Describe_the_Victorian_Aduly_Preception_of_Cildhood

Describe the Victorian adult perception of childhood in Oliver Twist & Great Expectations. During the Victorian Era the social classes were separated into three main categories. These categories were mainly known as the working class, middle class, or an upper class family. Being born into working class guaranteed the individual had poor living and working conditions, very little chance for education. The middle class principally consisted of bankers, shop keepers, merchants, engineers, and other professionals, yet it was mostly men that provided the income for the family. Lastly the upper class, which were usually people whose wealth came from inherited land or investments or were usually people from the church and of nobility. The Victorian perception of social class was that of which whatever social class you were born into, it was within that class that you stayed in. They assumed that God brought you into this world and placed you in that class and therefore you should not try and change that as you would be going against the will of God. In this next part of the story Dickens is showing that environment can cause a powerful impact on ones life. As Oliver starts to enjoy Fagin and the rest of the thieves it shows how easy it is for Fagan to corrupt young Oliver. At this point Fagan has a plan in mind to segregate Oliver from the rest of the boys so that he will do whatever it takes to spend more social time with the boys. After Oliver is found guilty fortunately, the victim of the thieves, the old benevolt gentleman, rescues Oliver from arrest and brings him to his house, where the housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin nurses him back to life after he had fallen sick, and for the first time in his life he was happy. After another series of events in the story Oliver goes from rags to riches as he finally settles down with Mr. Brownlow where he lives life as an upper class citizen. During his lifetime, Charles Dickens is known to have written several books. Although each book is different, they also share many similarities. Two of his books Great Expectations and the already discussed Oliver Twist are representatives of the many kinds of differences and similarities found within his work. Perhaps the reason why these two novels share some of the same qualities is because they both reflect painful experiences which occurred in Dickens’ past. During his childhood dickens suffered much abuse from his parents. This abuse is often expressed in his novels. Pip, in great expectations, talked often about the abuse he received at the hands of his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery. On one occasion he recalled “I found myself getting heavily bumped from behind in the nape of the neck and the small of the back, and having my face ignominiously shoved against the wall, because I did not answer those questions at sufficient length.” Both boys are brought up by hand and are both considered the lowest in the social structure of the Victorian era. In Great Expectations when Estella is ordered to play with Pip she was cold and insulting and was criticizing Pip’s low social class and his unrefined manners. The social class of Pip and Oliver is definitely the thing they have most in common. It is obvious to us that in most of Charles Dickens books he writes about children because he writes about experiences and hardships that he had to face whilst he was growing up.