Dickens

[bonny_kate]

I've been reading Dickens (a collection of Christmas stories), and that reminded me of something I learned at the Dickens museum in London. I knew, before, that Dickens was influential in a great deal of social reform in the Victorian times. A common thread through so many (perhaps all) of his books is the inhumanity of those who are cruel or thoughtless to the poor. Dickens does not care if you are rich or poor, but if you are kind (the two brothers in Nicholas Nickleby are rich, but are marked by their generosity to everyone, Scrooge is rich and is cruel and must be redeemed, but in Oliver Twist we meet the cruel and wicked poor). Even Pickwick Papers, which is so light hearted for the most part, depicts the horrible nature of a prison system which will feed criminals but not those in debtor's prison. Dickens really cares about what we would now call social justice, and it is all throughout his books. What I hadn't realized, though, is that Dickens was also personally involved in many projects to help the poor, which I learned at the museum. I didn't know that he had started a house for women to get them out of prostitution and into good employment, like sewing or such. He even paid for dresses that were nice for the women so that they would feel that someone cared, and have a higher sense of self worth. He was also involved in various projects to help the poor. I just didn't know how directly involved Dickens was in all this, and it makes Dickens just that much more awesome.