countryside.
An introduction to “David Copperfield”
In 1849, Dickens began to write “David Copperfield”, a novel based on his early life experiences Like Dickens, David works as a child, pasting labels onto bottles David also does jobs like Dickens such as, a law clerk, a reporter, and a successful novelist Mr Micawber is a satirical version of Dickens‟ father, a likable man who has trouble with finance Other characters are products of Dickens‟ experiences during his early youth
In later years, Dickens called “David Copperfield” his “favourite child”, and any critics consider the novel to be one of his best depictions of childhood
“David Copperfield” is set in early Victorian England against a backdrop of great social change The Industrial Revolution of the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries had transformed the social landscape and enabled capitalists and manufacturers to a mass huge fortune However, the gap between the rich and the poor remained wide London, a teeming mass of humanity lit by gas lamp at night and darken by sooty out from smokestacks during the day, rose in dark contrast to Britain‟s sparsely populated rural areas More and more people moved from the country to the city for jobs But this migration overpopulated the already crowded cities, and poverty, diseases, hazardous factory conditions, and ramshackle housing became widespread Dickens observed the phenomena of the Industrial Revolution and used them as the canvas on which he painted David Copperfield and his other urban novels
2.2.2 Main characters of the novel
- David Copperfield - the protagonist and narrator of the novel David is innocent, trusting, and naive even though he suffers abuse as a child He is idealistic and impulsive and remains honest and loving Though David‟s troubled childhood renders him sympathetic he is not perfect He often exhibits chauvinistic attitudes toward the lower classes In some instance foolhardy decisions mar David‟s good intentions
- Clara Copperfield - David's kind mother, described as being innocently childish, who dies while David is at Salem House
- Betsy Trotwood - David's eccentric and temperamental yet kindhearted aunt; she becomes his guardian after he runs away from Grinby and Murdstone's warehouse in Blackfriars
- Peggotty - The faithful servant of the Copperfield family and a lifelong companion to David
- Daniel Peggotty – Clara Peggotty's brother
- Ham Peggotty – His good-natured nephew
- Emily (Little Em’ly) – A niece of Mr Peggotty
- Edward Murdstone - Young David's cruel stepfather
- Jane Murdstone – Mr Murdstone's equally cruel sister
- Mr Creakle – The harsh headmaster of young David's boarding school
- James Steerforth – David‟s classmate at Salem House
- Tommy Traddles – David's friend from Salem House
- Wilkins Micawber – A genteel man who befriends David as a young boy He suffers from much financial difficulty He is based on Dickens' father
- Mr Barkis – An aloof coachman who declares his intention to marry
- Dr Strong – The headmaster of David's Canterbury school
- Mr Wickfield – The father of Agnes Wickfield and lawyer to Betsy
Trotwood He is prone to alcoholism
- Agnes Wickfield - Mr Wickfield's mature and lovely daughter and close friend of David since childhood She later becomes David's second wife
- Uriah Heap – A wicked young man who serves as partner to Mr
- Mr Spenlow – under whom David studied law
- Dora Spenlow – his daughter, later David‟s wife
David Copperfield tells the story of his youth As a young boy, he lives happily with his mother and his nurse, Peggotty His father died before he was born During David‟s early childhood, his mother married the violent Mr
Murdstone, who brings his strict sister Jane Murdstone into the house The Murdstones treat David cruelly, and one day David bites Murdstone‟s hand during one beating The Murdstones sends David away to school
Miss Peggotty takes David to visit her family in Yarmouth where David meets Mr Peggotty, Ham and Little Em‟ly Mr Peggotty‟s family lives in a boat turned upside down After this visit, David attends school at Salemn House, which is run by a man named Mr Creakle David befriends and idolizes an young man named James Steerforth David also befriends Tommy Traddles, an unfortunate, fat young boy who is beaten more than the others
David‟s mother dies and David returns home, where the Murdstones neglect him He works at Murdstone‟s wine-bottling business and meets Mr Micawber, who mismanages his finances A short time later, David decides to search for his father‟s sister, Miss Betsey Trotwood He walks a long distance to Miss Betsey‟s home, and she takes him in on the advice of her mentally unstable friend, Mr Dick
Miss Betsey sends David to a school run by Doctor Strong David moves in with Mr Wickfield and his daughter, Agnes, while he attends school Agnes and David become best friends Among Wickfield‟s boarders is Uriah Heep, a snakelike man David graduates and goes to Yarmouth to visit Peggotty, who is now married to Mr Barkis, the carrier
On his way to Yarmouth, David meets Steerforth They arrive in Yarmouth, where Steerforth and Peggotty's niece become fond of one another When they return from Yarmouth, Miss Betsey persuades David to pursue a career as a proctor David apprentices himself at London firm of Spenlow and Jorkins and takes up lodgings with a woman named Mrs Crupp
Mr Spenlow invites David to his house for a weekend There, David meets his daughter, Dora, and quickly falls in love with her
In London, David is reunited with Tommy Traddles and Mr Micawber Word reaches David, through Steerforth, that Mr Barkis is terminally ill David journeys to Yarmouth to visit Peggotty in her hour of need When Mr Barkis dies, Little Em‟ly runs off with Steerforth, who she believes will make her a lady Mr Peggotty devastated but vows to find Little Em‟ly and bring her home
Miss Betsey visits to London to inform David that her financial security has been ruined because Mr Wickfield has joined into a partnership with Uriah Heep David, who has become infatuated with Dora, vows to work as hard as he can make their life together possible Dora and David marry, and
Dora proves a terrible housewife, incompetent in her chores
Mr Peggotty enlists the help of little Emily‟s friend, Martha, who locates Little Em‟Ly and brings Mr Peggotty to her They decide to move to Australia, as do the Micawbers, who first save the day for Agnes and Miss Betsey by exposing Uriah Heep‟s fraud against Mr Wickfield
A powerful storm hits Yarmouth and kills Ham while he attempts to rescue a shipwrecked sailor The sailor turns out to be Steerforth Meanwhile, Dora falls ill and dies David leaves the country to travel abroad His love for Agnes grows When David returns, he and Agnes, who has long harbored a secret love for him, get married and have several children David pursues his writing career with increasingly commercial success.
Children in the two novels “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield”
Children with bitter childhood
Charles Dickens is regarded as a great lover of children because the problem of children is mentioned in most of his works, especially those lost their parents Therefore, the readers can easily find a series of pitiful orphans in the two novels, David Copperfield and Oliver Twist
In “Oliver Twist”, the main character is a little boy who was born in a workhouse that is signal of miserable life In addition, his mother dies soon after his birth and no information about his father is known The baby never knows how sweet and warm his mother‟s milk is His appearance is not greeted because he as well as other orphans is considered a burden of society The little boy grows in neglect of surrounding people Loneliness is the first thing he had to face up Since the first minutes of his birth, the child has to manage to start breathing and he dresses in cotton clothes, yellow with age, he looks exactly what he is an orphan in a work-house, ready for a life of misery, hunger and neglect
Living in a baby farm, Oliver and 30 other boys are brought up by an old “experienced” woman who frequently beats them Thanks to “careful treatment” of the nurse and “assistance” of the authority, Oliver becomes a pale, thin child and short for his age
Oliver as well as other orphans is deprived of natural parents who would give them happiness, protection and love Thus, he can never know the precious value of those things until he meets kind-hearted people, namely, Mr Brownlow, the Maylies, etc
Loosing his parents, Oliver is ill-treated by surrounding people On the way to London city, the boy is depraved into a gang of robbers and thieves It is the most difficult period when Oliver experiences the worst things; even he faces up to the fragile frontier between life and death
In this novel, we also can find a series of characters, such as: Nancy, Artful Dodger, Charley Bates…They are orphans and trained to become professional pickpockets How pitiful they are!
Similarly, David Copperfield also lost his natural parents He is treated cruelly by his step-father after the man finds the way to control David‟s mother and his family‟s property Although there are some differences in background, both Oliver and David have to suffer a lot of misery and have unhappy childhood
What‟s more, it can be said that apart from “David Copperfield”, nowhere in other works of Dickens, the problem of children is mentioned so clearly and seriously In this novel, a range of pitiful orphans is easily found For instance, Steerforth lost his father, Dora and Agnes their mothers, Traddles and Em‟ly, Ham both their fathers and mothers
To sum up, through the two novels Charles Dickens creates the beautiful image of pitiful orphans Children are new kind of characters in critical realism literature with other forces such as, workers, servants, wanderers, bourgeoisie, etc Further more, the writer also wants to denounce the evil nature of unfeeling people who always maltreats innocent children
3.1.2 Children, victims of labour abuse
Charles Dickens‟ family met financial difficulty so he early quitted school and worked in a factory when he was a child of 11 years old Therefore, unforgettable experience and suffering of his early youth became precious materials for many of his writings We can see almost everywhere in his works the shadow of himself behind the characters
When Dickens was an small boy, he worked for 10 hours a day in a factory He earned a little of money, only six shillings per week The terrific working condition made an ingrained impression on Dickens It is the same when reading the novel "David Copperfield" we can easily realize that the main character is the portrait of the novelist Dickens himself declared that
“David Copperfield” was his “favourite child” because they have a good many things in common For example, David is forced to do a job in a ware- house owned by his step-father, Mr Murdstone and his associate, Mr Grinby The little boy has to suffer a lot of difficulties from working condition and wage to behaviour of his boss
Only through using his pen, the author describes a terrific scene of the counting factory where David works: “Murdstone and Grinby’s ware-house was at the waterside It was down in Blackfriars It was a crazy old house with a wharf of its own, abbutting on the water when the tide was in, and on the mud when the tide was out, and literally overrun with rats Its paneled rooms, discoloured with the dirt and smoke of a hundred years, I dare say; its decaying floors and staircases; the squeaking and scuffling of the old grey rats down in the cellar; and the dirt and rottenness of the place; are things, not of many years ago; in my mind, but of the present instant.” [5, p.125]
The readers wonder how they can exist and work at such a dark, dirty and stuffy place Whether the author made any exaggeration or not?
Certainly, it was a real world, in which orphans or children of poor families had to live In fact, what they were experiencing is what Dickens had experienced and what they were suffering is what Dickens had suffered
The readers may shock not only for the terrible working places, but also for the appearance of child-labours there Most of them are children at the age of just over 9 At that age, they normally have right to get education and live on their parent‟s hands On the contrary, poverty and starvation emerge on their faces as David‟s description about his workmate: “His name was Mick
Children with good nature
3.2.1 The nature of innocence and pureness
Dickens is known for the great lover of children He appeals to the very hearts of people to give an eye to the children so as to see that they have to suffer life rather than to enjoy it He learns with fear that in the unwholesome environment of the capitalist society white could be turned into black, good into bad, and right into wrong Yet, his child characters remained kind and pure till the end
It might be the intention of the author that he wants to criticizes the corrupt environment, in which children exist Specifically, Oliver Twist is in the work-house, the boarding school and then the gang of criminals while David Copperfield is in the hand of his cruel step-father and then the blacking factory In all of those places the wicked men always want to oppress and destroy the innocent spirits However, the readers might be surprised at the children‟ stable nature
In the work-house, Oliver and other orphans are ill-treated by the master and other officers, who are considered “parents” of children They are constantly left so hungry and brutally beaten Oliver„s asking for more thin soup, in one day, surprised the board of the work-house and immediately he receives a serious punishment Oliver„s action is also an evidence of his innocence because he is too small to learn how harsh and ruthless the workhouse is The workhouse is theoretically charitable institution assisting the poor and the orphan Nevertheless, the fact is that hunger is intentionally created Besides, the child can not know a serious punishment would be the vital result of his innocent begging
Another evidence of innocence is that Oliver is tricked by Dawkins, who was born for crime, as Oliver puts a first step in to London It is clear that Oliver is too young to understand the real nature of Dawkins' kindness
Therefore, he falls into the gang of thieves led by Fagin Later he innocently goes out to “make handkerchief” with two pickpockets He realizes too late that their mission is to pickpocket because he though that “making handkerchief” in Fagin‟s house is simply a game As a result, he is hunted down and beaten His naivety leads him to be trapped in the gang of thieves and to be forced to join a burglary
Concerning David Copperfield, we can see that he is also innocent, David is the main character, at the same time a narrator, and his perception of the world deepens as he comes of age As can be found that David„s initial innocence is the contrast between his interpretation of events and our own understanding of them David is ignorant of Steerforth‟s treachery, we are aware from the moment we meet Steerforth that he does not deserve adulation David feels toward him David takes Steerforth‟s kindness for granted without concerning his motives or detecting his duplicity When Steerforth befriends David at Salemn House, David does not suspect that Steerforth is simply trying to use David to make friends and gain status Though Steerforth belittles David from the moment they meet, David is incapable of conceiving that his new friend might be taking advantage of him Because Steerforth‟s duplicity is so clear to us, David‟s lack of insight into Steerforth‟s true intentions emphasizes his youthful innocence
Moreover, David does not understand why he hates Uriah Heep or why he trusts a boy with a donkey cart, who steals his money and leaves him in the road, but we can sense Uriah‟s devious nature and the boy‟s treacherous intentions
A part from innocence, the readers can easily find the nature of kindness of this protagonist shown through out the novel As far as friendship, David is loyal friend He does not hesitate to help Tommy Traddles, his school-mate, to overcome difficulties and make a name and a career for him
Furthermore, the boy is ready to help his aunt, Miss Betsey, and Mr Dick when they lost all their money He decides to offer a work for Dr Strong in the mornings and evenings to have more money, even very little
For Mr Micawber, David appears to show his very heart to him regardless of Micawber‟s bad job David easily forgives Mr Micawber and helps him go to a new land, Australia
More importantly, David is also a faithful lover He wishes to marry Agnes for true love It is different from Uriah‟s motivation that he wishes to marry Agnes only for hurting David
Compared with Oliver, David Copperfield is described as a more complicated character in terms of various aspects of his life However, both Oliver Twist and David Copperfield have good nature in common and are examples of innocence and kindness
3.2.2 Great desire for a better life and stiff resistance against the evil
It is normally said that the harsher the living environment is the greater ambition and determination people have Resulting from Dickens‟s experiences, “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” recount the image of Dickens himself during his childhood Since he was a child he had to live on his own capability because his father was put into a prison for debts With great desire Dickens made a successful career and he became one of the famous and loved novelists of English literature
We can easily realize the similarities of characteristics between Dickens and his protagonists, Oliver and David
Both Oliver and David are described as those who have strong will of struggling against oppression Take Oliver as the first example When the boy is brought up in the work-house by the cruel men he has to manage to survive
We wonder that whether this small child could overcome starvation and bad treatment if he lacked a firm will The answer “yes” surprises us It proves that despite of his smallness, he has strong determination which enables him to maintain his existence the corrupt surroundings We dare not deny the role of environment, of course
Fate smiles upon children
Another good example is characters in David Copperfield Compare with Oliver Twist, David Copperfield has a more complex character Though David is trusting and kind, he also has moments of cruelty, like the scene in which he intentionally distresses Mr Dick by explaining Mr Betsey‟s dire situation to him
Different from “Oliver Twist”, in David Copperfield the main character does not express maintenance of kindness; instead others do it For example, Agnes Wickfield and Ham are those who are good from the beginning to the end Agnes is a caring and faithful girl and Ham is a kind and loyal boy This boy goes to death in a stout-hearted attempt to rescue a survivor clinging to a broken mast The survivor turns out to his enemy, Steerforth
Dickens is said to use “idealized” characters In other words, he makes an exaggeration in creating his protagonists Therefore, it seems to be a harmonious combination between the real and the unreal His positive characters are sometimes too good to be found in real life They ever remained true to the principles of honour, dignity and faith The characters in his novels are static but vivid, lively and varied Especially, he wishes his child characters are perfect in their nature because he is well-known for the great love to children
3.3.1 Good behaviour of kind-hearted people is precious present for children
Throughout Dickens‟ novels we can see his love of humanity that is apparent everywhere He hates every species of oppression and injustice, every vestige of fraudulent misrepresentation and hypocrisy, every sight of man‟s cruelty to man, and loves those who suffer and still do not lose their hearts and keep on doing their best by all around them In particular, Dickens is Dickens is a great lover of children He appeals to the very hearts of the people to give eyes to the children so that they can see children suffering life rather than enjoying it He learns with fear that in the unhealthy environment of the capitalist society, white could be turned into black, good into bad and right into wrong, yet all of his child heroes and heroines remained pure and unspoiled till the end Besides, he laid all his hopes in the good qualities of human nature and held a firm ground that man was born good In his opinion, it was possible to make the rich share wealth with the poor “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” can prove this point
In each novel, it can be seen that there appears a lot of the bad men such as, Murdstone, Mr Creakle, Uriah Heep in David Copperfield and Mr Bumble, Mrs Sowerberry, Fagin, Bill Sikes, Monks in Oliver Twist All of them are representatives of the evil: corruption, injustice and cruelty in society In other words, they stand in the one side of the world In another side, Dickens draws a picture in which a lot of good people with nice behaviours are sharing their kindness with unhappy ones For example, in Oliver Twist there appear Mr Brownlow, the Maylies, etc, and in David Copperfield, Miss Betsey Trotwood, Mrs Peggotty, Ham, Agnes Wickfield Those people seem to come from fairy land to help orphans like Oliver and David
To start with Oliver Twist, he experienced many ups and downs during his childhood even if he was close to the death However, his life is saved by some kind-hearted people like Mr Brownlow, the Maylies, etc At the first time, Oliver naively goes out to “work” with Charley Bates and Dawkins He run after and hit because people thought him as a pickpocket At that time, Mr Brownlow, a well-off erudite gentleman and the owner of the bookshop prevented others from beating Oliver Twist by indicating his innocence Mr Brownlow expresses his clemency through his saying: “Poor boy! He is hurt.”
“Poor boy, poor boy!” “Call a carriage, somebody, please At once!” [5, p.20]
Though he is victim of the pickpocket, when seeing Oliver being beaten by the crowd, he immediately shows his sympathy with the poor boy After that he also gives him the best care We can not forget the kind housekeeper of Mr Brownlow, Mrs Bedwin, who is very kind to Oliver and feeds him with good food All makes Oliver feel very happy in Mr Brownlow‟s house
Another person we can not forget is Rose Maylie, a beautiful compassionate and forgiving young woman She is the novel‟s model of female virtue She establishes a loving relationship with Oliver, even before it is revealed that they are relatives Like Mr Brownlow, the Maylies are kind- hearted and clement people They save the poor boy‟s life and give him the best care At the Maylie‟s house, Oliver discovers a “new existence” He listens to Rose‟s sweet and gentle voice; goes for walks with Mrs Maylie and Rose; feed Mrs Maylie‟s birds; pick flowers to put on the table and works at his lessons It is the happiest time the little boy enjoys
Mr Brownlow and the Maylies seem to come from the fairy land but Nancy, a girl from the bottom of society is also considered a person who gives the little boy a precious gift She sacrifices her own life in order to protect Oliver This action itself is regarded as the noblest act in the novel because Nancy, a prostitute dares buy pure conscience by her life and her devotion itself saves Oliver‟s life Besides, her ultimate choice regains people‟s sympathy and forgiveness More significantly, her sacrifice makes her become one of the noble characters in this novel
Similarly, when reading “David Copperfield” the reader can see both the good and bad men surrounding the main character For example, the
Murdstones, Uriah Heep and Mr Creakle are representatives of the evil and Mrs Betsey Trotwood, Agnes, the Peggotties the good Mrs Trotwood, who acts as his second mother, is eccentric and kind-hearted aunt of David She protects him from Mr Murdstone and takes care of him after his mother‟s death She also helps him pursue his dream of becoming a gentleman It can be said that Miss Trotwood herself brings the best life to David
Agnes Wickfield is also an important person to David‟s life She always is a loyal friend of David and gives him a true love David‟s lonely heart, after his wife‟s death, is indeed warmed up when he realizes his love for Agnes for the first time
We can not deny the role of Mrs Peggotty who is the faithful servant of the Copperfield family and a lifelong companion to David She always gives David a careful service and listens to David‟s confidence
Generally, both Oliver Twist and David Copperfield are lucky boys because they always receive help and sympathy of other people when facing to difficulties and misery Thus, it can be said that good behaviour is a precious present for children
3.3.2 Happy ending is a satisfactory compensation for the miserable time
Have you ever read fairy tales? Perhaps the answer is “yes” because the childhood of people is often close to fairy tales which are told by their lovely moms or grandmothers Therefore, when reading Dickens‟ works, it is easy for us to make a comparison between fairy tales and his novels Why so? The reason is that Dickens‟ novels have happy endings
This is a familiar motif in Dickens‟ works In all, “Oliver Twist” is the most typical example which ending is very nice We can see that in the first chapters of the novels the main character has to live with miseries and horror but the rest ones are joyfulness and happiness The little boy, Oliver had to experience extremely miserable days even be close to the death sometimes Yet, good people appear at once and give him their warm hands and kindness to help him At the end of the novel, Oliver is adopted by Mr Brownlow From that, he has a new family in which people love and take care of him It is obvious that the little boy lost his family so he would have a new one From an orphan, Oliver becomes a happy child