On Emotional Education Tendency Of Dickens' Novel Creation

As a great novelist of the 19 th century,Charles Dickens occupies an important position in the history of European literature,and enjoys equal popularity with Balzac and Tolstoy.Many of Dickens' novels are masterpieces of critical realism.With a sharp perspective,he observes the social life,denounces the moral degeneration in the Victorian era,and reveals different sins of the capitalist society.His masterpieces,including Oliver Twist,David Copperfield,Dombey and Son,Little Dorrit,Hard Times and Great Expectations,well inherits traditions of Bildungsroman since the 18 th century,and attempts to shape and improve human morals.The tendency of emotional education reflected by these novels is the most powerful weapon for showing not only the growth of young people but also the moral changes of mercenary adults,such as capitalists and industrialists.This paper adopts Dickens' novels as research objects.Based on the definition of emotional education in the broad sense,the text analysis is conducted combining the social atmosphere in the Victorian era at an attempt to explore the source of such tendency,artistic characteristics and universal practical value.This paper consists of four chapters:Chapter 1 introduces the Bildungsroman of Western realistic novels in the 19 th century.By expounding on the necessity of healthy individual growth in a civilized society,the author points out the importance of Bildungsroman in shaping and improving human characters.Next,relevant works of the 18 th century and the 19 th century,including The History of Pendennis,Sentimental Education,Jude the Obscure and Cuore,are discussed to summarize the definition of education novels inthe broad sense and in the narrow sense.The novel creation of these writers is compared with that of Dickens' to highlight the latter's implementation of the broad sense of educational novels and characteristics of the latter's emotional education tendency.Chapter 2 analyzes how the tendency of emotional education is reflected in Dickens' works.In his works,life experiences of people who turn good because of their conscience,people who are morally bankrupt,and those who hold morals high in their heart are all demonstrated.This shows Dickens' novel creation has a clear-cut stand on what to love and what to hate.The tendency of emotional education is the most powerful weapon of Dickens to criticize the social life from the moral perspective.By creating an end in which “the good is rewarded and the evil is punished”,he encourages people to be good and not to follow the money-worship and hypocrisy trend.In this sense,Dickens' novel creation has stimulated the positive energy in the human nature and contributed to social harmony.Chapter 3 elaborates on main artistic characteristics of Dickens ' emotional education tendency.Based on the above text analysis,it is found that Dickens was fond of externalizing the emotional world in facial features and language.In this way,looks,thoughts,and words of characters are consistent.Besides,he is good at making a character or an episode impressive through the use of exaggeration and humorous description.The strong artistic effect thus created is appealing to readers.Because of twists and turns in Dickens' life,he showes great sympathy for the poor in his works,hoping that contradictions between different classes of people can be mediated.Chapter 4 examines causes of the emotional education tendency in Dickens' novel creation.First,the Victorian era inundating with ethical fading and utilitarianism provides the soil for the creation of his works.Second,the humanitarianism prevailing at that time is the catalyzer of the tendency.Third,Dickens' rich life experiences,kindness and strong will make him a capitalist humanist writer.Driven by the desire for fame and money,he caters to the taste of the public,and emotional education is a way for him to touch readers and boost his book sales.The humanistic emotional education tendency of Dickens' novels can stimulate the positive energy in the human nature,encourage people to treat each other sincerely and build a good interpersonal relationship,help alleviate contradictions of the current society and create a harmonious social environment.