A Critical Analysis on Child Image of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain

Abstract：The children in the two books are still under severe environment integrity， and have good personality， they are in front not yield trials and tribulations， finally get good ending. Oliver is a born in the orphan， starved， bullying， but he always keeps a kind heart. Dickens’ novel of Oliver Twist depicts in capitalist society， the poor children’s miserable life， and reveals the school education and poverty relief of darkness， revealing and flaying the capitalist society of darkness and hypocrisy. Huck is a rebel guy in a so-called “civilized society”， but he is friendly and honest in nature. His dual personality is the traditional thoughts， and his innocence struggle results is also an escape. Huckleberry is a realist. The novel of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn revealed the author’s ideal of democratic freedom and equality depicted through Huck Finn， and the struggle of the racial discrimination. The paper is devoted to the study on the two children’s characters which reflect the author’s writing style.

Key Words： children； hypocrisy； racial discrimination

中圖分類號：G632.0 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1992-7711（2014）05-0047

Ⅰ. Introduction

1. An Introduction to Charles Dickens and his Works

Charles Dickens is one of the greatest representatives of English critical realism. Generally speaking， Dickens’s literary career can be divided into three periods. The first period refers to those years from 1836 to 1841， which is marked by youthful optimism. Dickens believed that all the evils of the capitalist world would be remedied if only men treated each other with kindness， justice and sympathetic understanding. This nave optimism is the characteristic of the petty-bourgeois humanitarians of his time.The main novels written in this period are： Sketches by Boz （1836）， The Pickwick Papers （1836-1837）， Oliver Twist （1837-1838）， Nicholas Nickleby（1838-1839）， The Old Curiosity Shop（1840-1841）， Barnaby Rudge（1841）. The second period began from 1842 and was a period of excitement and irritation. In this period， Dickens’works included Dombey and Son （1846-1848）， David Copperfield （1849-1850）. Dickens’works in the third period show intensifying pessimism. His main novels produced in this period were： Bleak House （1852-1853）， Hard Times （1854）， Little Dorrit （1855-1857）， A Tale of Two Cities， Great Expectations （1860-1861）， Our Mutual Friend， Edwin Drood （1870）.

Oliver Twist， written in 1837-1838， is about an orphan boy， whose adventures provide a life description of the lower class in London. Oliver Twist， of unknown parentage， is born in a workhouse and was brought up in cruel conditions. The tyrant at whose hands he especially suffers is Bumble， the parish beadle. After serving as an apprenticeship to an undertaker unhappily， he runs away for London， where he falls into the hands of a gang of thieves. The head of the gang is old Fagin， and the other chief members are the burglar， Bill Sikes， his mistress Nancy， and the Artful Dodger， a young pickpocket. Every effort is made to convert Oliver into a thief. He is rescued by a benevolent， rich Mr. Brownlow. But the thieves kidnap him， make him join them once again and participate in their foul dealings. A bad guy named Monks， hand in glove with the thieves， has somehow a special interest in keeping Oliver in the gang. Then Oliver is made to accompany Bill Slikes on a burgling expedition， in the course of which he receives a gun-shot wound， and comes into the hands of Mrs. Maylie and her protégée Rose， by whom he is kindly treated. After a time， Nancy reveals to Rose that Monks knows Oliver’s parentage， and wishes all proof destroyed； and Nancy also reveals that there is some relationship between Oliver and Rose herself. They make some inquiry about the matter. But Fryagin discovers Nancy’s action and tells Sikes， who， in a fit of rage， murders her. A hue and cry is raised. Sikes， trying to escape， accidentally hangs himself and the rest of the gang is arrested and Fagin executed. Monks is now compelled to confess what remains unknown. Rose is the sister of Oliver’s unfortunate mother. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow. Monks dies in prison. Bumble， the cruel persecutor of Oliver， ends his career in the workhouse over which he formerly ruled.

2. An Introduction to Mark Twain and his Works

Mark Twain， pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens， was brought up in the small town of Hannibal， Missouri， on the Mississippi River. He was twelve when his father died and he had to leave school. He was successively a printer’s apprentice， a tramp printer， a sliver miner， a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi， and a frontier journalist in Nevada and California. This knocking about gave him a wide knowledge of humanity. With the publication of his frontier tale， “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County，” Twain became nationally famous.

The story of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn takes place along the Mississippi River， on both sides of which there was unpopulated wilderness and a dense forest. Along this river floats a small raft， with two people on it： one is an ignorant， uneducated Black slave named Jim and the other is a little uneducated outcast white boy of about the age of thirteen， called Huckleberry Finn， or Huck Finn. The book relates the story of the escape of Jim from slavery， and more importantly， how Huck Finn， floating along with him and helping him as best as Huck Finn could， changes his mind and his prejudice about black people， and comes to accept Jim as a man and as a close friend as well. At first he cannot see Jim as a proper human being， and even regard as less equal as him. Through their escape down the river， he gets to know Jim better and becomes more and more convinced that he is not only a man， but also a good man. Thus he ends up by accepting him not merely as a human being but also a loyal friend.

Ⅱ.The Comparison of the Characters between Oliver Twist and Huckleberry

1. The Comparison of Personalities

As the child hero of a melodramatic novel of social protest， Oliver Twist is meant to appeal more to our sentiments than to our literary sensibilities. Oliver is pure and virtuous although he was raised in corrupt surroundings. Throughout the novel， Dickens makes use of Oliver’s character to challenge the Victorian idea that paupers and criminals are already evil at birth， arguing that a corrupt environment is the source of vice instead. At the same time， Oliver’s incorruptibility demonstrates some of Dickens’s assertions. Oliver is shocked and horrified when he sees Artful Dodger and Charley Bates pick a stranger’s pocket and when he is forced to participate in a burglary. Oliver’s moral scruples about the sanctity of property seem to be inborn in him， just as Dickens's opponents think that corruption is inborn in poor people. Furthermore， other pauper children use rough Cockney slang， but Oliver， oddly enough， speaks in proper King’s English. His grammatical fastidiousness is also inexplicable， as Oliver presumably is not well educated. Even when he is abused and manipulated， Oliver does not become angry or indignant. When Sikes and Crackit force him to assist in a robbery， Oliver merely begs to be allowed to “run away and die in the fields.” Oliver does not present a complex picture of a person torn between good and evil—instead， he is goodness incarnate.

Even if we might feel that Dickens’s social criticism would have been more effective if he had focused on a more complex poor character， like the Artful Dodger or Nancy， the audience for whom Dickens was writing might not have been receptive to such a portrayal. Dickens’s Victorian middle-class readers were likely to hold opinions on the poor that were only a little less extreme than those expressed by Mr. Bumble， the beadle who treats paupers with great cruelty. In fact， Oliver Twist was criticized for portraying thieves and prostitutes. Given audience the strict morals of Dickens， it seems necessary for him to make Oliver a saint-like figure. Because Oliver appealed to Victorian readers’ sentiments， his story may have stood a better chance of effectively challenging their prejudices.

Huckleberry Finn is the central figure of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn， the son of the town drunkard. He is essentially good-hearted， but he is looked down upon by the rest of the village. He dislikes civilized ways because they are personally restrictive and hard. He is generally ignorant of book-learning， but he has a sharply developed sensibility. He is imaginative and clever， and has a sharp eye for detail， though he doesn’t always understand everything he sees， or its significance. This enables Mark Twain to make great use of irony. Huck is essentially a realist and is generally level-headed except when he goes off after Tom Sawyer’s adventure， or when he follows Tom’s lead. His character of not being “civilizable”， which is made clear at the end of the book， continually fights against the cruel facts during the adventure. All during the trip down the river， he tries to answer the question whether he’s doing right with the Widow’s sister and Jim or not. The preoccupation with justice put him on the horns of a dilemma. Whatever he chooses to do， he will be wrong. He wrongs Jim if he returns him to slavery； he wrongs Miss Watson if he helps Jim escape. Huck has no idea what is right， and have to follow his feelings every step on the way. The only thing he can do is to learn by experience. He knows only what he sees and experiences. He doesn’t have faith in things he reads or hears. He has to experiment to find out what is true and what isn’t. He learns from Jim， who is in some ways his substitute father. With his sharply observant personality， he gradually believes Jim’s superstition sometimes. By accepting Jim’s superstitions， Huck enters Jim’s primitive world which， though crude， is much more sincere and honest than Miss Watson’s world. He won’t pray because he has not benefited from any prayers.

Generally speaking， the two characters are the entire typical heroines at that time. They all bravely fight against the prejudice and the corrupted social system， and have their own independent views on the social classes. Although they have miserable experiences in childhood， they never lose their goals in life and are perseverant towards the directions.

2. The Comparison of Characters’ Destiny

Both Oliver Twist and Huckleberry Finn suffered the hardship of being an orphan， without mother， without home， and even without any presentable dress. They all come from the lowest social class， but finally end with good results. They don’t submit to the cruel society and social prejudice. They are good-hearted and value humanity. However， the main difference between them is the way they adopt to get out of hard situations.

Oliver Twist gains freedom without breaking the middle class hierarchy. Although he is also deeply influenced by the middle class rule， he has the courage to fight with the dark society and strive for better life. Finally， he leads a better life and lives with his family happily. But he may have the planned future， and he still also can not make choices independently as to the influence of the middle class. Due to the education of the English middle class， he will be reserved and control his emotion properly. Therefore he has the different character to the freedom compared with Huck Finn. Although he wants to help others， he doesn’t have the ability to do what he want， which is the weak point of the middle class. Another character， Huckleberry Finn， has a different destiny. Huck Finn is an outcast， with no mother， no home， sleeping in barrels， eating scraps and leavings， and dressed in rags. His father is a poor town drunkard who would be willing to commit any crime just for pleasure. During Huck Finn’s growth， he found that most of the things he was taught turned out to be wrong. For example， he was taught that slavery was good， that runaway slaves should be reported， and that blacks are inferior to whites in nature. But Huck finds out the truth by himself. He can handle his life in his own way through fighting with others and prejudice. In the novel， he bravely helps Jim to break the racial prejudice. He not only saves himself but also helps others out of hard times. He has his own views to the things and only believes what he saw and heard. He is an independent figure and has his own judgment to hierarchy. Therefore he can change his life by his own way and not be influenced by other’s view.

Ⅲ. The Causes of Different Writing Styles

1. The Authors’ Life Experiences

（1）Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 at Portsmouth. His father was a clerk in the Naval Pay Office. He had a poor head for finance， and in 1824 found himself imprisoned for debt. From 16 years on， Dickens worked as copyist， reporter， journalist， messenger in lawyer office， court stenographer. All these experiences make him access to all kinds of characters， and all kinds of lawsuits.

The boy had a casual education， and spent much time alone reading in his little room all kinds of books， especially the 18th century novels. In 1896， his first book， Sketches by Boz， was published. In the same year， a publishing house asked Dickens to write the letterpress for a collection of humorous pictures. He accepted the offer and expanded them into a long novel， which is known as Pickwick Papers. This novel brought him great fame and he was considered to be in the first rank of the most popular novelists of his day. The rest of his life was a succession of works without a rest. In his outstanding novels he masterly depicted the life of English society at his age. The greatness of Dickens is of peculiar kind. He is， on one hand， a great entertainer， and on the other， a great artist. He had the ability to sustain interest through all kinds of literary devices， such as suspension， coincidence， dues exmachine， dramatic dialogues and melodrama， etc. Dickens is a great humorist and satirist and his novels are characterized by a mingling humor and pathos.

（2）Mark Twain

The basic facts of Twain’s life are well known. Four years after he was born， the family moved to Hannibal， Missouri， a village just a little lager than his birthplace. During his boyhood he had all the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in a country environment. He was close to the big river， and probably spent time exploring its wooded shores and islands. He grew up in tune with the life around him， swimming and playing hooky from school， and falling in love and reading （for his family was an intelligent one）. Upon his father’s death in 1847， Sam Clemens became a printer’s apprentice. But the pay wasn’t too good for printers in those days， so after trying unsuccessfully to get to South America， he became a river pilot.

After piloting streamers for about four years， Clements retired to the Nevada gold country， because the onset of Civil war had put an end to river commerce. He eventually ended up in California， back at the printing trade. He wrote short pieces for the newspapers he worked on， establishing a reputation as a humorist among the provincial readers of the Old West. The result of writing and some lecturing was that he fell in with a group of writers who have come to be known as the “Local Colorists.”

（3）The Similarities and Differences of their Life Experiences

Charles Dickens was born in a navy family. When he was 10， their family was put into prison for debt； when he was 11， the heavy housework fell on him. He worked as an apprentice in shoe factory at the age of 16， when the law firm provided the job for him. He later became the newspaper reporters. Mark Twain was forced to drop out of school for the bad financial situation in his family. He worked as a printer’s apprentice， a tramp printer， a sliver miner， a steamboat pilot and a frontier journalist. The poor and long life of labor career not only provided him with his future literary creation material， but also created a sense of justice in his heart.

So both Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are from the poor families and suffered miserable childhood. When they were young， they had taken the responsibility to support their family and forced to drop out of school. But they all didn’t give up their dream and literary career. Later these experiences become their writing material. After experiencing the terrible and hard childhood， they learned a lot about the social life， and used their powerful pen to criticize the dark society and exposed the corrupted bourgeoisie. They had no opportunities to receive formal education. But they learned by themselves to earn reputation at that time.

2. The Impact of Different History Backgrounds

（1）The Influence of Victorian Economy， Social Situation on Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens lived in Victorian time which is a golden period. With the development of capitalism， powerful working-class appeared，Britain quickly developed into an advanced industrial country full of wealth， while witnessing the big difference between rich and poor， and the sharp conflict.

Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century， which reveals the corrupting influence of cash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes， but also showed profound sympathy for common people. In their best works， they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy of the upper class with the honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure“simple people” of the lower classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters， and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time， bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realist， Dickens， however did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. He did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. His works do not point at revolution but rather evolution or reformism. He often starts with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in his works， but his novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end.

（2）The Influence of History， the American Industrialization on Mark Twain

Political and social events influenced writers in terms of themes and techniques. The Civil War put the most important single influence on American Literature. The industrialized Hamiltonian North fought the agrarian Jeffersonian South for supremacy. The workers defeated the farm， and the United States headed towards capitalism. In a way the surrender at Appomattox marked the beginning of a course which America has followed to this day. The war led many to question the assumption， shared by the Transcendentalists-natural goodness， the optimistic view of nature and man， benevolent God. It taught men that life was not so good， man was not， and God was not. The war marked a change， in the quality of American life， deterioration， in fact， of American moral values.

In post-bellum America， commerce took the lead in the national economy. Increasing industrialization and mechanization of the country， now in full swing after the war， soon produced extremes of wealth and poverty. In the meantime， life for the millions was fast becoming a veritable struggle for survival. Mark Twain had， as his aim of writing the soul， the life， and the speech of the people in mind. In matters of style， there was contrast between the genteel and graceful prose on the one hand， and vernacular diction and rough and ready frontier humor on the other. Twain serves as an example of a man who made the bridge， beginning as a frontier humorist and working his way into polite society， while not forgetting where he came from. The American authors lumped together as“realists”seem to have some features in common： “verisimilitude of detail derived from observation，” the effort to approach the norm of experience-a reliance on the representative in plot， setting and character， and to offer an objective rather than an idealized view of human nature and experience. With Howells， James， and Mark Twain active on the scene， realism became a major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.

3. The Ideological Views

（1）The Influence of Hierarchical View on Charles Dickens

At that time， with the fast-developed economy， the gap between the poor and rich became very obvious， and the conflict between them became very distinctive. Dickens suffered from these in all his life. He tried to find ways to fight against the situation， so he wrote a few articles to criticize the society and expose the unbalanced development. He detested the feudal oppression yearning not bourgeois exploitation. He was sympathetic with the common people and strived for the freedom and equality for the poor. Through his writing， he wrote many articles about children who suffered from the cruel oppression. In these articles， he revealed the hierarchical view between the poor and the rich. So Dickens’ writing style tends to be critical， and he is a key representative of the19th century British literary realism. Art to humor， nuanced psychological analysis， as well as realism， romanticism describe the atmosphere and the organic integration.

（2）The Influence of Racial Hierarchy and American dream on Mark Twain

Mark Twain （1835-1910） times， America is from a young country internal split into world power， in the process， Mark Twain experienced great transformation of American society， including went west expansion， the industrial revolution， the abolition of slavery， the progress of science and technology， the concept and the foreign wars. The racial hierarchy existed in the world widespread. The black people persuade the equal social class through fighting. Through the white children Huck help slaves from slavery， Jim was betrayed destiny story， shaped like a civilized society and Huck inflexible social norms， and maintain the integrity and fit the nature of goodness， simplicity， head， smart， sweet and innocent， the pursuit of freedom， the artistic image of civilization contempt Huck laws and secular ideas， disgust racial discrimination， sympathy， slaves destiny. Reveals the personality rebellious American social morals and racial discrimination slavery in the mind of the young Huck and his nature of integrity， good character， the character is rebellious in Huck the fierce conflict in the form of a mature and novel in American literature. Even the world history has outstanding achievement， Huck is a so-called “civilized society”as “rebel” guy， but he’s nature is friendly and honest. He’s dual personality is the traditional thoughts and he’s the nature of innocence struggles results is also an escape. These materials revealed Mark Twain’s writing style. In such a change society， Mark Twain was complain， but his writing， the talent by humor and irony， fully expressed his views on social concern and become the era， the symbolic representative of America.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

In Dickens’ times， the British capitalism rapidly developed while the realistic class contradictions gradually deepened. With the pursuit of profit， the ruling class crazy to get profit from the ill-gotten workers and unemployed homeless， Dickens were in the humanitarian not in pursuit of the personal interests. He always concern about the life of the lower class. Therefore， his writing style is filled with humor， nuanced psychological analysis， realism， as well as romanticism when describing the atmosphere and the organic integration.

In Mark Twain （1835-1910） times， America is a young country split into world power. In the process， Mark Twain experienced great transformation of American society， including the westward expansion， the industrial revolution， the abolition of slavery， the progress of science and technology and foreign wars. In such a society， Mark Twain expressed his views on social concerns and become the symbolic representative of America in the era. Therefore， his writing style is filled with harmony with sarcastic humor and wit which is unique and individual abounds with witticisms.

Both Charles Dickens and Mark Twain led lives with their own trials and tribulations， yet they both turned out to be two of the greatest authors in the 19th Century.

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（作者單位：四川省廣安友誼中學 638500）