FREE ESSAY ON CHARLES DICKENS

CHARLES DICKENS

Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens is the greatest English writer that ever lived. He was one of
the most popular writers in the history of literature. Surely no English author is so
well known and so widely read, translated and remembered as Charles Dickens. He fame is
well deserved. From the pen of this great author came such characters as Oliver Twist,
David Copperfield, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, Mr. Pickwick, and Little Nett. 
Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth and spent most of his childhood in
London and Kent, both of which appear frequently in his novels. Charles Dickens was the
son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. John Dickens worked as a clerk at the Navy pay office
in Portsmouth. Charles, the second of seven children, went to the local school. John
Dickens found it difficult to provide for his growing family on his small pay. In 1822
the family moved to Camden Town in London. John Dickens' debts had become so severe that
all the household goods were sold. Still unable to satisfy his creditors, John Dickens
was arrested and sent to Marshalsea Prison. At age 12, Charles found work at Warren's
Blacking Factory, where he was paid six shillings a week wrapping shoeblack bottles. The
brief time that he worked at the Blacking Factory haunted him all of his life. He spoke
of it only to his wife and to his closest friend, John Forster. The rough time he had
there would show up in his stories David Copperfield and in Great Expectations. Six
months after being sent to Marshalsea, one of John Dickens's relatives died. He was left
enough money in the will to pay off his debts and to leave prison. Some of the
inheritance was used to educate Charles at a nearby private school, Wellington House
Academy. Charles was only a moderate student and at the age of fifteen he left school and
found work as an office boy in a firm of solicitors. Charles Dickens decided he wanted to
become a reporter. He purchased a copy of Gurney's Brachgraphy and taught himself
shorthand. At the age of sixteen, Charles Dickens found work as a court reporter. Later
he joined the Mirror of Parliament, a newspaper that reported the daily proceedings of
Parliament. Perhaps developing the power of precise description made his creative writing
so detailed, descriptive, and outstanding. Dickens became interested in the subject of
social reform and started contributing articles to the radical newspaper, the True Sun.
Despite having to charge the heavy tax imposed on newspapers, the True Sun sold 30,000
copies a day. In his articles, Dickens used his knowledge of what went on in the House of
Commons to help make changes in parliament. Charles Dickens was pleased when Parliament
eventually agreed to pass the 1832 Reform Act. In 1833 Charles Dickens had his first
story published in the Monthly Magazine. Using the pen name of 'Boz', Dickens also began
contributing short stories to the Morning Chronicle and the Evening Chronicle. These
stories were so popular that they were collected together and published as a book
entitled Sketches by Boz. In 1835 he met and became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. Dickens
earned enough money to marry Catherine Hogarth on April 2, 1836. During the same year he
became editor of Bentley's Miscellany, published the second series of Sketches by Boz,
and met John Forster, who would become his closest friend and confidant as well as his
first biographer. The success of Pickwick Papers, Dickens first novel made him famous.
Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby followed this. Dickens was now the most popular
writer in Britain and over the next few years he wrote a series of popular novels
including The Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, Martin Chuzzlewit. Dickens is probably
most remembered at Christmas time because of his novel A Christmas Carol that is my all
time favorite Christmas story. Dickens also decided to invest some of his royalties in a
new radical newspaper, The Daily News. It was not a great commercial success and Dickens
resigned as editor. However, he was determined to create a means where he could
communicate his ideas on social reform and in 1850 he began editing Household Words. The
weekly journal included articles on politics, science and history. To increase the number
of people willing to buy Household Words, it also contained short stories and humorous
pieces. By 1851 the twenty-four page Household Words was soon selling 40,000 copies a
week. When Dickens's argued with the publishers of Household Words in 1859, he closed the
journal and replaced it with All the Year Round. The new journal still covered social
issues but mainly concentrated on literary matters. Several important novels came out of
the development of All the Year Round including Dickens's own A Tale of Two Cities, and
Great Expectations, The journal also published three of Wilkie Collins's novels, The
Woman in White, No Name and The Moonstone. All of his success was shadowed by
unhappiness. Charles Dickens began having a relationship with a young actress named Ellen
Ternan, which led to his separation from his wife, Catherine in 1858, after the marriage
had produced ten children. He suffered a fatal stroke on June 9, 1870, and was buried in
Westminster Abbey five days later.
Charles Dickens was the greatest and most popular English Author of his time. He
introduced a new way of writing realistic fiction stories. Dickens's novels of modern
life is shown in Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend,
show an amazing ability to create living characters. His graphic exposures of social
evils and his powers of drawing cartoons and humor have made him very popular among the
people of his day and ours. His novels have been read, translated and sold all around the
world in his day and in ours. Some of his stories have been made into motion pictures. My
favorite Christmas movie that I always look forward to see is A Christmas Carol. It was
done by Walt Disney and was based on the novel of Charles Dickens. Many others were made
into movies as well. Great Expectations, David Copperfield, It's a Wonderful Life,
Oliver, Oliver Twist, The Tale of Two Cities and Scrooge all became famous motion
pictures base on Charles Dickens's novels. Many authors learned from the way he wrote and
became popular authors. At the same time it influenced the publishing industry in Great
Britain. This method of publication quickly became popular among Dickens's generation. 
Charles Dickens has done so much for literature all over the world. The interest in
Dickens today takes many forms. His popularity has never,he is always in print and is
being read. His novels are made into films and television adaptations, the Internet is
full of Dickens, and so is the academic world. Surely no English Author is so well known
and so widely read. Although He himself was a somewhat cold, self-centered man, he
attacked the mid 19th century injustices against the men, women, and children of the
working class. His personal life grew increasingly unhappy. He lived a pretty rough life.
He went from poverty during his childhood and rose to fame as an adult. The life of this
man is very interesting and if anyone deserves to have a book written about them, it is
Charles Dickens. 
I admire Charles Dickens for many of the things he went through in his long and great
life. When Charles Dickens was 12 his dad was put in jail and he had to work to provide
food for his family. It wasn't easy work either. He had to worked in a shoe polishing
company called "Warren's Blacking Factory". He work 15 hours a day with no breaks except
lunch. In 1842 he lectured in the United States in favor of an international copyright
agreement and in opposition to slavery. He argued with men who were advocates of slavery.
He said that slavery must be abolished. Charles Dickens's activities also included
managing a theatrical company that played before Queen Victoria in 1851 and giving public
readings of his own works in England and America. When he would write a book a reviewer
would read it and tell people if its good or not good. The reviewers told him that his
book was horrible. Charles Dickens worked hard on the novel to make it better, it ended
up selling many and was one of his bests. Charles Dickens's was extremely hostile to the
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act and wrote several articles on the workhouse system. He was
also concerned with public health and the reform of the legal system. Dickens maintained
his fame with a constant stream of novels. Charles Dickens was a man of enormous energy
and wide talents, he also engaged in many other activities. He edited the weekly
periodicals Household Words and All the Year Round, made books for traveling, American
Notes and Pictures from Italy, generous organizations, and pressed for many social
reforms. When his health was getting bad in his elderly years he didn't stop working and
maintained his daily duties. I really admire how Charles Dickens wasn't afraid to tell
people what he thinks about society and how he never gave up on stories after being told
that they were no good. He also was not afraid to try new things like directing and
staring in a play. 
Charles Dickens's affair with Ellen Lawless Ternan, lasted until his death is something I
don't admire. It led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after 22 years of being
married and having 7 children. Also, I think that when Charles tried directing and
staring in a play that he should have written the play himself instead of using someone
else. It was an excellent idea and a success to direct a play, but I think it would have
been better if he wrote it himself. There's not much that I don't admire about Charles
Dickens, he was a great author as well as a man.
Charles Dickens by Charles Haines was well written and full of facts. Each fact was
explained very well. By reading this I learned that hard work really does pay off. Just
like when some of Charles Dickens's novels had bad reviews he would work hard on it to
make it better. Some of those books became his best novels. I also learned that when you
disagree on something don't be afraid to give your opinion. Charles Dickens wasn't afraid
to give his opinion on copyright issues in America. After he argued about the problem he
gained copyright for the books sold in America. The only thing that I didn't understand
about this book was how the author said that Charles was a self-centered man but he
argued to try to abolish slavery and gave some of his earning from book writing to
charities. That doesn't sound self-centered to me. Everything else about it was
outstanding and I learned a lot.
Charles Dickens went through a lot of rough times in his life and ended up on top. He
came from being a normal middle class citizen to being one of the most popular people in
the world. His books have been read, translated and made into motion pictures. They have
been read and watched by people for years and will still be in years to come. Charles
Dickens's personal life grew increasingly unhappy and drove him to an early death. But
His work remains, funny, sad, warm, and stunning.