Charles John Huffam Dickens 1812 – 1870 The Background and Experiences of a Great Author, from a Harsh Childhood to a Wonderful Adulthood, of becoming.

Charles John Huffam Charles John Huffam DickensDickens

1812 – 1870The Background and Experiences of a Great

Author, from a Harsh Childhood to a Wonderful Adulthood, of becoming a Famous Writer

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The Start Of A Great Author Charles Dickens was born on February 7,

1812, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Dickens’ parents were John and Elizabeth

Dickens who had 8 children and Charles was the second to oldest child out of all of them.

After he was born, his family moved to Chatham. Dickens described his years living there

“the happiest time of his childhood.” His parents were always free spirited and

spending money on parties and balls which caused them problems later on.

Dickens’ father worked for the navy as a payroll office clerk, but the job didn’t pay enough for all of the festivities.

Young Charles Dickens

The Start Of A Great Author

Charles Dickens' House

Because they had so many children and parties and balls, financial problems were always a concern for the Dickens family. Because of their financial problems, they

later had to move to a smaller house when Charles was just 4 months old.

The Dickens family was considered middle-class, but for only a short time because they hit financial problems which, in 1824, caused them to be imprisoned for debt.

To pay off the debt, Charles’ father pulled him out of school to work in a shoe-die factory. Charles considered this experience to be,

“the most terrible of his life.” But, most of his harsh experiences

influenced him to write his best novels. =

Charles parents also saved as much money as they could for oneone child to start an education at a university.

Unfortunately, Charles was not that child. His sister Fanny was.

Charles’ Grade School

The Start Of A Great Author

The Beginning Of A Hard Life When Charles turned 12 years old he hit

the hardest point of his life and his dreams of becoming a gentleman were looking dim.

Dickens’ father was sent to jail for failing to pay off a debt.

This loss put the family and Charles into sad times for a while. His debt and loss of a family member is

also expressed in an ironic way though the book. Pip suddenly falls into debt after spending too much (like Charles parents did) and loses a family member, Mrs. Joe.

Etching of Charles Dickens’ father,

John

A Better Looking Future Only a short year later for us, but a sad and

depressing, slow year for Dickens, Charles’ father was released from jail and times were getting better for Dickens.

Charles was also released from his, so he calls it, “horrible” job at the shoe-die factory. Charles’ life course is very close to Pip’s life

course. In the book: At first, life was normal. Pip dreamt of becoming a gentleman.

(Pip becomes a gentleman – Charles, on the other hand, does not.)

Pip falls into depression. Pip gets money from benefactor and

becomes happy like Charles gets his father back.

Charles’ father was released from jail because the debt was finally paid off from an inheritance of money given to the family.

Charles Dickens

Even though Dickens’ mother wanted him to keep working, his father disagreed and allowed him to return to school. Even though Dickens’ mother was

against Charles going back to school, she was the main person to teach him reading and writing.

Unfortunately, when Dickens turned 15, he was forced to return to work again and his education from that point ended.

A Better Looking Future

Later, he had a different variety of jobs including: A clerk in a law firm A shorthand reporter in the courts …and finally parliamentary and newspaper reporter

Sketches of Charles’ Parents

The Start of His Love of Writing In 1833, Dickens started writing short

stories and essays for periodicals. Later, he started providing writings

for comics (how he got his skill in adding a little humor in his stories like Great Expectations) which, in 1836, were published as the Pickwick Papers.

With this, Dickens became, within a month, internationally popular.

After a while, Dickens resigned from making comics and writing newspaper reports to become an editor of a monthly magazine called Bentley's Miscellany. Ironically, Dickens probably used this magazine name for

Bentley Drummle in Great Expectations.

The Start of His Love of Writing In 1836, Charles married Catherine Hogarth. Together they had 10 children but only 9

survived. Their names were:

Charles Culliford Boz Dickens Mary Dickens Kate Macready Dickens Walter Landor Dickens Francis Jeffrey Dickens Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens Henry Fielding Dickens Dora Annie Dickens Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens

They finally separated in 1858. After, Dickens started secretly dating a young

actress named Ellen Ternan.

Charles Dickens’ Wife

-Catherine Dickens –

Chalk and Crayon Sketching

Dickens Continues To Work Shortly after 1836, Dickens decided to

continue his career as a writer and continued at a quick pace.

One of his first writings was Oliver Twist which was first put into Bentley's Miscellany in 1837.

Dickens, later on, started many writing projects, that were due on a monthly basis, but barely was able to finish all of them because there was so many to write. This is what caused the intense pace

of his career. After, his career still continued at a

fast speed where he started writing novels and other short stories in about 1850. Later on, Dickens’ stories started fading and only talked about the pains of the

common man (like Great Expectations).

Dickens At Work

Dickens’ Horrible Death In 1869, Dickens’ health

started to decline. On June 9, 1870, Charles

Dickens died from a mild stroke.

He died after a hard days work of writing his new book Edwin Drood which, unfortunately, was never finished.

Charles Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey. A graveyard in England where very respected people go.

Dickens’ Signature

"Charles Dickens Biography." The Complete Works of Charles Dickens. 2008. 15 May 2008 <http://www.dickens-literature.com/l_biography.html>.

Sahlman, Rachel. "Charles Dickens." Spectrum Biographies. 2007. 15 May 2008 <http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Dickens.html>.

"The Childhood of Charles Dickens." Charles Dickens - Gad's Hill Place. 2008. 15 May 2008 <http://www.perryweb.com/Dickens/life_child.shtml>.

"The Children of Charles Dickens." Charles Dickens - Gad's Hill Place. 2008. 15 May 2008 <http://www.perryweb.com/Dickens/life_children.shtml>.

Works Cited