ENG324Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Chris Baldick, Abel Magwitch, Meritocracy
Document Summary
Biographical context: often the novel people associate with the victorian era, great expectations sets up an idea of what a victorian era is, and then it challenges it. Charles dickens (1812-1870: had to leave school and work pasting labels on bottles of boot blacking when his father went to debtors" prison, this informed his attitude towards social justice, primarily the rights of children. E. g. , his mother felt that he could remain working as a bottle labeller longer. This helped stimulate an ideology for him on women. It shaped his perception of them: an active campaigner for social reform, worked as a law clerk, then a journalist, during the period because of urbanization, the process of breaking into new careers was easier. Thus it also made it easier to move social classes more so towards the middle class. It was possible but not everyone could achieve it.
