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Biography of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was the greatest English realist and was loved by most readers.

He was considered the father of the social realist novel.

His Novels reflect the condition of England.

Dickens’s works contain a wider view of man and his problems and a broader and more human outlook.

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Charles Dickens's Career

Charles Dickens tried his luck in various careers: a boot polish factory worker, an office boy, stenographer and a freelance reporter (London, 1828).

Began his literary career in 1833: a series of sketches and impressions “Boz” as his pen name.

His first serial publications, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club and Oliver Twist brought him into the center of the literary world.

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Charles Dickens’s literary career could be divided into four periods:

First period: (1833 - 1841) The life of the poor and homeless people.

Second period: (1843 - 1848) Crimes that arose from the bourgeois system itself

Third period: (1850 - 1859) A pen against social abuses like corruption in the law courts and cruelty and starvation at boarding schools.

Fourth period: (1860 - 1865) The spirit of disillusionment towards the decline of labor movements and English Critical Realism.

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Twilight of Dickens Career

Sketches by Boz (1833 - 1836)

The Pickwick Papers (1836)

Oliver Twist’s Travels (1838)

American Notes (11842)

Martin Chuzzlewit (1843)

Dombey and Son (1845 - 1848)

Bleak House (1853)

Hard Times (1854)

Our Mutual Friend (1865)

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Dickens's Style

Using the cliffhanger technique, he was able to create suspense in his pieces.

Characterization and satirical tone.

Symbolism.

He also involved realism, religion, and class in most of his novels to show the apparent truths about society.

Literary devices such as personifications, imagery, similes, and metaphors, exaggeration exhibit the character traits.

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Major Themes in Dickens’ fiction

Loneliness of childhood

Oppression of poverty

Uncertainty of love and marriage

The indifference of social institutions

Sustaining joy of family life

Perseverance and sacrifice in face of untold hardships and injustice

Many autobiographical links between life and writings of Dickens

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Ebenezer Scrooge

The main character of the story.

Jacob Marley

The business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Fred

The nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge

Bob Cratchit

Scrooge's clerk, a kind, mild, and very poor man with a large family.

Bob Tiny Tim Cratchit

-The son of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s employee. Tiny Tim is crippled.

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Ghost of Christmas Past

- The Ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back to relive old memories, showing him what he has lost.

Ghost of Christmas Present

- He shows Scrooge the joys and the hardships of others.

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
- A frightening figure who shows Scrooge the future he will face if he doesn't change.

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Stave one

Scrooge dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him, and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.

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Stave two

The Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan and his  neglected fiancée Belle

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Stave three

The Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to see people preparing for Christmas. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party. A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill.

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Stave four

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a Christmas Day in the future. T The ghost then allows Scrooge to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge's name. Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways.

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Stave five

Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He makes a large donation to the charity, sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner, and spends the afternoon with Fred's family. From then on Scrooge treats everyone with kindness, generosity and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas.

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

Because of the story’s allegorical nature, many characters and events are symbolic:

Marley's chains represent spiritual burdens he "forged" in his own life: that is, his callousness towards other human beings in favor of money or power. Whereas normal chains are forged from metal, Marley’s are constructed from what he valued in life—versions of material wealth. Dickens uses this image to suggest that actions in life may have inescapable consequences even in death.

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

The Ghost of Christmas Present:

The second apparition brings with him visions of feasts and a transformed room in Scrooge’s house, which contrasts Scrooge’s cold home with the abundance of other families. Though the others do not have material wealth, they are rich in happiness and familial warmth. The ghost also carries a scabbard but no sword, symbolizing lasting peace. Before it leaves Scrooge, the Ghost shows him two 'yellow, meagre' children who are hiding under its cloak called Ignorance and Want.

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

Ignorance and Want:
These two children represent the rich and the poor’s struggles. While the poor are weighed down by Want, it is clear that Ignorance is the more dangerous of the two—and that Ignorance is Scrooge’s vice, since he has not bothered to learn more about his employees’ conditions.

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

The Ghost of Christmas Past:

The Ghost of Christmas Past symbolizes the experiences and memories that have made him into the callous person he is today. The spirit’s glowing head suggests the location of the memories Scrooge holds.

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL Clip - "Ghost of Christmas Past" (2009)

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come:
The final spirit, silent and clothed in black, symbolizes the uncertainty and fear of the future. The presence is mysterious and without identifiable features, showing that the future is not yet set.

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

Scrooge’s Gravestone:

Shown to him by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, the gravestone symbolizes Scrooge’s potential fate if he does not change: a lonely death, inconsequential to those who know him.

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Symbols in A Christmas Carol

Turkey:

A changed man, Scrooge purchases a large turkey to provide for the Cratchits. Scrooge’s purchase symbolizes his transformation from stingy to generous, illustrating his renewed commitment to Christmas’s values.

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1. Christmas Spirit and Humanitarianism:
- The center of Christmas Spirit is humanitarianism.
- Christmas Spirit promotes that people should be tolerant and respectful with each other: the poor should not lose their personality and dignity, while the rich should not lose their generosity and they should treat the poor kindly and respectfully.

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2. Two sides of human being
People are born with both goodness and evil in their nature. What we need to do is to extinguish the evil aspect of our mind and activate the good aspect which will bring us unlimited happiness.

3. The importance of making choices
Making correct choices is important, difficult as it may be. But do remember no matter what kind of choices you are going to make, you should be responsible for yourself, and make sure that it will make you happy for the rest of your life.