Poverty and child abuse in Charles Dickens's novels: Oliver Twist, Hard Times, and David Copperfield

The Industrial Revolution had a great impact in the nineteenth century England. It changed various things in the country, especially the living and working conditions of its people. It was an advantage for the economy in Victorian England as there was a progress in the production due to the free market economy. The level of inequality between the classes increased. While the wealthy became wealthier as a consequence of the progress in the production, the condition of the poor worsened. It was the time for mechanical trade in factories. The working-class was trying hard to get used to the long and tiring working hours. Although they worked so hard, they could not earn enough to make their living. As a result of this, the children of the poor, no matter how young they were, had to work for long hours too, to earn only a few shillings. The child labour increased consequently because they were in need. Cheap labor was something that the industrialists could not refuse. Child abuse was not only in factories but it was also in most of the schools in that period. Some children suffered from the dominance of factory owners while the others suffered from the discipline of the educators who abused their power on the children. Charles Dickens, in Oliver Twist, Hard Times, and David Copperfield, reflects the bad conditions of the working-class and child abuse in this period. The aim of this thesis is to analyze Dickens?s three novels in the light of Marxist criticism and New Historicism.Key words: Poverty, Child abuse, Industrial Revolution, Oppression.