Nicholas Nickleby

The first 200 words of this essay...

'Nicholas Nickleby' Coursework

In my introductory comments, I would like to talk about the background of Dickens and how he attempts to influence social change in his novel "Nicholas Nickleby". Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Hampshire, during the turbulent times of the Industrial revolution. These were times of extreme wealth and poverty a huge number of people lived in terrible circumstances, while small number had great privilege it was also a period of great social and moral hypocrisy where the respectable classes where desperate to avoid scandal and disgrace. This explains why Squeers could get away with the horrible things he did to the children. Dickens himself had suffered poverty and humiliation. His father was jailed for bankruptcy and debt he was sent to Marshalea debtor's prison. Dickens worked at a 'Blacking Factory' and saw the underbelly of London life- the experience helped him populate his novels with thieves, prostitutes, pickpockets and fraudsters this allowed dickens to see how the under class were treated. And how the legal court welfare system dealt with the 'undeserving punishments'

Dickens wanted to encourage social change and improvement by making his readers (i.e. the new middle class) aware