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How Did Charles Dickens Contradictions During The Victorian Era

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Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist was published in 1837 during the Victorian Era. The book was written during a time of great advancements in medicine, technology, and science. These new technologies along with the British imperial expansion led to a skyrocket in population and wealth. The increase of people and wealth made Britain's poor even poorer, and resulted in distasteful practices that led to the Victorian Era being known as a time of contradictions. Charles Dickens’s life and Oliver Twist symbolize the contradictions that were prevalent during the Victorian Era.
The Victorian Era was the time period during Queen Victoria’s reign. The period lasted from 1837 until 1901 and began after the end of the industrial revolution. The time was …show more content…

Charles was one out of eight children. His father was an ambitious naval clerk, and his mother aspired to be a teacher. John Dickens often got in trouble with the law and thrown into prison for debt. It was during this time that he began working in a factory to help support his family. Charles learned forehand about what the harsh work conditions and nonexistent child labor laws that the Victorian Era neglected to share with the world. Charles was able to attend school until three years later his father was thrown in jail again. The now fifteen Charles Dickens had to drop out of school to work at an office. This event led to the beginning of his time as an author. Soon after Charles Dickens became a publisher of the magazine called Bentley’s Miscellany. Charles Dickens used this magazine for installments of his book Oliver Twist. Charles Dickens based Oliver Twist off his own childhood. The popularity of Oliver Twist launched his career in writing, helped him become a world famous celebrity, and perhaps more impressive it helped him rise through the brutal class system that the wealthy had established. He was seen as the “defender of the poor and helpless, and the scourge of corrupt institutions—Parliament, the education establishment, the …show more content…

Oliver, a small boy, is orphaned at a young age. He encounters many trials, and finds out that he is the heir to a fortune. Oliver is thrown into the harsh environment of child labor, crime, and corruption. He remains good-natured, despite the world around him telling him that he is bad. Many characters in Oliver Twist symbolize the contradictions in the Victorian Era. The Artful Dodger, Jack Dawkins, is a thief in Fagin’s gang. He meets young Oliver early on in the story and introduces him to Fagin. Jack then helps Oliver to become a thief only to fail and betray Oliver by leaving him to take the fall. Jack symbolizes the young children who have to cut their childhood short and grow up in order to provide for themselves. Oliver describes Jack “He was a snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy enough; and as dirty a juvenile as one would wish to see; but he had about him all the airs and manners of a man”. Jack follows the idea that the poor are destined for crime and ends up being caught and is punished. Bill Sikes is a vicious, cold, and brutal man. He is one of, if not, the most brutal characters in Oliver Twist. Sikes represents the Victorian preconception of poor people and criminals. Sikes kills the only one that ever shows him affection. He later accidentally or intentionally hangs himself after being chased by a mob. Noah Claypole is met in the beginning of the story. Noah physically

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