How did the life of Charles Dickens influenced his works?

Few writers had achieved such immense success such as Charles Dickens. Dickens’ experiences in the early years of his life played a crucial role on the formation of his character and, consequently, his writing. Dickens unique and highly descriptive writing have made him one of the most loved and inspiring writers of our times.

     Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. His father John worked at the Navy Pay Office of Portsmouth, a job which granted him a substantial amount to spend on his family but primarily on himself. Having everything at his dis-posal, Charles began to interested in reading books. He was fascinated by the colourful pictures the books had. He recalls later that this hobby developed in him the ability to have photographic memory.

     Changes began to occur when Charles’ father was put to jail for debt. Charles was force to go to work in order to sustain his family. He was initially working 10 hour shifts in Warren's boot-blacking factory and earned six shillings a week. After some time, the economic condition was stabilized but Charles’s mother wouldn’t let him resign from his work. This created a huge wound in Charles’s heart and he would never forgive his mo-ther for this act.

     It was in that factory that Charles Dickens saw the conditions, the poverty, and the daily toil a social worker went through. Later in his life, Charles clearly describes his experience in the factory in his novel David Copperfield. At his 12 years of age, Charles had to see what it was to earn for a living and what it is to be working when you are not supposed to. This experience had a tremendous influence on his life and his works. A remarkable example can be Oliver Twist. In Oliver Twist, Dickens accents our attention on the evils of his society such as child labor and child crime.

     When Charles father was free, he let Charles quit his job. Charles, already in his 17 years of age began his career as a law clerk, a job that would prepare him to enter the world of writing. After a short while, Charles left his occupation and became a journalist for Morning Chronicle. There he wrote articles in forms of sketches. These sketches were known as Sketches by Boz. Also, while he was in Morning Chronicle he compiled his first novel, the Pickwick Papers in 1836.

     The Pickwick Papers proved to be a huge success. In the same year, Dickens got married to Catherine Thompson Hogarth. The relationship in the couple was usually not good. They had different characters and their relationship didn’t seem to work out. During the twenty years of their marriage they had 10 children which Charles most dearly loved.

     One of the reasons that Dickens’s work was successful is the fact that most of it was sequentially posted in the newspaper he was working with. The reader was eager to see what was coming next and couldn’t wait for the next issue to come out. Such tremendous success gave him the ability to travel around the world with his family and look for new inspirations. The product of such inspirations were many exceptional novels such as the American Notes and Pictures from Italy.

     After his divorce with his wife, Charles got to spend his time with a young actress named Helen Ternan. Charles writing time decreased and he began to tour Europe and USA to perform readings of his works. Charles’s readings were very vivid and interesting to listen to. He used to use various tone qualities and different voices for all of his characters.

     Constant touring caused great exhaustion to Charles. Charles died of a stroke in Gad’s Hill Place on June 9, 1870. Charles Dickens has been remembered as one of the most brilliant, vivid and creative writers History has ever know. It has been said that the works of Dickens could only come second to Shakespeare because there was so much passion, life and truth in them.