Topic > The Terrible Childhood of Charles Dickens

When researching the life of Charles Dickens, both how he lived as a child and as an adult, Charles Dickens had written A Christmas Carol for a reason. Dickens had a terrible childhood, in which he had to overcome many good and bad things in life that many children his age did not have to endure. Even in his old age, Dickens struggled with many illnesses, mental and physical, but still managed to be the wonderful writer he is considered to be today. Charles Dickens' past will prove 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Charles Dickens' life was terrible from the beginning. At a young age, Dickens' father was imprisoned for bad debts (BBC). Charles Dickens' family excluded him from the trip to Marshalsea, where his family would go to work and pay off debts (Ibid). Dickens was not affected by the debt, so "Charles was sent to work in Warren's neroni factory and endured appalling conditions, loneliness and desperation.” (Ibid). After 3 years of factory work 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 significantly inspired by all the hard work he had endured and after writing his first two novels Dickens, then as almost all authors, began as a journalist and worked 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 journalist for the Morning Chronicle in 1833. In April 1836 Dickens married Catherine Hogarth (Ibid). In the same month of his marriage Dickens published the highly successful Pickwick Papers. After writing all these successful novels, Dickens knew he could not look back in his career and that he should continue what he was best at: writing (Ibid). During the beginning of his 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 had inspired him to write A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens not only had a terrible childhood, but also a terrible adulthood. One illness Dickens had was a torrential chemical imbalance (Bragg.,117). “It fueled his art, but it ruined every relationship he had.” write anything, which is why everyone stayed away from him, including his children (Ibid.,118). “Scrooge was a mean, miserly person who didn't 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 another sound from you," said Scrooge, "and you will keep Christmas by losing your situation!", proves this point once again (Dickens., 11). Dickens also had other illnesses, including kidney stones, a left arm that would not move or go in the opposite direction, walking in circles when he wanted to go straight, and gout (Bragg.,119,120). Dickens not only had many illnesses, but he also detested his wife and children. “Dickens never said anything nice about his wife Catherine. He considered his ten children disappointing, expensive and messy” (Ibid., 119). Dickens' children thought he had obsessive compulsive disorder because every time Dickens inspected their rooms daily and found that a chair was out of place he would get very angry with them (Ibid.,119). As well as wanting everything to beperfect, Dickens gave his children nicknames such as Flaster Floby and Chicken Catcher (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 one day traveled all over England and America by train, dramatizing his stories in theaters and playing all the characters himself (Ibid.,119). Because Dickens had so many problems, all his doctors told him to stop performing, but no one could ever tell him what to do. With this Dickens had a fit of temper 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 does not like everyone who does not conform or agree with his way of doing everything, 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. Despite all these complications, Dickens was still able to write very easily (Ibid., 121). Dickens was still on tour and during each performance he would show off, bow, wait for applause, and finally limp off the stage and collapse (Ibid., 121). Furthermore, Dickens now had to have a doctor backstage at every show he had (Ibid., 121). Whenever his doctor gave Dickens advice, he never listened to it, which completely went against the purpose of having a doctor with him. Dickens did not have a normal life, but having one he was able to have another reason or story to inspire him as a writer and put his life story into a book. “Dickens' story was like a rags to riches fairy tale.” (Henderson and Sharpe., 1462). As a child, Charles Dickens had a terrible life, as mentioned before, but he went from being a nobody to being a somebody. Just like he did in his book, A Christmas Carol. Instead of getting rich after being poor, he transforms from a grumpy old man, who hates children and Christmas, to a cheerful man, who loves everything and has the highest morale about everything. "I would like to be left alone." said Scrooge. «Since you ask me what I want, gentlemen, this is my answer. I also don't celebrate at Christmas and I can't afford to entertain idle people.” (Dickens.,13). What a horrible person Scrooge was at the beginning of the story. “A happier Christmas, Bob, my good friend, than I have given you for many years! I will increase your salary and I will try to help your family in difficulty" (Ibid.,90). By the end of the story Scrooge has changed for the better by having to learn the hard way; in Dickens's real life, where he had to work very hard as a boy in a factory to find the inspiration to become a journalist and soon become one of the most famous writers who ever lived. From both the life of Charles Dickens and that of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, they both started from having nothing in the way of money, or having nothing in their hearts. Likewise, they both worked hard to transform themselves for the better and did everything in their power to be the best they could be, regardless of the obstacles they faced, whether debt, hard work, illness or a bad attitude . throughout their lives they continued to persevere and managed to achieve their goals even if they needed a little help from people to do so. Dickens was able to show in his book and in real life how he was able to go from having a negative attitude towards life to being very happy for everyone and being grateful for what he has. Since this was happening in real life, it led him to write A Christmas Carol from real life experiences. Charles Dickens not only had bad events in his.