Early Life of Charles DickensCharles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth England, the second of eight children born to John and Elizabeth Barrow Dickens. His father worked as a clerk, but was a very poor manager of his growing family's finances. When John Dickens was transferred to London and received less pay on top of the birth of his second daughter, he began to take out loans that he ultimately had trouble repaying. |
John Dickens's erratic spending habits and many unpaid loans forced John Dickens and his family to move three times. During this time of increasing tension for the Dickens family, Charles began to go to school and quickly developed a love for reading. This was all taken away when he was twelve years old. The complaints of creditors finally caught up to John Dickens, and he, along with his wife and daughters, were put in debtor’s prison. Charles Dickens was forced to leave school to work in a shoe blacking factory, and even though he remained for less than a year, the harsh conditions and the first hand glimpse of poverty would remain a powerful memory for the rest of his life.
He returned to school when his father was freed, but his father fell into debt once again, and Charles had to leave school to work in 1827. This time he found a job as a junior clerk in a law office. After two years he left and became a freelance court reporter, and then he moved on to work for a newspaper. When he had free time, he would work on essays and fictional stories on his own, and eventually he began to submit some of his work to periodicals, though under a pseudonym. A book of his stories was published in 1836, titled Sketches by Boz. He proceeded to begin his first novel, using an unusual method of publishing that would also be used in his future works. He would only produce two or three chapters at a time and using this to increase suspense. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published in nineteen installments between the years 1836 to 1837. The installments were read by everyone, from the highborn to the poor who gathered their money to receive each piece, and thus began Charles Dickens’s influence on the rest of the world.
He returned to school when his father was freed, but his father fell into debt once again, and Charles had to leave school to work in 1827. This time he found a job as a junior clerk in a law office. After two years he left and became a freelance court reporter, and then he moved on to work for a newspaper. When he had free time, he would work on essays and fictional stories on his own, and eventually he began to submit some of his work to periodicals, though under a pseudonym. A book of his stories was published in 1836, titled Sketches by Boz. He proceeded to begin his first novel, using an unusual method of publishing that would also be used in his future works. He would only produce two or three chapters at a time and using this to increase suspense. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published in nineteen installments between the years 1836 to 1837. The installments were read by everyone, from the highborn to the poor who gathered their money to receive each piece, and thus began Charles Dickens’s influence on the rest of the world.