Charles Dickens and Great Expectations

Beginnings Charles John Huffam Dickens Born on February 7, 1812 Second child to John and Elizabeth Dickens Father was a clerk for a Naval Pay Officer Lower middle class which “consisted of shabby genteel who had slipped down from higher classes and artisans and working classmen who had improved themselves” (“Charles”) They “Jealously cherished its pretensions of being a cut above the proletariat, whom it thought to be dirty, immoral, drunken, profane, comical, and potentially murderous” (Cruikshank 12). Also believed itself to be more moral than the “corrupt and sensual aristocracy” (Cruikshank 12).

Moving Around The Dickens family moved often because of their father’s job and loose spending habits. Charles remembered his fondest years of childhood as the five years spent in Chatham where the family moved when Charles was 5. He first saw the mansion Gad’s Hill Place there and watched the prison ships called Hulks. There he was allowed to attend school and learned to read and write In 1822 they moved back to Camdon, North London

Early Work for Chuck Father was imprisoned for debt early in Charles’ life (around the age of 12). Went to Marshalsea Prison. Had to pay to be there but could earn no money to get out of debt. Family lived with father in Prison so Charles is on his own Charles is sent to work to support his family Jealous of his sister who was studying at the Royal Academy of Music

Marshalsea Debter’s Prison

Poor Charles Charles was left alone to support himself Charles then went to work for a relative of his mother’s pasting labels on the bottles of shoe polish at Warren’s Blackening factory 12 hours a day, six days a week Eventually, due to an inheritance, the family’s debt was paid and they were allowed to leave prison (In prison 6-12 months

Warren’s Shoe Blacking Company Dickens had always dreamed of living the life of an upper class gentleman, but had no money to achieve that dream. Other boys working there made fun of him by calling him “the young gentleman.” He said,” No words can express the agony of my soul as I sunk into this companionship.”

The Bitterness Begins Charles re-enrolls in school again against his mother’s will. Attended Wellington House Academy with cruel headmaster who beat kids. She did not want to lose the income Charles was bringing in. Never forgot the bitterness and sense of betrayal “ I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget that my mother was warm for my being sent back [to Warren’s Blackening].”

Education Dickens education was mostly informal Taught to read by his mother at early age By age of ten he had read novels like Robinson Crusoe, Tom Jones, and Don Quixote At age 18 he buys a reading ticket to the library at the British Museum and also taught himself shorthand.

Work Worked various jobs after the Blackening factory Spent two years as a law clerk After learning shorthand he spent 4 years as a legal reporter, then as shorthand reporter in Parliament (his “dissatisfaction with government comes from this time) 1834 joins staff of the Morning Chronicle as a news reporter covering political news. Newspaper was known for its crusade to improve the ills of society. He developed a “burning sense of the hurt and injustice suffered by ordinary people” (Seward 461). He also begins at this time to write for publication This point in his life marked by fierce determination to succeed

Romance Charles falls in love older Maria Beadnell, daughter of a rich banker Goes well until she returns from Finishing school in Paris and loses interest in him. His friend John Forester later related that he was surprised at how hard Dickens took the break up but recognized that it was fueled by a deep sense of social inferiority

More Love Meets Catherine Hogarth, Daughter of the Morning Chronicle Editor. Married in 1836 Odd relationship though, lacked the luster of his previous relationship Often broke dates and would reprimand Catherine if she protested

Bad Charles Charles constantly found himself infatuated with other women Mary, younger sister to Catherine, lived with them until she suddenly died at age 17 Charles was crushed which only infuriated his already jealous wife

His Writing Sold his first short pieces and sketches in London at the Morning Chronicle and other papers Started writing under the pen name of Boz He published a collection of these short stories in a book called Sketches by Boz which received much critical praise and sparked Dickens’ career

The Novels Keep On Coming He earned some early recognition with these but gained more fame from his serialized novels the first of which, the comedic Pickwick Papers was a success Pickwick Papers sold over 40,000 copies for each serial addition. Oliver Twist was started after Pickwick and Nicholas Nickleby and A Christmas Carol soon followed Started weekly periodicals called Household Words and then All the Year Round. They dea

Christmas Time With Uncle Charles Dickens then wrote 5 consecutive Christmas stories of which the most famous is A Christmas Carol

Bad Times at Ridgemont High Dickens older sister dies in 1848 Wife has a nervous breakdown in 1850 after the birth of their daughter Dora Annie 1851 Dora dies as well as Dickens’ Father Through this time, Dickens writes David Copperfield

Lawrence Kappel “For the first time, (Dickens) conceived a hero who could survive in the midst of problem-filled world of experience by using his artistic imagination, like Dickens himself. This autobiographical novel was a celebration of the artist’s ability to cope with the world right in the center of it, as opposed to just surviving the world by retreating to some safe place at the edge of it…”

Poor, Poor Charles The bad times kept on coming with the scandal of yet another young woman and Dickens still dealing with the breakdown and subsequent divorce of Catherine Novels like Bleak House, Hard Times, and Little Dorrit were his darkest and bleakest yet

Great Expectations Dickens hit gold with his next novel Great Expectations , 1860 One year AFTER A Tale of Two Cities, 1859 Received mixed reviews from the critics but the public loved it Some called it his greatest work yet

The Last One Dickens writes his last full novel Our Mutual Friend which returned to his darker side dealing with the further deepening corruption in society Dickens toured heavily doing reading and signings until his health declined Started The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1869 but died in 1870 of an apparent brain hemorrhage He is buried in the poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey

The Victorian Novel British novels published between 1840 and 1880 often are grouped together under the title "Victorian," as if some essential identity derived from having been published during the long reign of the person George Eliot called "our little humbug of a queen." 19th-century writers were engaged in redefining fundamental ideas of identity and social order and in giving positive value and currency to terms like "self" and "society," which, even as late as the mid .19th century

Setting of Great Expectations Turn of the 18th century London had 1 million people By 1881, there was a 450% increase. Populations was now four and a half million because of Industrial Revolution. More slums, orphans, increased poverty, child labor. Pip lived in Kent Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 2. The setting of Dickens’s novels Dickens was the great novelist of cities, especially London. London is depicted at three different social levels: the parochial world of the workhouses  its inhabitants belong to the lower middle class. the criminal world  murderers, pickpockets living in squalid slums. the Victorian middle class  respectable people believing in human dignity. Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 2. The setting of Dickens’s novels Detailed description of “Seven Dials”, a notorious slum district  its sense of disorientation and confinement is clearly expressed in Dickens’s novels Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold, Dudley Street, Seven Dials from London: A Pilgrimage, 1872. Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 3. Dickens’s characters Dickens shifted the social frontiers of the novel: the 18th-century realistic upper middle-class world was replaced by the one of the lower orders. He depicted Victorian society in all its variety, its richness and its squalor. An unfinished painting by R.W. Buss (1804-75) variously known as A Souvenir of Dickens and Dickens’s Dream. Painted 1875. Charles Dickens Museum, London. Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 3. Dickens’s characters He created: caricatures  he exaggerated and ridiculed peculiar social characteristics of the middle, lower and lowest classes weak female characters He was on the side of the poor, the outcast, the working-class. An unfinished painting by R.W. Buss (1804-75) variously known as A Souvenir of Dickens and Dickens’s Dream. Painted 1875. Charles Dickens Museum, London. Only Connect ... New Directions

Charles Dickens 4. Dickens’s themes Family, childhood and poverty  the subjects to which he returned time and again. Dickens’s children are either innocent or corrupted by adults. A scene from Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist (2005) Only Connect ... New Directions

Charles Dickens 4. Dickens’s themes Most of these children begin in negative circumstances and rise to happy endings which resolve the contradictions in their life created by the adult world. A scene from Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist (2005) Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 5. Dickens’s aim Dickens tried to get the common intelligence of the country to alleviate social sufferings. He was a campaigning novelist and his books highlight all the great Victorian controversies: the faults of the legal system (Oliver Twist) the horrors of factory employment (David Copperfield, Hard Times) scandals in private schools (David Copperfield) Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 5. Dickens’s aim Dickens tried to get the common intelligence of the country to alleviate social sufferings. He was a campaigning novelist and his books highlight all the great Victorian controversies: the miseries of prostitution the appalling living conditions in slums (Bleak House) corruption in government (Bleak House) Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 6. Dickens’s style Dickens’s style  very rich and original The main stylistic features of his novels are: long list of objects and people. adjectives used in pairs or in group of three and four. several details, not strictly necessary. Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 6. Dickens’s style Dickens’s style  very rich and original The main stylistic features of his novels are: repetitions of the same word/s and/or sentence structure. the same concept/s is/are expressed more than once, but with different words. use of antithetical images in order to underline the characters’ features. Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions Charles Dickens 6. Dickens’s style Dickens’s style  very rich and original The main stylistic features of his novels are: exaggeration of the characters’ faults. suspense at the end of the episodes or introduction of a sensational event to keep the readers’ interest. Only Connect ... New Directions

Social Reform Dickens treats a variety of social issues in Great Expectations—prejudice, materialism, social status, and class—in a sensible manner."  Some have criticized Dickens's works for emphasizing grave social injustices but not offering any solutions. But such criticism misses Dickens's point: believing history has proved economic systems to be incapable of relieving poverty, Dickens stresses the importance of individual responsibility and compassion for the plight of the poor and disfranchised."

More Reform Around 1800 social reformers began calling for changes in child labor laws because of long hours and unsafe conditions. Child labor caused “illiteracy, further “impoverishment of poor families, and a multitude of diseased and crippled children” (Child Labor) Factory Act—1819 forbade children from working at night and limited work day to 12 hours. No policing so did no good. .

Child Labor 1847 The Ten Hours Act reduced hours for all workers to ten hours, six days a week. Factory Act of 1833 forbade children under age of nine from working in factories and limited hours of children up to age eighteen. Paid inspectors

Educational Reform Early 1800s there was no state-funded schooling Lower-middle class children either went without schooling or went to Dame or evening schools which were inadequate. When lower-middle class children could attend a school, they where often cruel where headmaster believed that beating children is a way to knock sense into them. Children were afraid to take risks in learning. 1870 Education Act required neighborhood districts to use taxes for schools 1880 another act made education compulsory for children 5-10 years of age.

Debtor’s Laws 1800 laws allowed government officials to lock those in debt in prisons The imprisonment of Dickens’ father in Marshalsea Prison in 1824 compelled Dickens to show the world that not all debtors were low-down criminals. 1834 the New Poor Law allowed for those in debt to go into a workhouse where they could work for their keep. Poor conditions of prison, where inmates were thrown together leading to fights or put into solitary confinement leading to antisocial behavior Ugly cycle—poor had no money, introduced to crime just to eat, thrown in prison at early age, earmarked as criminal, in and out of prison with no rehabilitating or helping the individual change

Overall Themes Pip’s realization that wealth and class are less important than affection, loyalty, and inner worth affection, loyalty, and conscience are more important than social advancement, wealth, and class. social class becomes a superficial standard of value that Pip must learn to look beyond in finding a better way to live his life.

Historical Allusions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmLg4hIKjoE&feature=youtu.be

AP Comp and Lit Exam Format Section I Multiple Choice — 52 to 55 Questions | 1 Hour | 45% of Exam Score Excerpts from non-fiction texts are accompanied by several multiple-choice questions

Section II Free Response — 3 Free-Response Questions | 2 Hours, 15 Minutes (includes a 15-minute reading period) | 55% of Exam Score This section has three prompts: Synthesis: Students read several texts about a topic and create an argument that synthesizes at least three of the sources to support their thesis. Rhetorical analysis: Students read a non-fiction text and analyze how the writer's language choices contribute to his or her purpose and intended meaning for the text. Argument: Students create an evidence-based argument that responds to a given topic. The total Section II time is 2 hours and 15 minutes. This includes a 15-minute reading period. The reading period is designed to provide students with time to develop thoughtful, well-organized responses. They may begin writing their responses before the reading period is over.

FRQ 3, 2016 AP test Copy Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended to either help or hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime.

FRQ 3 Cont’d copy Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Each year the FRQ is different, and the CollegeBoard supplies a list of suggested books to reference for your essay. The absence of a book from the list does NOT disqualify it from the use. It is important to know HOW to choose which book to use for the given analysis.

Main themes from Great Expectations… Ambition and Self Improvement Social Classes Innocence and Guilt

Is the theme of deception apparent in the novel? Yes, various characters…discuss w/ POD. Abel Magwitch, the convict, is the BEST example. A thesis for the analytical essay may look like: In Great Expectations, the character of Abel Magwitch used deliberate anonymity to perpetrate deception on Pip to help him improve his station in life. Copy thesis sample

copy Support for the thesis Magwitch is the only character who uses his earnings in what seems to be a selfless way. Only true self-made man in Dickens’ story Both characteristics are essential to the reasoning of his deception. Magwitch wanted Pip to become a gentleman and live a proper, wealthy life. He has to work hard to gain the money to drive this transformation while in Australia.

Why doesn’t Magwitch make himself known from the start? copy Why doesn’t Magwitch make himself known from the start? Thinks Pip is more likely to achieve these goals, without that knowledge. Chapter 2- Magwitch sent all his gains for Pip “As I give’ you to understand just now, I’m famous for it. It was the money left me, and the gains of the first few year wot I sent home to Mr. Jaggers- all for you- when he first came after you, agreeable to my letter.”

Magwitch was born poor and could have easily used his fortune to improve his own life Text support- Chapter 42 “I first become aware of myself, down in Essex, a thieving turnips for my living. Summun had run away from me-a man- a tinker- and he’d took the fire with him, and left me very cold.” copy

However, he remembered the help Pip gave him and dedicated himself to creating a gentleman Chapter 39- “He was a convict, a few year ago, and is an ignorant common fellow now, fir all he’s lucky’, what do I say?...All on you owns stock and land; which on you owns a brought-up London gentleman?” It becomes apparent that Magwitch feels he owns Pip for the support he bestowed upon him copy

2015 FRQ 3: copy In literary works, cruelty often functions as a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which acts of cruelty are important to the theme. Then write a well-developed essay analyzing how cruelty functions in the work as a whole and what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim.

2015 FRQ 3 Great Expectations was on the provided list for this year’s prompt Use this novel and create an outline for an AP FRQ response. Use outline format: I, II, III, IV, etc. Thesis, topic sentences MUST be in complete sentences

Possible thesis In Great Expectations, the theme of cruelty is represented through both physical and psychological means of individuals and society. Next, choose your examples from the novel and expand upon them in your outline

Friday’s Great Expectations’ test You will be given a past FRQ question from a released AP test. You will have the class period to complete the FRQ. You do NOT need an outline; however, it may help you organize your thoughts quickly. You can choose the length (paragraph structure) for your FRQ response. Make sure to have your book!

Great Expectations FRQ prompt for test It has often been said that what we value can be determined by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies o a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole.