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Charles DickensA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Dickensian settings are crucial to the development of his themes. London in the 19th century is an industrial trap of class warfare, with neighborhoods differing wildly in accordance with class distinctions. These disparities, wrought by London’s social and economic realities, are a major target of Dickens’s social criticisms, and the descriptions of setting throughout the novel highlight the grime and disrepair that the lower classes have to deal with. Beyond such literal depictions of London’s inequality and corruption, the city is a symbol of societal ills. London is characterized by its darkness, coldness, and fog. There is a creeping stress about London: It is clogged by desperate people, and the pace of the city mirrors the ambitions and struggles of its residents. Necessity forces Nicholas and his family to London, but most good things happen as they move farther away from the city.
The countryside is Dickens’s second important setting. Juxtaposed with London, the English countryside represents peace, comradery, and good health. With the notable exception of Mr. Squeers’s Dotheboys Hall, people are friendlier to one another in the English countryside; they look after one another, ask after one another, and are tighter knit than in the chaos of overpopulated London.
By Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities
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Barnaby Rudge
Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty
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Bleak House
Bleak House
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David Copperfield
David Copperfield
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Dombey and Son
Dombey and Son
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Great Expectations
Great Expectations
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Hard Times
Hard Times
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Little Dorrit
Little Dorrit
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Martin Chuzzlewit
Martin Chuzzlewit
Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
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Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend
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Pickwick Papers
Pickwick Papers
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The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
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The Old Curiosity Shop
The Old Curiosity Shop
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The Signal-Man
The Signal-Man
Charles Dickens