Today would be Charles Dickens' 200th birthday. I've been hearing a lot about this event on Twitter today and in conjunction with an exhibit at the Morgan Library. I haven't checked out the exhibit yet but I will be sure to do so this weekend, as it closes Feb. 12.
While hopefully I will get the chance to write about that, I also wanted to write a little something today to honor the great author. Taking advanced and AP English classes all throughout school, Dickens novels were a frequent staple of assignments, references and discussions. As I read more and more classical authors covering a variety of genres and subjects, I found time and again that Dickens was one of my absolute favorites.
What I love about Dickens' writing is its very humanistic yet sometimes satirical approach to very real problems facing England during his time. He always had a wonderful way of writing about human flaws and of making the reader emotionally involved in his characters' lives and troubles. His writing also had a way of making you think and reflect about societal issues, without necessarily forcing his point of view down your throat. His words were powerful and lasting, and once you read them you don't forget them.
My favorite Dickens novel is Hard Times, although A Tale of Two Cities comes in a close second. I don't think Hard Times is as recognizable as his other works like A Christmas Carol or Oliver Twist, but to me it is one of his most profound and heartwrenching works. Reminding me a little bit of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Hard Times focuses on the horrible working conditions in manufacturering factories during the Industrial Revolution, and critiques a popular school of thought called Utilitarianism.
Utilitarians believed in a very strict and harsh rational view of the world. The most radical followers believed in the use of strict logical analysis and the shunning of emotional investment. Dickens portrays this in his details of schoolchildren and their headmaster, who believes that, quite literally, nothing but "facts" are important to a child's education. As we see through the novel's development, it takes a lot more to raise a psychologically healthy and competent person, and thinking only in terms of rational detachment is not always so healthy.
With the Industrial Revolution under way, Dickens also critisized the capitalist economic system fast gaining traction, a system which he deemed as materialistic and selfish. We in turn see the consequences of this selfishness throughout the course of the novel.
I'm not really sure I need to explain how his commentary is still relevent today, with the Occupy Wall Street Protests, the We Are the 99% movement, and the Arab Spring still ongoing. Dickens may have written Hard Times more than 150 years ago, but his criticisms of unfair systems, systemic greed, and emotionless rationality (anything to keep up profits!) should continue to resonate in the current state of world affairs. It's been a while since I read it, and I'm looking forward to picking it up again soon.
Happy Birthday Charles Dickens! You're still very much appreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment