A Study Of The Dual Influence Of The Self-help Spirit On The Characters In Dickens's Novels

Charles Dickens is a great writer emerging from the lower middle class in Victorian England. His novels are believed to present a vivid picture of the morality of the Victorian middle class. Considering that scholars at home and abroad have contributed a lot to the study of Dickens?s novels from various angles, based on the Marxist criticism which insists on the close relation between literature and the background and ideology of the author, the thesis attempts to analyze the dual influence of the Self-help Spirit reflected in Dickens?s novels so as to make a valuable contribution.In consideration of the central argument of this thesis, I will choose Oliver Twist, Dombey and Son, Hard Times and Bleak House, which are defined as social criticism novels, and two Bildungsromans, David Copperfield and Great Expectations, as the object of study.This thesis consists of three chapters with one introduction and a conclusion.The introduction firstly scans the previous studies on Dickens?s novels. With this as a foundation, it proposes the central argument of the thesis.The first part of Chapter One provides the causes and historical background of the formation of the Self-help Spirit of the Victorian bourgeoisie, and a definition of it.The second part presents its positive and negative social influence due to the various interpretations of different people.Chapter Two and Chapter Three demonstrate the dual influence reflected in Dickens?s novels, for example, positively, it is helpful in the assertion of identity of the rising middle class and instrumental in saving the working class from the belief crisis, negatively, when distorted, it could become the source of apathy and a disguise of middle class for exploiting the working class.The conclusion part reasserts the central argument of the thesis and points out that Dickens, as a humane writer of middle class, highly advocates the Self-help Spirit, meanwhile denounces the distorted interpretation of it. Through the analysis, Dickens?s attitude toward the dual influence of the Self-help Spirit could be detected, which is the very significance of the thesis.