Picture of the victorian society in the two novels oliver twist and vanity fair = bức tranh xã hội anh thời kì victoria qua hai tác phẩm ôlivơ tuyxt và hội chợ phù hoa

Vinh university
foreign languages Department
===    ===

Picture of the victorian society
in the two novels “oliver twist”
and “vanity fair”
(b ø c t r a n h x · h é i a n h t h ê i k × v ic t o r ia q u a h a i
t á c p h ẩ m ô l iv ơ t u y x t v à “h é i c h ỵ p h ï h o a ”)

S u m m a r y o f t h e G r a d u a t io n t h e s is
F ie l d : l it e r a t u r e

Supervisor

:

Trần Ngọc T ởng,

M.A.

Student
Class

:
:

Võ Thị Doan
46A1 - English

Vinh, May 2009

1


TABLE OF CONTENT
Acknowledgement
Table of content
PART I: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................1
1. Justification of the Thesis...............................................................................1
2. Aims and Objectives of the Thesis.................................................................1
3. Scope of the Thesis.........................................................................................2
4. Method of the Thesis......................................................................................2
5. Design of the Thesis........................................................................................2
PART II: CONTENT.......................................................................................3
Chapter 1: Back ground........................................................................3
1.1. Historical Events of England in Victorian Ages..........................................3
1.1.1. The Industrial Revolution........................................................................3
1.1.2. The Political Reforms..............................................................................5
1.1.3. The Free Trade Campaign.......................................................................6
1.1.4. The New Poor Law and the Appearance of the Workhouses..................7
1.1.5. The Chartism............................................................................................8
1.2. Critical Realism - a new trend in literature.................................................9
1.2.1. What is the Critical Realism?...................................................................9
1.2.2.English
CriticalRealism………………………………………………………........10

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Chapter 2: An introduction to “Oliver Twist” by Charles

Dickens and “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace
Thackeray..................................................................................................13
2.1. An Introduction to “Oliver Twist”.............................................................13
2.1.1. The author- Charles Dickens..................................................................13
2.1.2. The work- “Oliver Twist”.......................................................................17
2.1.2.1. The main characters............................................................................17
2.1.2.2. The plot overview.................................................................................18
2.2. An Introduction to “Vanity Fair”...............................................................19
2.2.1. The author -William Makepeace Thackeray...........................................19
2.2.2. The work- Vanity Fair............................................................................22
CHAPTER 3: PICTURE OF the Victorian SOCIETY in the two
novels “OLIVER TWIST” AND “VANITY FAIR”..............................................28
3.1. The tragic plight of the poor and their good nature in cruel world..................28
3.1.1. The tragic plight of the poor...................................................................28
3.1. 2. Good nature in cruel world....................................................................35
3.2. The luxurious life of the upper and middle class and their moral
degeneration......................................................................................................39
3.2.1. The luxurious life of the upper and the middles class...........................39
3.2.2. Moral degeneration in the luxurious life................................................42
3.3. Social class distinction and money worship - the most burning problems in
the Victorian society.........................................................................................47
3.3.1. Social class distinction...........................................................................47
3.3.1.1. British social class structure................................................................47
3.3.1.2. Social status as a measure of people’s value.......................................48
3.3.1.3. Pursuit of higher social position..........................................................51
3.3.2. Money worship.....................................................................................54
3.3.2.2. Money was a base to measure people’s value.....................................54
3.3.2.2. Relationship among people were destroyed by the supreme power of
money................................................................................................................56
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Part iii: conclusion.............................................................................61
References.................................................................................................63

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Justification of the Thesis
In English literary history, the Victorian period (1832-1900) was the
golden age of English novels. Many writers appeared and became
unforgettable in readers’ minds of every generation. Being a passionate reader
of English novels, the author was deeply attracted by the great observing
power and describing talent of the realistic writers in this period, especially
Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray. Although each of the two
authors had their distinguish style and their own favorite themes, their
simultaneous appearance in literature gave the readers the over-all picture of
English 19th century society which was prosperous from outside but there were
a lot of problems from inside.
For the author of this thesis, the greatest function of critical realism
literature is reflecting reality. Since realistic literature is the truthful mirror of
life, realistic value is the author’s biggest concern when she studies literary
novels. “Oliver Twist” of Dickens and “Vanity Fair” of Thackeray are two
realistic novels the author loves most because through these novels the author
can come back to one of the most outstanding periods in history of Britain to
witness the burning social problems happening at that time.
In addition, reading “Oliver Twist” and “Vanity Fair”, the author is really
moved by the two writers’ humanity. By depicting the panorama of every day
life, they skillfully used their steely pens to forcefully attack the social evils
and uphold the good nature of human beings.
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For the reasons above, the author decided to choose the topic: “The
Picture of the Victorian Society in the two novels “Oliver Twist” and “Vanity
Fair”” for the graduation thesis.
2. Aims and Objectives of the Thesis
a. Aims of the thesis
- To study the reality happening in the 19th century English society through
“Oliver Twist” and “Vanity Fair”
b. Objectives of the thesis
Analyze two novels to understand clearly:
- Plight of the poor under inhumane society.
- The luxurious but wicked life of the upper and middle class who were
whirling in the money and social ambition storm.
- Social distinction and money worship as the most burning social
problems
3. Scope of the Thesis
Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray were two greatest
realistic novelists who were famous for a great deal of interesting novels.
However, two masterpieces “Oliver Twist” and “Vanity Fair” were the most
beloved. There are a lot of interesting things to study in these two novels but
because of limited time and limited scale, the author only focuses on the most
outstanding issue: the reality of Victorian society.
4. Method of the Thesis
To complete this thesis, we have used the following methods:
- collective method
- analysis method
- general method
- contrastive method
5. Design of the Thesis
These papers include three main parts:

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In part I, the author would like to refer to the reasons, aims, objectives,
scope and the method of studying the thesis.
Part II is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 is the background
knowledge of the historical events of England in Victorian Age as well as the
knowledge of the Critical Realism. Chapter 2 is an introduction to the two
novels “Oliver Twist” and “Vanity Fair”. Chapter 3 is the main content of this
thesis, which deals with the reality happening in English 19th century society.
Part III is the conclusion and suggestion for further study.

PART II: CONTENT
Chapter 1: Back ground
1.1. Historical Events of England in Victorian Ages
1.1.1. The Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution was initiated in Britain in the second half of the
18th century and then spread out to the world. At this time, many modern
machines were invented and applied to production. As a result, more and more
industrial products were produced in Britain and appeared widely in every
corner of the world. However, “the industrial revolution was no mere sequence
of changes in industrial techniques and production but a social revolution with
social causes as well as profound social effects” (Harold, “The Origin of
Modern English Society”). In fact, the industrial revolution changed the face of
English society absolutely. One of the most obvious changes was that many
new manufacturing towns and cities grew dramatically and million people
from the countryside rushed to the industrial zones with the hope of
employment. By 1850, in the crowded and grim cities, there lived millions of
British people.

The changes brought to by the industrial revolution had both good and
bad effects on English society. With the economic development, England
became one of the most powerful and prosperous nations in the world. English
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men owned such a luxurious life that everyone in the other countries wished
for. However, the economic development only benefited the upper and middle
classes, not the lower one. Many workers felt into unemployment because
hand labors were substituted by machines in most factories. Therefore, they
could not support themselves and had to live in the workhouses which became
an obsession for most of the paupers.
Child labor became the most serious social problem resulting from the
industrial revolution. This problem first began when children, many below the
age of 10, were employed by factories and mines. The children were forced to
work long hours under dangerous and unhealthy conditions, and their wages
were very little. Thousands of children under ten, some as young as five, were
employed by textile factories and mines, and forced to work in hazardous
conditions, with little pay and sometimes for up to 16 hours a day. Especially
in the workhouses, and in apprenticeship, children were abused cruelly by the
masters who always thought that they had the right to decide children’s fates.
As a result of bad effect of child labor abuse on the health and welfare of
children, social reforming writers began to condemn child labor practices. The
most effective attack on the evils of child labor may have come from Charles
Dickens' novel Oliver Twist (1837-1839).
Because of the magic power of the industrial revolution, everything was
altered, from the family and social relationship to the social class structure. In
English society, there was a big gap between the rich and the poor. The
conflict between the classes and even in each class itself began to grow.
Money and social position came to throne. People could do everything,

regardless of love, honor and personality, to achieve wealth and social
position. In fact, almost human values were seriously destroyed during the
period of industrial revolution. For this reason, the moral degeneration became
one of the most serious problems at that time.
“Literature is the mirror of the reality” so all of these problems were
reflected truthfully in the contemporary works, especially in two famous

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novels: “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens and “Vanity Fair” by William
Makepeace Thackeray. In fact, there are many differences between these two
realistic novels. Dickens, in “Oliver Twist”, showed much attention to the
misery and the plight of the lower class, particularly the orphan children.
Reading “Oliver Twist”, readers are moved to tears because of the images of
poverty, starvation, and mistreatment of the powerful to poor children. In the
mean time, Thackeray in “Vanity Fair”- originally named “Pen and Pencil
Sketches of English Society”- gave a vivid picture of the luxurious but wicked
life of the upper class and their followers in the middle one. In “Vanity Fair”,
readers can witness a splendid London where the rich and the powerful are
singing, dancing, eating, drinking and even cheating, betraying and swearing
in the through-night and overabundant parties. For everyone living in “Vanity
Fair”, vanity became the desire and the individual seeks; hypocrisy and
snobbishness became the manner of fashionable life.
In spite of those above differences, if we put the two novels of two great
realistic authors together, we will have a day-to-day portrayal of English
society under the period of Industrial Revolution.
1.1.2. The Political Reforms
By the end of 18th century England was suffered from hardship, unrest and
injustice. The English population at this time was eight millions but only one

hundred and sixty thousand had the right to vote. Those one hundred and sixty
thousand people were the “crème of the society”. They did not have to work
but enjoyed a rich, happy life and held all the political authority. In contrast,
the industrial bourgeoisies were rich; they had no chances to take part in the
parliament. Along with these statements, the success of the American and
French revolution had a deep influence on England. The words “all men are
created equal” awakened all people there. Consequently, the need for
democratic reform became irresistible and the industrial bourgeoisies started
the activities demanding for voting reform. These activities attracted a lot of

8


workers as well because they themselves also wanted to change their political
position and determined themselves in society. As a result of these outbursts,
the government had to pass the reform act in the middle of 1832. It not only
allowed the industrial centers to nominate their representatives to parliament
but also reduced the power of upper class land owners. The first reform act
happened peacefully, marked the emergence of the middle class in English
political life.
After the first reform act, the industrial bourgeoisies persuaded the
parliament to pass a series of factory acts which restricted child labor and
limited hours of working. In 1867, the second reform act was passed, marking
another progress in democratic improvement. This reform act gave the voting
right to all members of the working class, except for the agricultural labors.
However, the activities demanding further voting did not stopped. During
Grad stone’s second ministry, 1880-1885, the third reform act was signed. As a
result, most of the males in rural and urban areas could vote. Those three
reform acts gave voting rights to middle class, then urban and rural votes in the
country. Thank to these acts people could raise their voice to protect their

privileges as well as their social positions. A new historical page was opened
in Great Britain.
1.1.3. The Free Trade Campaign
Between 1815 and 1846, the Corn Laws which kept the prices of corn at
high level were enacted in England. The purpose of these laws was to protect
English farmers from cheap foreign grain imports following the end of the
Napoleonic wars. The term “corn” referred not only “vegetable corn” but all
kinds of grains.
The first of the Corn Laws were introduced when the wars between
England and France ended in 1815. It stated that no foreign corn would be
imported in to England until the domestic corn reached a price of eighty
shillings per quarter. This resulted in the decreasing import and rising price.

9


The Corn Laws only gave benefit to the landholders who owned the
majority of profitable farm land, not to the workers. On the contrary, the
working class suffered a lot from these laws. Since the corn prices were high,
the workers had to spend the bulk of their income just to survive. In addition,
when the workers had no income left over for the other purchases, they could
not afford manufactured goods so many factory owners also suffered and had
to lay off the workers.
The sufferings that the Corn Laws caused resulted in the first major
reform of the Corn Laws which happened in 1828. However, the effect of this
reform was negligible.
Along with the restriction on trade put by the Corn Laws, the constant bad
harvests, the Hungry Forties, the soaring price of bread made the tension rise
day by day in England. As a result of the extreme tension, a movement to
repeal the Corn Laws was put up and in 1846 the Corn Laws were abrogated.

After the withdrawal of the Corn Laws, the policies of free trade were
introduced in England and this nation began to move towards the greater
prosperity that characterized the later phases of the Victorian Ages.
1.1.4. The New Poor Law and the Appearance of the Workhouses
In 1834, the Poor Law Amendment was acted. It introduced a new system
of poor relief, covering the whole of England. This new system was based on a
new administrative area called the Poor Law Union, which required operating
the workhouses as the principal channel for providing relief. On theory, the
workhouse was a moral place where the poor who could not support
themselves worked and in turn were housed and fed. However, in fact, it was
operated on the principle that poverty was the result of laziness and idleness
and that the dreadful living and working conditions would inspire the poor to
better their own lives.
If an able-bodied man entered the workhouse, his whole family had to enter
with him. The conditions inside the workhouses were more terrific than those of

10


prisons.

Men, women, children, the infirm, and the able-bodied were housed

separately and given very basic and monotonous food such as watery porridge
called gruel, or bread and cheese. All inmates had to wear the rough workhouse
uniform and sleep in communal dormitories. Supervised baths were given once
a week. The able-bodied were given hard work such as stone-breaking or
picking apart old ropes called oakum. The elderly and infirm sat around in the
day-rooms or sick-wards with little opportunity for visitors. As a result, the
starvation, diseases and even the death were spread all over the dirty and filthy

workhouses. At that time, many people were willing to die rather than go to
such awful places.
Because of personal childhood experiences with debt, poverty, and child
labor, Dickens recognized these issues of the workhouses with sympathetic
and critical eyes. Dickens noticed that England’s politicians and people of the
upper class tried to solve the growing problem of poverty through the Poor
Laws and charitable workhouses, but Dickens knew that these things would
not be successful. In fact, they were often inhumane. Dickens’ view of poverty
and the abuse of the poor can be seen in “Oliver Twist”, a novel about an
orphan, brought up in a workhouse. “Oliver Twist” which was written in
response to the Poor Law, shows Dickens’s perspective of society in a
realistic, original manner. Through this novel, he imprinted on readers the
notion that things need to be changed, and that they can be changed and must
be changed.
1.1.5. The Chartism
The Chartism was a working class movement from 1839 to 1848. It was
the result of an injustice and hash society in which the workers were afflicted
by the cruel exploitation and unemployment.
In 1838, the leader of the movement in London, William Lovett, wrote the
people’s charters which consisted of six points. The charter required the
universal suffrage for every British men over 21 years old, the changes in

11


voting arrangement, the abolition of property qualifications for MPs, the secret
voting ballots, the annual elections to Parliament and the payment of MPs.
One of the methods used by the chartists to persuade Parliament was the
collections of petitions. The theory was that Parliament would be impressed
with the number of people who supported the chartists and would have to push

through the popular changes.
The first petition was presented to Parliament in 1839. However, it was
rejected and the chartists organized an armed uprising. Finally, the leaders of
this movement were arrested and were either jailed or deported to Australia.
In 1841, the second chartist petition was given to the Parliament.
Although it contained three million signatures, it was not given any
consideration. In 1848, the last petition went to Parliament. It consisted of five
million signatures but it also had the same result as the two preceding ones. It
was a farce.
Although the chartist movement was not successful, it was a severe lesson
for the ruling classes who could not forget those days when the workers’ mass
movement threatened the foundations of capitalism. The Chartism was a vivid
evidence to show the progress of the working class and the political
development of England. Today, most of the chartist’s original demands are
parts of British laws.
In addition, it is necessary to say that the Chartists also refer to those
working class writers in the early Victorian Age. The Chartist writers
introduced a new theme into literature that was the forceful struggle of
proletarians for their rights. This topic quickly became an interesting issue for
most writers, especially Charles Dickens.
1.2. Critical Realism - a New Trend in Literature
1.2.1. What is the Critical Realism?
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain
works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth-

12


and early-twentieth-century literature in various countries. “Realism” implies
the attempt to describe contemporary life and society truthfully “as it was”. It

rejects imaginative idealization in favor of a close observation of outward
appearances. The realists paid much attention to the normal and daily things, to
reproducing all the hitherto-ignored aspects of life and society, its mental
attitudes, physical settings and material conditions.
The growth of realism is linked to the development of science, especially
biology, history and social science, and to the development of industrialism
and commerce. This trend appeared as a result of changes in social life and
social relationships which gave new demands and new inspiration to
contemporary literature. Therefore, the realistic novels were like the life itself
– complex in appearance, rich in characters, diverse in outlook, teeming with
ideas and operating on several levels.
It is clear that critical realism is different from Romanticism. When the
romantics saw the dark social problems, they did not dare to face them, in
stead, they tried to escape from them and return to Nature, to the green fields
and mountains where man can find himself and his fellows-countrymen, where
his soul can be saved from corruption. The romantics also tried to construct
dream worlds from their own imaginations as a refuge for their souls. In
contrast, the realists did not run away or construct dream worlds but describe
the facts honestly, search them in all sides and in all details. They raised their
voice to denounce the social evils and protect the poor and the oppressed.
However, the critical realism had both strengths and weaknesses. On the
one hand, the realists gave the satirical description, the strong denouncement to
the ruling classes and the profound sympathy for the common people. On the
other hand, the realists did not show us the ways to escape from prison. They
did not find the ways to destroy the social evils as well as realize the necessity
of changing the bourgeois society.
Because of the limitation of ideology, the realists could not find the
reasonable solutions to the social contradictions. The main tendency in their

13

works was not of revolution but rather of reformation. Instead of some
weaknesses, the critical realism was one of the most progressive literary trends
which played an important role in social development.

1.2.2. English Critical Realism
England is regarded as the cradle of critical realism. As far as back in 14 th
century, the writer, Chaucer had used this method to write his famous work
“Canterbury Tales”. However, not until the 18th century did realism begin to
develop and reach the height in Enlightenment literature. It was the tradesman
and journalist, Daniel Defoe, and the printer Richardson who were pioneers of
this trend in England. At first, the realistic prose took the shape of short essays
which were more objective, informative and descriptive than the romantic
essays. Then, novels were the main type to be used.
In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was further developed by
what Marx called “the present brilliant school of English novelists”. Like the
realists of the 18th century, the 19th century realists used their pens to expose
the facts, severely criticize the seamy sides and show their sympathy for the
miserable. However, the realistic novels of the 19th century went a further step
than those of the 18th century. They described the chief traits of the English
society with much more vividness and greater artistic skill and criticized the
capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint They not only pictured the
conflicts between separate individuals who stood for definite social class, but
also showed the broad social conflicts over and above the fate of mere
individuals. Marx exactly commented that the realists had done more to show
political and social truths to the world than all the politicians, publicists and
moralists added together. In fact, the English realists had a thorough view of
the most burning social problems of their time. They looked at life through the
eyes of the common people and of the talented writers, so under their

14


description, every corner of life, even the hidden ones, were revealed.
Especially, the main conflict of the time between the capitalists and workers
were reflected so vividly that realistic novels were considered to be “the epic
of the bourgeois society".
However, it is also necessary to say that the English critical realists of the
19th century not only gave a satirical description of the bourgeoisie and all the
ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In
their best works, the greed and hypocrisy of the upper class are contrasted with
the honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure "simple people" of the lower
classes. Hence the use of humor and satire in the English realistic novels of the
19th century was very popular. Humorous scenes may be used for the actions
of the positive characters and serves to stress their fine qualities. At the same
time, bitter satire and funny is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois
society. Through the sketches of various negative characters given birth to by
the capitalist system, critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of money
upon human nature.
However, like the realists in other countries, English realists could put a
big question to social problems but they could not find a reasonable answer
because of the limitation of class ideology. In most realistic works, the authors
did not mention the revolutionary violence as the solution to social conflict,
but their own ones usually felt in to subjectivity, utopia or impasse. In most of
their works, they often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the
bourgeois world, and close in happy ending for the oppressed.
The greatest English realist of the time was Charles Dickens. With
striking force and truthfulness, he created pictures of bourgeois civilization,
describing the misery and sufferings of the common people. Another great

critical realist, William Makepeace Thackeray, was also a talented writer of the
contemporary society. Thackeray’s novels are mainly a satirical description of
the upper class in British society.

15


Chapter 2: An introduction to “Oliver Twist” by
Charles Dickens and “Vanity Fair” by William
Makepeace Thackeray
2.1. An Introduction to “Oliver Twist”
2.1.1. The author- Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born in to a poor family on the seventh February
1812, in Portsmouth, which is known as 387 Mile End Terrance Land port
nowadays. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. However, he was not
good at his work and always in state of debt. Therefore, as Dickens was young,
his mind was darkened by the financial problems of his family.
Things went from bad to worse when his father was arrested for debt and
sent to prison in Marshal Sea. Dickens had to leave school and work in a
blacking warehouse, where he was employed to stick labors on bottles for shoe
polish. Those days in the warehouse were full of misery and humiliation. In his
mind, he never forgot the terrific smell and the starvation he experienced here.
These unforgettable experiences and sufferings of his early childhood became
one of the decisive elements in the formation of his personality and served as
fresh material for many of his novels. Child labor and its abuse were repeated
in most of Dickens’s works, especially in “Oliver Twist”
In 1831, having taught himself short hand, Dickens became a
parliamentary reporter. Being a reporter, he had a good knowledge about
current news and the most burning social problems, which was very useful for
his writing.

Being a realistic writer, Dickens traveled a lot to many places to collect
the fresh material from the life of the capital cities to the country sides. On

16


traveling he met all kinds of people, the rich and the poor, the kind and the
vicious, and witnessed a lot of unfair phenomenon in the society.
Studying Dickens’s life and his literary works we can see that his life had
a deep influence on his works. It provided him with invaluable knowledge of
human life and his social problems. The lifelike reality of his works brings
readers back to the English 19th century society. Therefore, he is considered to
be one of the greatest realists of England and of the world. His novels,
containing broad view of man and the most burning social problems, were
loved by most readers due to its humane and realistic value.
Love of humanity and the severe denouncement towards the ruling classes
and the social corruption are the most obvious embodiments of deep humanism
in Dickens’s works. In his novels, Dickens always raised his voice to defend
the poor, the oppressed, especially children and women. Under his description,
they were poor, but good and pure. They had to suffer a lot, but did not lose
their heart and always tried their best for brighter future. In addition, with an
eternal belief in good quality of human nature, the author described his
positive characters to be static. Their characteristics did not change in all
situations of life, even in the worst cases. In a chaotic society, white could be
turned into black, good into bad, right into wrong, but his characters remained
pure and unspoilt.
It is Dickens’s love towards the humanity that he made him hate all kinds
of oppression, injustice and every sight of man’s cruelty to man. His works
exposed and attacked the social evils forcefully. Cruelty, labor abuse,
materialism and money worship became the most popular themes in his

novels.
In Dickens’s works, the conflict between the rich and the poor, between
two main classes in society was reflected vividly. To solve this conflict,
Dickens subjectively believed that all men were born good so it was possible
to make the rich share wealth with the poor. He used his novels, which
describe the extreme poverty with emotional tone, to open the eyes of society

17


to the pitiful fates of the poor with the hope that the rich would feel
sympathetic and give a hand to the less fortunate.
One of his limitations is that in his first novels he did not realize the true
nature of the capitalism so he did not realize that only revolutionary struggle
could result in social progress. However, finally Dickens understood that
capitalism was the source of poverty. Therefore, in the middle of the 19 th
century, when the struggle movement of proletarian class reached the highest
point, Dickens expressed himself as a writer with the stable view-point and
“steely” pen. He always, then, stood beside the working class in the struggle
against the ruling classes. He used his pen as a struggling weapon which
attacked forcefully the oppression, cruelty and inequality in society
Realistic value is also one great element giving the permanent vitality to
Dickens’s works. Reading his novels, readers could witness a panorama of life
in the contemporary English society with its burning problems. What Dickens
depicted was really true to life because he looked at life through the eyes of the
common people and of the great writer who had experienced a lot of sufferings
in the school of life. He wrote about the poor with the sympathetic heart
because he had once suffered what they were suffering, experienced what they
were experiencing and seen what they were seeing.
Generally speaking, Dickens’s work is universal. His most prominent

theme is about child-labor and the pitiful plight of the orphans. Another
popular theme is about the power of money, the abusive way that money can
be used, the destructive force of money, and the victims of it. Adventure is also
one of the main themes in Dickens’s novels. Adventuring gave his characters
opportunities to witness a lot of social burning problems. Therefore, through
his characters Dickens could give the readers the over-all picture of reality
happening at his time. “Oliver Twist” was regarded as the best adventurous
novel. By retelling the ups and downs life of Oliver, Dickens laid bare all of
the social evils existing in the capital city. Social corruption is an important
part in Dickens’s works. He forcefully criticizes the labor abuse, social

18


injustice, starvation and cruelty and sympathetically championed the underdog.
He created incredibly moving scenarios that are both heartbreaking and
amusing in equal measure. It is true to say that he’s an amazing social
documenter and champion of human rights.
However, nothing is perfect. Dickens’s novels are by no means faultless.
Some critics commented that his rapid and enormous writing resulted in his
unpolished novels. In addition, some critics commented that Dickens’s works
are a harmonious combination between real and unreal. His characters such as
Oliver Twist and David Copperfield were sometimes too good to be found in
the real life. They ever remained true to the principles of honor, dignity and
faith. In spite of some faults in both composition and style, “no one can deny
Dickens’s high spirit and inexhaustible humor, no one can ignore the
‘Dickens’s charm’ and the novelist’s supreme gift: his amazing imagination”
(Nguyen Chi Trung, “English Literature”).
Dickens’s writing career can be divided in to four periods.
 First period (1833-1841).

In the first period, the main themes in Dickens’s works were the poor and
the homeless. Their life and their misery were mentioned emotionally with the
profound sympathy of the author.
This period includes some famous novels such as Sketches by Boz (1836),
The Pickwick Papers (1836-1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Old
Curiosity Shop (1840-1841), Barnaby Ridge (1841-1842) and especially
“Oliver Twist” which was written from February 1837 to March 1839. This
book was the purposeful, serious realistic description of social problems. It
thoroughly depicted the terrific life conditions in the warehouse, the life of
miserable children and the criminal in society.
 The second period (1842- 1848)
In the second period works, Dickens began to describe the crimes that
arose from the bourgeois system itself. Although Dickens showed his great
sympathy for the working class and his indignation towards the cruelty of the

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ruling ones, he still believed that edification and reform could solve the social
conflicts.
Some famous works of this period are American notes (1842), Martin
Chuzzlewit (1843), Christmas Carol and Dombey and Son (1846-1848), which
is the first novel to be fully planed as a whole in advance. As soon as it
appeared, it was quickly loved by the readers due to the burning social
problem it mentioned: money worship.
 Third period (1850-1859)
The novels written in the third period severed as the height of Dickens’s
social criticism. Dickens used his pen to make war against the social abuses
like moral corruption in the law courts, the cruelty and starvation at boarding
school. Dickens was also very successful in describing and drawing a vivid

picture of English life at his time. He was considered as the Great Literary
Commoner by which people meant the great democrat in literature.
This period was marked by the appearance of “David Copperfield”, which
was loved by the author most and also the peak in his literary career. In this
book, the writer used his own experiences of the miserable childhood as the
main inspiration to write. It was considered to be the biggest autobiographical
work of Dickens. Other novels of this period are Bleak House (1852-1853),
Hard Times (1854), which focused on pointing out the main conflict between
the workers and the capitalists caused by the industrial revolution and souldestroying effects of the industrial revolution on men and Little Dorrit (18551857), which especially focused on the law of debt under capital society.
 Forth period (1860- 1865)
In this period there were two novels: “Great Expectations” and “Our
Mutual Friend”. During this period, the labor movement began to sink and the
English critical realism was decreased, the feeling of disillusionment was
expressed obviously in the two books. Humor can be found here and there in
the novels of this period. It was the means of irony and satire. In fact, the
rollicking laughers of Dickens were his profound condemnation.

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