Week 2. 2nd Assignment: Charles Dickens and the modern novel (p. 989)

2nd Assignment: Charles Dickens and the modern novel (p. 989)

As a genre, the modern novel has its roots in the narrative tales of much earlier times. As we read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, with its imaginative “framed stories” as told by pilgrims on their pilgrimage to Canterbury, we see the beginnings of the modern novel, reaching full flower in the 19th century, with its lengthy narrative held together by a sequence of complicated subplots, its complex and varied settings, its many intertwined characters, both major and minor, acting within the frame of one theme or idea.

The novel of Dickens's time was still undergoing definition. Novels in Victorian England were often published in serial form in monthly magazine installments. Chapters were composed to meet monthly deadlines. Dickens's work often bears the mark of this origin. Episodes would often end at suspenseful moments to insure readers would return for more. Dickens's popularity was enormous. With his first major effort, Pickwick Papers, followed by Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, he held England and America spellbound. A Christmas Carol is still popular today.

In the case of the authors we will meet this term, the development of the Industrial Revolution, with all its social and economic chaos, offered a rich trove of themes through which a writer’s narrative technique might be revealed. The period you discussed in your recent essays brought with it many complex issues to be resolved: issues of a new working class, slum conditions, orphanages, epidemic diseases, education for the young, and many other facets of that period. Dickens’s stories of hard times and injured innocents challenged those forces that smothered compassion and nursed vice in that new society.

Frequently Dickens gave his characters names that foreshadow the plot, providing the reader with a slight hint. He also enjoyed making silly, yet meaningful, comparisons, such as party guests to furniture, orphans to shares and stocks, etc. Always, his work was a form of social commentary, as he wrote satirically about the government, education, politics and other important issues of his time.

Dickens was a reformer and a myth maker, yet his stories are more than about social injustice. The most distinctive characteristic of his work is its fairytale-like quality. Notice his settings--factories chocked with smoke, slums a place where crime and the redemption of his characters can be revealed. The same fondness Chaucer had for the foibles of his characters is seen in Dickens’s work as well, revealed in the variety and peculiarity of the human character, his leering villains, honest clerks, wide-eyed innocents and knotty eccentrics. You will see this in the story we will begin reading this week, Hard Times.

Turn to page 999. As you read, notice the setting and characterization presented in the first paragraphs. Who is the “speaker?” Where is this taking place? How does Dickens describe each character (notice their names!)? What phrases and descriptions are seen in the text that give you a sense of this? How does Dickens describe places and people? Do you notice any literary equivalent in old fairy tales? What do you notice about Dickens's attitude towards the people and ideas he is representing, and what words does he use to convey that? What do you think about Mr. Gradgrind’s theory of education?

What message do you think Dickens is attempting to deliver in his plot and through these characters? What theme and philosophy is he conveying through this satire—what values does Dickens believe a system of education should teach? In Dickens's writing, begin to notice what is caricature and sentiment, exaggeration, irony, even raw bitterness, and what is realism. Comment on what you find. Finally, how do you respond to this portion of a story as a reader? What resonates with you and your life and outlook?

Take your time with the first page! It takes time to get into any new author of another period! Read a few passages aloud together, talk about it, then begin reading to yourself, answering the above questions. At any time, continue reading and discussing aloud. Please go on line to continue reading chapters from this story. By Friday, send us your response to the questions above. Refer to the text in quotes or italics with the page number when necessary, but this is not a formal paper, but a response. You are welcome to read the entire book on line for extra credit (speak to me first—this will be offered for several future assignments as well).