Charles Dickens

1
Charles Dickens

• English Notes

2
List of his works

• A Christmas Carol
• Pickwick Papers
• Nicholas Nickelby
• Oliver Twist
• Great Expectations
• A Tale of Two Cities
• David Copperfield
• Hard Times
• Our Mutual Friend
• Martin Chuzzlewit

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Background information

• Born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England
• Second child of John Elizabeth Dickens
• At age of 10, (1822) the family moves to London.
  London was a large city even then (approx. 1.8
  million) and was the political capitol of Great
  Britain.
• The time period that Dickens lived most of his
  life was known as the Victorian Age (1837-1901).
  It was named after Queen Victoria who became
  queen at just 14 years of age and remained ruler
  for 64 years.

4
Debt

• In 1824, Dickens father was sent to debtors
  prison.
• Charles, age 12, leaves school to work at
  Warrens Blacking Factory, a rat infested,
  unheated factory.
• When Dickens and his family went to visit his
  father, they saw the poor conditions for the
  prison and Charles became very angry at the
  establishment. There was no way his father could
  pay off his debts while he was in prison.

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• A few years later, the Dickens family inherited
  money and John Dickens was able to pay his debts
  and get out of prison. This allowed Charles
  Dickens to stop working at the factory.

6
Dickens held several jobs before he became a
published author.

• Age 15- a clerk in a small legal office.
• Age 17- becomes a court reporter. (reports what
  happened during a court session.
• Age 21- Begins to submit stories and essays to
  magazines and newspapers.
• Age 22- Works as a government reporter/ newspaper
  reporter

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1836 was a great year for Dickens

• His first book Sketches by Boz, a collection of
  essays and stories is published. He used Boz as
  his pen name.
• He writes and publishes The Pickwick Papers,
  which was his first literary success and helps
  him become the most popular writer in all of
  England.

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• He becomes the editor of a monthly magazine
  called Bentleys Miscellany and uses his position
  to serialize Oliver Twist.
• Dickens marries Catharine Hogarth, the daughter
  of the owner of Bentleys Miscellany.

9
Later years

• 1843- he writes A Christmas Carol in just six
  weeks. Dickens uses his own money to publish this
  story.
• 1850- Starts his own magazine called Household
  Words.
• 1870- Dies of a stroke.

10

• Popular throughout his life, Charles Dickens
  was considered a social reformer. He tried to
  change things in society that he felt were
  unfair, such as the treatment of children/ child
  labor and debtors prison.