摘要查尔斯·狄更斯（1812－1870）是十九世纪英国最杰出的小说家之一，也是第一位倾注了极大精力创造儿童形象的大作家，他塑造的许多儿童形象在世界文坛上有着不可超越的重要意义。
本文通过分析他的三部代表作品《雾都孤儿》、《大卫·科波菲尔》、《远大前程》中的儿童形象，探讨这些形象与作者的密切关系。
首先这类儿童形象的塑造都与狄更斯的个人经历特别是童年经历或所处的社会背景有关；其次，通过这些儿童形象的塑造，狄更斯在反映其童年经历的同时，也记录了社会的黑暗，并且展示了他对资产阶级黑暗性不断觉醒的过程。
本论文试图从比较分析的角度，从三部作品中抽取有代表性的章节进行研究，分析他个人经历与三位主人公的联系，体现出他对笔下儿童的深切情感，并得出狄更斯在塑造儿童形象方面的共性。
关键词：狄更斯；儿童形象；分析；共同特征ABSTRACTCharles Dickens(1812-1870)is one of the most outstanding English writers in the nineteenth century. He is also the first writer who devoted himself to the creation of children‘ imagines. The images of children created by Charles Dickens play a very important role in the world literature. By comparison, this paper discusses the relationship between the author and these images. Firstl y, the creation of these children‘s images has a close connection with Dickens‘ personal experience and social background; secondly, by the creation of these images he reveals the darkness of society, and shows his growing awareness of the darkness of the capitalism. Through the analysis, this paper draws the common features in Charles‘ creation of children‘s imagines. And through the research of the representative chapters, the deep emotions between Dickens and his children can be vividly shown.Keywords：Dickens; Children‘s images; Analysis; Common FeaturesContents1. Introduction (1)1.1The introduction of the author (1)1.2The introduction of children‘s images (1)2. Analysis of the three main children’s images in Dickens’ novels (3)2.1Oliver Twist: Dickens‘ own want in his childhood (3)2.2David Copperfield: Dickens‘ own sufferings in his childhood (5)2.3Great Expectations: Dickens‘ growing awareness of c apitalism‘s darkness (7)3. The comparison of three children’s images in three novels (10)3.1 The similarities of the three children (10)3.1.1 The circumstances (10)3.1.2 The tragedy childhood (10)3.2 The relationship between Dickens and the three children (11)3.2.1 The similar childhood experiences (11)3.2.2 The sympathy for the children and the criticism for social evils (11)3.2.3 The common styles in children‘s images figuring (12)4. Conclusion (13)Acknowledgements (14)References (15)1. Introduction1.1 The Introduction of the AuthorCharles Dickens(1812-1870)is one of the most outstanding English writers in the nineteenth century. He was born in Portsmouth, England on 7th, February, 1812, but he spent most of his childhood in London and Kent where he based many of his novels. When he was nine，he went to school but had to leave when he was 12 because his dad was put in prison for being in debt. When he was 15，he left school and went to work as a legal clerk in a solicitor's office. In 1836 he decided to write his own stories under the name of Boy. They were called the“Pickwick Papers”[1]which were like comics for adults. Charles continued to use his books to tell about the bad conditions that the working classes and poor people had to live with. As well as writing he took an interest in the theatre and in 1847 became manager of a touring theatre company. Charles Dickens wrote many famous novels all his life, he is probably the most popular author in England.1.2 The Introduction of Children‘s Images in His NovelsCharles Dickens‘ work s enjoy great popularity among people and can stand the test of time. Even in 21st century, his works are still widely read, continuously translated into many languages and adapted into films and TV series. Dickens‘ vivid description creates many lifelike characters, which impress the readers deeply in their memory after reading.Among children‘s images created by Charles Dickens, deserted children play the most significant roles. It is important to point out that the creation of the deserted children has a close rel ationship with both Dickens‘personal experience and social background, especially his childhood experience. His fiction attracts many readers. These children were described so vividly that as if they were really alive in the world.―Dickens appeals to the common experience of the reader.‖ [2]So the reader is easily able to identify the different images in his different novels. For example, of all his works, David Copperfield is considered to be his most autobiographical. In this novel, Charles creates an orphan just like him, and through this character, he describes the memory about his own childhood and expresses the sympathy for the poor people. And in Great Expectations he really puts his own heart and soul into his characters by weaving his own experiences into his works.Philip Collins writes ―Great Expectations,indeed, though overtly autobiographical than David Copperfield, is a more searching and self-critical account of Dickens' own inner impulses.‖[3]It is almost as if there is a real possibility that Pip, or someone like him, actually existed. Another example is in Oliver Twist. Oliver is a kind of children that orphans or half-orphans who are deserted, or simply neglected. He lacks warm family love when he is very young. All of the deserted children in the novels have a miserable childhood and long for care and love from adults. As Charles‘ own childhood experience is miserable, he can contribute to his views on social reform, and his compassion for the lower class, especially the children.2.Analysis of the ThreeMain Children’s Images in Dickens’ Novels2.1Oliver Twist: Dickens‘ Own Want in His Childhood“Please, sir, I want some more.”The master was a fat healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralyzed with wonder; the boys with fear.“What!” said the master at length, in a faint voice.“Please, sir, ”replied Oliver,“I want some more.”The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle, pinioned him in his arms, and shrieked aloud for the beadle.The Board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said: “Mr. Limpkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!” There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.“For more! ”said Mr.Limpkins .“Compose yourself,Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?”“He did,sir,”replied Bumble. “That boy will be hung,”said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. “I know that boy will be hung.” [4]In this scene, a hungry boy is asking for more claims universal admiration. The poor boy‘s image is vividly appearing on the paper. And this situation evokes in the readers a strong sense of sympathy towards the boy and a strong sense of horror against the system. This is one of Charles‘ famous novels which is entitled Oliver Twist.Oliver Twist, published in 1838, is one of Charles Dickens's best-known and well-loved works. After it was published, it was popular among England. ―Dickens used the characters and situations in the book to make a pointed social commentary, attacking the hypocrisy and flaws of institutions, including his society‘s government,its laws and criminal system, and its methods of dealing with poor people.” [5]Interestingly, he did not suggest any solutions; he only pointed out the suffering which caused by these systems and their deep injustice. Dickens basically believed that most people were born good but that their good impulses could be distorted by social evils.The scene of Oliver‘s asking for more is Dickens‘ recall of his chil d labor‘s life. As the author of the novel, he knew clearly about the cold impersonality of the workhouse system. His childhood suffering dominates the whole style of his writing and the whole view to society later. ―Dickens used his artistic talents to sp eak for the silence, to fight for the oppressed, and to champion those defeated.‖[6]Meanwhile he showed his great sympathy for the miseries and hardships suffered by the working class people. According to Doris Alexander, Dickens―knew that early circumsta nces shape character and that character, in turn, shapes reactions to later circumstances.‖[7]And in many ways, that character successfully drew attention and sympathy from their readers. In Dickens‘ works he gave children a voice that they desperately needed, yet never had before. Maybe some readers will wonder why Dickens always makes the world weigh so heavy on the little shoulders of his characters. The main reason is that he wanted to protest against the injustices toward children that he saw in his own childhood. He used his own experience to illustrate what these children needed and what they were missing. His childhood‘s recall has totally reflected in Oliver Twist.Oliver Twist is also Dickens‘first novel that focused on a child hero, whose experiences expressed Dickens‘ psychological want in childhood. Throughout the novel, Dickens used Oliver‘s character to challenge the Victorian age‘s evil. He was tortured and mistreated in the workhouse at his early age, later was thrown together with the band of thieves, he suffered a lot of pain but his kind nature remained unchanged. Dickens tried to create a child who did not present a complex picture between good and evil—instead, he was goodness all the time. What carried Oliver through life and away from the poverty was his good nature. Dickens himself had to work in the workhouse as young as Oliver. As a deserted child, Dickens hungered for love and help from adults. So in Oliver Twist, Dickens created several kinds encounters to offer help which freed Oliver from sufferings and dangers to a penniless and hopeless child. From these images, we may see Dickens himself as a lonely and deserted child who is eagerly expecting kind encounter with good-hearted men by whom he will be offered help. So these happy encounters are author‘s psychological want in his childhood.In the novel Oliver understood the life forms well, and this helped him fit the society better. He began his life misery enough—orphaned, underfed, unloved, beaten, apprenticed, fed the scraps the dog scorns, and made to sleep in the shop with the coffins at night. We are impressed deeply by the description of workhouse and undertaker‘s shop through Oliver‘s view .In his eyes the world was cruel and awful. ―Dickens draws strictly from hisobservat ion from Oliver‘s view, giving us the very truth in despite of sentiment.‖[8]Passing from the shadow of the workhouse to that of criminal London, we can feel that London is a place of squalid mystery and terror, of the grimly grotesque, of labyrinthine obscurity and lurid fascination. He taught people a certain way of regarding the huge city, the dirty streets, accurately described and named; the bare, filthy rooms inhabited by Fagin and Sikes and the rest of them; the hideous public-house to which thieves resort. Through the directly touch with the huge city, we have a very scared impression, for instance, what the working class people eat and drink, and can smell the dish of sheep's head, flank with porter, which Nancy sets before her brutal companion. ―In Dickens‘s case, he managed to use this gruel story as a means to shift his long stored tensions into the image of Oliver Twist, producing thus a metaphoric account that could function quite like a dream.‖ [9]2.2David Copperfield: Dickens‘ Own Sufferings in His Childhood“The room was as neat as Janet or my aunt. As I laid down my pen, a moment since, to think of it, the air from the sea came blowing in again, mixed with the perfume of the flowers; and I saw the old-fashioned furniture brightly rubbed and polished, my aunt's inviolable chair and table by the round green fan in the bow-window, the drug get-covered carpet, the cat, the kettle-holder, the two canaries, the old china, the punch-bowl full of dried rose leaves, the tall press guarding all sorts of bottles and pots, and, wonderfully out of keeping with the rest, my stained and dusty self upon the sofa, taking note of everything, Janet had gone away to get the bath ready, when my aunt ,to my great alarm, became in one moment rigid with indignation, and had hardly voice to cry out, "Janet!Donkiesr!"Upon which, Janet came running up the stairs as if the house were in flames, darted out on a little piece of green in front, and warned off two saddle-donkeys, lady-ridden, that had presumed to set hoof upon it; while my aunt, rushing out of the house, seized the bridle of a third animal laden with a bestriding child, turned him, led him forth from those sacred precincts, and boxed the cars pf the unlucky urchin in attendance who had dared to profane that hallo wed gr ound.” [10]David Copperfield is the most unique book among all Dickens‘ works for its deeply personal tone; it is an autobiography of the author himself and also a history of Dickens‘emotional life. This novel was created in 1849-1850, midway in his career, just before the writing of the ―dark‖novels. In this story, Dickens describes a very lovely boy namedDavid Copperfield. ―I am within three pages of the shore,and am strangely divided, as usual in such cases, between sorrow and joy. Oh, my dear Forster, if I were to say half what ‗Copperfield‘ makes me feel to-night, how strangely, even to you; I should be turned inside out! I seem to be sending some part of myself into the Shadowy World.‖ [11]Charles Dickens wrote in a letter just before he finished the final chapter of David Copperfield. And he became intensely involved in this character while he was writing. And in 1869, the year before he died, Dickens wrote that Copperfield was still his ―favorite child.‖[12] David Copperf ield‘s whole life can be divided into three stages. In the first stage he had a miserable childhood. He was born at Blunder stone, six months after his father‘s death. David spent his happy early days with his mother, Clara Copperfield, a gentle but weak woman, and Peggotty, the combination servant and nurse. When his mother married again, to a Mr. Murdstone, his miserable life had begun. He was imaginative and sensitive, suffering more from psychic anguish than from physical abuse. David flourished and expanded under affection, but shriveled and contracted deprived of it. And in the second stage, David was packed off to Salem House School near London. This institution was run by the ferocious Mr. Creakle, a sadist. But the worst thing is his mother and her newborn baby died and loyal Peggotty was dismissed by his stepfather, David was really lonely and deserted. He was sent to the warehouse in London, which followed, was worse. No one loved him and no one cared for him. There, half-starved, the 10-year old David labored beside slum urchins. Finally he couldn‘t stand the torture and decided to run away from the warehouse. He made his way on foot to Dover where Aunt Betsey Trotwood, his only living relative. Fortunately, his aunt took him in and sent him to Canterbury to attend a school. The next is the third stage, David experiences and comforted for his happy new start. David survived his ordeal with the moral support of several adults: the Micawbers, Aunt Betsey, and Dr. Strong, who educated him. He discovered enormous reserves of strength within, a dogged perseverance which enabled him to master the difficult art of shorthand reporting. This trait stood him in good stead when he became a writer, and was the key to his later success.Dickens figures this character very well. That is all due to his childhood sufferings. Dickens was brought up by middle-class parents. But then he was abandoned as worthless. The few shillings a week he earned barely served for his keep, so that his sacrifice seemed gratuitous, a means of getting him out of the way. The blacking factory left him with a lifelong insatiable need for recognition and approval; a degree of emotional reserve; and an obsession with cleanliness and order which he himself admitted was ―almost adisorder‖.[13]He was haunted by the experience for the rest of his life. ―Even now, famous and caressed and happy, I often forget in my dreams that I have a dear wife and children; even that I am a man; and wander desolately back to that time of my life.‖[14]The Christmas before his death, playing a ―memory game‖with his family, Dickens wrote down,―Warren‘s Blacking,30, Strand‖[15],which meant nothing to his children until his biography was published after his death.Dickens also conveys his view of education in David Copperfield. David was first educated informally at home. He learnt the ―alphabet at his mother‘s knee‖[16] and read to Peggotty from the Crocodile book, developing his imagination–―we went into the water…and put sharp pieces of timber down their throats‖[17]Dickens clearly approves of this education, so in the novel David said in retrospect that memories of this time ―recall no feeling of disgust or reluctance‖[18]Dickens contrasts the misery of David‘s education after his mother‘s remarriage; ―David w as betrayed by his own nervousness in front of the dominating Murdstones, upsetting his mother and lowering his self-esteem–he seemed to be more stupid.‖[19]This negative effect again showed Dickens‘ encouragement of a very different form of education. David was not ―stupid‖ and it was only the strict and stifling circumstances that made him feel this way. If the Murdstones were more liberal and generous in their education, the results would be totally different. Dickens‘views on education are conveyed bes t through the contrast between Betsey Trotwood‘s firmness and Mr. Murdstone. ―David never to be mean in anything, never to be false and never to be cruel.‖[20]His epic journey showed the consequences of these educational methods; David was literally escaping the moral, physical and financial imprisonment of the factory, and got the freedom to explore and develop his interests at last.2.3Great Expectations: Dickens‘Growing Awareness of C apitalism‘sDarkness“My sister,Mrs. Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbors because she had brought me up“ by hand.” Having at that time to find out for myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were both brought up by hand.It is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home. There may be black ingratitudein the thing, and the punishment may be retributive and well deserved; but, that it is a miserable thing, I can testify. Home had never been a very pleasant place to me, because of my sister's temper. But, Joe had sanctified it, and I had believed in it. I had believed in the best parlors as a most elegant saloon; I had believed in the front door, as a mysterious portal of the Temple of State whose solemn opening was attended with a sacrifice of roast fowls; I had believed in the kitchen as a chaste though not magnificent apartment; I had believed in the forge as the glowing road to manhood and independence. Within a single year, all this was changed. Now, it was all coarse and common, and I would not have had Miss Havisham and Estella sees it on any account.” [21]Great Expectations first appeared in Charles Dickens‘weekly journal ―All the Year Round” in 1861,and then came out in book form in 1862.One of the most important and common tools that authors use to illustrate the themes of their works is a character that undergoes several major changes throughout the story. As a book which was written in the afternoon of Dickens's life and fame, the great difference between Great Expectations and his earlier novels is the introduction of dramatic psychological transformations. He introduces the readers to many intriguing and memorable characters including Miss Havesham, Mr.Jaggers, and the benevolent convict, Abel Magwitch.In common sense, the children's world should be filled with tender care and happiness; it should be a worry-free world.In Great Expectations, however,Pip's world could not be described as such.He was an orphan living in the changing moods, cruelty and violence of his sister and Uncle Pumblechook. Such living conditions resulted in a timid and sensitive Pip. Joe was the only one who took care of Pip. He treated Pip as his dear friend and gave Pip sincerity and comfort. He led Pip to realize there was happiness and warmth in life even though his influence was too weak to combat Mrs. Joe and Uncle Pumblechook. But the false values about money and social status penetrated into Pip's world, Pip could not resist it and therefore lost balance in mind. So his simple dream changed. He vainly expected to be a gentleman, to marry Estella. Subjected to such wrong ideas, Pip lived in the gap between reality and dream.Although in such terrible circumstances, Pip's still have industrious, kind, simple element in his mind, this is mainly due to Joe. Joe was Pip's comfort and source of happiness. Joe represented the virtues of the working class. In bringing Pip up, Joe's attitude was quite different from others. He sincerely did all he could for Pip. He was Pip's fellow-sufferer. He never looked down and maltreated Pip, but protected Pip from Mrs.Joe's bullying. Pip was deeply moved by such sincere care; and therefore Pip had gratitude for Joe. The most important thing he told Pip was to be honest:"There's one thing you may be sure of, Pip," said Joe, after some rumination, "namely, that lies is lies. However they come, they didn't need to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round to the same. Don't you tell no more of them, Pip. That ain't the way to get out of being common, old chap. And as to being common, I don't make it out at all clear. You are on common in some things. You're on common small .Likewise you're on common scholar. [22]But when Pip met Estella, he was strong attracted by her. He longed for Estella but was laughed at by this beautiful proud girl. From then on, Pip felt ashamed of his hands, of his boots, of his social status and friends. He fell into false values. His ambition to be a gentleman resulted from his hopeless love for Estella. The worship of money and was like poison. Pip was trapped in his dreams. ―It is reasonable to believe, in this case, that Great Expectation is a novel focusing on the sense of disillusionment of one‘s ideal, dream and aspiration. This echoes, however, the author‘s own traumatic experience of being disillusioned on a personal basis and eventually on a social level. His pursuit for his own identity in the society is a disillusionment that results in his constant anxiety and frustration, which underlies the motives for Great Expectation.‖[23]Dickens and Pip have three similarities at least: the first one is the miserable childhood; the second one is the way to fulfill the dream. As for Pip, his life changed because of a mysterious benefactor. How Dickens ended his days in the blacking factory? After his father John Dickens inherited a fortune from a Scotch cousin, he was released from prison. As he had promised, Dickens was sent to school. So to speak, Dickens began his way to be a gentleman. The last but not the least one is the growing awareness of the influence of capitalism. Pip began his adventure as a gentleman when he left the forge of Joe and lived in the circle of gentlemen in London. In the Victorian Age, London was not as good as Pip imagined. Here, Pip lost his good nature for a time and felt proud of being a dandy. He turned into a selfish, blinkered, frivolous one. He fell even deep into the illusions that Miss Havisham was his benefactor and he would marry Estella under the authority of Miss Havisham. The suddenly coming-back of Magwitch broke his illusions into pieces and made him realize his misdoings. He decided to get rid of illusions and his gentleman life.The novel charts the career of Philip Pip, from blacksmith‘s boy to polished gentleman, driven by his hope of winning the hand of his first love, Estella.He haschanged from an innately jolly and optimistic man into one who is disillusioned and pessimistic.Dickens shows his philosophic idea clearly through this novel and figure out a classic child‘s image.3.The Comparison of The ThreeChildren’s Images in Three Novels3.1 The Similarities of the Three ChildrenIn these three famous novels, Dickens created three vivid children‘s images. They are all orphans or half-orphans, have a tragedy childhood, all of them are tinged with a tone of autobiography. And comparing these children‘s images, we may find out that the circumstance and the tragedy childhood are the most similar things.3.1.1 The circumstancesFrom the three novels, it‘s evident that the three boys are boxed up by the dark and hopeless society. They lost their parents, not treated well by their keepers. However, the important plot shared by the three novels is that all the boys undergo a dramatic change of life by receiving unexpected sponsorship from either their relatives or people around them. Oliver Twist was helped by Mr. Brownlow, who turned out to be a friend of his father‘s and one who eventually got back for Twist the legacy that belonged to him. David sought help from Aunt Betsey, with whose money he received decent education until he could live on his own. Pip, on the other hand, received unexpected legacy from an anonymous ―gentleman‖, who turned out to be the criminal he once helped. They go through a lot of hardships during their life. Fortunately, despite all the hardships and torture they experience, the deserted children keep their good nature all their lives.3.1.2 The tragedy childhoodOliver Twist, David Copperfield and Pip are all orphaned children, brought up by either their relatives or governmental institutions. Twist was fatherless and his mother died after giving birth to him. David was also fatherless. He was brought up by his mother until his mother sent him away for her re-marriage. Pip was parentless; he was, from thebeginning of the story, an orphaned child living with his sister and her husband. When they grow up, all of them experience lonely and hard trips to find new hopes in life. In Oliver Twi st, Twist escaped from the Sowerberry‘s house to London due to the mistreatment he received from a charity boy Noah Claypole, who goads him to rebellion. In David Copperfield, young David made his way on foot to Dover where Aunt Betsey Trotwood, his only living relative resides. In Great Expectations, however, Pip went to London in a buoyant manner due to his inheritance of a large amount of money from an anonymous benefactor. Although the trips are not entirely of the same desperation, they have reviewed, in the same manner, about the sorrow at departure, the sense of extreme loneliness, as well as the feeling of abandonment.3.2 The Relationship Between Dickens and Three BoysThe creation of deserted children has a close relationship with Dickens‘personal background especially his childhood experience. The important reason of these novels can be so famous that they are vividly in the book, as if they are alive in the world .They can exist in readers mind so long, one hand is due to Dickens‘genius description, the other hand is that what these boys suffer in the book is also the memory of Dickens himself. 3.2.1 The similar childhood experiencesIn Dickens‘s novels, the boys are usually abandoned, this is all based upon his traumatic experience. The fact that the author could not retreat to his traumatic stage of life in reality causes him to find ways to regress to his traumatic childhood. The regressive impulses find a nice outlet in his novels. There, Dickens speak out lavishly his sorrow and agonies through the agent of his boy protagonists like a child who cried over and over again at his wound, knowing that he would feel much better after so doing.That is perhaps what Dickens personally experienced in his childhood and this impression obviously leaves a permanent imprint on his mind. ―The long repressed loneliness and senses of abandonment find their way in his fiction. They are stirred alive from the unconscious level, heading for the conscious, during which the author reconciles himself to his traumatic experience and receives his salvation.‖[24]The significance of creating a necessary detail depicting the loneliness of the protagonists is more emotional than practical. Through the process of writing, Dickens relived his own dark experience and began his painful process to accept them as part of his life.Dickens‘s own drastic change in life—when he felt desperate about his own prospect, when he was plagued by the menial toil at the blacking house, his father received an。
