On Poverty

Dickens is famous for his moralizing and the entreaties within his fiction to help the poor, and characters such as the Cratchit family or little Joe in Bleak House have become iconic figures in popular recollections of the 19th century’s working class struggles. This collection includes articles such as «A Poor Man and his Beer» and «Walk in the Workhouse» based directly upon Dickens’ own involvement and experience of walking around the more derelict areas of London and England to meet the poor firsthand and report their plights to the reading population. It also considers Dickens’ own charitable work, such as his involvement in setting up a refuge for prostitutes, as defended in his article «A Home for Homeless Women.» In contrast to his personal nostalgia for the innocence of childhood, Dickens tirelessly argued against those who hearkened back to the good old days, instead flying the flag for evolution and development.