Browsing by Author "ABDULLAH SHARAF, Salim Younus"
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Item CHILD LABOUR IN DICKENS’S OLIVER TWIST AND DAVID COPPERFIELD(2015-07-18) ABDULLAH SHARAF, Salim Younus; GÜLTEKİN, LerzanThe purpose of this thesis is to analyse child labour, the sufferings of children and the social and economic changes in the Age of Industrialization as reflected in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist(1837-1839) and David Copperfield (1850). The Industrial Revolution refers to the transition from handcraft and agrarian ways of life into industrialized society that is based on industry and machine manufacture that covered the period between 1760 and 1840. Industrialization began mainly with cotton manufacturing and clothes in many countries, particularly in England. It led to the large migration of people from the countryside to cities living in slums and crowded areas. Women and children were highly laboured in this period working in hard conditions with little wages. The factory owners tried their best to keep their superior position that led to social hierarchy. In these novels, Charles Dickens criticized how the poor children were laboured, abused, exploited, deprived of their education and how the capitalist system, that is based on class differences, produced villains who used every means to maintain their social ladder. This thesis consists of an introduction, two main chapters and a conclusion. In the introduction, the social and historical context of the Industrial Revolution is explained. It deals with child labour and its historical background. It also focuses on the Victorian Era in terms of Victorian society and class division, child Labour and the Victorian Novel. In Chapter II, which deals with Oliver Twist (1837- 1839), it is asserted that children in the corrupt system were laboured, abused and exploited. It has become clear that the workhouses are among the reasons of children’s bad conditions. In Chapter III, Which deals with Dickens’ David Copperfield (1850), it isen emphasized that child labour, child abuse and child exploitation are the bad the consequences of the capitalist system. It has also been affirmed that there are big difference in living condition among the classes in capitalist societies where the rich used every opportunity to maintain their position. In conclusion, it is concluded that the Industrial Revolution had many bad consequences on the life of the poor, such as child labour and abuse, and the migration of poor to big cites living in slums and crowded areas. Dickens, in the two novels, draws the sufferings of poor children who were deprived of their parent’s affection and education working for long hours under bad conditions. He draws these issues with more optimism, compared with other novelists.