Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1812. His ...

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1812. His family was quite rich
and young Dickens was really happy. He liked reading. He wanted an education.
When Dickens was 12, his father went to prison because he had debts to a baker. So
young Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory. He felt very sad for this.
However he had talent, desire, drive and a strong belief in himself. That’s why he
managed to fulfil his dream and he became rich and famous.
He first worked as a clerk and then decided to become a shorthand reporter. He
married the daughter of the chief editor of The Evening Chronicle. Together they had
ten children, but their marriage was not a happy marriage. He did not only write as a
journalist, but he also wrote many famous novels. He did not only become famous
in the UK, but also in Europe and in the USA, where he read his novels in public.
Dickens died in 1870. Now he is buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey
among the other famous British writers.
WHAT DID HE WRITE AND WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIS STYLE?
We already know that Dickens worked for many years as a journalist. He therefore
wrote many newspaper articles but he also wrote many novels. Novels were the
best literary genre of the time, because the main aim of the authors was to portrait
and denounce the social evils of the time. Novels were a mirror of the period, aimed
at making readers realize social injustices.
Dickens wrote fourteen major novels. Some of them are Oliver Twist, Hard Times,
David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol.
To write his articles, he walked many hours a day and observed all what surrounded
him. Everything he wrote was a thorough description of the habits and life of this
time. Dickens can be thus considered the reporter of the habits and life of his age.
His style is considered a photographic style. To do this he used some devices: plenty
of details, long lists of objects and people, many adjectives, repetition of the most
important words, use of antithetical images. Thanks to this the reader can better
imagine what he is reading.

Therefore, the people so well portrayed in his novels are people he had really met.
The events we are told about are real events. The problems described are real
problems. As a matter of facts he was a campaigning artist and he wanted to attack
all the evils that surrounded him. He wrote about poverty, social problems, young
and old people, rich or poor, happy and miserable. He wanted to denounce the
faults of the legal system, the horrors in the factories, the exploitation of children
and women, etc.
WHAT WERE INSTALLMENTS?
Dickens wrote many novels and he published them in installments.
Installments were parts of novels, published in magazines every week or month at a
very low price. This continued for many months until the story was finished.
This increased the number of readers, even among the lower classes.
Publishing a novel in installments was quite common in the Victorian age. Writers
had to find devices and stratagems to catch and hold the reader attention. One of
these stratagems was the creation of suspense and expectation at the end of each
installment.
Another stratagem was the use of images in the books, to catch the attention of the
readers and also to help the readers better understand the novel. Each part was
therefore issued with two illustrations. Dickens worked in close collaboration with
many illustrators. Dickens selected some scenes in particular to be illustrated, to
provide the reader with what he considered key scenes needing emphasis.
All what Dickens wrote was a thorough description of his time, a very difficult period
in the life of British people.
During the Victorian Age society was divided into three social classes: the upper
class, the middle class and the working class.
It was the period of the Industrial Revolution, characterized by many fantastic and
useful inventions. Unfortunately not everybody could benefit from such a prolific

period. As a matter of facts life became really hard for the working class, that is to
say the majority of people. In this class there were really poor people who were
exploited by the rich class. They lived in unhealthy squalid overcrowded slums,
because they didn't have a good job and couldn’t afford for example a house or
enough food. They had a little pay for a very hard job.
Everybody had to work, not only adults but also children. Children in particular were
exploited. They were obliged to do the worst jobs: they could be miners,
blacksmiths, chimney sweepers, toshers ...
But what if you lost your job or didn’t have enough money? In this century if you
were poverty-stricken or an unwanted orphan you could end up in the dreaded
union workhouse. There were two main aims that lead to the workhouse: it was a
shelter for the people that lost everything, but it was also a deterrent for the lazy
people. The living conditions in the workhouses were terrible. The building was like
a prison because it was grim and intimidating. In the workhouses there were
separate areas for women, men and children. Sometimes children born in a
workhouse died without having seen any other places. In the workhouse they were
given a prison-style uniform, so that everybody knew where you ‘lived’. You had to
get up at 5.00 a.m. and you had to go to bed at 8.00 p.m. During the day you had to
work hard. You were given very little food. If you tried to escape or if you didn’t
obey rules you were convicted as an idle or disorderly person, or even sentenced to
imprisonment with hard work.
THE WORKHOUSE
A long time ago every town in England had a workhouse. Workhouses were a sort of
shelter for poor people, but they looked grim and intimidating, a sort of prison.
Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse. His mother died when she gave birth to
Oliver, so he was an orphan. In workhouses children ate little food and therefore
many children died. Oliver survived but he was small and thin. Oliver worked long
hours there and he was paid with very little food. Oliver was really hungry. One day
Oliver asked for more food but the master, Mr Bumble, hit Oliver with his big ladle.

Mr Bumble told the director of the workhouse that Oliver had asked for more
porridge. Oliver had to be punished, so he was closed in a cold, dark room for one
week. Every morning Mr Bumble beat Oliver with a stick. One day Mr Bumble met
Mr Sowerberry, the man that made coffins for dead bodies, and Mr Sowerberry took
Oliver to work for him for five pounds. Mr Bumble was happy but Oliver was very
sad.
MR SOWERBERRY’S SHOP
When Oliver arrived at Mr Sowerberry’s shop, Mr Sowerberry called his wife to give
Oliver something to eat. He was given the rests of the dog’s food. He was so hungry
that he ate it quickly. Mr Sowerberry told Oliver he could sleep on the floor near the
coffins in the shop. Oliver was really sad and afraid that night. The next morning a
boy, Noah Claypole, woke Oliver up. Noah told Oliver that he had to work under
him. Noah wasn’t a good person because he was jealous of Oliver. One day Noah
said bad things about Oliver’s mother and Oliver got furious and hit Noah. Noah
pretended he was crying so that Oliver could be punished. Mrs Sowerberry came to
the kitchen and saw the two boys quarrelling and fighting and locked Oliver in a dark
coal room. Noah called Mr Bumble and told him what had happened in the kitchen
so Mr Bumble beat Oliver. That night Oliver fell to the floor and cried all night. Early
the next morning he put a few clothes in a handkerchief and escaped.
ON THE ROAD TO LONDON
Oliver didn’t know where to go. He was very tired. He decided to go to London,
because Mr Bumble couldn’t find him there. Oliver only had some bread to eat.
The next morning he was cold and hungry because he had slept near the road and
he had eaten too little food, but he didn’t give up and started his journey again. As
the days passed, Oliver became very weak. He arrived in a little town near London.
Here a strange boy looked at Oliver: the boy was short, he had big ears and little
eyes. The boy’s name was Jack Dawkins, but everyone called him ‘Dodger’. Dodger
asked Oliver if he wanted to stay with him. Oliver was happy to accept his help.
They arrived in London, in front of an old black house. They entered a dark, dirty
room full of young boys. An ugly old man was with them. He had red hair and a red
beard. He wore dirty clothes. He was Fagin.

Fagin was kind to poor Oliver and gave him something to eat and a warm bed. The
next morning Oliver saw Fagin playing with some jewels and he thought he was a
miser! He lived in a dirty place and had many jewels.
FAGIN’S GAME
After breakfast Fagin and the two boys played a strange game. The old man put
some valuable objects in his pocket then he walked around the room. The boys
moved quickly and took things from his pocket. Oliver watched and laughed a lot.
Fagin asked Oliver to play this game. He accepted and Fagin noticed he was good at
the game. One morning Oliver went with Charley Bates and Dodger to ‘work’. He
was excited and happy. He followed the two boys to the market. They walked very
slowly. Suddenly Dodger stopped behind an old man. He put his hand in the old
man’s pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He quickly gave it to Charley Bates and
they both ran away. When the old man realized he had been robbed, he turned
around and started shouting ‘Stop, thief!’. Everybody thought the thief was Oliver
and ran after him. Luckily enough, a man who had seen the scene told the
policeman that that boy wasn’t the thief. Oliver was free but he was very weak and
fell to the ground. The kind old man took Oliver to his house. When Dodger and
Charley arrived home and told Fagin about what had happened in the city, he got
furious. He feared Oliver could tell the police about them. There was another really
furious man in the room, Bill Sikes, a really nasty and cruel person, with an old white
dangerous dog.
MR BROWNLOW
When Oliver arrived at Mr Brownlow's house he was very ill. He almost died. Mr
Brownlow's housekeeper took care of him. Her name was Mrs Bedwin. She and Mr
Brownlow were very kind to the little boy.
Near Oliver's bed there was a picture of a beautiful lady: she looked like Oliver.
A long time passed and Oliver was finally well. For the first time in his life he was
happy because someone loved him.
One day Mr Brownlow asked Oliver if he could take some books to a bookshop
and he gave Oliver a ₤5 note.
Oliver was very happy because he could do something for Mr Brownlow.
Oliver took the books and walked happily down the street. Unfortunately Nancy

and Sikes found him, kidnapped him and brought him to Fagin's house. Oliver was
very worried. He didn’t want Mr Browlow to think he was a thief who had taken the
books and the money and then escaped. So he asked Fagin to return the books and
the £5 note to Mr Brownlow. Everyone laughed at Oliver. He wanted to escape from
those bad people but Fagin first hit him and then locked him in a dirty cold room.
In the meantime at Mr Brownlow's house, he and Mrs Bedwin were waiting for
Oliver. But he never came home again. Mr Brownlow was very sad and worried:
where was Oliver?
THE CRIME
One rainy night Fagin and Bill Sikes were very excited. They were planning to steal
all the precious things in a rich house. They needed a small boy to open the house.
Oliver was the boy! So they sent Nancy to take him. She told Oliver to be quiet and
brave, because she loved that poor little boy. Oliver was really scared.
A few hours later Oliver was in front of the rich house, with a pistol at his head. It
was cold and foggy. Sikes ordered the scared boy to go inside the house, entering a
little window. He didn’t want to do that, but he had no other choice. Once inside, he
wanted to warn the family, but someone heard him. Two men saw him and one of
them shot at him. Oliver was hurt! He quickly climbed the window and tried to
escape, but he was hurt and fell on the cold wet ground where he stayed all the
night. Bill Sikes and Toby Crackit didn’t even try to help him and escaped.
A NEW HOME
The next morning it was still raining. Oliver had the left arm covered with blood. He
was terribly weak. He saw the country house, knocked at the door and then fell to
the ground.
When Mr Giles and Mr Brittles opened the door they saw the blood on Oliver
clothes. They immediately understood he was the thief they had shot at and called
Mrs Maylie, the owner of the house. She decided to help him and called the doctor.
Then the two men took the boy upstairs, in Mrs Maylie’s bedroom. When Dr
Losberne arrived, he told the ladies that Oliver was in terrible conditions.
In the evening Oliver woke up, after a long sleep. He told everybody the story of his
life; he also told them about kind Mr Brownlow. He spoke slowly and softly because
he had high temperature and remained ill for a very long time.

Little by little, Oliver got better and after three months was very happy, and became
very strong and healthy.
One day he was sitting at his desk when he saw two men at the window, Fagin and a
strange man with an angry face, Monks, staring at him. Oliver immediately asked for
help, but the two men ran away very quickly.
NANCY’S SECRET
Monks went to Mr Bumble, who was now the master of the workhouse where
Oliver was born. Monks wanted the gold ring that Mrs Bumble had taken from
Oliver’s mum when she died. Cut in the ring was a name: Agnes. Then Monks threw
the ring into the river so that nobody could find it.
After that Monks went to Fagin. He wanted to talk to him. Nancy was there and
heard all what he said. She heard terrible things and decided to help Oliver. The next
day she secretly ran to a quiet hotel near Hyde Park, to see Mrs Maylie. Nancy
warned them about the terrible plan of Monks and Fagin: they wanted to kidnap
Oliver, oblige him to steal so that the police could catch him and kill him. Monks
wanted his brother to die! Mrs Maylie thought that was a mystery. The two ladies
decided to meet on London Bridge on Sunday night, so that they could better help
poor Oliver. Mrs Maylie wanted to ask Mr Brownlow for help. So she went to him
and told him about Nancy’s secret. On Sunday night Mr Brownlow and Mrs Maylie
went to London Bridge. Nancy arrived too. She told them where they could find
Monks and what he looked like, but did not betray Fagin and Sikes, because she
loved him. Unfortunately, Fagin understood Nancy was planning something to help
Oliver and so asked one of his boys to follow her. When Fagin was told about the
secret meeting he got furious. Also Sikes got furious and killed poor Nancy. The day
after Mr Brownlow, who had understood who Monks was, went to him and obliged
him to sign a piece of paper which told the truth about Oliver and his father’s will:
Monks was Oliver’s half-brother. Monks’s mum was bad and had left her husband.
Monks’s father had met and loved a sweet girl, Agnes. His dad had made a will in
favour of Agnes and her child Oliver, but Monks’s mum had found the will and
destroyed it. That’s why Monks had thrown the ring into the river.
THE END OF THE STORY

The police found Fagin and put him in prison. Charley Bates and Toby Crackit
escaped and hid on Jacob’s Island, a very poor and dirty part of London. Sikes
wanted to hide in the same house too, but the police found him there. Everybody
called him ‘Murderer’ and he knew he would have been sentenced to death. He
tried to escape from the roof, using a long rope but lost his balance and died.
Eventually, Fagin was hanged for all his crimes. Charley Bates became a honest
person and Monks went to America and died in prison there. Mr Bumble became
very poor and went to live in a workhouse.
Mr Brownlow adopted Oliver. Dr Losberne and Mrs Maylie bought a house near Mr
Brownlow. Oliver loved his new family very much.

ARE YOU A GOOD STUDENT? LET’S CHECK
1. Why was Oliver sad in the workhouse? a. Because he wanted to wear a uniform
b. Because he didn’t sleep well
c. Because he was very hungry and alone
2. Why did Mr Bumble close Oliver in a dark
room?
a. Because he didn’t work well
b. Because he hit Noah
c. Because he asked for more food.
3. Who did Oliver meet once in London? a. Mr Bumble and Dodger
b. Fagin and Dodger
c. Fagin and Mr Sowerberry
4. Fagin was a a. thief
b. cook
c. killer
5. What was Oliver doing when he was
kidnapped by Bill Sikes and Nancy?
a. He was having a snack
b. He was playing in the garden
c. He was going to a shop for Mr Brownlow
6. Where did OIiver want to live? a. At Fagin’s house
b. in the street
c. at Mr Brownlow’s house
7. Who lived in the workhouses? a. the orphans and poor people who had debts
or had lost everything
b. rich people
c. the children who didn’t want to go to school
8. Who was Charles Dickens? a. a famous journalist and writer
b. a baddie in one of the many Victorian novels
c. a banker
9. What was Dickens’s last job? a. a baker
b. a writer
c. a worker in a blacking factory
10. What did the novelists “speak about”? a. the period they lived in
b. horror stories
c. the queen’s gossips
Soluzioni: 1 c – 2 c – 3 b – 4 a – 5 c – 6 c – 7 a – 8 a – 9 b – 10 a

THE WORKHOUSE
A long time ago every town in England had a
workhouse. The workhouses were houses were a
sort of shelter for poor people, but they looked
grim and intimidating, a sort of prison. Oliver
Twist was born in a workhouse. His mother died
when she gave birth to Oliver, so he was an
orphan. In workhouses children ate little food
and therefore many children died. Oliver survived
but he was small and thin. Oliver worked long
hours at the workhouse and he was paid with the
little food. Oliver was very hungry. One day
Oliver asked for more food but the master, Mr
Bumble, hit Oliver with his big ladder. Mr Bumble
told the director of the workhouse that Oliver
had asked for more porridge. Oliver had to be
punished, so he was closed in a cold, dark room
for one week. Every morning Mr Bumble beat
Oliver with a stick. One day Mr Bumble met Mr
Sowerberry, the man that made coffins for dead
bodies, and Mr Sowerberry took Oliver to work
for him for five pounds. Mr Bumble was happy
but Oliver was very sad.

MR SOWERBERRY’S SHOP
When Oliver arrived at Mr Sowerberry’s shop, Mr
Sowerberry called his wife to give Oliver
something to eat. He was given the dog’s food
rests. He was so hungry that he ate it quickly. Mr
Sowerberry told Oliver he could sleep on the
floor near the coffins in the shop. Oliver was
really sad and afraid that night. The next
morning a boy, Noah Claypole, woke Oliver up.
Noah told Oliver that he had to work under him.
Noah wasn’t a good person because he was
jealous of Oliver. One day Noah said bad things
about Oliver’s mother and Oliver got furious and
hit Noah. Noah pretended he was crying so that
Oliver could be punished. Mrs Sowerberry came
to the kitchen and saw the two boys quarrelling
and fighting and locked Oliver in a dark coal
room. Noah called Mr Bumble and told him what
had happened in the kitchen so Mr Bumble beat
Oliver. That night Oliver fell to the floor and cried
all night. Early the next morning he put a few
clothes in a handkerchief and escaped.

ON THE ROAD TO LONDON
Oliver didn’t know where to go. He was very
tired. He decided to go to London, because Mr
Bumble couldn’t find him there. Oliver only had
some bread to eat.
The next morning he was cold and hungry
because he had slept near the road and he had
eaten too little food, but he didn’t give up and
started his journey again. As the days passed,
Oliver became very weak. He arrived in a little
town near London. Here a strange boy looked at
Oliver: the boy was short, he had big ears and
little eyes. The boy’s name was Jack Dawkins,
but everyone called him ‘Dodger’. Dodger asked
Oliver if he wanted to stay with him. Oliver was
happy to accept his help.
They arrived in London, in front of an old black
house. They entered a dark, dirty room full of
young boys. An ugly old man was with them. He
had red hair and a red beard. He wore dirty
clothes. He was Fagin.

Fagin was kind to poor Oliver and gave him
something to eat and a warm bed. The next
morning Oliver saw Fagin playing with some
jewels and he thought he was a miser! He lived
in a dirty place and had many jewels.
FAGIN’S GAME
After breakfast Fagin and the two boys played a
strange game. The old man put some valuable
objects in his pocket then he walked around the
room. The boys moved quickly and took things
from his pocket. Oliver watched and laughed a
lot. Fagin asked Oliver to play this game. He
accepted and Fagin noticed he was good at the
game. One morning Oliver went with Charley
Bates and Dodger to ‘work’. He was excited and
happy. He followed the two boys to the market.
They walked very slowly. Suddenly Dodger
stopped behind an old man. He put his hand in
the old man’s pocket and pulled out a
handkerchief. He quickly gave it to Charley Bates
and they both ran away. When the old man
realized he had been robbed, he turned around

and started shouting ‘Stop, thief!’. Everybody
thought the thief was Oliver and ran after him.
Luckily enough, a man who had seen the scene
told the policeman that that boy wasn’t the thief.
Oliver was free but he was very weak and fell to
the ground. The kind old man took Oliver to his
house. When Dodger and Charley arrived home
and told Fagin about what had happened in the
city, he got furious. He feared Oliver could tell
the police about them. There was another really
furious man in the room, Bill Sikes, a really nasty
and cruel person, with an old white dangerous
dog.
MR BROWNLOW
When Oliver arrived at Mr Brownlow's house he
was very ill. He almost died. Mr Brownlow's
housekeeper took care of him. Her name was
Mrs Bedwin. She and Mr Brownlow were very
kind to the little boy.
Near Oliver's bed there was a picture of a
beautiful lady: she looked like Oliver.

A long time passed and Oliver was finally well.
For the first time in his life he was happy
because someone loved him.
One day Mr Brownlow asked Oliver if he could
take some books to a bookshop
and he gave Oliver a ₤5 note.
Oliver was very happy because he could do
something for Mr Brownlow.
Oliver took the books and walked happily down
the street. Unfortunately Nancy
and Sikes found him, kidnapped him and brought
him to Fagin's house. Oliver was very worried.
He didn’t want Mr Browlow to think he was a
thief who had taken the books and the money
and then escaped. So he asked Fagin to return
the books and the £5 note to Mr Brownlow.
Everyone laughed at Oliver. He wanted to escape
from those bad people but Fagin first hit him and
then locked him in a dirty cold room.
In the meantime at Mr Brownlow's house, he and
Mrs Bedwin were waiting for Oliver. But he
never came home again. Mr Brownlow was very
sad and worried: where was Oliver?

THE CRIME
One rainy night Fagin and Bill Sikes were very
excited. They were planning to steal all the
precious things in a rich house. They needed a
small boy to open the house. Oliver was the boy!
So they sent Nancy to take him. She told Oliver
to be quiet and brave, because she loved that
poor little boy. Oliver was really scared.
A few hours later Oliver was in front of the rich
house, with a pistol at his head. It was cold and
foggy. Sikes ordered the scared boy to go inside
the house, entering a little window. He didn’t
want to do that, but he had no other choice.
Once inside, he wanted to warn the family, but
someone heard him. Two men saw him and one
of them shot at him. Oliver was hurt! He quickly
climbed the window and tried to escape, but he
was hurt and fell on the cold wet ground where
he stayed all the night. Bill Sikes and Toby
Crackit didn’t even try to help him and escaped.
A NEW HOME
The next morning it was still raining. Oliver had
the left arm covered with blood. He was terribly

weak. He saw the country house, knocked at the
door and then fell to the ground.
When Mr Giles and Mr Brittles opened the door
they saw the blood on Oliver clothes. They
immediately understood he was the thief they
had shot at and called Mrs Maylie, the owner of
the house. She decided to help him and called
the doctor. Then the two men took the boy
upstairs, in Mrs Maylie’s bedroom. When Dr
Losberne arrived, he told the ladies that Oliver
was in terrible conditions.
In the evening Oliver woke up, after a long
sleep. He told everybody the story of his life; he
also told them about kind Mr Brownlow. He
spoke slowly and softly because he had high
temperature and remained ill for a very long
time.
Little by little, Oliver got better and after three
months was very happy, and became very strong
and healthy.
One day he was sitting at his desk when he saw
two men at the window, Fagin and a strange
man with an angry face, Monks, staring at him.

Oliver immediately asked for help, but the two
men ran away very quickly.
NANCY’S SECRET
Monks went to Mr Bumble, who was now the
master of the workhouse where Oliver was born.
Monks wanted the gold ring that Mrs Bumble had
taken from Oliver’s mum when she died. Cut in
the ring was a name: Agnes. Then Monks threw
the ring into the river so that nobody could find
it.
After that Monks went to Fagin. He wanted to
talk to him. Nancy was there and heard all what
he said. She heard terrible things and decided to
help Oliver. The next day she secretly ran to a
quiet hotel near Hyde Park, to see Mrs Maylie.
Nancy warned them about the terrible plan of
Monks and Fagin: they wanted to kidnap Oliver,
oblige him to steal so that the police could catch
him and kill him. Monks wanted his brother to
die! Mrs Maylie thought that was a mystery. The
two ladies decided to meet on London Bridge on

Sunday night, so that they could better help poor
Oliver. Mrs Maylie wanted to ask Mr Brownlow
for help. So she went to him and told him about
Nancy’s secret. On Sunday night Mr Brownlow
and Mrs Maylie went to London Bridge. Nancy
arrived too. She told them where they could find
Monks and what he looked like, but did not
betray Fagin and Sikes, because she loved him.
Unfortunately, Fagin understood Nancy was
planning something to help Oliver and so asked
one of his boys to follow her. When Fagin was
told about the secret meeting he got furious.
Also Sikes got furious and killed poor Nancy. The
day after Mr Brownlow, who had understood who
Monks was, went to him and obliged him to sign
a piece of paper which told the truth about Oliver
and his father’s will: Monks was Oliver’s halfbrother.
Monks’s mum was bad and had left her
husband. Monks’s father had met and loved a
sweet girl, Agnes. His dad had made a will in
favour of Agnes and her child Oliver, but Monks’s
mum had found the will and destroyed it. That’s
why Monks had thrown the ring into the river.

THE END OF THE STORY
The police found Fagin and put him in prison.
Charley Bates and Toby Crackit escaped and hid
on Jacob’s Island, a very poor and dirty part of
London. Sikes wanted to hide in the same house
too, but the police found him there. Everybody
called him ‘Murderer’ and he knew he would
have been sentenced to death. He tried to
escape from the roof, using a long rope but lost
his balance and died. Eventually, Fagin was
hanged for all his crimes. Charley Bates became
a honest person and Monks went to America and
died in prison there. Mr Bumble became very
poor and went to live in a workhouse.
Mr Brownlow adopted Oliver. Dr Losberne and
Mrs Maylie bought a house near Mr Brownlow.
Oliver loved his new family very much.

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth,
England, in 1812. His family was quite rich and
young Dickens was really happy. He liked
reading. He wanted an education. When Dickens
was 12, his father went to prison because he had
debts to a baker. So young Dickens was sent to
work in a blacking factory. He felt very sad for
this. However he had talent, desire, drive and a
strong belief in himself. That’s why he managed
to fulfil his dream and he became rich and
famous.
He first worked as a clerk and then decided to
become a shorthand reporter. He married the
daughter of the chief editor of The Evening
Chronicle. Together they had ten children, but
their marriage was not a happy marriage. He did
not only write as a journalist, but he also wrote
many famous novels. He did not only become
famous in the UK, but also in Europe and in the

USA, where he read his novels in public. Dickens
died in 1870. Now he is buried in the Poet’s
Corner in Westminster Abbey among the other
famous British writers.
WHAT DID HE WRITE AND WHAT DO WE
KNOW ABOUT HIS STYLE?
We already know that Dickens worked for many
years as a journalist. He therefore wrote many
newspaper articles but he also wrote many
novels. Novels were the best literary genre of the
time, because the main aim of the authors was
to portrait and denounce the social evils of the
time. Novels were a mirror of the period, aimed
at making readers realize social injustices.
Dickens wrote fourteen major novels. Some of
them are Oliver Twist, Hard Times, David
Copperfield and A Christmas Carol.
To write his articles, he walked many hours a
day and observed all what surrounded him.
Everything he wrote was a thorough description
of the habits and life of this time. Dickens can
be thus considered the reporter of the habits and

life of his age. His style is considered a
photographic style. To do this he used some
devices: plenty of details, long lists of objects
and people, many adjectives, repetition of the
most important words, use of antithetical
images. Thanks to this the reader can better
imagine what he is reading.
Therefore, the people so well portrayed in his
novels are people he had really met. The events
we are told about are real events. The problems
described are real problems. As a matter of facts
he was a campaigning artist and he wanted to
attack all the evils that surrounded him. He
wrote about poverty, social problems, young and
old people, rich or poor, happy and miserable.
He wanted to denounce the faults of the legal
system, the horrors in the factories, the
exploitation of children and women, etc.
WHAT WERE INSTALLMENTS?
Dickens wrote many novels and he published
them in installments.

Installments were parts of novels, published in
magazines every week or month at a very low
price. This continued for many months until the
story was finished.
This increased the number of readers, even
among the lower classes.
Publishing a novel in installments was quite
common in the Victorian age. Writers had to find
devices and stratagems to catch and hold the
reader attention. One of these stratagems was
the creation of suspense and expectation at the
end of each installment.
Another stratagem was the use of images in the
books, to catch the attention of the readers and
also to help the readers better understand the
novel. Each part was therefore issued with two
illustrations. Dickens worked in close
collaboration with many illustrators. Dickens
selected some scenes in particular to be
illustrated, to provide the reader with what he
considered key scenes needing emphasis.

All what Dickens wrote was a thorough
description of his time, a very difficult period in
the life of British people.
During the Victorian Age society was divided into
three social classes: the upper class, the middle
class and the working class.
It was the period of the Industrial Revolution,
characterized by many fantastic and useful
inventions. Unfortunately not everybody could
benefit from such a prolific period. As a matter of
facts life became really hard for the working
class, that is to say the majority of people. In
this class there were really poor people who
were exploited by the rich class. They lived in
unhealthy squalid overcrowded slums, because
they didn't have a good job and couldn’t afford
for example a house or enough food. They had a
little pay for a very hard job.
Everybody had to work, not only adults but also
children. Children in particular were exploited.
They were obliged to do the worst jobs: they
could be miners, blacksmiths, chimney sweepers,
toshers ...

But what if you lost your job or didn’t have
enough money? In this century if you were
poverty-stricken or an unwanted orphan you
could end up in the dreaded union workhouse.
There were two main aims that lead to the
workhouse: it was a shelter for the people that
lost everything, but it was also a deterrent for
the lazy people. The living conditions in the
workhouses were terrible. The building was like a
prison because it was grim and intimidating. In
the workhouses there were separate areas for
women, men and children. Sometimes children
born in a workhouse died without having seen
any other places. In the workhouse they were
given a prison-style uniform, so that everybody
knew where you ‘lived’. You had to get up at
5.00 a.m. and you had to go to bed at 8.00 p.m.
During the day you had to work hard. You were
given very little food. If you tried to escape or if
you didn’t obey rules you were convicted as an
idle or disorderly person, or even sentenced to
imprisonment with hard work.

ARE YOU A GOOD STUDENT? LET’S CHECK
1. Why was Oliver sad
in the workhouse?
2. Why did Mr Bumble
close Oliver in a dark
room?
3. Who did Oliver meet
once in London?
a. Because he wanted
to wear a uniform
b. Because he didn’t
sleep well
c. Because he was
very hungry and
alone
a. Because he didn’t
work well
b. Because he hit
Noah
c. Because he asked
for more food.
a. Mr Bumble and
Dodger
b. Fagin and Dodger
c. Fagin and Mr
Sowerberry
4. Fagin was a a. thief
b. cook
c. killer
5. What was Oliver
doing when he was
kidnapped by Bill Sikes
and Nancy?
a. He was having a
snack
b. He was playing in
the garden

c. He was going to
a shop for Mr
Brownlow
6. Where did OIiver a. At Fagin’s house
want to live?
b. in the street
c. at Mr
Brownlow’s house
7. Who lived in the
workhouses?
a. the orphans and
poor people who
had debts or had
lost everything
b. rich people
c. the children who
didn’t want to go to
school
8. Who was Charles a. a famous
Dickens?
journalist and writer
b. a baddie in one
of the many
Victorian novels
c. a banker
9. What was Dickens’s a. a baker
last job?
b. a writer
c. a worker in a
blacking factory
10. What did the a. the period they

novelists “speak
about”?
lived in
b. horror stories
c. the queen’s
gossips