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Essay / The Terrible Childhood of Charles Dickens
In researching the life of Charles Dickens, whether it was how he lived as a child or as an adult, Charles Dickens had wrote A Christmas Carol for a reason. Dickens had a terrible childhood, during which he had to overcome many good and bad things in life that many children his age did not have to endure. Even in old age, Dickens battled many illnesses, both mental and physical, but still managed to be the wonderful writer he is considered to be today. Charles Dickens' past will show that he was a phenomenal writer, but he had a past to prove it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Charles Dickens' life was terrible from the start. At a very young age, Dickens' father was imprisoned for bad debts (BBC). Charles Dickens' family excluded him from his trip to Marshalsea, where his family was going to work and pay their debts (Ibid). Dickens was unaffected by the debt, so “Charles was sent to work in Warren's blackening factory and endured appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. »(Ibid). After 3 years of working in the factory, Dickens was sent back to school, but his experience was never forgotten, so he decided to use his past to write two novels. (Ibid). Charles Dickens was greatly inspired by all the hard work he endured and after writing his first two novels. Dickens, like almost all authors, started out as a journalist, working with his father who became a reporter (Ibid). Together they were able to write The Mirror of Parliament and The True Sun (Ibid). Charles Dickens continued to write as a journalist and became a parliamentary reporter for the Morning Chronicle in 1833. In April 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth (Ibid). The same month of his marriage, Dickens published the Pickwick Papers, which was a great success. After writing all these successful novels, Dickens knew that there was no turning back in his career and that he should continue what he excelled at: writing (Ibid). Throughout his early career and each event leading up to the writing of A Christmas Carol, Dickens was unaware that he was building a reputation as a writer. Becoming a journalist and writing short novels inspired him to write A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens not only had a terrible childhood, but also a lousy adult life. One of the illnesses Dickens suffered from was a torrential chemical imbalance (Bragg., 117). “It fueled his art, but it ruined every relationship he had.” (Ibid., 117). This illness ensured that before Dickens started writing, he would "charge his battery" by walking ten to twenty miles every day before sitting down to write anything, which is why everyone stayed far from him, including his children (Ibid., 118). “Scrooge was a mean and miserly person who did not like children. » (Ibid., 118). These quotes show exactly who Charles Dickens was and prove that his illness ruined every relationship he ever had. A quote from his book, which says: “Let me hear one more sound from you,” said Scrooge, “and you will celebrate Christmas by losing your situation!” ”, proves this point once again (Dickens.,11). Dickens also suffered from other illnesses including kidney stones and his left arm would not move or go in the opposite direction, walked in circles when he wanted to go straight and had gout (Bragg., 119, 120). Not only did Dickens suffer from many illnesses, but he also disliked his wife and children. “Dickens never had anythingsaid kindly about his wife, Catherine. He considered his ten children disappointing, expensive and messy. » (Ibid., 119). Dickens's children believed that he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, because every time Dickens would inspect their room daily and find that a chair was out of place, he would become very angry with them (Ibid. , 119). Besides wanting everything to be perfect, Dickens also gave his children nicknames like Flaster Floby and Chicken Stalker (Ibid., 119). Charles Dickens continued to be as grumpy as he was and knew he would never change, but he continued to write anyway and once traveled all over England and America by train, dramatizing his stories in the theaters and playing all the characters himself (Ibid., 119). ). Since Dickens had so many problems, all of his doctors told him to stop playing, but no one ever managed to tell Dickens what to do. With that, Dickens threw a tantrum that no one has ever forgotten (Ibid., 121). All these quotes show that in his real life Dickens behaved towards people, including his children, as a person who disliked everyone who did not conform or agree with his way of do, just like in A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens was partially paralyzed, walking in circles and unable to see half of what he was looking at. Even with all these complications, Dickens was still able to write very easily (Ibid., 121). Dickens was always on tour and at each performance he would show up, bow, wait for applause, and finally limp off the stage and collapse (Ibid., 121). Additionally, Dickens now had to have a doctor behind the scenes on every show he presented (Ibid., 121). Whenever his doctor gave Dickens advice, he never listened, which completely defeated the point of having a doctor with him. Dickens did not have a normal life, but because of this he was able to have another reason or another story to inspire him as a writer and put his life story into a book. “Dickens' own story was like a rags-to-riches fairy tale. » (Henderson and Sharpe., 1462). Charles Dickens had a terrible life as a child, as I said before, but he went from being a nobody to being a somebody. Just like he did in his book A Christmas Carol. Instead of becoming rich from being poor, he goes from being a grumpy old man, who hates children and Christmas, to a cheerful man, who loves everything and has the best mood about everything. “I wish to be alone.” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, this is my answer. I don't rejoice at Christmas myself and I can't afford to rejoice idle people. » (Dickens., 13). What a horrible person Scrooge was at the beginning of the story. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good boy, than I have given you in many years! I will increase your salary and strive to help your family in difficulty” (Ibid., 90). By the end of the story, Scrooge has changed for the better and had to learn the hard way; in Dickens' real life, where he had to work very hard as a young boy in a factory to find inspiration to become a journalist and soon become one of the most famous writers of all time. Both in the life of Charles Dickens and that of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, they both started from either having nothing in the way of money or having nothing in the heart. Likewise, they both worked hard to transform themselves for the better and do everything in their power to be the best they could be, regardless of the obstacles they faced..