"Great Expectations"

An in-depth discussion on Charles Dickens' concern with his own moral development in his work "Great Expectations" and how this reflected the moral development of his age.

2,002 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2007 Bangladesh

Paper Summary:

The paper attempts to show how Dickens, in his novel "Great Expectations", is able to express his own moral development through the story of Pip. The paper also introduces the context of industrial Britain, and posits that, though Dickens was critical of many of the materialistic tendencies of Industrial Britain, he shared in the general optimism of the age. The paper explains that it was the optimism in the potential of democracy, and Dickens was therefore the champion of the common man.

From the Paper:

"Many of Dickens novels draw from his life experiences, and therefore are autobiographical to some extent. Jean Carr makes the point that "he was ever longing to express...recollections of his own childhood, which were his grand storehouse" (453). For example in Little Dorrit, the tale revolves around the incarceration of Mr. Dorrit in the infamous Marshalsea Prison of London which held faulting debtors, and we know that Dickens own father was held for debt charges in the same prison, and his early life is palpably shaped by this event. Then again in David Copperfield the child protagonist undergoes hardship in a large factory. Dickens himself was forced to work in such a factory at a young age, after his father was imprisoned and his mother moved into prison with a large family, leaving the author practically an orphan. But Great Expectations must be described as his most autobiographical novel."

Sample of Sources Used:

Carr, Jean F. "Autobiographical Narration in Dickens and Trollope." Dissertation Abstract International. 40, 1980.
Chesterton, G. K. Charles Dickens a Critical Study. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2005.
Collins, Philip. Dickens and Crime. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968.
Goodlad, Lauren M. E. Victorian Literature and the Victorian State. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2003.
Lucas, John. The Melancholy Man: A Study of Dickens's Novels. London: Methuen, 1970.