Charles Dickens Reflection on Society in Hard Times,...

Charles Dickens Reflection on Society in Hard Times, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, and David Copperfield In this essay I will be examining how and why Dickens chose to comment on the society in which he lived through his novels. I will be examining ‘Hard Times’, ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘Nicholas Nickelby’ and ‘David Copperfield‘. Charles Dickens was considered to be one of the greatest English novelists during the Victorian period, and during this period, novelists had a tradition of commenting on issues affecting society through their work. They chose to express their views like this so people would realise exactly what is taking place in the town or village they are living in. Charles Dickens had a very disturbing†¦show more content†¦Dickens specifically chose this adjective to illustrate how serious this matter was; he obviously had very strong negative views on this. But in, ‘Oliver Twist’, there wasn’t an education system, ‘†¦because nobody had taught him†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This quote portrays that education wasn’t taken seriously. It was seen as joke. The only thing the children had to do was work for the owner which was considered slave labour. Charles Dickens did not like the idea of children working inside or outside school so he decided to share his feelings. The word ‘nobody’ suggests that these children were lonely most of the time, not just literally but emotionally as well. In ‘Nicholas Nickelby’, there was a similar situation with children working; ‘We go upon the practical mode of teaching†¦C-L-E-A-N†¦W-I-N win D-E-R der.’ As you can see clearly that this is not appropriate, all this shows us is how cruel, inhumane, harsh school teachers were. This suggests that there wasn’t a decent learning system. The words ’practical mode of teaching’ illustrates that the evil school teachers used the poor, innocent, young children for their own good because hey were too stingy t o hire maids. This was common during the Victorian period because the poor were seen inferior to the rich. However, in ‘David Copperfield’, the situation was completely different; ‘I learnt at home. Shall I ever forget those lessons.’ This quote suggests that David was taught in a very relentless way.