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The starving orphan seeking 
a second helping of gruel.

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The spinster wasting away 
in her tattered wedding dress.

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The stone-hearted miser plagued 
by the ghost of Christmas past.

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More than a century after his death,

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these remain recognizable figures
from the work of Charles Dickens.

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So striking is his body of work 
that it gave rise to its own adjective.

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But what are the features of Dickens's
writing that make it so special?

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Dickens’s fiction brims with anticipation

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through brooding settings, 
plot twists, and mysteries.

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These features of his work kept
his audience wanting more.

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When first published, 
his stories were serialized,

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meaning they were released a few chapters
at a time in affordable literary journals

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and only later reprinted as books.

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This prompted fevered speculation
over the cliffhangers

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and revelations he devised.

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Serialization not only made fiction
available to a wider audience

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and kept them reading,

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but increased the hype
around the author himself.

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Dickens became particularly popular
for his wit,

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which he poured into quirky characters
and satiric scenarios.

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His characters exhibit the sheer
absurdity of human behavior,

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and their names often personify
traits or social positions,

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like the downtrodden Bob Cratchit,

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the groveling Uriah Heap,

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and the cheery Septimus Crisparkle.

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Dickens set these colorful characters
against intricate social backdrops,

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which mimic the society he lived in.

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For instance, he often considered

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the changes brought about 
by the Industrial Revolution.

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During this period,

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the lower classes experienced 
sordid working and living conditions.

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Dickens himself experienced 
this hardship as a child

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when he was forced to work in
a boot blacking factory

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after his father was sent 
to debtors' prison.

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This influenced his depiction
of the Marshalsea prison in Little Dorrit,

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where the titular character cares
for her convict father.

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Prisons, orphanages, or slums
may seem grim settings for a story,

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but they allowed Dickens to shed light

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on how his society's 
most invisible people lived.

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In Nicholas Nickleby,

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Nicholas takes a job with the schoolmaster
Wackford Squeers.

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He soon realizes that Squeers
is running a scam

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where he takes unwanted children
from their parents for a fee

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and subjects them to violence
and deprivation.

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Oliver Twist also deals with the plight 
of children in the care of the state,

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illustrating the brutal conditions of
the workhouse

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in which Oliver pleads
with Mr. Bumble for food.

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When he flees to London, he becomes
ensnared in a criminal underworld.

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These stories frequently portray
Victorian life

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as grimy, corrupt, and cruel.

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But Dickens also saw his time
as one in which old traditions

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were fading away.

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London was becoming
the incubator of the modern world

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through new patterns in industry,
trade, and social mobility.

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Dickens's London is therefore
a dualistic space:

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a harsh world that is simultaneously
filled with wonder and possibility.

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For instance, the enigma 
of Great Expectations

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centers around the potential of Pip,

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an orphan plucked from obscurity
by an anonymous benefactor

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and propelled into high society.

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In his search for purpose,

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Pip becomes the victim 
of other people’s ambitions for him

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and must negotiate with 
a shadowy cast of characters.

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Like many of Dickens’s protagonists,

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poor Pip's position 
is constantly destabilized,

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just one of the reasons 
why reading Dickens

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is the best of times for the reader,

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while being the worst of times 
for his characters.

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Dickens typically offered clear 
resolution by the end of his novels,

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– with the exception of
The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

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The novel details the disappearance of the
orphan Edwin under puzzling circumstances.

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However, Dickens died before the novel 
was finished

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and left no notes resolving the mystery.

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Readers continue to passionately debate 
over who Dickens intended as the murderer,

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and whether Edwin Drood 
was even murdered in the first place.

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Throughout many adaptations,

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literary homages,

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and the pages of his novels,

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Dickens’s sparkling language
and panoramic worldview

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continue to resonate.

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Today, the adjective Dickensian

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often implies squalid working 
or living conditions.

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But to describe a novel as
Dickensian is typically high praise,

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as it suggests a story in which true 
adventure and discovery

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occur in the most unexpected places.

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Although he often explored bleak material,

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Dickens’s piercing wit never failed
to find light in the darkest corners.