Comparing some of the works by Charles Dickens &Roddy Doyle

Charles Dickens wrote his famous novel ‘David Copperfield’ in 1870during the reign of Queen Victoria (the Victorian era.) It was a time in which great poverty and death especially in cities and towns, was very common. It was a time when it was not uncommon for children and parents to die young because of the poverty and dirt. Schooling was only given as an opportunity to those who could afford it, whilst many wealthy children were sent to boarding schools because many parents did not have time for their children. That is why it was common for richer children to have closer relationships with their nurses or servants.

In contrast to this poorer families did not have enough money to send their children to school; instead they sent them to work. Orphans were also very common at this time especially around London because of the death rate. Many

Both writers are effective in the way they present each child’s view of the world. They use similar techniques such as their cultural backgrounds to influence their writing and to create the world of a child more effectively.

However they both use a different style of writing. Dickens uses complex language, long sentences and lots of details, making his character seem more adult like. Though this may be due to the time it was written, because children at this time were looked upon as young adults. Charles Dickens’s novel can also be compared to the ‘modern novel’ Catcher In The Rye. This novel is one of the first modern novels and again unlike Charles Dickens it doesn’t use a lot of detail. It goes against the formal style of writing that Charles Dickens uses and it contains modern language. Like Roddy Doyle it doesn’t follow the normal format it doesn’t have a standard beginning, middle and end.

Both writers base some of the thoughts and feelings of the child characters Davy and Paddy, by looking back at their own lives. A good example is where Roddy Doyle has looked back at his own childhood in the extract ‘The Gang.’ It is a chapter in which Paddy and his friends are in a gang. It is quite a cruel gang because it involves being beaten with a poker if they don’t say a word that is considered bad enough by the leader. The person who says the worst word then adopts the word as his name. For example ‘from henceforth thou will be called f*ck.’ Roddy Doyle said when interviewed that when he wrote this chapter ‘I was reaching back to my childhood for the memories and inspiration to write the book, the gang thing seemed important because there was always a gang.’

Both Roddy Doyle and Charles Dickens have put their childhood sights and experiences into their novels. This creates a very important effect, it helps the reader get a clearer picture of each child’s life because it helps them get lost in the characters that they actually believe what they are reading is real it may also give them a better understanding of the characters thoughts and feelings if they think that that could actually happen. It helps make the novel more realistic therefore it doesn’t seem so far fetched. This is very effective because it makes the reader far more interested.

Some topics in this essay:
Roddy Doyle, Charles Dickens, Victoria Victorian, Charles Dickens’s, Ha Ha’, Dickens Davy’s, roddy doyle, Doyle Paddy’s, charles dickens, Family Outing’, Dickens David, Irish Catholic, ha ha’, ‘david copperfield’, view world, ha ha, ha ha ha’, ‘paddy clarke, ‘paddy clarke ha, dickens’s novel, clarke ha, roddy doyle doesn’t, paddy’s parents, clarke ha ha, charles dickens’s novel,