Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens is a 19-century English novelist and short-stories writer.
He was born on February 7th 1812 in Hampshire, England in the family of Eliabeth and
John Dickens, and he was the second of eight children.
Dickens experienced a difficult childhood as he had to leave school at the age of 12 and
work in a boot-blacking factory because of his father’s imprisonment for unpaid debt. He
worked 10-hour long shifts and got first-hand experience of the social injustices of Victorian
Britain, especially for children, which later was an inspiration for many of his works. 3 years
later he returned to school and shortly after began his career as a journalist.
Dickens’s works enjoyed unprecedented popularity while he was still alive unlike many
other authors of his time. His success began with the publication of The Pickwick Papers in
1836 when he was only 24 years old. He became a literally celebrity known both at home
and abroad. He was often including cliffhanger endings and because of his wide audience
he had the opportunity to change his books’ plots based on the public opinion.
Hard Times, written in 1854, portrays not only the unfair working conditions of the British
working class, but also the questionable approach of the teachers in Victorian times.
His love life with his wife Catherine is very interesting. They have 10 children in total.
Dickens blames Catherine for being incompetent mother and housekeeper; he also blamed
her for the fact that they have so many children, which he believes is due to her coming
from a big family. To make sure no more children will be born, Charles ordered their bed to
be separated with a bookshelf. He tried to falsely diagnose her as mentally ill so she could
be sent to a psychiatric hospital. Catherine and Charles separated in 1858, because she
found out about his affair with another woman.
Charles Dickens passed away on June 8th 1870 in Kent, England at the age of 58 due to a
stroke after working all day on one of his novels.

Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe is first introduced to the readers as Girl Number Twenty in
Gradgrind's classroom. She struggles to keep up with Gradgrind's extreme reliance on the
recitation of facts, and therefore is seen as not worthy of the school. She is a circus girl of
Sleary's circus, as well as a student of Thomas Gradgrind's very strict classroom. Sissy has
her own set of values and beliefs which make her seem unintelligent in the Gradgrind
household. At the end of the novel, when the Gradgrinds' philosophy of religiously adhering
solely to facts breaks down, Sissy is the character who teaches them how to live.