Social Commentator and critic Charles Dickens Social Commentator and critic

Sources Victorian London’s social problems 1. Industrialization 2. Class Division 3. Poverty

Problems from Industrialization Population shift from the country to city causes overcrowding. Poor sanitation Unsafe working conditions Inhumane treatment of workers Child labor Pollution: the famous London fog is actually London smog.

Class division A wealthy privilege class enjoyed benefits of an industrialized England. Poor that lived in slums, unsafe working conditions, sporadic work and low pay. Slum and wealthy neighborhoods often right next to each other. No social movement. Assumed superiority of the privilege class.

Poverty The Debtor Act of 1813 created Debtors prisons. Commonly referred to has the workhouses. Greatly feared by people. People would do anything to avoid the workhouses. Families separated and even children made to work to pay off the debt. The work houses had a reputation for cruelty. Starving people and working them long hard hours

Dickens has social commentator Dickens believed in the ethical and political potential of literature, and the novel in particular, and he treated his fiction as a springboard for debates about moral and social reform. In his novels of social analysis Dickens became an outspoken critic of unjust economic and social conditions. His deeply-felt social commentaries helped raise the collective awareness of the reading public. Dickens contributed significantly to the emergence of public opinion which was gaining an increasing influence on the decisions of the authorities. Indirectly, he contributed to a series of legal reforms, including the abolition of the inhumane imprisonment for debts, purification of the Magistrates’ courts, a better management of criminal prisons, and the restriction of the capital punishment.

Novels The Pickwick Papers he deals the effects of industrialization. Oliver Twist he deals abuse of the Poor Law system, criminal activities in the city, and victimization of children. Nicholas Nickleby he deals child abuse in the educational system Hard Times and Our Mutual Friend deal with child abuse. Bleak House criticizes the legal system.

Victorian London BIG CITY LIFE

London Sky Line

London Streets

Work conditions