Charles Dickens Flashcards
Birth
1812, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and start of Victorian Era
Family
John Dickens, a clerk for the British Navy, and Elisabeth Dickens had 8 children
Childhood
Family was middle class, moved to London when he was young. When he was 12 his father/family was put into prison for debt, had he had to work at a factory(crushed his dreams)
Young Adulthood
Was sent to school and began his first career as a clerk in a lawyer’s office, then a parliamentary reporter, then a reporter in political elections. He started traveling from his job
Maria Beadnell
He fell deeply in love with her, but her family blew him off because of his money status. She fueled his sketches and writing. In 1853-54, she wrote letters asking to see him despite her being married. They met she didn’t look the same, he published a cruel portrait of her
Catherine Hogarth
Daughter of a respected journalist. Got married in April 1836. Moved in with her and her sister, and had children. Divorced in 1858 and she only kept one child.
The Pickwick Papers
In 1836 had the original plan to draw and write stories that would link. Dickens was able to choose his own illustrations. 40,000 copies of his comedy sold in a month. Began a serial.
Mary Hogarth
Catherine’s sister who died at 17, Dickens was shattered and obsessed with her, and she became a character in his stories.
Gad’s Hill Place
A home in Rochester that he wanted as a child that he eventually bought.
Older life
Was dissatisfied with life and marriage by 1856. His works started to reflect a darker view of life.
Edwin Drood
A mystery book that he died from a stroke in the middle of writing it in the 1870s
TTC Basic Facts
Published in 1859 into a serial magazine called “All the Year Round”
Is a Historical Novel
Based on Carlyle’s ‘French Revolution’
TTC Themes
Resurrection
Sacrifice
Oppression
Social Injustice
TTC Motifs
Shadows
imprisonment
footsteps
mobs
Book the First
Takes place in 1775
Involves a trip between 2 major cities in the book (London and Paris)
