Great expectations

Vineet Sharma

It is known, to the force of a single pound weight, what the engine will do; but not all the calculators of the National debt can tell me the capacity for good or evil, for love or hatred, for patriotism or discontent, for the decomposition of virtue into vice, or the reverse, at any single moment in the soul of one of these quiet servants, with the composed faces and the regulated actions. -Charles Dickens in Hard Times It is aptly said that a mortal can aspire to be immortalised through his ideas and works. There have been great souls in the history of mankind who have changed the course of the world’s history through their prism of thoughts. Charles Dickens undoubtedly belongs to this category of immortals. A thinker and writer par excellence, Dickens was often on the receiving end of the ruling class’ ire due to his maverick and hard hitting stance on the working of his society and government. A strong adversary to the Industrial Revolution that had engulfed his country, he openly criticised the mechanisation of human beings. He has brought out this issue beautifully in his book: Hard Times. He used the means of dark satire and symbols of the industrial township (Coke town) to highlight the plight of the workers of the industrial era. Another issue of concern for Dickens was the education system of his times that was strongly supportive of the Utilitarian values. He urged the masses to give due significance to the ‘fancy’ and ‘wonder’ of the child rather than to stuff his/her with hard facts and figures. He rightly said that no amount of facts and figures could come close to make an individual aware of the moral and social values and a society based entirely on the Utilitarian values would crumble in its ethical fabric. Dickens brought out the folly of Individualism, a school of thought that became widely prevalent in the industrial England. His masterpiece ‘Oliver Twist’ brings out this ideology in an emphatic manner. He was a master craftsman of words who employed the protagonists of his novels to underscore his viewpoint. A weaver of strong Buildungsroman, the art of male self-realisation, he created a world parallel to reality yet seemingly real to show the reader the futility of adhering to a norm set by the ruling classes. David Copperfield was one of his works that centralised on the plight of the weak, the marginalised and the downtrodden. He was closer to the masses and the result was that he forever lived in trying conditions and was even taken to task by the authorities on numerous occasions for his refusal to be meek and docile. It is a common misconception that he was a pessimist, his highly acclaimed work, A Tale of Two Cities was a perfect example of his optimistic approach as he presented the reader with an omnipresent possibility of resurrection. A lover of the countryside, he idolized the places untouched by industrialization for they had preserved the true innocence of God’s creation for him. He furthermore emphasized on the importance of Femininity, a virtue in which he saw the moral, social and emotional values of the utopian society well preserved. He wanted the fellow humans to take a lesson from this virtue and create a better world. Charles Dickens died in 1851 but the legacy he left behind for the world to cherish truly immortalizes this noble soul of his times. Timeline of the life of Charles Dickens

1812 - Born on February 7 to John and Elizabeth Dickens.

1824 - John Dickens arrested and sent to the Marshalsea prison. Charles Dickens worked at the Warren`s Blacking Factory.

1827 - Rejoins the workforce as the clerk of an attorney.

1830 - Dickens meets Maria Beadnell, his first love interest.

1833 - The relationship with Maria Beadnell ends. A Dinner at Poplar Walk is published.

1834 - Began using the pseudonym "Boz". Meets his future wife, Catherine Hogarth.

1835 - Becomes engaged to Catherine.

1836 - The first chapters of The Pickwick Papers are published. Marries Catherine Hogarth.

1837 - The first of his 10 children, Charles Culliford Boz Dickens, is born. Mary Hogarth, Catherine`s sister, dies. The publication of Oliver Twist begins.

1838 - Dickens and Hablot Browne travel to Yorkshire to see the boarding schools. His daughter, Mary, is born. Publication of Nicholas Nickleby begins.

1839 - His daughter, Kate, is born.

1840 - Publication of The Old Curiosity Shop begins

1841 - Barnaby Rudge is published. Charles and Catherine tour Scotland. Their son, Walter, is born.

1842 - Charles and Catherine travel to America. Late in 1842 or early in the next year Dickens begins work on Martin Chuzzlewit.

1843 - A Christmas Carol is published.

1844 - His son Francis Jeffrey (Frank) is born. Dickens and family travel to Italy. Treated Madame de la Rue with mesmerism.

1845 - Another son, Alfred, is born.

1846 - Dickens and his family travel to Switzerland. Publication of Dombey and Son begins.

1847 - His son, Sydney, is born.

1848 - Dickens` sister, Fanny, dies. The Haunted Man, his last Christmas book is published.

1849 - His son, Henry Fielding Dickens, is born. The publication of David Copperfield begins.

1850 - His daughter, Dora Annie Dickens, is born.

1851- Catherine Dickens suffers a nervous collapse. John Dickens, the father of Charles Dickens, dies. Dora Dickens dies when she is only eight months old. What Shall we have for Dinner?, a cookbook by Catherine Dickens is published.

1852 - The publication of Bleak House begins. His son, Edward or "Plorn", is born.

1853 - Dickens gives his first public reading of one of his works.

1854 - Hard Times is published.

1855 - Dickens has a disappointing reunion with Maria Winter (Maria Beadnell). Publication of Little Dorrit begins.

1856 - Dickens works with Wilkie Collins on The Frozen Deep. Dickens purchases Gad`s Hill Place.

1857 - Hans Christian Anderson is entertained at Gad`s Hill Place. Dickens meets Ellen Ternan.

1858 - Dickens separates from Catherine, his wife.

1859 - A Tale of Two Cities is published.

1860 - Publication of Great Expectations begins in All the Year Round. His daughter, Katie, marries and ten days later his brother, Alfred, dies. Dickens burns his personal papers.

1863 - Dickens` mother, Elizabeth, dies. Dickens begins work on Our Mutual Friend.

1864 - His son, Walter, dies in India. The first installment of Our Mutual Friend is printed.

1865 - Dickens is involved in the Staplehurst railway accident along with Ellen Ternan and her mother.

1867 - Dickens tours America for the second time.

1868 - He gives his first Murder of Nancy reading.

1869 - Dickens is ordered by doctors to discontinue readings. Dickens begins writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

1870 - Dickens gives his final public reading. Publication of The Mystery of Edwin Drood begins. Charles Dickens dies at Gad`s Hill Place on June 9.