A baby boy is born into a middle-class English family. His childhood is filled with carefree play; his world is a world without worries. Suddenly everything changes when his father is arrested and imprisoned. The boy is forced to work at a cheerless factory where he is badly treated. Then, at fifteen, he must leave home for good and make his way in the world alone. This may sound like the plot of an entertaining novel; however, it is the true story of one of the most popular writers of all time—Charles Dickens. These childhood experiences affected Dickens so deeply that he wrote about them in many different forms in his much loved stories. Reading a book by Charles Dickens is akin to learning about the life of the man who wrote it.
Charles Dickens was born, the second of eight children, on February 7, 1812, in England. His father had a well-paying job as a government clerk, so the Dickens family lived comfortably in a large home with servants. As children, Charles and his siblings were happy, playing games together, taking music lessons, singing songs, and reciting poetry. Charles loved to create little plays in which all the parts were played by him and his brothers and sisters. However, this family happiness would soon end. Dickens’ father did not handle the family finances very well, and in 1824, when Charles was just 12 years old, his father was imprisoned for debt.
During the nineteenth century, many people who owed money were often imprisoned until their debts were paid. This episode in Dickens’ life was reflected in his popular and very autobiographical book, David Copperfield. For a brief time, the main character in the story, named David, stays with a pleasant but too generous man named Mr. Micawber. Like Dickens’ father, Mr. Micawber is imprisoned for debt—a consequence that proves traumatic for his family.
Dickens’ father was jailed at Marshalsea Prison in London, and like many debtors at that time, he was accompanied there by his family. However, shortly before his father was imprisoned, young Charles Dickens found work at Warren’s Blacking Factory, a shoe polish company. There, the young boy worked ten hours a day beside the other child workers, pasting labels onto jars of thick shoe polish. Dickens made six shillings a week (probably equal to between $10 and $20 today) and lived in the attic of a house near the prison, visiting his family every Sunday.
Charles was thrown into a world completely foreign to the life he had known. The working conditions were appalling, and the hours exhausting. Charles came face-to-face with the harsh reality of child labor as he worked alongside orphans and poor children trying to help their families survive. For Charles, that year spent in Warren’s Blacking Factory was pivotal; he learned the hard way about the plight of the working class, and he never forgot it. Describing the experience to his good friend and biographer John Forster, he wrote: "No words can express the secret agony of my soul . . . the deep remembrance of the sense I had of being utterly neglected and hopeless. . ."
When Dickens’ father was finally released from prison, the young boy looked forward to reuniting with his family. But his mother had other plans and she insisted that her son continue to work at the factory. Feeling betrayed, Dickens resented his mother for many years and eventually immortalized her as Mrs. Nickleby, a self-absorbed and absentminded woman in his book Nicholas Nickleby. Fortunately, his father arranged for him to attend school instead, but at the age of fifteen, Charles was forced to quit when his father became indebted yet again. Charles found an office job with a lawyer and learned to write in shorthand. After becoming a court reporter for Doctors’ Commons, a society of lawyers who practiced civil law in London, Dickens finally landed a job as a reporter for a newspaper. During his young adulthood, Dickens continued to indulge in his passion for reading and acting; however, it was his writing talent that soon shone through.
Dickens’ first story was published in Monthly Magazine; later, his short stories began appearing in other publications such as the Morning Chronicle newspaper. Then Dickens’ writing career took off with a collection of stories he wrote under a pseudonym, Boz, called Sketches by Boz. Following the success of this book, Dickens wrote his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. It was an instant hit, turning Dickens into an overnight sensation.
Most of Dickens’ novels were first published in a series of installments in monthly magazines, a common practice at the time. The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, and A Christmas Carol all began as serial novels. Each installment ended on a cliffhanger, making the readers eager to read more. Dickens’ stories were varied and often outlandish, and the names he gave his larger-than-life characters are some of the most memorable in literary history: Mercy Pecksniff, Uriah Heep, Chevy Slyme, to name a few.
Soon Charles Dickens became the most popular and prolific writer of his day. In 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, and the couple would eventually have ten children. Dickens’ success gave him new status in society. He became rich and even bought Gad’s Hill, a house he had seen when he was a young boy and dreamed of owning one day. Dickens also became involved in theater productions, many of which he wrote, directed, and acted in. Unable to forget those living in dire circumstances, Dickens donated the money raised from ticket sales to the needy.
Throughout his career, Dickens continued to be the voice of the poor, of orphans, and of the working class. Some of his most memorable characters include David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Pip from Great Expectations. These characters came from humble beginnings and were portrayed as helpless, persecuted, or abandoned children. However, they overcame adversity and, in most of the stories, attained success in their lives. Although Dickens often wrote with humor, there was nothing funny about the dark themes that recur regularly in his work.
Still, despite those serious themes, Dickens played a part in renewing a positive tradition that, by the early nineteenth century, seemed on the verge of fading away—namely, the celebration of Christmas. During his life, he wrote five Christmas books, the most famous being A Christmas Carol. In this story, Dickens once again deals with two of his main themes, social injustice and poverty. Dickens wrote this tale during a time when the industrial revolution and the mass exodus of people from the country to the city left behind broken families and abandoned communities. A Christmas Carol reaffirmed the importance of love, family, and generosity. Many believe that this story helped redefine the Christmas holiday in the western world.
Charles Dickens’ stories have transcended time and taste; millions of readers are grateful that, through his books, he shared his childhood and observations about the human condition. Dickens often spoke of how the hardships he had endured became the inspiration for his stories, and though his life was difficult, he appreciated the sensitivity his experiences brought to his art. He wrote: "I do not write resentfully or angrily: for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am."