Real Name: Charles John Huffam Dickens
Education: To pay for his board and to help his family,Dickens was forced to leave school and work ten hour days. He eventually went to the Wellington House Academy in North London.
Occupation: English writer, considered to be the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. Dickens is responsible for some of English literature's most iconic novels and characters.
First Book: A Dinner at Poplar Walk 1883 was published in the London periodical, Monthly Magazine.
0 Comments on Classic Author Charles Dickens as of 1/1/1900
On our road trip last weekend we listened to David Copperfield (audio book). I enjoyed it more than I expected, but noted Dickens' use of "wild Indians..."
In chapter 4, Murdstone, the sadistic man who married Davy's mother (Davy's father is dead), decides to punish Davy by beating him with a cane. To start, he grabs Davy in a headlock. Davy pleads with him, to no avail, and so, Davy bites him. This makes matters worse. Murdstone decides Davy must be sent away to boarding school, and that he must wear a sign on his back that says "Take care of him. He bites." (p. 57)
In chapter 6, Davy is at the school. It is a break when the students are gone. He worries of what will happen to him when they return and read the sign, but a boy named Traddles arrives first. He is sympathetic towards Davy and introduces him to other students as they arrive, by pretending that Davy is a dog. Here's the passage (p. 61):
Some of them certainly did dance about me like wild Indians, and the greater part could not resist the temptation of pretending that I was a dog, and patting and smoothing me lest I should bite, and saying, "Lie down, sir!" and calling me Towzer.
There you see, Dickens using "wild Indians." Dickens using "dance about me" like "wild Indians." I'll have more to say about this... later.
Masterpiece Classic begins an extraordinary celebration of Charles Dickens with a bold adaptation of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist on February 15, and continuing on February 22. Hosted by Laura Linney, Masterpiece Classic will also air new productions of Little Dorritt, The Old Curiosity Shop, and an encore of David Copperfield. As the perfect literary companion to these Dickens classics, we recommend The Nonesuch Dickens editions!
Greg and I have been reading Scottish writers lately, and the word "braves" has jumped out at us in their historical fiction. By any chance, do you happen to know if this was an import?
I have to do some background research on Dickens and his work. I don't know how much his books are used in today's high school classrooms.
European ideas about American Indians are rife with stereotypes. I'm wondering if James Cox's MUTING WHITE NOISE has some discussion of the European images. Maybe there's some, too, in IN THE WHITE MAN'S IMAGE.