"Progress" And Alienation

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is one of the greatest novelists of his time in VictorianEngland and the researching achievements of Dickens and his works are abundant athome and abroad. Great Expectations, published in1861, is one of the most matureworks in his thought, and also has received much attention. The novel has been anattraction of academic study since its publication. Most scholars analyzed this worksfrom the perspectives of criticism, humanism, and romanticism and so on. While fromthe perspective of modernity, and mainly focused on the theme of “progress” andalienation in this novel, the author analyzed the reflection and critique of the process ofmodernity which appeared in Great Expectations.Great Expectations mainly describes the protagonist Pip’s disillusioned dream tobecome a gentleman in upper class. In the novel, Dickens presents us the alienation ofindividuals in the trends of “progress” of society when the bourgeois values graduallydominated British society which had been under the domination of bourgeoisie.From the perspective of modernity, the author analyzed the text in detail and finallyfound that Dickens criticized the reality by means of revealing the alienated spiritinstead of directly criticizing the bourgeois system. And then the thesis drew aconclusion that this novel not only presented men’s alienation and anxiety of “progress”under the crush of enlightening modernity, but also endeavored to seek aestheticredemption. Meanwhile, it revealed the dark side of enlightening modernity andhighlighted the redemptive function of artistic work.